By participating in this class, you will gain invaluable skills crafting a multimedia investigative story. You’ll utilize tools used in earlier journalism classes like interviewing, FOIA, and writing a story using data while using video, audio, photos and words to craft a compelling story.
Applications for Spring 2027 will open in early Fall 2026
About the Project
An energetic team of passionate storytellers that include videographers, photographers, audio producers/podcasters, and writers will research, analyze and dig into the chosen topic to report on stories about those impacted by the issue. Students will learn to elevate their stories, hold public officials accountable, through a trauma informed reporting lens to explain the crisis.
Students at journalism colleges across the country will be reporting on the same selected topic.
Benefit to you: You will learn how to investigate topics, and you will be pushed to advance your journalism skills. Your work may be entered into national prestige contests, some of which may carry monetary awards.
About the Class
Investigative Depth Reporting will be offered in Spring 2027.
Students will enroll in JOUR 491/891.001 Investigative Depth Reporting 3-credit course
The class meets on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.
Students should expect to spend 10-15 hours outside class working on their projects.
Travel to locations within Nebraska may be needed to complete stories. Group travel, if necessary, will be covered by the fund and will not be the responsibility of the student.
About the Program
The College of Journalism and Mass Communications Depth Reporting program is led by the Deepe Endowed Chairs in Depth Reporting Chris Graves and Linda White. The program focuses on producing professional-quality depth reports on topics of social importance.
In the spring 2026 semester, the In Depth class collaborated with other Carnegie Knight journalism schools across the country to produce Lives in the Balance, an in depth look at immigration court. These students produced six stories that covered the financial costs at Cornhusker Clink, the chaos inside Omaha’s immigration court, undocumented children and teens navigating a legal system without legal representation, among others.
For the spring 2025 semester, 11 stories plus a podcast series with our storytellers were produced about Nebraska's prisons. Our stories shined a light on the lack of mental health care for incarcerated people, how state juvenile detention centers broke the law by placing offenders in solitary confinement, and published a story about a forbidden prison romance and the legal battle for parental rights plus other impactful stories. This report and multiple individual stories have won regional and national awards including the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Book and Journalism Awards in the collegiate division.
Nine stories plus a podcast series were produced in the spring 2024 in Depth class on Missing, murdered, marginalized women. The documentary, 'On the Border: Sherry Wounded Foot's Story' won an Award of Excellence in the documentary category from Broadcast Education Association (BEA) On Location competition in August 2024.
Previous projects include Wounds of Whiteclay, the 2017 winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Grand Prize, that explored the devastating effects of alcohol sales in Whiteclay, Nebraska, to residents of the nearby Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. State of Waste was a 2021 podcast that explored what happens to garbage after it leaves the house in Nebraska.
The College of Journalism and Mass Communications Depth Reporting program is supported by the Deepe Family Endowment. The Endowment was established with the proceeds from the $4.65 million sale of farmlands donated by the estate of Martin and Doris Deepe from Hebron, Nebraska. The gift will elevate journalism education and investigative reporting at the university, ensuring that future generations of UNL graduates are equipped with the necessary skills to uncover and share stories of significance, particularly in the Great Plains and tribal communities.
Meet the Faculty
To apply students must submit a course application, two faculty references, a writing sample, a photo sample and a video sample demonstrating competency in these skills and complete an interview. Applications for Spring 2027 will open in early Fall 2026.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
I am not a journalism or broadcast major, can I still apply?
Yes, as long as you can write, take photographs and shoot video effectively, you are welcome to apply. Show us your skills!
I am not in the College of Journalism of Mass Communications, can I still apply?
Yes, as long as you can write, take photographs and shoot video effectively, you are welcome to apply. Show us your skills!
What does the class entail?
This is a hands-on reporting and writing course and while there may be a few lectures, you should consider the professor more like your news director who is guiding your work, editing and providing feedback. You may be going into communities and talking with sources/subjects that may come from different experiences and situations than your background. You will likely also be talking with official sources as well in the college sports world. There will be multiple deadlines, some overlapping. Your work will be critiqued and often sent back for revisions or more reporting. This is natural and to be expected. The work, regardless of platform, will be published.
Are there prerequisites?
- CoJMC students must complete prerequisite courses, including JOMC 101, JOMC 130-134, and JOUR 200A with a grade of C or higher, as well as either ADPR 151, ADPR 221, ADPR 283, or BRDC 227, BRDC 269, BRDC 260, or SPMC 150, SPMC 250, or JOUR 200B with a grade of C or higher.
- For non-CoJMC students: At least a junior in good academic standing.
- There is an application process for course admission.
What will I need to provide to apply?
Broadcasting/podcasting samples and provide references from two UNL professors, including at least one from your home college. You will also complete a questionnaire and an interview.