The National Center on Disability and Journalism is partnering for a third year with The New York Times on a fellowship to develop journalists with an expertise in coverage of disability issues.
Early career journalists are encouraged to apply for the one-year fellowship to cover disability issues and people with disabilities as part of the incoming New York Times Fellowship class.
The Disability Journalism Fellowship is designed to address the lack of coverage of disability issues in journalism. It will provide fellows with mentorship, a peer network and training on covering disabilities. The position is funded through the Ford Foundation’s philanthropic support.
The New York Times and the National Center on Disability and Journalism
announced that they are, for the third year in a row, partnering on a fellowship to
develop journalists with an expertise in coverage of disability issues.
This program again will recruit an early career journalist to work at The Times for
one year as a member of the incoming New York Times Fellowship class. The
newsroom is prepared to hire another Disability Journalism Fellow in early 2024.
The Disability Journalism Fellowship is designed to address the lack of coverage
of disability issues in journalism. It will provide fellows with mentorship, a peer
network and training on covering disabilities. The position is funded through the
Ford Foundation’s philanthropic support.
The application for 2023 is now open.
The New York Times Fellowship is a one-year work program aimed at cultivating
and diversifying the next generation of journalists. Since 2019, it has trained
more than 120 participants in reporting, visual, audio and other
disciplines. Amanda Morris, the inaugural Disability Journalism Fellow, is now a
reporter covering the disability community for The Washington Post. Neelam
Bohra, the current Disability Journalism Fellow, will complete her fellowship in
May.
The National Center on Disability and Journalism is a service of the Walter
Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State
University. For over a decade at Cronkite, the center has provided support and
training for journalists and other communications professionals with the goal of
improving media coverage of disability issues and people with disabilities.
Cronkite News writes about a wheelchair basketball event in Phoenix that recently hosted some of the best wheelchair basketball teams in the country. Read more
The Guardian writes about the life of disability activist Hale Zukas, who helped lead a revolution that opened up public spaces, transportation and services to people with disabilities. Read more
Journalist Amy Silverman, a member of the NCDJ advisory board, writes about the difficulties in finding safe places to live for people with complex needs for the Center for Public Integrity. Read more
Julia Métraux writes about the use of the term “special education” in an article for the NCDJ. An independent reporter and graduate student at University of California-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Métraux makes an appeal to education reporters to find alternatives, even if school officials continue to use the language, which, she says, reinforces the view that disabled kids’ needs are “special.” Read more
Arizona State University journalism graduate student Jordan Gerard describes the challenges of interpreting a candidate debate, which can be a sort of verbal ping-pong match between political opponents, filled with emotion and nuance. But without such services, millions of people who have hearing disabilities would be disenfranchised. Read more
