4 takeaways:

➀ “I want to build the newsroom I never got to work in.” That’s what Sumi Aggarwal, former editor-in-chief of the Center for Investigative Reporting, would tell her newsroom. In fact, during her tenure, she was able to hire six newsroom staffers who were all women of color. “And I was so excited about doing that and I just think that things are changing, but they are slow,” Aggarwal told Widening the Pipeline fellows.

She told them one of the greatest pieces of advice she received while she was an intern at Nightline: “Sumi, when they look around, they see their own kids and they see their grandkids, but when they look at you, they don’t see that. You’re not part of their understanding of the world and so therefore you’ve got to figure out your own, what it is that you are going to do and how you’re going to do it.” Now as a leader, Aggarwal can provide opportunities for younger journalists of color. Think about what you’re going to do for the journalists who come after you, she said. [Transcript | Video]

➁ Don’t let the term objectivity hold you back. Aggarwal told the fellows about a time six months ago when a story was pitched about a Native American community – and the main reporter on it was from that community. At the open pitch meeting, a different reporter asked if she was too close to the story. “One of our reporters jumped in and said, ‘But do we ever say that to a white man or a white woman?  We never ask about their objectivity. We never ask about does your lived experience make this hard for you to report on?’” Being from the community that you’re reporting on can be beneficial in many ways. Aggarwal recalled the example of a former CIR reporter who was one of the first journalists to break the story of migrant children being separated from their families at the border. “You know why she’s able to break some of those stories? Because at some point in her life, she also was undocumented. And those communities will talk to her, they will trust her in a way that frankly they would not trust me,” Aggarwal said.

➂ Trying to write an investigative piece? Start with the basic questions – like what’s happening and why.  Simple questions can yield important investigations, Aggarwal said. The journalists and editors at the Center for Investigative Reporting asked themselves ‘Who’s responsible for spreading The Big Lie?’ And ‘What are they gaining by doing so?’ The story came to be about a moneymaking organization called True the Vote that was started by a Trump supporter, she said. Another question they asked was ‘how many Afghan refugees have been allowed into the US and how does that compare to Ukrainian refugees?’  Then think about impact and accountability, she said. “What is the cause of the problem? Who are the people and institutions involved? Who is responsible for that?”

➃ The pros and cons of nonprofit journalism. “Investigative journalism is really thriving in the non-profit news space,” Aggarwal said. For-profit newsrooms don’t necessarily have the bandwidth or time to do investigative pieces, but nonprofit outlets can specialize in the long form pieces. However, nonprofit newsrooms like the Center for Investigative Journalism are at the mercy of funders, which ebbs and flows, she said. Earlier this summer, Aggarwal had to lay off some of her staff, which she was not happy about. She felt like the CEO and board were not necessarily carrying their fair share of the weight in terms of fundraising. She figured she would probably have to do more cuts and change the way they approached their reporting – so she decided to leave.

The Widening the Pipeline Fellowship is sponsored by the Evelyn Y. Davis Foundation, Bayer, J&J and Twitter. NPF is solely responsible for the content.