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ProPublica’s Emerging Reporters Program provides support and guidance to college students who are pursuing a career in the field of investigative reporting and need additional training and financial assistance to achieve their goals.
Participants receive a $9,000 stipend, a trip to the annual NICAR Investigative Reporting Conference, and occasional training and speaker presentations. They also pair one-on-one with ProPublica journalists who can help advise them on stories, build connections within the industry, and introduce them to different paths toward a career in investigative reporting. can. Past budding reporters have worked at news organizations such as The New York Times, Associated Press, Fresno Land, and Capital B.
Our goal is to encourage the next generation of journalists to produce stories with the moral power to shine a light on abuses of power and inspire change. When choosing classes, we look for students who have an early commitment to journalism as a career, whether through an internship, working for a local news organization, or working for a campus publication. And when those opportunities (often unpaid) are not available, we look for other ways for students to demonstrate their desire and desire to learn the craft.
The 2024-25 Distinguished Student Journalists class hails from New York, Connecticut, Georgia, North Carolina, and Washington, DC. Throughout the application process, we were impressed by their experience and desire to pursue ambitious and important articles at a very early stage. career. Through their work, students demonstrated a desire to not only pursue a career in investigative journalism, but also to build trust and impact the communities they cover.
As they look forward to their futures after college, they’re thinking, like any good investigative journalist, about how they can do deeper, more exciting work.
This year’s emerging reporters have their sights set on covering issues around public transportation, affordable housing, the environment and climate change through their stories. They want to use audio to make their research easier to understand for the average listener. Some already work part-time for local news outlets on pressing issues in the area, while others work for student media organizations in print and broadcast.
Introducing the Class of 2024.
Aisha Baiocchi
Aisha Baiocchi is a fourth-year dual-enrollment student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University studying journalism and international comparative studies. She is passionate about community journalism and bilingual reporting in Spanish. She is the special projects editor for the university’s independent student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel. She previously served as a Metro intern at the Tampa Bay Times and participated in a student project with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
Amira Mackie
Amira McKee is a fourth-year student at Columbia University studying sociology. She is the research director for the campus newspaper, the Columbia Daily Spectator, and an intern in NBC’s investigative department. Over the summer, she interned at The Current, a Georgia-based nonprofit investigative news agency, investigating trauma at Hyundai’s first electric vehicle factory in the United States. McKee held internships at ABC New York and the Bronx Times. She also participated in the 2024 Politico Journalism Institute and Dow Jones News Foundation Business Reporting Program. Her research interests include labor, law enforcement, and economic inequality.
Chaya Tong
Chaya Tong is a senior at Emory University studying Biology and English. She is a part-time investigative reporter at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. As an intern, Tong has covered Georgia politics and policy for the Georgia Recorder, covered breaking news for the Daily Beast, and worked on the investigative teams at the Chronicle of Higher Education and The Washington Post. She recently reported on race and inequality for the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating, Tong hopes to continue reporting on racial and political issues as a journalist.
trinity webster base
Trinity Webster-Bass is a senior broadcast journalism major and African American studies minor at Howard University. She is president of the Howard Chapter of the Ida B. Wells Investigative Journalism Association and contributes to The Hilltop as an audio producer for the podcast “The Hill Talks.” Her media experience includes internships at NPR affiliate WJCT-FM in Jacksonville, Florida, and the WHUR-FM music department at Howard University. She was also the producer of “Queer Seminar,” the third episode of the podcast “1619: The College Edition,” in collaboration with Spotify. Webster-Bass is interested in using investigative storytelling through audio reporting to amplify the voices of individuals from diverse backgrounds.
Terrell Wright
Terrell Wright is a senior at the University of Connecticut majoring in political economy and history. He writes for Connecticut Public Radio and The Day. His reporting on Gen Z’s struggles to find affordable housing in the region won the 2023 Public Occurrence Award from the New England Newspaper Writers Association. Wright served as an economics intern at the Wall Street Journal during the 2024 presidential campaign. Mr. Wright is a recipient of the National Association of Black Journalists Fellowship and an alumnus of the Dow Jones News Foundation. He is interested in humanizing national trends impacting underreported communities.
Cedeem Gumbs contributed to the research.
