Baala Shakya, Contributing Photographer

Since its founding in 2006, the Yale Journalism Initiative, or YJI, serves to support any Yalie interested in engaging with journalism. 

Founded through a donation from Steven Brill ’72 LAW ’75 and his wife Cynthia Margolin Brill ’72, the YJI aims to bridge the gap between Yale’s liberal arts education and the field of professional journalism. Open to all members of the Yale community, YJI offers resources such as events, workshops and professional counseling. Students who wish to demonstrate a passionate commitment to journalism can earn the designation of Yale Journalism Scholar, a distinction within the YJI program. 

“[The field of journalism] is not quite as predictable of an industry as some other professional fields you know, like medicine and law, where there’s a clear ladder to climb,” Haley Cohen Gilliland ’11, director of the Yale Journalism Initiative, told the News. “So the program was founded with the idea that it might be really helpful to have someone on campus who’s bridging the gap between really incredible writing instruction and reporting instruction.” 

The YJI sends out weekly newsletters that feature information on upcoming speaker events, workshops and drop-in-hours, along with listings for internships and job opportunities. These newsletters are put together by Gilliland, along with three students, Josie Reich ’26, a staff reporter at the News, Nathaniel Rosenberg ’25, the public editor at the News, and Collyn Robinson ’25, a former multimedia managing editor at the News, who serve as Yale Journalism Initiative student fellows. 

Past YJI speaker events have featured discussions with reporters such as Jodi Kantor, Eren Orbey ’19 and Martine Powers ’11. These events showcase a diverse range of journalism forms, including audio, investigative, long-form and narrative journalism. 

“The goal with the events really is to show as wide of a diversity of paths and coverage areas as possible and to get Yale students in the same room together that might work for different publications or would come from different backgrounds,” Gilliland said. 

During her speaker event, Powers discussed the emerging field of audio journalism and shared how she persuaded The Washington Post to allow her to create a narrative, multi-part investigative podcast on a topic completely outside her usual reporting.

“What I took away from it [Powers’ talk] was if you want to do cool things, think them through, make the pitch and then ask. And so I think I’ve just picked up little nuggets of wisdom from each of the YJI talks,” Reich said. “It’s so cool that these people come to Yale’s campus and all you have to do is pop into Davenport.” 

While the resources of the YJI are available to any member of the Yale community with an interest in journalism, students who are committed to pursuing journalism seriously can distinguish themselves by becoming Yale Journalism Scholars.

To become a Yale Journalism Scholar, students must apply and enroll in English 467, “Journalism,” the program’s foundational course. Additionally, they are required to either hold a senior editorial position in a Yale publication or publish a set number of articles in a Yale or non-Yale magazine or newspaper. 

They must also complete an advanced writing course beyond English 467 and undertake a summer internship at a professional journalism outlet. 

The YJI can provide grants for students holding underpaid or unpaid internships who have completed English 467 and are on track to become Yale Journalism Scholars.

While the program is less than two decades old, the student and alumni network is already robust. 

Issac Yu ’24, a former managing editor at the News and a previous Yale Journalism Initiative Student Fellow and Yale Journalism Scholar, told the News that he got his first and second journalism internship through speaking to alumni who were only a few years older than him. 

“I found a community through YJI of students who are also interested in pursuing journalism professionally. It’s not as common as fields like finance or tech, so it’s great to have a space where we’re all working toward similar goals and can support one another,” Yu said.  

In their conversations with the News, Yu, Reich and Gilliland all emphasized the value of mentorship and community within the program.

Yu also mentioned that mentoring others was a significant learning experience for him, having mentored around four dozen students during his fellowship year.

This upcoming year, the YJI is working on expanding their reach on campus, such as through going to speak to students in introductory writing courses about the program. 

“If you work for the YDN, you might not be necessarily run into people who work for the New Journal or even the YDN Magazine,” Gilliland said. “I’ve heard that quite a lot and so I think just creating spaces where lots of people interested in journalism at Yale are together is really powerful.” 

Brill is currently teaching the fall session of English 467.