Freelance Policy

The Minnesota Daily seeks to expand, diversify and deepen our coverage through providing opportunities for freelance reporters or journalists.

Publishing freelance pieces by University of Minnesota students also provides prospective Minnesota Daily applicants or journalists to be published in the Daily, essentially getting their foot in the door with a professional news organization.

Freelance content will be accepted on a case-by-case basis. Generally, we are looking for pieces that fall outside of the rhythm of our coverage; we do not need stories about the Board of Regents, Minnesota Student Association elections or other “generally covered” topics. Freelance pieces may fall within news, sports, A&E, op-ed pieces, multimedia and features coverage. Letters to the editor or OpEd submissions are not considered freelance work.

If a writer is interested in freelancing for the Daily, they should contact the current editor-in-chief at [email protected]. The editor-in-chief may then connect them with the appropriate desk editor, who will support them in the initial reporting or editing process. Accepted freelance stories should not be given to staff reporters.

If a freelancer pitches a story already pitched by a staff reporter, preference will be given to the staff member.

Freelancers must be current University of Minnesota students. They do not need to be journalism students. Previous journalism and/or writing experience is not required.

This freelance policy should be updated as needed to ensure quality content and maintenance of ethical standards.

Freelancers must sign a freelancing agreement before beginning their assignment(s) for the Daily.

Classwork as freelance

Journalistic content created for a class can be published in the Daily. Freelance pieces already edited by a professor must be re-edited and analyzed for our standards and policies. It is expected that the student receives approval from their professor about the possibility of freelancing with the Daily.

The Daily accepts freelance pieces created by multiple members of a class, such as an “in-depth” reporting classes.

Editing and standards

All freelance content will be held to the same ethical and editing standards as any other content. Freelance pieces will receive the same editing as other news stories before publication. Multimedia freelance pieces will be edited by the multimedia editor.

Per Daily policy, reporters are required to ask sources a voluntary demographic survey, which is used in an end-of-the-year report to analyze the newspaper’s content diversity. All freelancers are required to do the same.

Pay

Freelancers are not paid unless the Daily commissions the work. In this case, they will be paid a flat fee of $50.