Baquet to lead local investigative reporting fellowship for NY Times

The following excerpt was sent out from The New York Times chairman and publisher A.G. Sulzberger:

After a week of happy announcements, I’m thrilled to share one more. Dean Baquet will lead a new local investigative journalism fellowship at The New York Times.

He has a deep passion for local and investigative work, and this initiative pits his relentless journalistic mind and ability to nurture talent against one of our industry’s most urgent needs.

The year-long fellowship will produce investigative projects focused on the state and local level, where deeply reported accountability journalism is most needed. It will offer a rare opportunity for up-and-coming journalists, especially those with backgrounds that are underrepresented in newsrooms and investigative reporting.

We want this fellowship to help seed a diverse new generation of great investigative journalists at a time when fewer organizations are able to support this essential work.

To strengthen the impact of the fellows’ work and support other news organizations, we’ll offer co-publication at no cost to local print, digital, radio and TV outlets.

There is no one better to lead this effort than Dean, whose storied career began in local journalism and whose name has accompanied powerful investigative reporting ever since. He got his start as a reporter for The States-Item and The Times-Picayune in his hometown of New Orleans. His first job at The Times was as an investigative reporter for our Metro desk.