PRINCETON, N.J. – The Dow Jones News Fund will train 78 college students to work this summer in paid internships in 58 newsrooms around the country.
The Class of 2026 was selected from more than 800 applications to the News Fund’s summer internship program. News partners, who hire an intern for 10 to 12 weeks beginning in June, include local news outlets, public radio stations, TV stations, national news sites and specialty publications.
“This incoming class represents the future leaders of our profession, and we are proud to invest in their success,” said Eric Mandrackie, acting president of the Dow Jones News Fund. “We are grateful to once again collaborate with our dedicated news partners to equip these talented students with the cutting-edge skills and experience necessary to master modern digital journalism, innovative storytelling and critical audience engagement.”
The News Fund’s mission is to promote careers in journalism, primarily by producing well-trained journalists who better reflect the demographics of the communities they cover and by supporting their growth and development. “This year’s interns are an impressive group of emerging journalists who should give us all hope for the future of the industry,” said Shirley Carswell, News Fund executive director.
The Class of 2026 includes students from major public and private universities, the Ivy League, historically Black universities and Hispanic-serving institutions. The class is a diverse mix of students, including a record 24% who are two or more races; 30% white; 25% Asian; 10% Black; 8% Latino, and 3% other. About 38% of the class are graduating seniors.
Each intern will get intensive training and work in one of five areas: business reporting, data journalism, digital production, editing or audience engagement. Click here to learn more about this year’s class.
The business reporting program continues to be the News Fund’s largest, with three cohorts comprising 34 interns.
American University will host 11 business reporting interns in Washington, D.C. The training will focus on the intersection of business and government regulations, covering topics such as the workplace, technology, small business and student loans. The program will be led by Paul Albergo, former Bloomberg Industry Group executive editor.
Another group of business reporters will meet in New York City to learn how to cover the major economic forces in America while refining their writing, pitching and interviewing skills. This program will be led by Sara Silver, a business reporter and adjunct professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
The American City Business Journals-Dow Jones News Fund Business Reporting Program will return to New York City under the leadership of Garry D. Howard, director of corporate initiatives at American City Business Journals and a News Fund board member, and Silver. The training will prepare 10 interns to report in 10 different ACBJ markets this summer.
Ten interns will learn the art of social media and audience development at every step of the process at Temple University in Philadelphia. Sarah Landwehr, Temple assistant professor of instruction, and Nisha Sridharan, Temple assistant professor of journalism, will co-direct the program.
The 10 interns attending the digital media training will learn to handle video, photography, social media, data visualization and web design by a team at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. The ASU residency will be led by Angela M. Hill, Ida B. Wells professor of practice at the school’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism in Washington.
Thirteen News Fund interns will obtain and analyze data, visualize information and employ other computer-assisted reporting methods at the University of Maryland, College Park. The data journalism training at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism will be led by Rob Wells, associate professor, and Karen Denny, director of internships.
Eleven interns will attend the News Fund’s multiplatform editing training at the University of Texas, Austin, led by DJNF alumna Emily Quigley, a lecturer in the School of Journalism and Media and the associate director of the Moody Writing Support Program. Interns will learn to assess copy for accuracy, tone and style, write headlines and design pages and publish high quality content on deadline.
This year’s class includes six internships funded through outside foundations. For the second year, the O’Toole Family Foundation is sponsoring three students whose training and internships are funded by a grant from News Fund alumnus Terry O’Toole’s family organization. The three interns will work in nonprofit newsrooms covering the Philadelphia and southern New Jersey regions.
Three additional internships are funded through the Gridiron Foundation to cover the training and summer salaries for three University of Maryland students, selected through the Dow Jones News Fund’s application process. Those interns will work at Maryland and D.C. news outlets.
Here are the 2026 News Fund interns, their schools and placements.
Temple University
Audience Engagement Program
May 18-27 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mariam Abaza, Ohio State University, The Marshall Project
Temiloluwa Alagbe, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Houston Chronicle
Emmy Bailey, University of Central Florida, Palm Beach Post
Sydney-Leigh Brockington, Syracuse University, Next City*
Jaylon Lee Hawkins, University of Memphis, IndyStar
McKenzie Henningsen, University of Texas at Austin, Houston Chronicle
Daneen Khan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The Current
Brian Nelson, Temple University, Philadelphia Inquirer
Paloma Sanchez-McGee, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Investigate Midwest
Rachel Zhong, Columbia University, International Center for Journalists
American City Business Journals – Dow Jones News Fund
Business Reporting Program
May 30 – June 6 | New York City
Kendal Asbury, University of Central Florida, Orlando Business Journal
Nishanth Bhargava, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Business Journal
Damenica Ellis, Howard University, Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal
Emily Feil, Brown University, New York Business Journal
Catalina Lopez, University of Texas at Austin, Austin Business Journal
Keya Mahajan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Charlotte Business Journal
Aashna Miharia, New York University, Boston Business Journal
Lincoln Roch, University of Colorado Boulder, Denver Business Journal
Rachel Schlueter, Northwestern University, Washington Business Journal
Alexander Taylor, University of Maryland, College Park, Baltimore Business Journal
American University
Business Reporting Program
May 22-30 | Washington, D.C.
Tsehai Alfred, Columbia University, VTDigger
Olivia Cyrus, Yale University, The (Louisville) Courier Journal
Keelin Fisher, University of Arkansas, Albuquerque Journal
Frances Klemm, Northeastern University, Automotive News
Bella Liu, University of California, Berkeley, Oakland Voices
Delphine Liu, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, FinAi News
Clara Martinez, Northwestern University, Automotive News
Alexia Massoud, George Washington University, San Antonio Express-News
Emily Scolnick, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Capital-Star*
Ajani Stella, Georgetown University, Inside Climate News
Alyssa Tisch, University of Michigan, Detroit News
Dow Jones News Fund
Business Reporting Program
May 22-30 | New York City
Nazeefa Ahmed, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, National Mortgage News
Celia Bernhardt, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, The Wall Street Journal
Molly Bordoff, Columbia University, Barron’s
Cooper Gant, University of Arkansas, Insurance Insider
Natalie Kaufman, University of Florida, The Wall Street Journal
Tina Li, Yale University, The Wall Street Journal
Kathryn Miller, Syracuse University, Financial Planning
Martina Nacach Cowan Ros, Boston University, Business Insider
Jasmine Ni, University of Pennsylvania, American Banker
Mia Osmonbekov, Arizona State University, Fortune
Colin Royal, New York University, Bond Buyer
Jake Tiger, University of Maryland, College Park, Staffing Industry Analysts
Grace Eunkyo Yoon, Harvard University, The Wall Street Journal
University of Maryland, College Park
Data Journalism Program
May 31 – June 7 | College Park, Maryland
Laine Cibulskis,University of Missouri, Detroit News
Teresa Do, University of Texas at Austin, The Trace
Isabelle Farina, University of Georgia, NJ Advance Media
Sam Gauntt, University of Maryland, College Park, States Newsroom (DC Bureau)**
Will Hammann, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland Matters**
Ela Jalil, University of Maryland, College Park, Investigative Reporting Workshop
Julie Lee, Columbia University, Howard Center for Investigative Journalism
Casey Mann, University of Arkansas, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Tiasia Saunders, University of Maryland, College Park, Investigative Project on Race and Equity
Yaelle Tang, University of California, Berkeley, Philadelphia Inquirer
Diego Torrealba, University of Texas at Austin, Howard Center for Investigative Journalism
Emily Wilson, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, Advertising Specialty Institute
Katelynn Winebrenner, University of Maryland, College Park,The Frederick News-Post**
Arizona State University
Digital Media Program
May 16-23 | Phoenix, Arizona
Grace Bertrand, Rider University, VTDigger
Sathya Chaib, California State University, Fullerton, Oakland Voices
Karmina Conde Ruiz, New Mexico State University, Albuquerque Journal
Ashley Dong, Northwestern University, Oakland Voices
Amelie Fawson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Storyful
Lili Hurd, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hawaii News Now
Annabelle Ink, Pomona College, Hawaii Public Radio
Maggie LeBeau, University of Missouri, Kansas City PBS
Max Tendler, Duke University, Mirror Indy
Sofía Youngs, Chapman University, Richmond BizSense
University of Texas at Austin
Multiplatform Editing Program
May 22-30 | Austin, Texas
Mara Bell, University of Maryland, College Park, The Washington Post
Davis Cuffe, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, San Francisco Chronicle
Litong Deng, University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco Chronicle
Lauren Holladay, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Rachel Kenealey, University of Texas at Arlington, The New York Times
Megan Lam, University of California, Berkeley, The Los Angeles Times
Emely Miranda-Aguilar, University of Maryland, College Park, Stars and Stripes
Samantha Olander, Syracuse University, VoteBeat*
Kaan Ozcan, Stony Brook University, The New York Times
Nick Song, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, The New York Times
Pristine Thai, University of Florida, The New York Times
*O’Toole Family Foundation fellow
** The Gridiron Foundation fellow
