Type Investigations supports investigative journalists and newsrooms with resources such as fact checking, legal review, and fellowships.
Covering criminal justice in the Milwaukee area, journalist Isiah Holmes repeatedly heard a disturbing story from families of people killed by police.
They were concerned that police were spying on them, especially after they spoke out demanding law enforcement accountability. The families reported unfamiliar cars parked outside their homes, strange sounds on their phones, or unknown, new followers on social media. They felt that they had nowhere to turn.
Holmes, who is Black, took them seriously. While reporting for the Wisconsin Examiner on protests sparked by a Minneapolis Police officer’s murder of George Floyd, Holmes learned that police in a Milwaukee suburb had placed him on a watch list.
For support in investigating residents’ claims, Holmes turned to the nonprofit newsroom, Type Investigations. The organization trains, mentors, and offers fact-checking, legal review, and funding to investigative journalists—many working at under-resourced outlets or as freelancers.
In 2023, Holmes was awarded Type Investigations’ Ida B. Wells Fellowship. Named for the trailblazing Black Chicago journalist, the fellowship promotes equity in journalism by supporting emerging investigative reporters who are underrepresented in the field.
Type Investigations’ 2023 Ida B. Wells Fellows (from left) Liset Cruz, Breya Jones, and Isiah Holmes with Fellowship Director Noy Thrupkaew (right). Credit: Type Investigations
“So many people have amazing investigative aptitudes and skills but were never thought of as investigative reporters, because they’re reporters of color or come from underserved communities, and because they don’t look or act like that traditional Woodward and Bernstein type,” Type Investigations’ Director of Partnerships Noy Thrupkaew said.
Although Holmes was unable to find definitive proof of police surveilling family members of people killed by law enforcement officers, his investigation shed light on how police departments deal with officer-involved killings and reported that relatives of the deceased often feel abused, neglected, and harmed.
The fellowship also supported Holmes’ work on stories about police surveillance practices and law enforcement surveillance equipment.
“Sometimes when you tell these stories, you can have a physical reaction in remembering.”
“[Type Investigations] listens to you, like you listen to your interviewees,” said Holmes, who describes himself as a “college dropout” with a largely self-taught, natural talent for journalism.
“They’re empathetic,” he added. “I had spent a lot of time watching people get shot at and gassed. Sometimes when you tell these stories, you can have a physical reaction in remembering. They were always really understanding and patient. And because there’s such a rigorous fact-check process, it helped me think differently about what really is proof.”
‘Meet People Where They Are’
Type Investigations seeks to produce high-impact investigative journalism while building equity in the industry through programs like the Wells Fellowship. The efforts are occurring at a particularly compelling time, when harassment of journalists is high, and newsrooms are financially strapped.
Founded in 1997 as a project of journalism nonprofit Type Media Center—originally known as The Nation Institute—Type Investigations has worked with independent journalists and partnered with a range of publications, from Cosmopolitan and The New York Times Magazine to The Guardian, the Weather Channel, NBC News, and Chicago’s South Side Weekly.
To date, Type Investigations has published more than 1,000 stories from nearly 500 reporters in more than 200 partner publications. Many of the stories sparked resignations of public officials and activated FBI investigations, Congressional hearings, and federal legislation.
To date, Type Investigations has published more than 1,000 stories from nearly 500 reporters in more than 200 partner publications.
Another Wells Fellow, freelancer Tanvi Misra, produced an immersive, investigative story for High Country News about immigration officials’ inadequate response to migrants facing death in the desert. She highlighted how Native Americans living near the border and migrants’ families banded together to save loved ones.
A $25,000 stipend and regular meetings with Thrupkaew and other fellows helped Misra stay organized and confident, she said, as she battled for public documents and trained to trek miles through the desert with grassroots rescue teams.
Wells Fellow Tanvi Misra has been published in The Nation, Politico, and The Guardian, among other outlets. Credit: Tanvi Misra
“As a freelancer, just getting paid in regular intervals is so beneficial, to do this story but also to sustain my reporting on other projects at a clip where I’m not going crazy and trying to hustle really hard,” Misra said. “That’s the kind of consistent support I don’t think I’ve ever had.”
Misra and Holmes emphasized that Type Media Center staff were very involved in the journalists’ projects, providing support tailored to their needs and goals.
“We’re not trying to fit people into a template of what a collaboration and story should be,” said Thrupkaew, who directs the Wells fellowship. “That’s really important. We meet people where they are in terms of what they want to do.”
Supporting Marginalized Newsrooms
Building off that philosophy, Type Investigations in 2023 launched the Springboard Project, which supports local newsrooms led by and serving marginalized communities to perform investigative reporting. Support ranges from collaborating on a project to helping with newsroom operations, even fundraising.
Springboard’s first project occurred in 2023 with Blacklight, the investigative unit at the New York Amsterdam News, a legacy Black newsroom. Support included editing and fact-checking on projects about gun violence and bail reform. Springboard also collaborated with Blacklight on fundraising.
“A lot of partnerships start with the larger organization saying, ‘This is what we’re going to give you, take it or leave it,’” New York Amsterdam News Executive & Investigative Editor Damaso Reyes said. “That perpetuates inequity.”
“We really set about trying to build a new model which at its heart centers equity and capacity building.”
In contrast, Springboard, “starts by asking, not telling,” Reyes said. “We really set about trying to build a new model which at its heart centers equity and capacity building.”
Springboard also has worked with the Gulf States Newsroom, a coalition of public radio affiliates in the South, on building capacity and coordinating specific projects. Projects include investigations into the lack of resources for sexual assault survivors and the experiences of Cameroonian asylum seekers in the Gulf South immigration system.
That support is especially crucial in areas where journalists can be vilified instead of perceived as offering policy solutions, former Gulf States Newsroom Managing Editor Priska Neely said.
“That’s even more reason to keep cracking away at these things,” she added.
Demand for Type Investigations’ support is robust.
More than a dozen community newsrooms have expressed interest in Springboard. While active discussions on new collaborations occur, Springboard is looking to offer more targeted security training, legal support, fact-checking, and help obtaining public records to under-resourced journalists.
“We’ve become experts at collaboration,” Type Investigations Executive Editor Aviva Shen said. “Once we can get everyone in the same room, our partners get really excited about what we can do together.”
Between 1992 and 2023, MacArthur provided nearly $1.7 million to Type Media Center, Inc., for a variety of initiatives, including flexible support of its Type Investigations projects, The Investigative Fund, fellowships, and general operations. It is supported under the Professional Nonprofit Reporting approach of the Journalism and Media program.
