Freelance Investigative Journalist for North Sea Investigations

Position description

Do you have experience investigating the North Sea? And do you want to sink your teeth into a maritime research project for a few months? Then we are looking for you. 

For the long-term research project The North Sea Investigations, Follow the Money is looking for a freelance investigative journalist who is experienced in independently setting up, carrying out, and properly reporting an investigation. 

You can decide what exactly you want to investigate, provided it fits within the scope of the project: the conflicting interests in the North Sea. From windmills to pipelines and from oyster farming to shipping … you name it. 

We are looking for a journalist who enjoys setting up their own investigation and who surprises us with original ideas and perspectives. Follow the Money is your leitmotiv.

About the project

Who are the winners and losers in the battle for the North Sea? Led by Follow the Money, this is the first international investigative project on the North Sea as a whole. We are working with media from Norway, Denmark, Belgium, and the UK, among others, to dive deep into the clashing plans, agreements, and initiatives.

The North Sea is one of the busiest waters in the world and is becoming increasingly crowded. Abandoned oil rigs were supposed to be cleaned up years ago, but haven’t been. Huge wind farms are being built along the coast, and submarine internet cables snake along the seabed. Parts of the North Sea, meanwhile, are classified as nature reserves, with all the restrictions that this entails. This means that the fishing industry is seeing its catch areas shrink while companies have to innovate the methods with which they’re hunting fish.

The ideal candidate

• Has affinity with the North Sea
• Has extensive experience in independently setting up and carrying out journalistic investigations
• Is able to translate that into concrete stories
• Has expertise in one or more North Sea-related topics (in the areas of safety, energy, fishing, environment, etc.)
• Has an (inter)national network of sources, and knows how to find relevant experts and sources
• Can translate technical and abstract topics into an easy-to-follow article for the general public

What we offer: 

• Financing your research project within the North Sea Investigations, for a minimum of 3 months, with the possibility of extension for follow-up investigations if the collaboration is successful
• Access to financial databases such as Bloomberg
• A data team that can help with data analysis and visualisation
• Guidance by and collaboration with the research team
• Access to an international network of investigative reporters and outlets
• The possibility that your investigation work forms the basis for publications by our international partners
• Publication on one of Europe’s biggest dedicated investigative news outlets,, both in Dutch for our audience in the Netherlands (ftm.nl) and in English for our European audience (ftm.eu)

Over Follow the Money

Follow the Money is a newsroom for investigative journalism. Our mission is: finding the truth in the service of society. We are able to do our work thanks to our more than 43,000 paying members. Whether it concerns healthcare, the financial world, politics or education: if you follow the money trail, you will discover where the interests really lie.

Follow the Money is a fast-growing organisation where you will find colleagues who work for us with passion. The editorial office is an inspiring environment where young and old learn from each other. 

Application instructions

Please be sure to indicate you saw this position on tendersglobal.net