Wisconsin Watch seeks a pathways to success reporter who will expand our coverage of issues surrounding postsecondary education and workforce training. The right candidate will be a curious, collaborative, deep listener who can understand bureaucracies and economic trends that affect peoples’ lives. 

Wisconsin Watch provides trustworthy reporting that investigates problems, explores solutions and serves the public. We aim to strengthen the quality of community life and self-government in Wisconsin by providing people with the knowledge they need to navigate their lives, drive forward solutions and hold those with power accountable. We pursue the truth through accurate, fair, independent, rigorous, nonpartisan reporting. 

Click here to apply to this job.

Why pathways to success? 

Funding cuts and other financial pressures have forced higher education institutions to rely more heavily on tuition — increasing affordability challenges for students and affecting the quality of education. Meanwhile, Wisconsin faces a shortage of skilled workers, including in manufacturing, construction, health care, agriculture and information technology. This shortage is exacerbated by an aging workforce, particularly in rural areas, and a gap between the skills employers need and those job seekers have. 

Reporting on this beat will help policymakers and civic leaders understand how to expand pathways to jobs. It will also help Wisconsin residents learn the skills needed to build thriving careers. We’re taking a different approach to higher education coverage than news outlets traditionally do. Rather than prioritizing breaking news or scandals at major universities, we’re centering the experiences of learners, families, and employers to better understand how the state’s broader postsecondary landscape meets their needs. That includes paying close attention to technical colleges and trades programs. 

Job duties

The reporter will: 

• Work with the Wisconsin Watch managing editor and other colleagues to frame, report and write news stories. These stories will appear on Wisconsin Watch platforms and be distributed to news outlets across Wisconsin and the country.
• Listen to those struggling to find family supporting jobs and to those unable to fill positions to find disconnects between workforce recruitment, development and training and those who are underemployed. Find evidence-based best practices to address this challenge.
• Develop sources in secondary and postsecondary education, industries struggling to fill jobs, workforce development, labor and the general public to identify breakdowns in systems, information gaps and success stories that could inform pathways to success.
• Research the jobs that will be in high demand for years to come to inform reporting on effective programs for gaining the necessary skills to perform these jobs, from jobs in nursing and health care, where demographics show increasing demand, to developing technologies, such as those in artificial intelligence and robotics.
• Work with the Wisconsin Watch audience team to make sure this reporting reaches the people who most need the information.
• Cultivate collegial and productive relationships with collaborating news organizations to gather and analyze data, research best practices and maximize impact on stories with national scope. This includes Open Campus, a national news network aiming to improve higher education coverage.

At Wisconsin Watch we make sure that we are producing quality journalism and give our reporters the time they need to make sure the job is done well.

Required qualifications

The ideal candidate will bring a public service mindset and  a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisan journalism ethics, including a commitment to abide by Wisconsin Watch’s ethics policies. More specifically, we’re looking for a reporter who: 

• Has researched, reported and written original published news stories and/or features on deadline.
• Has demonstrated the ability to formulate compelling story pitches to editors. 
• Aches to report stories that explore solutions to challenges residents face. 
• Has experience with or ideas about the many different ways newsrooms can inform the public — from narrative investigations and features, to Q&As and ‘how-to’ explainers or visual stories.
• Has experience working with others. Wisconsin Watch is a deeply collaborative organization. Our journalists frequently team up with each other or with colleagues at other news outlets to maximize the potential impact of our reporting. 

Bonus Skills:

• Be able to analyze and visually present data. 
• Familiarity with Wisconsin, its history and its politics. 
• Multimedia skills including photography, audio and video.
• Spanish-language proficiency.

Don’t check off every box in the requirements listed above? Please apply anyway! 

Wisconsin Watch is dedicated to building an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible workplace that fosters a sense of belonging – so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to still consider submitting an application. You may be just the right candidate for this role or another one of our openings!

Location

 The pathways to success reporter should be located in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Watch is a statewide news organization with staff based in Madison, Milwaukee and Green Bay.  

Salary and benefits 

The salary range is $45,500-$64,500. Final offer amounts will carefully consider multiple factors and higher compensation may be available for someone with advanced skills and/or experience. Wisconsin Watch offers competitive benefits, including generous vacation (five weeks), a retirement fund contribution, paid sick days, paid family and caregiver leave, subsidized medical and dental premiums, vision coverage, and more.

Deadline

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. For best consideration, apply by Jan. 10, 2025.

To apply

Please submit a PDF of your resume and answer some brief questions in this application form, and send links or PDFs of four published writing samples to Managing Editor Jim Malewitz at jmalewitz@wisconsinwatch.org. Contact Jim if you’d like to chat about the job before applying.

Wisconsin Watch is dedicated to improving our newsroom by better reflecting the people we cover. We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities. We are an equal-opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, or any other status protected under applicable law.

Wisconsin Watch seeks a pathways to success reporter is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) is a national organization whose mission is to ensure that people in every community have access to trustworthy news and reliable information about issues that affect them. Today, it supports more than 475 independent newsrooms across the country to leverage their collective power – helping them raise funds, grow their audiences, and learn from each other. 

Wisconsin Watch is a founding member of INN, and we are honored to be one of several local news organizations featured in INN’s 15th Anniversary video released today, explaining why independent newsrooms are so vital, and the role they play in the communities they serve. 

One of the key ways that INN supports community-focused newsrooms like ours is through its annual Newsmatch campaign, which awards matching funds to member news organizations that set and reach certain goals in their end-of-year fundraising campaigns. 

This year, Wisconsin Watch has a goal of getting 100 new donors between Nov 1 and Dec 31. We are nearly there, and if you aren’t already a donor, your support could make all the difference to our newsroom. 

Click here to donate now. 

Or, if you prefer to give by check, you can do so by mailing your gift to Wisconsin Watch, P.O. Box 5079, Milwaukee, WI 53205. 

Video: Institute for Nonprofit News features Wisconsin Watch is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin Watch is seeking an intern to report on information and accountability gaps in rural Wisconsin communities that lack robust news coverage, telling stories that explore solutions to broken systems and center the voices of community members.

This internship is available through a Scripps Howard Fund/Institute for Nonprofit News partnership, which in 2025 is supporting 13 paid internships for journalism students in newsrooms across the country. 

Applications for the INN/Fund internships close on Jan. 31. Apply here.

The Wisconsin Watch reporter will:

• Work with the Wisconsin Watch managing editor and other colleagues to frame, report and write news stories that fill information and accountability gaps and seek solutions to challenges faced by rural Wisconsin residents. These stories will appear on Wisconsin Watch platforms and be distributed to news outlets across Wisconsin.
• Cultivate collegial and productive relationships with collaborating news organizations. This could include sharing bylines on high-impact stories.

At Wisconsin Watch we make sure that we are producing quality journalism and give our reporters the time they need to make sure the job is done well. Stories could take anywhere from one week to one to two months to report and write, depending on the complexity and timeliness of the issue and access to data. 

This intern will be expected to work approximately 40 hours per week throughout the reporter’s time at Wisconsin Watch. No additional benefits are included.

Location

This reporter must live in Wisconsin (the exact location is negotiable) and would have opportunities to work within Wisconsin Watch’s Madison and Milwaukee newsrooms. Wisconsin Watch is a hybrid workplace, meaning work on some days can be performed remotely. But the intern would be expected to conduct some of the reporting in person, depending on the story, and would work with the managing editor to map out a schedule for occasional work from the newsroom. 

Duration

This is a temporary position, with the expectation of work full time (40 hours/week) over 10 weeks.

Compensation 

The reporter will earn $15 per hour. 

Once selected, an intern can apply to the Fund for an additional grant to help with housing, relocation and other expenses to support the ability to accept an internship. Those applications will open in the spring. 

About Wisconsin Watch 

Wisconsin Watch is a nonpartisan, independent nonprofit with offices in Madison and Milwaukee.

Our mission is “to increase the quality, quantity and understanding of investigative journalism to foster an informed citizenry and strengthen democracy.” Our multimedia journalism digs into undercovered issues, documents inequitable and failing systems, puts findings into regional and national contexts and explores potential solutions. We aim to generate impact that improves people’s lives and holds power to account. Wisconsin Watch also trains diverse groups of current and future investigative journalists and entrepreneurs through workshops, internships and fellowships, mentoring and collaborations with journalism classes and news organizations. And we share information about journalistic practices, ethics and impact with the public.

Wisconsin Watch embraces diversity and inclusiveness in our journalism, training activities, hiring practices and workplace operations. The complex issues we face as a society require respect for different viewpoints. Race, class, generation, sexual orientation, gender, disability and geography all affect point of view. Reflecting these differences in our reporting leads to better, more nuanced stories and a better-informed community.

We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including Black, Indigenous and other people of color, LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities.

Wisconsin Watch seeks reporting intern to serve rural Wisconsin communities is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

In an era of endless social media feeds, push alerts and newsletters competing for your attention, we appreciate the time you spend with our reporting. 

We work hard to produce stories with a long shelf life — those with actionable information that make you think for weeks or months after reading them. That’s why we get excited when we learn that particular stories are resonating. 

As we look back on 2024, we’re highlighting the stories that seemed to most interest you, at least according to the time readers on average spent on their web pages. If you missed them earlier, perhaps that’s enough endorsement to give them a read.

If you have feedback on our work, we always want to hear it. Let us know how by emailing me at jmalewitz@wisconsinwatch.org.

The businessman: Pig farm developer gains little trust in Wisconsin town. He doesn’t particularly care.

We published this story at the end of 2023, but folks were reading it well into 2024 and devoting more time on average than they did for any other story this year. 

Reporter Bennet Goldstein illustrated how a pig farm developer failed to earn the trust of Trade Lake, Wisconsin, residents as the community learned of their vulnerability to potential environmental harms from agricultural operations. This was part of the three-part series Hogtied, which examined the political, regulatory and economic forces shaping a proposal to build Wisconsin’s largest pig farm.

The Gospel of Matthew Trewhella: How a militant anti-abortion activist is influencing Republican politics

ProPublica Local Reporting Network investigative reporter Phoebe Petrovic told the story of how a Waukesha County anti-abortion extremist went from political pariah to ideological influencer. Matthew Trewhella regained favor among some Republicans by exhorting local government officials to reject state and federal laws that don’t conform with God’s laws based on an obscure 16th-century theory known as “the doctrine of the lesser magistrates.”

In a separate first-person essay Petrovic explained why the story is important, and she later more broadly detailed how the religious right came to influence the 2024 election. That was another story that readers spent more time with compared to most others. 

These doctors were censured. Wisconsin’s prisons hired them anyway. 

Wisconsin Watch’s Mario Koran, in collaboration with The New York Times, investigated the checkered disciplinary records of Wisconsin prison doctors.

He found that nearly a third of the 60 staff physicians employed over the last decade were censured by a state medical board for an error or breach of ethics. Many doctors went on to face lawsuits from inmates saying that they made errors that led to serious harm, leading to hundreds of thousands of dollars in payouts. Many of the physicians would likely struggle to get hired at hospitals and in other settings because of those histories, a former state Medical Examining Board chairman told Koran. 

Review of Wisconsin talk radio finds stark divides, misinformation

This was part of a six-part series, Change is on the Air, produced by Wisconsin Watch and investigative journalism students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison about the changing state of talk radio in Wisconsin. 

In fact-checking six radio hosts across the political spectrum, the students found a disturbing reality that spoke to our current political moment: The shows spreading the most misinformation had the largest audience and most advertising. Readers also spent more time on the page of the series overview story than most other 2024 stories. 

‘A shoot can be legal. That doesn’t mean it was necessary.’ Fatal police encounters rise in Wisconsin

In his final story for Wisconsin Watch as a Report for America fellow, Jacob Resneck dug into the disturbing rise in police-involved deaths in Wisconsin over the past two years. The attorney general and the largest police union said the increase was due to more incidents involving armed and dangerous individuals. That’s despite the fact that violent crime is down, and such incidents make up a smaller share of incidents here than in neighboring states. Wisconsin at the time saw more fatal encounters than Illinois, despite having only half the population.

How Milwaukee’s SDC unraveled: weak controls, little oversight

Addie Costello of Wisconsin Watch and WPR traced the backstory of what happened to Milwaukee’s Social Development Commission, which shuttered and laid off its entire staff in April. State and local agencies awarded the intergovernmental commission big contracts even after SDC eliminated internal auditing mechanisms. She found that SDC was created by governments but functioned outside of them. Government officials told her they largely focused on how SDC executes contracts with their individual offices — rather than broader operations issues.

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service reporter Meredith Melland contributed reporting to the investigation. She has closely chronicled other twists and turns at SDC, which provided a range of services such as emergency furnace installation, tax support, career advancement, senior companionship and rent assistance for low-income Milwaukee residents.

How Hmong women in Wisconsin are tackling domestic violence in their communities 

Reporter Zhen Wang wrote about a group of Hmong women who are pushing back against attitudes that prevent women from reporting abuse and leaving violent relationships. That includes offering safe housing, counseling and more representation in mediation processes that typically precede a divorce sanctioned by Hmong leaders. The women are also speaking out in an ongoing debate about the role patriarchal attitudes play in shaping scenarios that can prove deadly.

Relatedly, Wang reported on the promise Wisconsin officials see in “housing first” support of domestic violence survivors.

Wisconsin seniors face housing upheaval as assisted living homes reject Medicaid 

Assisted living can offer residents more independence and a less institutionalized setting than in traditional nursing homes. But Addie Costello of Wisconsin Watch and WPR found that assisted living residents have fewer protections for residents transitioning to Medicaid. At least four Wisconsin assisted living facilities involuntarily discharged residents who required Medicaid assistance between 2022 and 2023.

Meanwhile, Medicaid reimbursements lag far behind the cost of care, prompting some facilities to refuse to accept anything but private pay. 

Poopspotting: How AI and satellites can detect illegal manure spreading in Wisconsin

Reporter Bennet Goldstein last year received a cryptic Excel spreadsheet through a public records request. Although he didn’t understand it at the time, the document contained a list of potential illegal manure spreading incidents that were noticed by satellites orbiting the Earth.

That information led to this engaging story on how Stanford University researchers have used aerial photographs — snapped by satellites — to teach computers to recognize winter spreading. This all matters because applying manure atop snow or frozen soil heightens the risk of runoff, which can contaminate water, spread pathogens, seed algae blooms and kill fish.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

Revisit the Wisconsin Watch stories that resonated in 2024 is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Today we’re launching Public Square, an occasional photography series introducing your neighbors from across Wisconsin. 

The project aims to highlight the roles people play in their communities throughout the state. In one story, we might profile residents finding solutions to issues facing their cities and towns. In another, we may share someone’s unique perspective on where they fit into their community. 

Throughout the project, we’ll ask people the same questions and make photographs in a similar style — taking something of an informal visual census of the state. We’ll ask:

• What do you love about Wisconsin, and what might you want to fix? 
• What issues do you care about, and how do they impact your life? 
• Where do you find community, and how do you feel about the future? 

Finally, we’ll ask who else we should talk to and where we should next travel so our project can continue fostering connections across the state. At Wisconsin Watch, we want to do more than tell stories of people facing challenges. We want to share your everyday moments of joy, reflection and curiosity. It’s what makes this state great.

Meet your first neighbor here: Arthur Kohl-Riggs, an optimistic practitioner of handstands who works as a legal investigator and once earned thousands of votes as a protest candidate for governor. 

If you know of anyone in your community who we should feature in this visual project, please email me at jtimmerman@wisconsinwatch.org.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

Public Square: Portraits of your neighbors from across Wisconsin is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Jessica Adams has joined Wisconsin Watch as the director of partnerships for northeast Wisconsin.

With over 15 years of experience in nonprofit leadership, research and partnership development, Jessica will play a key role in expanding Wisconsin Watch’s presence in the Green Bay and Fox Valley regions. Her efforts will focus on building meaningful community relationships and securing strategic partnerships that support our mission of delivering impactful investigative journalism statewide.

Jessica’s career includes significant achievements in fostering collaborations across various sectors, including education and family support. Most recently, she served as the director of wellness promotion and violence prevention at St. Norbert College, where she was instrumental in securing partnerships, leading fundraising initiatives and strengthening community connections.

Jessica holds a master’s in nonprofit management from Regis University and dual bachelor’s degrees in sociology and peace, conflict and global studies from Northland College.

Her expertise in partnership strategy and community engagement aligns seamlessly with Wisconsin Watch’s mission to provide essential news and information. Jessica’s leadership will be pivotal as we expand our reach and impact in northeast Wisconsin, addressing key community needs and information gaps.

We’re thrilled to welcome Jessica to Wisconsin Watch and look forward to her fresh perspective as we work together to deepen our connections and grow our statewide efforts.

Jessica Adams joins Wisconsin Watch as director of partnerships for northeast Wisconsin is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Cecilia Dobbs officially began her role as the director of audience and membership development at Wisconsin Watch on Oct. 21, 2024.

With over 15 years of strategic expertise, including a decade in the media and news industry, Cecilia will lead efforts to deepen audience engagement and grow membership across Wisconsin. She has a proven track record in digital strategy, audience research and community-driven editorial initiatives, making her a key addition to our team.

Her experience includes serving as vice president of US product at The Guardian and as director of digital strategy at Fox News, overseeing significant research, product and user experience developments. Recently, her work has focused on nonprofit and community-based participatory research, including roles like research and evaluation officer at Welsh Women’s Aid.

Cecilia’s expertise in people-centered product design, digital engagement and community advocacy perfectly aligns with Wisconsin Watch’s mission to produce investigative journalism that informs and empowers the public. Her leadership will be crucial as we continue to grow and serve diverse communities statewide.

We’re excited to welcome Cecilia to Milwaukee, where she will support our statewide efforts and collaborate with Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. Her fresh perspectives and innovative approach will help shape our membership strategies and engagement efforts for the future.

Cecilia Dobbs joins Wisconsin Watch as director of audience and membership development is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin Watch founders Andy and Dee Hall were recently awarded the 2024 Service to Nonprofit News Award, the biggest honor from the Institute for Nonprofit News.

INN bestowed the honor last month in Atlanta at an awards ceremony co-emceed by INN board member Ron Smith, editor of the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, which recently merged with Wisconsin Watch.

Wisconsin Watch state bureau chief Matthew DeFour was named a finalist for INN’s Nonprofit Newcomer of the Year Award, which honors an individual who has been in the nonprofit news field for less than two years and is contributing to the success of the person’s organization through innovation.

And environmental reporter Bennet Goldstein and managing editor Jim Malewitz were also named finalists for the Insight Award for Explanatory Journalism in the medium division for Hogtied, a three-part series examining the siting of a concentrated animal feeding operation in northern Wisconsin.

“It’s humbling to be honored by an organization and its members who have given so much to us and to our country,” Andy said in accepting the top award at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. “News that INN members provide is crucial to our democracy and our way of life. It has plugged some of the massive holes left by the for-profit business model.”

Andy, who retired last year after 15 years as executive director of Wisconsin Watch, recalled being among the founding members of INN in 2009, then known as the Investigative News Network. Roughly 30 members signed an “idealistic declaration” that its mission is “to aid and abet in every conceivable way individually and collectively the work and public reach of its member news organizations,” “to foster the highest quality investigative journalism and to hold those in power accountable at the local, national and international levels.”

Dee, previously managing editor at Wisconsin Watch and now editor-in-chief of Floodlight, a national investigative outlet reporting on climate issues, said INN has “become that and more for the burgeoning nonprofit news sector.” The organization has grown to more than 450 members.

Andy and Dee shared their predictions for the future of nonprofit news:

• The nonprofit news industry will continue to face intensified pressures from dis- and misinformation, but journalists, particularly INN members, will adapt.
• INN will play a leadership role in determining best practices.
• More newsrooms will merge.
• Newsrooms will continue to team up and share business and journalistic functions to maximize others’ returns on their investments.
• Newsroom cuts and reorganizations will continue, affecting start-ups as well as established larger news organizations.

“At their best these changes will create newsrooms that are more representative of the communities that they cover and more adept at digging into the stories that most need to be told as we rebuild the local news ecosystem all across the nation,” Andy said.

Wisconsin Watch founders honored for contributions to nonprofit news is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS) is looking for a reporter to investigate and report on health disparities and issues affecting Milwaukee, particularly those impacting communities of color.

Description

If you care passionately about informing readers about health-related topics and giving Milwaukee residents the information they need to navigate complicated systems, then the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service wants to hear from you.

We seek a reporter who can dig into issues such as the city’s ongoing lead crisis; infant mortality; the lingering effects of COVID; and how residents can live healthier lives. We want someone who can aggressively and masterfully cover the Milwaukee Health Department and other governmental entities while shining a light –  and solutions –  on health disparities that plague our communities of color in Milwaukee.

You will also be a key contributor to News 414, a reader-engagement initiative that delivers resources to community residents via texts and other forms of outreach.

Because we serve Black and Brown communities that have been misrepresented, ignored or only get media attention when there is crime and conflict, NNS has a three-pronged editorial agenda. We celebrate the resilience of residents by consistently and unapologetically spotlighting the good works of our community leaders and organizations. We educate our readers by connecting them to resources that can help uncomplicate their busy lives. And we illuminate through good shoe-leather watchdog reporting issues that create much-needed dialogue while holding institutions and leaders accountable.

This job requires curiosity, creativity and tenacity. We seek reporters who have initiative, resolve and the willingness to dig deep while simultaneously centering the voices of communities of color into their stories. We are not looking for stenographers who summarize meetings or rewrite news releases. Instead, we seek journalists who can connect the dots and deliver insightful stories that leave our readers better informed.

What you can expect from us

The Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS) is an ambitious nonprofit newsroom that serves the city’s Black and Latinx communities. Our readers are our neighbors, and filling their information needs is our top priority.

We are a division of Wisconsin Watch, a statewide nonprofit that focuses on high-quality, impactful journalism, and have offices in Marquette University’s Diederich College of Communication.

We value collaboration, communication and creativity. And we hire people for who they are … and for what they can become. We want everyone to win.

What makes an outstanding candidate

You’re a good fit if:

• You have a demonstrated commitment to the use of investigative journalism and you live to develop and execute sustained, powerful stories that spur reform.
• You are organized and can handle multiple projects under tight deadlines.
• You have a collaborative spirit and want to work with a team to give central city Milwaukee residents the journalism they want, need and deserve. You believe that we are all stronger together.
• You believe that legacy models for local media’s business and journalism are broken and that new approaches are needed to serve the public and our democracy.
• You have sharp news judgment and a strong record of detailed reporting and powerful storytelling.
• You are obsessed with accuracy and transparency.
• You have adept interviewing skills: This reporter will need to talk to high-level officials and neighborhood residents.
• You have some proficiency – or at least interest – in working with data and public records.
• You have strong people skills and an affinity for working with others.
• You believe in our North Star: to give Milwaukee residents the newsroom they deserve.
• Audio or video reporting skills are a plus.

Responsibilities:

The reporter will: 

• Work with the managing editor to strategize, frame, report and write news and feature stories. 
• Develop sources in the medical community and engage members of the public in identifying the information gaps that need to be filled. 
• Write two to three stories a week and contribute to community engagement efforts.

Location: The reporter will be based in Milwaukee. Some evening and weekend work is necessary. We have a hybrid workplace and expect you to be more in the community than in our office.

We know no one is perfect

We expect great things. But we know no one can have all the skills listed above. So apply anyway.

We encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ people, veterans and people with disabilities. We believe that a newsroom that includes a broad range of life experiences will ultimately produce better journalism.

What we want to see from you

• A cover letter telling us why you seek the position and why you are the right person for our team.
• A resume.
• Links or PDF files of at least three examples of your best work.
  • (Send to rsmith@milwaukeenns.org; please put “Health Reporter Application Materials” in the e-mail subject line.)

You can reach out to Executive Director Ron Smith and discuss this position. He can be reached at rsmith@milwaukeenns.org. Please put “Health Reporter” in the e-mail subject line.

Salary

$40,000 – $45,000 per year

Click here to apply.

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service seeks health reporter is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin Watch has joined forces with Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS) to launch an exciting new chapter in which we work together to bring communities the news and information most important to them.

Our partnership has been years in the making. After working together for several years on news projects, we began teaming up to raise key fundraising support that will allow both operations to flourish. Our partnership has yielded many innovative projects, including the News414 text reporting system, where we send vital news to folks who can also text questions and tips to us.

Now we’re working to build a brighter future for local news in Wisconsin upon that foundation of collaboration.

NNS will continue to operate as an independent newsroom under its founding mission to serve, empower and engage the city of Milwaukee with community-focused news. The entire NNS staff has joined Wisconsin Watch, including Ron Smith, executive director, who will be enshrined next month in the Milwaukee Press Club Hall of Fame; Tannette Elie, managing editor, recently named president of the Milwaukee chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists; and PrincessSafiya Byers, a finalist for the prestigious national Loeb Awards for her collaboration with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the challenges residents face when out-of-state investors buy rental properties in distressed neighborhoods.

We’re excited that the American Journalism Project (AJP) believes in our mission and has invested in our partnership. In 2021, Wisconsin Watch and NNS shared a capacity-building grant from the American Journalism Project, the nation’s first venture philanthropy dedicated to nonprofit local news. AJP has increased its investment to support our strategic growth in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. 

“Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service are vital to the future of local news in Wisconsin. We are proud to partner with them on this strategic merger,” said Jason Alcorn, vice president for growth investments at AJP. “Together, they will not only expand their reach but also strengthen their organization and enhance their ability to serve the public with high-quality, trustworthy journalism that empowers communities and holds institutions accountable.”

Our purpose at Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service is to ask questions our neighbors want answered, understand obstacles they’re struggling to overcome, discover wrongs they hope to right – and bring remedies to light. This is how we solve problems and strengthen communities in our democracy.

Both organizations rose to fill growing gaps in local coverage as commercial news outlets were forced to reduce costs after new technologies changed the way people shop, advertise and get their news. Given the loss of reporters covering local government and community life, we must nurture collaborative efforts, where newsrooms work together to gather the resources necessary to tell the stories that matter most. We need to use every local reporter we’ve still got in Wisconsin and build from there.

As a local nonprofit with a mission of providing impactful reporting — and sharing it freely — Wisconsin Watch is the news organization best suited to encourage this collaborative effort across our state. Strengthened by our combination with NNS, we’ll listen to learn of the most pressing information needs in Milwaukee and across Wisconsin, then find ways to fill them.

For example:

In 2022 Wisconsin Watch launched a statehouse bureau that provides trustworthy, nonpartisan reporting and fact-checking to more than 200 news outlets across the state. We’re not duplicating what other reporters are doing, but providing statewide audiences with key accountability journalism not available from other sources.

We’re building up our statewide investigative muscle to offer our services as an in-depth reporting team for all newsrooms in the state that no longer have the resources to dig deep. This type of reporting is critical to uncovering wrongdoing and bringing real-world solutions to light, so we the people can demand better. 

We’re finding ways to serve folks who aren’t getting enough accurate, fact-based local news today. A case in point: We’re taking our fact checks and political reporting, as well as highlights from our investigations, and converting them into radio reports and social video shorts. The audio formats, shared freely with radio stations, will deliver trustworthy local news to areas of the state with low broadband access and usage; the video shorts will be shared on social networks where young audiences increasingly get their news and information. 

These are just a few examples. We can only fill these critical gaps with help from supporters like you. Please consider donating to Wisconsin Watch and NNS today. 

If you’d like to learn more about contributing to our work, please reach out to our director of philanthropy, Anna January, at ajanuary@wisconsinwatch.org.

Thank you!

Wisconsin Watch and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service merge to bolster local news is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Words matter in journalism, but so do images. 

Visual journalism allows people to see themselves and their neighbors in our work. Strong visuals can also elicit feelings and help folks feel connected to communities outside of their own, while making our work more digestible and shareable.  

Wisconsin Watch has long valued visuals, as exemplified by the quality photos and illustrations accompanying our major investigations. But as a small newsroom with a small budget, our visual journalism long depended on one dedicated, multitasking staff member, interns and freelancers.

That’s changing as we grow.

If you closely follow our recent work, you’ll see Joe Timmerman named in many photo credits. He joined Wisconsin Watch in July as our first full-time staff photojournalist, a position supported and partially funded by Report for America. Joe has already added hundreds of miles to the odometer of his van — the aptly named Timmervan — while documenting presidential visits and connecting with residents statewide. 

Joe is benefiting from the guidance of former Wisconsin Watch associate director Coburn Dukehart, who has more than 20 years of experience as a visual journalist and strategist – and who now partners with us in a new capacity.

Coburn started this year as managing editor for the CatchLight Local Visual Desk. She is now editing and guiding Wisconsin Watch’s visual journalism through CatchLight, which partners with local newsrooms across the country to increase their capacity to produce engaging visuals.

The nonprofit CatchLight launched its visual desk in 2019 in response to increasing visual news deserts and newsroom staffing cuts nationwide, particularly among visual journalists. It offers newsrooms dedicated editorial support and training to integrate visual-first practices for higher engagement and audience building. It also subsidizes and places full-time visual journalists in local newsrooms through its fellowship program, which it recently announced would open to up to 20 more newsrooms, in partnership with RFA. 

We’re thrilled that our partnerships with CatchLight and Report for America have brought Coburn’s expertise back to Wisconsin Watch and allowed us to hire Joe. Expect big things from them in the coming months. 

Aside from bringing to life our written journalism with vivid photos, Joe is embarking on self-driven photo and video essays, taking a visuals-first approach to certain stories that demand to be told in such a way, including a portrait project that aims to introduce and connect residents statewide.

You might see Joe in your town ahead of the November election as he photographs voters and documents their perspectives. Please say hello, and if you’d like to be a part of his project, we’d love to hear from you.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

Partnerships help Wisconsin Watch boost visual journalism is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

The associate director of philanthropy will perform administrative duties related to fundraising, marketing and public relations, gaining firsthand experience in strategic planning to increase the capacity of a growing nonprofit organization. This role will grow with the right candidate and serve as the catalyst for a successful career in nonprofit fundraising and relationship management.

Wisconsin Watch, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to making sure Wisconsin residents have the news and information they need, seeks a philanthropy associate to help us achieve our ambitious fundraising and expansion goals. The associate director of philanthropy will report to the director of philanthropy and work closely with the chief revenue officer. The right candidate will be highly organized, detail-oriented and entrepreneurial, with strong communication, project management, and task management skills.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit news company providing trustworthy reporting that investigates problems, explores solutions and serves the public. We aim to strengthen the quality of community life and self-government in Wisconsin by providing people with the knowledge they need to navigate their lives, drive forward solutions and hold those with power accountable. We pursue the truth through accurate, fair, independent, rigorous, nonpartisan reporting. 

Job duties:

The associate director of philanthropy will perform administrative duties related to fundraising, marketing and public relations, gaining firsthand experience in strategic planning to increase the capacity of a growing nonprofit organization. This role will grow with the right candidate and serve as the catalyst for a successful career in nonprofit fundraising and relationship management.

The associate director of philanthropy will be involved with stewardship activities related to nonprofit fundraising and relationship management, including working with a team to create and implement the fundraising, development and communications strategy for Wisconsin Watch, as well as donor and grant research and tracking. 

The associate director of philanthropy will work closely with the development and business team to plan, implement and coordinate effective multi-year strategies and plans for gift prospects, including individual donors and foundations. 

Major donors

• Serve as a representative of Wisconsin Watch and a point of contact for staff and donor inquiries.
• Uphold excellent stewardship practices and regularly help craft funder outreach and updates.
• Partner with the director of philanthropy to conduct prospect research.
• Potentially manage a small portfolio of major donors.

Institutional donors

• Collaborate with the director of philanthropy to manage a robust calendar of institutional funder grants and reporting deadlines.
• Uphold excellent stewardship practices and regularly help craft funder outreach and updates.
• Assist with financial budgeting and reporting processes.

Systems management

• Responsibilities include running weekly gift reports, requesting development notes, merging letters, customizing copy, and routing letters for approvals and signatures.
• Draft acknowledgment letter templates and refresh/update content on a bi-annual basis.
• Administer the Watchdog Club and Leadership Circle acknowledgment process.
• Send out monthly recurring gift initiation thank you cards and pledge reminders.
• Partner with the business team on database policies and best practices in record keeping.

Required qualifications:

• 2+ years’ experience in nonprofit fundraising, stewardship, donor relations, project management and/or a related area.
• Proficient in Google Suite, MS Office, Word, Excel, and Outlook.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Other desirable qualifications:

• Passion for journalism, local news, media, and/or civic engagement.
• Excellent organizational, critical thinking and project management skills.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Skilled at proactively solving problems and offering solutions.             
• Strong customer service mentality.
• Self-starter, able to successfully coordinate multifaceted projects, timelines, competing priorities, and duties both independently and in collaboration with other people involved.
• Exceptional relationship-building skills with both internal and external constituents.
• Ability to work effectively in a decentralized environment with high complexity.
• Experience with writing communications for donor gratitude.
• Experience using Salesforce or other CRM software.
• Experience with donor prospect research.

Don’t check off every box in the requirements listed above? Please apply anyway! Studies have shown that marginalized communities, such as women, LGBTQ+ and people of color, are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. Wisconsin Watch is dedicated to building an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible workplace that fosters a sense of belonging – so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to still consider submitting an application. You may be just the right candidate for this role or another one of our openings!

Location: The associate director of philanthropy should be located in Wisconsin, preferably in the greater Madison or greater Milwaukee areas.

Salary and benefits: The base salary for this position is $60,000. Final offer amounts will carefully consider multiple factors, including prior experience, expertise and location, and may vary from the amount above. Wisconsin Watch offers competitive salaries and benefits, including generous vacation (five weeks), a retirement fund contribution, paid sick days, paid family and caregiver leave, subsidized medical and dental premiums, vision coverage, and more.

Deadline: Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. For best consideration, apply by Sept. 6, 2024.

To apply: Please submit a PDF of your resume and answer some brief questions in this application form. If you’d like to chat about the job before applying, contact Anna January, director of philanthropy: ajanuary@wisconsinwatch.org

Wisconsin Watch is dedicated to improving our newsroom by better reflecting the people we cover. We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities. We are an equal-opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, or any other status protected under applicable law.

Salary

$60,000 – $70,000 per year

Click here to apply.

Wisconsin Watch seeks associate director of philanthropy is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.