The Bertha Challenge 2023: Fellowship for Activists & Investigative Journalists

The Bertha Challenge 2023: Fellowship for Activists & Investigative Journalists. Apply below.

When is Application Deadline: 4th July 2023

Tell Me About Award: Bertha Foundation is excited to announce the launch of the fifth Bertha Challenge: an opportunity for activists and investigative journalists to spend a year working on one pressing social justice challenge and to deliver a body of work at the end of the Fellowship year. 

The fifth Bertha Challenge will begin in January 2024 with a focus on disinformation and the climate crisis, specifically supporting Bertha Fellows to answer the following question:

The 2024 Bertha Challenge invites investigative journalists and activists working towards effectively exposing and counteracting the combined effect of disinformation and corruption on the climate crisis to apply for this unique Fellowship.

This Fellowship seeks to expose and explore who is responsible for the spread of unquantifiable amounts of climate disinformation and to expose how that disinformation is used in the interests of corporations and politicians with an agenda tied to corporate profit. 

The effects and scale of disinformation are ubiquitous. Alongside the crumbling of solid local journalism outlets with fact-based reporting and the rise of propagandized and corporatized media channels, it has led to a deep crisis of confidence in all of our news sources. The distrust is so baked into politics and news, the World Values Survey¹ recently found that only 26% of Americans and 13% of Britons trust the press.

Misinformation itself is profitable. The industry is worth billions² of dollars and creates multiple streams of revenue generation from advertising dollars to misinformed “wellness campaigns”. Fossil fuel companies spend millions of dollars on thousands of advertisements to greenwash their reputation and actions. Meta’s Ad Library identified 3,781 ads from fossil fuel-linked entities, who spent some USD $3-4³ million between 1 September and 23 November 2022 on Facebook and Instagram.

For the first time this year, disinformation and its impact on the way countries and people respond to the climate crisis, was pertinently mentioned by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its February 2023-report. (WG III⁴ )

The IPCC is a United Nations body established to assess the science related to climate change.

Part of today’s corporate and political roadmap to safeguarding against the worst environmental ravages by corporations and mainly Western governments, is to simply repeat misinformation enough times for it to gain traction – it doesn’t matter how outrageous; how wrong. A myriad of online websites⁵ and newspapers and television stations have all but normalized and galvanized propaganda and disinformation in pursuit of protecting profit and a growing right wing political elite.

The Bertha Challenge 2024 is a call to those journalists and activists working against misinformation and its effects on the climate crisis; to those dedicated professionals holding the line on science and rigorous analysis.

Type: Grants, Fellowship

Who can Apply?

ACTIVIST CRITERIA

• At least five years’ experience working with activists, social movements, grassroots and community organizations, social justice organizations or campaigns
• Strong connections to a diverse range of relevant groups in the Fellow’s city, country or region, including with social movements, community organizations, NGOs, academics, journalists, progressive government officials etc.
• Experience developing organizing tools or popular educational products and materials, for example training courses, publications, pamphlets, films, podcasts, arts, theater productions, etc.
• Experience using research, media and the law in advocacy
• Affiliation to an appropriate host organization to amplify work produced during the Bertha Challenge.

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST CRITERIA

• Mid-career journalists with at least five years’ experience, a track record and passion for doing investigative journalism
• Strong interest and experience in producing work on the Bertha Challenge question and a proven ability to work with affected communities, social movements, community organizations, NGO’s, academics, scientists etc. 
• Investigative journalism and research ability, a comprehensive understanding of the political landscape concerning the subject matter, an understanding of the law(s) and political structures determining policy direction and power
• An ability to work independently
• Affiliation to an appropriate host media organization that will publish/broadcast work produced during the Bertha Challenge.

Which Countries are Eligible? Any

How Many Awards? Not specified

What is the Benefit of Award? At Bertha we know that many activists and investigative journalists are already doing groundbreaking work to investigate and amplify their work and to connect with each other. The Bertha Challenge aims to support this work by providing time to work exclusively on a focused project, the spaces in which to connect with a diverse global cohort of Bertha Fellows and partners, and the resources to develop and deliver tangible products that speak directly to the Challenge question.

Our Fellowships offer:

• Income for each Bertha Fellow for one year, not exceeding USD $64,900 and commensurate with the applicant’s current or equivalent salary at the host organization – ideally a media outlet for an investigative journalist and an NGO, community organization or social movement for an activist
• A Project Fund of up to USD $10,000 for each Bertha Fellow to produce a culminating product that responds to the question posed by the Bertha Challenge, and that is directed towards a specific audience. This could be a series of articles, videos, podcasts, games or drama productions, for example. Joint activist and journalist applicants will have the option to pool their project funding to produce projects on a larger scale
• Access to a Connect Fund of up to USD $5,000 specifically designed to encourage collaboration between Fellows
• Regular online discussions with topics on a range of issues from current debates around the Bertha Challenge question to methods of investigation, methods of communicating findings through news media, storytelling, popular education and more
• Peer and mentor support in the form of regular virtual check-ins with Bertha staff and a cohort of Bertha Fellows
• Network development through the global cohort of Bertha Fellows and exposure to relevant partners within and beyond the Bertha network
• A global convening of Bertha Fellows at the start of the Bertha Challenge.

The Bertha Challenge will launch in January 2024, with an opening convening scheduled for early in the Fellowship year at one of Bertha’s partnered global retreat spaces, where Bertha Fellows will:

• Meet other Fellows in the Bertha Challenge 2024 cohort, spend dedicated time getting to know one another and get the opportunity to introduce individual work and perspectives
• Find opportunities to refine the design of each Fellow’s project work for the year within a supportive framework
• Discuss and frame possibilities for collaboration across the cohort
• Debate current developments and responses to the climate crisis
• Learn from practitioners about innovative ways of reaching target audiences.

How to Apply: All applicants must submit:

• A completed online application form
• A brief resume/CV in English of no more than three pages
• A list of 2-4 referees including name, relationship to applicant and contact details
• A signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) from your prospective host organization – including commensurate salary and any benefits provided.
• Examples of previous work.

PDF copies of the application forms can be viewed below. The PDFs are for reference only. Please use the links above to submit your application.

View the journalist application form as a PDF here. View the activists application form as a PDF here.

Visit Award Webpage for Details