Customized Editorial Assistance
The FIRE Reporting Consultancy provides selected applicants with up to two hours of complimentary tools and feedback—which can be extended at FIRE’s discretion—to advance a story. It is a gateway to grants and full services of FIRE's Virtual Newsroom.
Depending on the reporter's needs, a Reporting Consultancy might help a reporter
- find new sources or promising avenues of inquiry for a story
- identify appropriate outlets for a story
- refine a story idea or angle to address particular editors
- identify funding opportunities for a story
The Reporting Consultancy addresses three broad areas:
Funding referrals
- a general overview of the funding landscape for those new to the field
- advice on referral to funding sources for reporting expenses (and in limited cases on preparing proposals)
- customized guidance on obtaining additional grants on a story for which you have already received funding
- an invitation to apply for funding via the Virtual Newsroom program, at its sole discretion
Editorial advice: general
- a sounding board for precise, tailored mentoring and advice—including on developing a story or finding an appropriate outlet for it
Editorial advice: specific
- Editing, early stages
limited help formulating pitches and early-stage stories for success with funders or outlets - Editing, late stages
limited help with new angle to pitch or re-pitch a funder or outlet, including specific story sources and proposal strategies - Research requests
limited access to high-powered research tools like Lexis/Nexis or Accurint - Open-Records requests
general advice and limited referral in obtaining government documents via Freedom of Information Act and state requests - Resource library
customize assistance in obtaining research materials for stories
For more information, visit Guidelines, FIRE Consultancy Overview, and FAQs; and for guidance on media risk and liability, the FIRE Tip Sheets on Liability and the FIRE Guide to Freelancer Protection.
Freelancers are also encouraged to take a brief survey on contractual needs here.
For additional resources offered by FIRE's allies, visit here.
FIRE Consultancy for IRE Fellows: Under a 2023 arrangement with Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), FIRE automatically awards a FIRE Consultancy to any interested winner of the IRE Freelancer Fellowship, waiving the initial application process. More on the Fellowship here.