The Georgia News Lab program was an award-winning investigative reporting and training collaborative—a partnership between the state’s top college journalism programs, along with Georgia Public Broadcasting and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The News Lab’s mission is to train a diverse new generation of investigative journalists and prepare them for professional careers. In nurturing the next generation of diverse watchdog reporters, the News Lab helps news outlets better serve the public and bring marginalized voices into the public debate.
As a participant in this program, from July 2019 to April 2020, I was able to attend many informative sessions on investigative reporting by some of the best local journalists. I also participated in a months-long reporting project on poll closures and the expected impacts on upcoming elections. Turns out, we were right, and Georgia polls faced lines long enough on Election Day to draw national news outlets. The reporting I conducted was used in a story published online and in print on the front page (see below) at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, online at Georgia Public Broadcasting, and in a piece published by NPR.
Because of my rigorous and stand-out work in the GNL program, I was awarded an internship at the AJC. But due to the onset of the pandemic, this internship was postponed, while I was placed at GPB in the interim. Read more about my work at the AJC and GPB here.
