Program Overview

Introduction to the Summer Investigative Reporting Course

The Summer Investigative Reporting Course is a comprehensive program designed for journalists worldwide who report stories as well as editors who manage investigative projects or teams. The course focuses on developing a major project, but the lessons are intended to be used by journalists in their everyday reporting.

Program Overview

The course covers the fundamentals of investigative reporting, including:

• How to develop investigative story ideas and the stages of an investigative project
• How to develop a hypothesis and test it through reporting
• How to find documents and data internationally to substantiate claims and support findings
• How to understand and use financial documents to investigate companies
• How to interview sources for stories, including those reluctant to talk
• How to bulletproof information for an investigation, both legally and ethically
• How to tell an investigation across media platforms
• How to structure and write the long-form narrative

Throughout the program, faculty provide instruction on using digital tools for researching and finding sources, including:

• How to find data and acquire, clean, and analyze it
• How to use data to build an investigative story and drive shoe-leather reporting
• How to find the human face behind the data and connect findings to people on the ground
• How to collect and structure data from websites, online services, and social media platforms
• How to use video, still images, audio, and other open-source reporting to build an investigative story

Program Structure

The program is designed to help participants develop a major project, with workshops focusing on developing a major project but lessons intended to be used by journalists in their everyday reporting. Beat reporters from all departments are encouraged to consider attending.

Eligibility and Application Requirements

The Summer Investigative Reporting Course is for journalists worldwide who report stories as well as editors who manage investigative projects or teams. Fellows from every media platform – newspapers, magazines, television, radio, wire services, and digital news outlets – are encouraged to apply. University journalism educators who wish to teach investigative reporting may also apply.

A strong competence in spoken and written English is required. This workshop is not for beginners; it requires that participants have an extensive background in journalism. Participants should arrive with basic Excel skills to better utilize the data training.

Application requirements include:

• A CV
• A letter of support from a direct supervisor or manager (freelancers can submit a letter from an editor with whom they have worked)
• A statement outlining experience and interest in the program
• Three (3) work samples
• A complete story pitch following the format outlined in the program's story memo

Program Fees and Scholarships

Tuition is $7,500, which covers the cost of the course itself, as well as lunch on class days. It does not include travel, lodging, or other expenses associated with living in New York City for three full weeks.

The program offers two different scholarship opportunities:

• The TX Group scholarship, which is open to investigative reporters and editors living and working in Africa, Latin America, and Asia
• The Reynolds Foundation scholarship, which is open to aspiring investigative reporters and editors living and working in Latin America

Scholarship Details

• The TX Group scholarship includes tuition and course fees, economy airfare to New York City, ground transportation, and lodging during the course
• The Reynolds Foundation scholarship covers full tuition and course fees, round-trip economy airfare to New York City, ground transportation, and lodging for the duration of the program

Faculty and Instruction

Instruction is provided by professors who are part of Columbia Journalism School’s full-time and adjunct faculty and by other professional journalists around the country with extensive experience conducting investigations and teaching. Faculty members are multiple winners of the most prestigious journalism awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, Alfred I. duPont Prize, and Maria Moors Cabot Prize for coverage of the Americas.

The Summer Investigative Reporting Course is designed in conjunction with Columbia Journalism Investigations, the school's post-graduate reporting program and investigative reporting unit. The program is directed by Kristen Lombardi, the CJI investigative editor and adjunct faculty member. Under her editorial leadership, CJI investigations have won national and regional accolades from the Association of Health Care Journalists, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the South Carolina Press Association, among others.