Intern

The American Journalism Project’s mission is to establish and sustain local journalism as a public good by helping to build and launch nonprofit local news organizations. We are accepting applications for a 3-month internship program with our startup and portfolio success teams, which will provide interns with professional training and exposure to various aspects of launching, growing, and raising money for nonprofit newsrooms.

Interns may take part in researching local news markets, developing concepts for sustainable civic news organizations, designing support for existing organizations in AJP’s portfolio, and reporting on the successes of our grantees. We are seeking someone who has passion for local news, is a quick study of new concepts, and who will approach research and problem-solving with creativity and tenacity.

This is a paid internship. For the foreseeable future, all internships are fully remote, but we prefer interns to be based in a state where AJP has staff (CA, DC, GA, IL, MD, MI, NJ, NY, PA, VA).

Start date: Rolling
Duration: 3 months
We are open to full-time and part-time applicants.
Interns are paid $18 per hour

Who We Are

We’re an entrepreneurial team working to re-shape the future of local news in our country. We’re passionate about journalism, civic engagement, and how local news plays a unique role in shaping our democracy. We help build and grow sustainable local nonprofit news organizations all over the country — through financial investment, venture support, and movement building — that are governed by, sustained by and look like the public they serve.

Your Team

We are a distributed team and strive to maintain a healthy, fun, and productive workplace, working alongside smart, energetic colleagues who enjoy one another and the work. Meet our full team.

Our Values

• Local First: We know that local journalism must serve and be led by local communities. We make a practice of listening to, and making decisions with – not for – those communities, and connecting them to find strength in each other.
• Bold Leadership: We understand the severe economic challenge facing local news and thus democracy, and we embrace a sense of possibility with courage, urgency, and perseverance.
• Constant Learning: We recognize the unknown in front of us. Therefore, we operate with humility and a commitment to continuous improvement and collaboration.
• Commitment to Equity: We commit to creating a better, more diverse, and more inclusive news media that advances human and civil rights. We actively fight against injustice and racism, and that starts with doing the work ourselves.
• Integrity: We accept the responsibility of earning trust every day. We operate with honesty, transparency, dignity, and respect, and without allegiance to party, ideology, profit, or power.

The Position

• Learn how AJP works with entrepreneurs to deploy new local news business models
• Help provide ongoing strategic and operational support to startup founders and newsroom leaders
• Conduct objective market research to help us become experts in a place and identify information needs

Who You Are

This role is a fit if…

• You are passionate about serving public information needs and excited to imagine concepts to fill them in
• You want to pursue a career sustaining journalism and local news
• You thrive in an environment where you’re required to think outside the box

What background and skills do you have? (We know not all strong candidates will have all the skills we list. That’s OK. What else do you bring to the table? Please tell us!):

• Exceptional writing, research, and interviewing skills
• Comfortable collecting and making sense of data to tell a story
• Ability to work collaboratively across a multidisciplinary team
• Experience in any type of strategic role, in school or in the workplace
• Curious to understand the needs and perspectives of communities other than your own

Please submit an application through our portal. Download the full job description here. If you have any questions please feel free to email careers@theajp.org with “Internship” in the subject line.

The American Journalism Project is dedicated to equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees. The American Journalism Project encourages people of all races, colors, national origins, ancestries, creeds, religions, genders, ages, disabilities, veteran status, sexual orientations, and marital statuses to apply.