Early within the pandemic, some headlines argued that covid-19 was the nice equalizer—as a result of anybody, regardless of their circumstance, may catch it. In actuality, it was clear that the virus was affecting some teams of People in disproportionate, devastating methods.
Black People, Hispanic People, Indigenous communities, and different folks of coloration have been affected the most, and are dying at much higher rates. Incarcerated folks have been left unprotected, and people in poverty have been among the hardest hit. Schoolchildren from poorer backgrounds are struggling the most important instructional setbacks, with lifelong repercussions.
We all know lots of the causes, together with frontline jobs that expose employees to the virus, financial stresses, unstable housing and unequal well being care that results in worse outcomes. However there’s way more to study, and way more to do about it.
To assist discover these points and assist folks’s tales get informed, we’ve joined with the Heising Simons Foundation to create 5 MIT Know-how Overview Covid Inequality Fellowships.
Every fellowship offers as much as $7,500 of monetary help to assist journalists report and produce tales about covid inequality—and the way it’s being tackled—in under-covered communities within the US. Candidates will probably be judged by a panel of consultants that features a few of the most incisive journalists and knowledgeable consultants working at the moment. Fellows will obtain editorial oversight and help from our award-winning staff; and the top outcomes will probably be revealed in MIT Know-how Overview.
Making use of for a Fellowship is simple: simply have a look by our description of what we’re in search of, after which start submitting your application.
Who ought to apply
We’re providing two sorts of fellowship.
Freelancer fellowships: Apply for this should you’re an unbiased journalist who isn’t already hooked up to a particular publication. Chances are you’ll come from one of many affected communities you propose to report on, or chances are you’ll know of an necessary story a few group you’ve gotten to know effectively.
Newsroom fellows: Apply for this should you’re a employees journalist working with a particular outlet, who’s in search of additional help to comply with up on a narrative that’s necessary to you and the readers you serve.
When you’ve got journalistic expertise, and also you wish to inform tales about the way in which covid is affecting folks—and what’s being executed about it—we encourage you to apply.
What we’re in search of
Your story—or sequence of tales—will deal with a particular group of individuals and present how they’ve been affected by covid-19. It is going to present the human impacts and discover what sort of disparities exist in publicity, security, therapy, or outcomes. It could have a look at how communities are utilizing applied sciences, growing programs, or constructing alliances to beat the issues they face.
MIT Know-how Overview is a publication about rising applied sciences and the methods by which they’re used, so we’re significantly excited about:
- The influence of vaccines and the way they’re distributed
- Contact tracing, publicity notification, and/or using well being information
- How the pandemic is affecting the digital divide
- Office virus protocols and surveillance
- The influence of lengthy covid on communities
Above all, these are human tales, with folks at their heart and a seek for options at their core.
To get there, we’re in search of people who find themselves dedicated to telling tales with care and dedication whereas making use of rigorous requirements and sustaining journalistic integrity. You don’t need to have an extended monitor file in healthcare or science reporting, however you do need to be decided, ready to problem preconceptions, and be comfy asking for assist and taking steerage.
What we’re not in search of
These fellowships won’t produce simplistic catastrophe narratives that underscore pre-existing tropes, and we don’t need parachute journalism from reporters who don’t have any historical past with or perception into the communities they’re writing about. That doesn’t imply you must establish as a part of the group you’re proposing to cowl, but it surely does imply you do have to point out which you could report sensitively and completely—and with out additional endangering them throughout the pandemic.
How we’ll help your work
Profitable candidates will obtain as much as $7,500 to report and publish their tales. Work will probably be produced along with MIT Know-how Overview and revealed on our web site—or co-published, within the case of Newsroom Fellowships. This cash can be utilized to cowl all or any prices associated to the story, together with your personal time, reporting bills, and journey (the place it’s secure.)
We’ll present editorial help to all fellows, with common check-ins with our editors and recommendation from our staff. For newsroom fellows, we’ll coordinate along with your publication’s staff that can assist you get essentially the most out of the undertaking.
Our panel of judges
Entries will probably be examined by a panel of a few of the main journalists and voices on the themes we’re .
Alexis Madrigal is a senior author at The Atlantic and co-founder of the Covid Monitoring Mission, which compiles, annotates, and publishes high-quality information in regards to the outbreak.
Mark J. Rochester is the editor in chief of Kind Media Heart, and was beforehand senior information director for investigations on the Detroit Free Press. He has served on the nationwide board of administrators of Investigative Reporters & Editors.
Krystal Tsosie is a Navajo bioethicist and geneticist at Vanderbilt College. She is an advocate for moral genomic analysis that respects the rights of Indigenous folks.
Seema Yasmin is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, poet, medical physician and writer. She is at the moment director of the Stanford Well being Communication Initiative at Stanford College, and an everyday contributor on the covid pandemic for CNN.
Gideon Lichfield is the editor in chief of MIT Know-how Overview. He joined the publication in 2017 after being a founding editor at Quartz and reporting from Moscow, Jerusalem, and Mexico Metropolis for The Economist.
Applications for the Fellowships are now open. The ultimate deadline for purposes is Sunday March 21, 2021. Chosen fellows will probably be introduced in early April 2021.
The fantastic print
These fellowships are US-only; Fellows have to be legally capable of work in the US. Tales have to be designed for textual content: though video and audio could be a part of the output, your story might want to focus on written journalism, which might embrace information reporting, narratives, or information. Initiatives wouldn’t have a minimal timescale, however drafts have to be accomplished by the top of 2021. All tales will probably be topic to modifying, fact-checking, and authorized assessment.
Listed here are a few of the key issues we’ll require within the first stage of the appliance course of.
- A well-written define of your story or undertaking of not more than 750 phrases. We’re in search of a compelling pitch that provides an summary of the folks, locations, info, and points that you may be bringing into the highlight.
- A reporting plan that features (a) a proposed timeline and (b) an evidence of how you propose to report in a covid-safe method on the communities you might be targeted on. Velocity isn’t a think about our choice, but it surely’s good to know the way you propose to hold out the duty of researching, reporting, and producing your story.
- A written private assertion (most 500 phrases) telling us about your prior work, related experiences and your connection to the group you’re proposing to cowl.
- Three samples of authentic work. If this isn’t freely out there on-line (for instance, it’s behind a paywall, or solely out there in print) please present PDF information.
- Newsroom fellowship candidates will probably be required to submit a letterhead assertion confirming that you’ve the help of your publication.
Shortlisted candidates will probably be requested to supply extra info, together with a breakdown of how they’d spend the fellowship award, reply a questionnaire in regards to the dangers their undertaking faces, and provide two letters of advice.
When you’ve got any questions on this utility course of, you’ll be able to contact senior editor Bobbie Johnson by email.
