Freelance Services

Data Consulting

Harness the power of data-driven journalism to elevate your newsroom’s investigative acumen, enterprise insights, visual interest and workflow efficiency. Niles Media data services include special projects, support for beat reporting and capacity building.

Freelance Reporting

Niles Media owner Hilary Niles specializes in uncovering hidden stories, choosing the best medium to tell them, and explaining complexities simply. Hilary practices both accountability and “solutions” journalism to tell the story of how public policies shape our lives.

Journalism Research

Understanding what advances press freedom is as essential as understanding its challenges. Hilary Niles' freedom of information advocacy includes research into the conditions of “ripeness” for both strengthening and rolling back this essential human right.
Look helpful? Engage Niles Media on a project basis or on retainer.
Description of Services

Portfolio: Data Journalism

Mapping Education Reform in Vermont

This real-time map shows the current status of 250+ school districts undergoing consolidation.

Vermont’s Lake Champlain Cleanup Plan, Explained

435 square miles of lake, 630 metric tons of phosphorus and one controversial plan to clean it up.

$1 Billion+ ... The most accurate available information shows that the state could spend this amount on IT projects over the next five years.

Huge Money, Small Oversight: State IT Spending In Vermont

The state of Vermont doesn’t track what it spends on information technology, so we did it ourselves.

see more data projects

Portfolio: Public Radio

Barriers to Public Records Thwart Civic Engagement

Citizens find little consistency among agencies that control access to public records in Vermont. (VPR)

Ongoing Investigation of EB-5 Fraud Charges at Jay Peak

$350 million, 700 investors, dozens of state and federal charges, and untold answers still to track down. (Vermont Public Radio, NPR, Boston Globe)

The Semantics and Economics of ‘Natural’ Food

Two stories on the finances, policy and assumptions behind “natural” food. (The Food Chain, BBC News)

See more audio and radio work

Portfolio: Print and Web

Head out on the highway, looking for investments

Don’t think “Shark Tank.” This two-wheeling pitch contest is more like a “dolphin tank.” (Boston Globe)

Red Flags Preceded Fraud Allegations at Jay Peak

Vermont joins SEC fraud charges against a business it did little to oversee. (Boston Globe)

Traffic-Stop Race Data Remain Elusive in Vermont

Vermont police must record the race of every driver they pull over. So, where’s the data? (Seven Days)

See more writing for print and web

Journalism Blog

You Can, Sometimes, Get What You Want

“Unless you know exactly what you want, you’re sure not to get it.” I could attempt to diagram that sentence. Instead, I’ll explain how this nugget of advice became a cornerstone of my freelance business — and how it can help yours, too.

Freelancing Through Upheaval

Independent journalists work in a constant state of upheaval: We work without roots, often alone. Rewards abound for the risks we take. Yet freelancing through the current upheaval amid Pres. Donald Trump’s transition to the White House has thrown many for a loop.

Ignore Policy at Your Peril

Without easy narratives that match familiar story schema, policy and regulation are deemed too dull or too dense to fit within a click-driven, deadline-oriented news cycle. And that’s a problem.

See all our news

About Hilary

Before graduate studies at the Missouri School of Journalism and training with Investigative Reporters and Editors, journalism was my hobby. It started through my work as founding program director of Portsmouth Community Radio in New Hampshire. I previously worked as a marketing consultant for artists, nonprofits and small businesses, and as a bartender and farmer.