Sarah Whites-Koditschek is joining Mississippi Today and the Deep South Today Investigative Reporting Center as part of The New York Times Local Investigations Fellowship.

Whites-Koditschek begins her work Monday in Mississippi Today’s newsroom in Jackson. She is part of the six-person fellowship class that The New York Times announced June 22.

The fellowship program, led by Dean Baquet, a former executive editor of The New York Times, gives journalists the opportunity to produce signature investigative work focused on the state or region they’re reporting from. Their reporting will be published by The Times and made available free for co-publication by local newsrooms.

“This is the program’s fourth fellowship class, and we’re thrilled to work with them on producing important accountability reporting from their communities,” Baquet said. “Their work will add to the fellowship’s strong roster of investigative journalism from regions across the country, and we’re excited to help foster this next generation of investigative reporters.” 

The fellows are based in Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.

Whites-Koditschek is a former investigative reporter for AL.com in Birmingham, Alabama. She has won national awards from the Society for Professional Journalists and the Public Media Journalists Association as well as a Regional Edward R. Murrow award. She previously worked in public radio as a reporter and producer at WHYY in Philadelphia and KUAR in Little Rock. She is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism’s Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, and she completed a fellowship in investigative reporting at Wisconsin Public Radio and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.

 “Sarah digs into important issues, even when facing bureaucratic obstacles,” said Mississippi Today Editor in Chief Emily Wagster Pettus. “She is an outstanding addition to an already strong investigative team, and we look forward to the work she will do in Mississippi.”

Whites-Koditschek joins Bobbi-Jeanne Misick, Mukta Joshi and Rosemary Westwood as local investigations fellows of the Deep South Today Investigative Reporting Center created in collaboration with The New York Times. Joshi is reporting for Mississippi Today, while Misick and Westwood are reporting for Verite News in New Orleans.

Investigative reporting that was produced through the fellowship has received national recognition. A yearslong examination of abuses by sheriffs departments in Mississippi was a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2024 and 2026. The team was also awarded the Peter F. Collier Award for Ethics in Journalism, the First Amendment Coalition’s Free Speech and Government Award and the Investigative Reporters and Editors Tom Renner Medal for Outstanding Crime Reporting.

The Times will continue collaborating with Big Local News, a data-sharing journalism program based at Stanford University. Big Local News will be working again with the fellows on obtaining and analyzing data for their projects and providing ongoing training on investigative data techniques.

Applications for the 2027-28 group of fellows opened July 1. Journalists interested in a fellowship based in Mississippi or Louisiana can visit this application form year round.