30 Publications that Pay for Investigative Reporting

Here’s our latest research — a list of publications that pay for writing investigative pieces and that work with freelance writers.

We’ve researched payment rates, pitch guidelines, and more, to help you connect with the right editor.

If you want to browse even more opportunities, be sure to check out our database of over 1,500 publishers that pay writers. It’s easily searchable, and includes thousands of listings just like the ones below.

If you’re new to freelancing, I also very much encourage you to take our course on pitching. You can get the details here.

1. Economic Hardship Reporting Project (EHRP) is a nonprofit organization that produces compelling journalism about income inequality and poverty in America. They commission “news stories, narrative features, short and feature-length documentaries, nonfiction comics, illustrated works, photo essays, podcasts and radio features about economic inequality in the United States. Personal essays are welcome only if they are completed or close-to-completed. According to their pitch guide, they pay $750 to $1500 for news stories, and up to $2,500 for narrative features and investigative reports. They generally pay $1.00 to $1.25 per word. They also have grants to cover travel expenses, up to $2,000.

2. The Bell is a newspaper for Glasgow, delivered via email. Their mission is to cover Glasgow with rich, deeply reported journalism – including fantastic narrative long reads, thoughtful political analysis and stories that portray the variety, drama and fun of the city’s life. They welcome pitches which will tell engrossing, exciting and fun stories. According to their pitch guide, they pay around £200 for a quick-hit and approximately £300 for something more reported. They have the budget to pay significantly more for highly investigative stories that take months of work and also cover reporting expenses. To learn more, refer to this page.

3. The Detail is a Northern Ireland-based investigative news and analysis site that covers issues of vital public interest. They’re seeking “investigations and features focused on Northern Ireland and border issues, covering the environment, immigration, housing, criminal justice, health, education, and wider social injustice.” They’re also looking for stories on underreported topics. According to their pitch guide, they pay £400 for investigations/features (about 1,800 words), and long reads and special investigations will be decided on a case-by-case basis. To learn more, refer to this page.

4. The Breach is an independent Canadian media outlet producing critical journalism to help map a just, viable future. They welcome pitches for written journalism. According to their pitch guide, they pay $150-200 CAD for shorter opinion or analysis articles (approximately 750 to 1200 words), $250-400 CAD for longer features (1200 to 2500 words) and $400 and up for videos. Pay for investigative articles that involve more work are negotiated case by case. To learn more, refer to this page.

5. More to Her Story is a newsroom dedicated to “improving the odds for women and girls.” They’re open to all kinds of journalism. They publish investigative pieces, “day-after” pieces, and breaking news. They’re particularly interested in underreported stories. According to their guidelines, they pay $300 per story. To learn more, refer to this page.

6. Broadview is an independent Canadian magazine featuring coverage of spirituality, justice and ethical living. They are interested in stories about spirituality, ethical living, social justice and the United Church, and those can be investigative features, engaging profiles, first-person narratives, reported news stories, essays, photo essays, opinion pieces, blogs, interviews or reviews of books or films. For the print issues, fees are negotiated story by story. Digital stories usually run between 400 and 600 words, and according to their pitch guide, they pay $.40 a word for opinion pieces and $.65 a word for reported ones. To learn more, refer to their writers’ guidelines.

7. Mother Jones is an investigative news organization. They report on politics, criminal and racial justice, democracy, human rights, education, climate change, food/agriculture, and more. They commission revelatory and dynamic stories that teach people something they didn’t already know. According to their pitch guide, print rates begin at $1.75/word, while their online rates begin at $0.75/word. For more details, refer to their freelance writer guidelines.

8. Outrider strives to be “an online source of hard-hitting commentary and journalism that calls for the end of nuclear weapons and action against the existential threat of climate change.” They are seeking new voices to produce climate and nuclear non-proliferation journalism. Typically, their word counts run between 1,000-1,200 words, and they publish everything from investigative articles and expert analyses to interviews and book excerpts. According to their guidelines, their standard rate is $1,000/story. Their stories are usually 1,000-1,200 words. To learn more, refer to their writer guidelines.