ProPublica is looking for developer and graphics journalists who are available to work on projects.
What We’re Looking for Help on:
Our team does two types of projects:
News applications, which are interactive databases that help the public make important decisions in their lives. They’re also always investigative in nature. Some of our largest news apps take a long time to make, but the ones we may need help with in the next couple months should be able to be done in a month or two. Here are a few examples of the scope and type of work we’re expecting we’d need help with:
Some of these projects involved extensive back-end database work or data analysis before we created the public-facing news app. If you have those skills, great! If you don’t, don’t worry. We can also pair you with an in-house developer or editor. We’re looking for folks who can do the front end, the back end or both on these projects.
Graphics, which you can think of as storytelling done visually instead of only through text. The work can include interactive quizzes, data visualization or other creative ways to use multimedia and interactive design to tell a story. Here are a few examples of the scope and type of work we’re expecting we’d need help with:
- Hawaii’s Beaches Are Disappearing
- Reopening America
- What Coronavirus Job Losses Reveal About Racism in America
Additionally, we may need some help with:
- Creating graphics for stories using Datawrapper.
- Producing embedded interactives for stories using JavaScript, HTML and CSS.
Relevant Skills:
The general skills we’re looking for include any of the following:
- Front-end web design (HTML/CSS and JavaScript).
- Front-end data visualization (D3.js or other libraries).
- Back-end Rails or Django skills that would allow you to build and deploy an interactive database.
We prefer applicants with experience in journalism or related fields.
What You Should Send Us:
The application form will allow you to highlight three projects from your portfolio, as well as give you the space to walk us through your own contributions to those projects. Take advantage of this to tell us everything you did, from behind-the-scenes wins you’re proud of to how you helped your colleagues.
Do not be discouraged if there are parts of the above example projects you don’t know how to do. Our goal isn’t to find one freelancer to do everything but rather a combination of talented folks to take on projects as they come. Each project will require its own specific skills.
All the Logistics:
Interested? Use this form to send us examples of work that you’ve done that’s similar to the examples above, and tell us about what you did on those projects.
We’ll be looking at applications on a rolling basis as projects come up.
Based on your skill level and experience, we’ll talk about hourly, daily or weekly rates on an individual basis. You can work remotely from anywhere, as long as it would be easy for us to stay in touch from the Eastern time zone.
We are dedicated to improving our newsroom, in part by better reflecting the people we cover. (Here is a breakdown of our staff.)
We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages, including for our freelancers. We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to submit their portfolios, 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.
Questions? Email [email protected].
No phone calls, please.
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