Rene Ebersole

"Working as a freelance investigative reporter is time consuming and often risky, personally and professionally. It's essential to work with outlets that stand by their reporters. FIRE has helped me better evaluate contracts before I sign them, and in some cases negotiate more protective wording before I do. The counseling I've gained from FIRE has been extremely helpful, especially as I negotiate on my own." 

—FIRE-supported freelancer Rene Ebersole (AARP story released, June, 2023.) Photo by Anastasia Taylor-Lind 

—FIRE-supported freelancer Jason Buch (Texas Observer story released November, 2021.)

"I don’t think the scope of the story would’ve been as big if FIRE hadn’t suggested it. But also I don’t think I could have made it such a big comprehensive investigation without FIRE’s funding—and without their constant consultations. Those have been really tremendously helpful.

It's hard as a freelancer working on investigative stories. On this one, I had to send records requests to more than a dozen different states, each with different public-records laws. Each state will deny your request with a different explanation. You need a very specific reply for each individual state. Without resources like FIRE’s it would be really hard. But every time I had an issue come up in a state, I just emailed FIRE, and they found someone who has expertise with that state’s public-records laws. The consultation has been really helpful. The legal help has been really great. Thanks to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

So has the newsroom structure. We check in over email once a week. Just having the consistent deadlines has kept me on track and accountable. 

I think that it's really, really difficult for freelance journalists to do big investigative articles that larger institutions like the New York Times can do. But it makes sense to fund that—that is, if people outside those institutions should also have a chance to tell big public policy stories, ones that will reveal things about the world, and change the way we live."
 

"If FIRE weren’t around, stories like this wouldn't be possible. Without FIRE, there's no way I could have put this story together. It's just too big. I've never really done a story on this kind of scale before. I have no financial means. In fact, I applied because I needed to pay for a couple thousand dollars in laboratory testing. I got the FIRE grant and I hired the laboratory.

But after the testing was done, there was a lot of mentorship that I feel is really critical—protecting sources, identifying leads, charting next steps, emotional support when things became distressing, helping to place the story. In my case, story placement was particularly challenging because the sensitive nature of the situation scared off local outlets. FIRE was willing to help. It's a level of mentorship that honestly I've never had from any of the editors I've ever worked with.

Freelancers have something that a standard reporter or a large national news outlet may not have. With my particular contacts, I have in-depth, narrow knowledge and access to sources from insider communities, which don't work with outsiders, no matter how large or prestigious. The story I'm working on will never be covered by anyone else because nobody else is ever going to know what's happening; and if they did find out, they wouldn't understand it at all. 

But you still have to unlock that knowledge. My previous experience has been ‘Figure it out or you're not a real journalist”—editors will just shut down, probably because they just don't have the time. With these guys I'm just like, "you know that's not really in my wheelhouse can you explain how this whole process is working," and they’re just like, “no problem, we’ll follow up phone call here and we'll discuss how you can attack this.” The mentorship has been absolutely awesome. 

I think FIRE has an opportunity right now. Media outlets are being threatened with lawsuits and are actually getting sued. Freelancers are being sued and targeted for our research. There was that freelancer that was just arrested in California so that the courts could get access to his records. Freelancers are especially exposed. I think FIRE can offer some of the resources that you might see in a larger news outlet—to combat these attacks and to fight back—that freelancers just don't have. 

Right now many of us don't even want to get involved in an investigative story: Are you going to jail for what do you do, will you be arrested for what you have written? If you don't have the protection for the freelancers, if we're too exposed legally and politically, if we face retribution for what we have to  report, and if the publications that can fight don’t know we're out here—then you potentially lose critical stories that impact a lot of people. I think it’s really critical to just have a resource like FIRE to protect freelance journalists and enable them to share these stories, which frankly are not going to be covered by anyone else."
 

From select FIRE recipients, 2018-19

Below is earlier feedback from freelance investigative reporters served by FIRE’s two programs—the one-hour Editorial Consultancies and the full Virtual Newsroom awards. The first comes from 2019 interviews conducted by freelance journalist Jaeah Lee with the three reporters below. They were chosen because their work won various journalism fellowships and awards. Anonymous feedback from 2016 to 2018 appears further below.  

Emphasis on Early Intervention 

“For freelancers, it’s hard to find support as you’re developing a project. We had faith the support would come. But we only had that latitude because we had FIRE. FIRE director Laird Townsend was one of the first people who invested in the project. He was like, Even though you're still figuring out how to do this, you should definitely be doing it.” - Emily Palmer

“The level of support FIRE gives is really quite rare...They very kindly went above and beyond the needs of the editorial consultancy when they saw the project was kind of moving in the right direction. So they were incredibly helpful in that regard. And especially when they didn't have to be.” - Ayo Awokoya   

“FIRE helped me at an important time, when I didn't have any other professional input on the piece. I wasn’t working with an editor—it was sort of just down to me. So it was really helpful.” - Cat McShane  

Unflagging Source of Support  

 “If you were staff somewhere you would just automatically get certain support. But as a freelancer, it’s incredible to have someone stick it out with you.  FIRE was our support system throughout the entire life of the project, not just in terms of the money offered, but the additional resources that give you a newsroom and a home.” - Emily Palmer  

“It was a good boost of confidence to talk over it and sharpen the pitch. FIRE was very good at practical challenges: if you can't place it this way, then what are different angles that might get you more funding to advance the material.” - Cat McShane  

“FIRE was very understanding about what a freelancer's circumstances were. With other grants they kind of just leave you to your own devices. What's quite different with FIRE is the level of support. They are with you the entire way.” - Ayo Awokoya

From FIRE recipients, 2016-18

You can view testimonials from 2016-2018 here.  

Pre-FIRE testimonials 

You can view pre-FIRE testimonials here.