Northwestern University | Medill
The Data-Driven Reporting Project
Today much of investigative journalism is about acquiring, organizing and analyzing large, digital document sets. Technology plays a critical role in all phases but those resources are unevenly distributed. Only a few news organizations are able to take advantage of these advances. Many local news organizations and freelance journalists, especially those who serve local and underrepresented communities, would benefit from additional resources. This program aims to close this gap with targeted, financial awards to organizations and freelancers working on document-focused, investigative stories.
Applications for Spring 2025 are now open.
Click here to apply.
Deadline to apply is March 31.
Review the application and Frequently Asked Questions here.
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Check out our 2024 cohort here.
Learn More about the DDRP
Our “How to Apply” page explains the application process and offers answers to some frequently asked questions.
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Modern journalism relies on technology
The Data-Driven Reporting Project (DDRP) aims to support local news journalists and freelancers working on document-based investigative projects that serve local and/or underrepresented communities in the US and Canada. The work can be in any storytelling medium: text, visual, or audio and be a singular long-form piece or a series. Projects should be publishable within 3-12 months.
Additional support
Recipients will receive specialized training and support from Medill on Google Journalist Studio tools as well as other resources. To contribute to the wider journalism community, after publication of their work, recipients will be asked to share core source documents (text, audio, visual, etc.) publicly for the benefit of other journalists.
Scale of the funding
The Data-Driven Reporting Project will make awards of up to $35,000 for projects that demonstrate a clear document-based investigation and provide proof of intent to publish from a reputable news organization. Awards will cover up to 80% of the total overall budget of the project.
About Northwestern University | Medill
DDRP highlights three of Medill’s core strengths: its history of using investigative journalism to lift the oppressed, a focus on local newsrooms and a commitment to exploring the intersection of technology and journalism. The Medill Investigative Lab was involved in the publication of the Pandora Papers. Medill’s Local News Initiative is working with dozens of newsrooms around the U.S. to bolster their business strategies. And Northwestern’s experimental community for journalists, technologists and designers, the Knight Lab, is exploring opportunities and challenges of Artificial Intelligence, most notably, the Generative AI in the Newsroom project. Knight Lab’s Census Reporter, has been helping journalists easily get US Census data at the most local level for more than a decade.
Funders
Google News Initiative
The founding sponsor and continued supporter of the DDRP, the Google News Initiative supports journalists all over the world and creates tools to help them do their work more efficiently.
Journalist Studio, a suite of Google tools to help reporters do their work more efficiently, creatively, and securely. This includes Pinpoint, which uses the best of Google’s search, artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to help reporters quickly search through large amounts of documents. You can go to the tool directly here, watch a quick demo, or look through this guide to get started.
Arnold Ventures
A 2025 sponsor of the DDRP, Arnold Ventures supports research to better understand the root causes of broken systems that limit opportunity and create injustice. Our focus areas include Criminal Justice, Higher Education, Health, Infrastructure, and Public Finance. In each area, we advocate for policy reforms that will lead to lasting, scalable change.
Arnold Ventures manages the giving for various Arnold entities, including the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Action Now Initiative, and the Arnolds’ donor-advised fund.