Dear Writers,
This is a list of magazines and websites that pay freelance writers for investigative reporting. Included below is a wide variety of publishers, covering topics as varied as the business of video games, inequality, and alcohol, as well as general news and politics.
— Jacob Jans
Pellicle is a primarily UK-based consumer drinks publication that focuses on beer, wine, and cider and the majority of stories they aim to publish focus on these topics. They are mostly interested in these types of stories: narrative-style profiles, first-person experiences or travelogues, investigative reporting on challenging topics, and thought provoking Q&A’s. For features, they pay £0.23p/word up to £575 and for Q&A’s, they pay £300. For more information, read their pitching guide.
Type Investigations is a nonprofit investigative newsroom. They cover the “most urgent issues of our time, including racial and economic justice, climate and environmental health, and civil and human rights.” Their written features are generally 4,000-6,000 words and they typically pay $3,000-$6,000 (including travel and reporting expenses). For more information, refer to their pitch guide.
Economic Hardship Reporting Project (EHRP) is a nonprofit organization that produces compelling journalism about income inequality and poverty in America. They commission “op-eds, personal essays, investigative reports, rich narrative features, podcasts, nonfiction cartoons, photo essays, and documentaries about the United States.” Grants usually range from “$500 for an op-ed to $10,000 for a documentary.” To learn more, refer to their submissions page.
Meeting of Minds UK is “the leading exporter of African narratives.” They celebrate and champion Black female and non-binary voices. They accept pitches for fresh and original articles (800 to 1,000 words). For commissioned and published articles, they pay £10 per 100 words. For original reporting / investigative journalism, they pay a base rate £150. If the commissioned work is not published, they pay a kill fee of £15. To learn more, refer to their pitch guidelines and editorial guidelines.
The Land is a news startup that offers in-depth reporting on the neighborhoods and inner-ring suburbs of Cleveland. They are seeking freelance writers to write news stories (1-3 sources, 500-750 words), features (multiple sources, 1,000-1,500 words), and investigative features (longer stories involving more research, can be longer than 1,500 words). Their stories fall into 3 buckets: “solutions, accountability, and neighborhood spotlights.” They pay $50-$100 for news stories and $200 for features. They are happy to pay more for investigative features. To learn more, refer to their editorial guidelines. To contact them, refer to this page.
Broadview is a Canadian print magazine and website about spirituality, justice, and ethical living. The print magazine is published 10 times a year and the website showcases new content daily. They serve a niche audience of progressive Christians and those who share similar core values. They are looking for stories about “spirituality, ethical living, social justice, and the United Church.” They can be “investigative features, engaging profiles, first-person narratives, reported news stories, essays, photo essays, opinion pieces, blogs, interviews or reviews of books or film.” Rate: $0.65 per word for reported pieces and $0.40 per word for Q&As, blogs, and personal essays. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
Capital Daily is an independent news startup that is a source for news, analysis, longform, and investigative stories from Victoria, B.C., Canada. They cover science, politics, business, history, crime, and more. They are always looking for writers. According to their managing editor, they pay $0.40 to $0.80 CAD per word. To learn more, refer to this page.
The Breakdown is an online mental health magazine. They focus on “mental health-themed lifestyle topics, including, but not limited to: personal essays, wellbeing, culture, parenting, sex & relationships, men’s mental health, body image, mental health research and news.” They publish personal essays, opinion pieces, features, investigative reports, explainers, gift-guides, and listicles. They pay £80 for 700 to 900 words and £100 for columns. For more information, read their pitching guidelines.
OpenDemocracy is a global media organization that covers world affairs, ideas, and culture. They welcome article submissions from anyone interested in writing for them. According to their editor, they pay £0.33/word (approximately $0.43) for news (700 to 1,000 words) or feature articles (800 to 1,600 words) and £0.50/word (approximately $0.64) for in-depth reported investigative articles (1,000 to 1,800 words). To learn more, refer to this page.
Tarbell is a non-partisan news publication that provides objective, investigative reporting on hard hitting topics that affect Americans. They want news articles and op-eds of 400 to 750 words. All stories should have a “healthcare, environment, culture, aerospace, and defense theme.” According to their Tweet, they pay $100 for 500 to 700 words. To learn more, refer to their editorial guidelines.
VICE News Canada offers original reporting from Canada and around the world. They are “looking for new talent, original news stories, and features and investigations that have a strong Canadian angle or bring Canada to the rest of the world.” According to their editorial director, their base rate for a quick reported story is $300 CAD. Rates for longer-reported stories and features are higher. For more information, refer to their pitch guide.
GamesIndustry.biz is a website about the games industry. They cover “every facet of the games industry, from design, development, publishing, marketing, distribution or retail, all the way through to media, freelance and studying.” They are looking to expand their freelance roster. They accept pitches for investigative pieces, interviews with industry figures, academy articles, and editorials. They encourage pitches from writers of diverse backgrounds. Their standard rate is £150 per article. To learn how to pitch them an article, visit this page.
Offbeat Research is “committed to producing rigorous, offbeat stories which emphasize social media and open-source investigation to explore niche, novel, or otherwise unexplored ideas.” They welcome investigative pitches. They pay $100 for articles of 1,000 words and up, and $200 for articles of 2,000 words and up. Send pitches to admin@offbeatresearch.com. For details, refer to this page.
African Arguments is a pan-African platform that analyzes issues facing the continent, investigates the stories that matter, and amplifies a diversity of voices. They cover politics, economy, society, culture, the environment, gender, and more. They pay an average of $200 for 1,000 to 2,000 words. To learn more, refer to their writing guidelines.
The Shoestring is a web magazine that covers culture and politics in Western Mass. They are accepting pitches. Pitches that feature “themes of food/environmental justice, housing rights, organizing with & by societally marginalized groups or deep dives into local history are extra welcome.” They pay $50 per piece (600 to 1,000 words). They pay over $100 for more time consuming investigative pieces and deep dives. Pitches should be sent to theshoestringmag@gmail.com. To learn more, refer to their Tweet and their website.
Women Under Siege is a Women’s Media Center’s project that documents and investigates gendered or sexualized violence in conflict. They originally focused on stories of gendered violence in conflict but branched out to gender stories in international contexts. They are always open to pitches. They want reported pieces or really good interviews. They pay $200 per piece. Send pitches to their editor at frances@womensmediacenter.com. Read their editor’s Tweet here. Learn more about them here and contact them here.
Balkan Insight is the flagship English-language website of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN). They offer news, analysis, investigations, features, profiles, and interviews on key issues in Southern and Eastern Europe. One payment report indicates payment of $0.07 per word for 1,600 words. To contact them, visit this page.
Money After Graduation Inc. is a financial literacy website that is dedicated to helping young professionals “pay off debt, save money, and invest in the stock market.” They are always seeking more Canadian personal finance writers. The writers “must have good understanding of TFSA/RRSP, investing, and general idea of SEO.” They are especially seeking writers in their late 20’s in Canada’s urban centres. They start pay at $200 per article (around 1,000 words). To learn more, refer to this Twitter thread.
The Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAN) is an organization that monitors, exposes, and counters hate groups in Canada. They accept pitches on an ongoing basis. They usually pay $100 for stories by individuals who do not have much writing experience and $200 for stories by writers or journalists who have some experience. They may pay more for larger pieces or investigations. To learn more, refer to their submission guidelines here.
Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN) is a non-profit news organization that produces explanatory and investigative journalism on food, agriculture, and environmental health. They pay $1.00 to $2.00 per word plus travel. To learn more, refer to this page.
The American Prospect is an online and print political magazine that “aims to advance liberal and progressive goals through reporting, analysis, and debate.” They welcome submissions on a wide range of domestic and international issues. They publish features, investigations, op-eds, and news analyses. Payment reports indicate that they pay up to $0.25 per word. To learn more, visit this page.
Grist is a non-profit online publication that covers climate and sustainability. They welcome “a wide range of freelance pitches, from reported essays to in-depth investigations to changemaker profiles and Q&As.” Their “core topics include clean energy, sustainable food, environmental justice, livable communities, and reinventing the economy through cutting-edge science and cleantech.” Payment reports indicate that they pay up to $0.27 per word. Details here.
The Logic provides in-depth reporting on Canada’s innovation economy. They are seeking investigative and feature stories about Canada’s innovation economy. They don’t list payment rates, but state that their rates are competitive. One payment report indicates payment of $1.00 per word. To read their submission guidelines, visit this page.
