Intern, Investigative

Position Information:

Start Date: January 8, 2024 – June 7, 2024
Hours: 40 hours per week (9:00 – 5:00pm, Monday – Friday)
Location: St. Paul, MN or anywhere within the U.S.A.
Compensation: $18.00/hour

Intern, Investigative – APM Reports:

Do you have an insatiable curiosity to uncover hidden truths? Are you eager to kickstart your journalism career and help American Public Media produce important accountability journalism that informs and empowers our community? If yes, this internship is for you! APM Reports seeks ambitious self-starters ready to dig deep through research, sources, and data.

As the Investigative Intern, you will help our award-winning team deliver compelling content that will inform our audiences across platforms through research and reporting. You will be working to uncover hidden facts through research, manage multiple open records requests and search for a diverse array of potential sources. Your hard-working spirit will help you juggle multiple tasks including deep dives into research, data analysis and audio field production. Your collaborative nature will enable you to work closely with our award-winning team and help you develop an investigative mindset.

We pride ourselves on nurturing the next generation of investigative reporters and want to help develop your passion for investigative journalism. If you have an insatiable curiosity, persistence to keep digging, and drive to uncover the truth - this internship is for you.

Key Learning Goals:

We want to build your investigative muscle. Through this internship, our goal is for you to learn what it takes to manage an investigation by helping journalists do key reporting work including:

Filing open records requests.
Building and manage a database and do high-impact research.
Learn by participating in story discussion and by potentially reporting and writing stories.
Learn proper audio field recording tools.

Responsibilities:

Understand basic journalistic principles.
Conduct research that will inform our reporting and connect with audiences.
Willing to file and manage open record requests.
Be willing to pick up the phone and call sources.

Benefits:

Eligible to accrue sick time off.
Eligible for health insurance as required under the ACA.
Eligible to participate in the APMG retirement plan.

Programming:

Participate in a robust on-boarding experience.
Professional development: on-the-job training, workforce readiness training, formal performance review feedback sessions, etc.
Participate in brown bag sessions to gain broader perspective of the organization.

Required Qualifications:

Enrolled Sophomore, Junior, or Senior in an undergraduate or Master’s program OR have earned a degree within the last 12 months.
Basic journalism experience with college newspaper, radio or TV news broadcast team or other media outlet.
Interest in accountability journalism and working in the public interest.
Able to work on multiple projects at once.
Ability to be detailed and accurate.
Understanding of journalism ethics.
Good communication skills, and ability to write clearly and concisely.
Must be able to work 40 hours per week (Monday – Friday, 9:00 – 5:00pm) for the duration of this internship.

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience with radio or audio journalism.
Experience with enterprise or investigative reporting.

Next Step in the Application:

In addition to your skills and knowledge, we want to get to know you in the application process. Please include a cover letter (of no more than 1 page) with answers to the following:

What interest you about this internship?
What professional skills would you like to add to your toolbox in the months and years to come to grow in your career field?
Why are you interested in investigative journalism?

Physical Demands and Working Conditions:

Must be able to perform the essential duties of the position with or without reasonable accommodation.
Physical Demands:
Required to move about in an office environment and sit for extended periods of time.
Required to move about in the community.
Frequent use of hands for data entry/keystrokes and simple grasping.
Working Conditions:
Moderate noise level.
Occasional exposure to prevalent weather conditions.