ITANAGAR, OCT 8:
Arunachalee journalist Marina Dai has been selected for The Reporters’ Collective’s (TRC) 2026 Early-Career Investigative Journalist GAP Fellowship, providing financial and editorial support for sustained public-interest investigations from Arunachal Pradesh.
The year-long fellowship will enable Dai, who is associated with The Arunachal Times, to undertake in-depth reporting in the state, where difficult terrain, remote settlements and limited newsroom resources can pose challenges to long-form field investigations.
Under the programme, early-career journalists working with independent news organisations receive financial and editorial support for investigations requiring extensive field reporting, travel and documentation. Dai will receive financial support of up to Rs 5.4 lakh during the fellowship. Fellows continue to work with their respective newsrooms and do not join TRC.
An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi, Dai has reported extensively on climate change, indigenous communities, development, human rights and social issues in Arunachal Pradesh and the wider Northeast. Her work has appeared in Down To Earth, EastMojo and The Arunachal Times, besides her association with journalism and climate-reporting fellowships.
Her reporting has covered issues including the impact of climate change on traditional communities, hydropower development and human trafficking in Arunachal Pradesh. She was also recognised by the Appan Menon Memorial Trust for her proposed investigation, “The Siang Files: An Investigation into the Proposed Siang Upper Multipurpose Project: Development, Indigenous Rights and a Transboundary River.”
Dai is also a recipient of the V. Ravindran Excellence in Journalism Award 2025, presented by the Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ) on National Press Day.
The Reporters’ Collective is an independent, not-for-profit investigative journalism organisation focused on public-interest reporting, particularly governance and India’s political economy. Its GAP Fellowship seeks to strengthen investigative journalism beyond its own newsroom by supporting journalists working with independent media organisations.
The 2026 initiative includes fellowships and reporting grants for early-career and experienced journalists as well as video reporters, with the objective of enabling sustained investigations that may otherwise be constrained by the time and financial pressures of daily newsrooms.
The fellowship is expected to provide Dai an opportunity to undertake deeper investigations from Arunachal Pradesh and bring stories from the state, often underrepresented in national media, to a wider audience. (Source: NewsFY)
