We Are Hiring an Engagement Reporting Fellow for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network
by ProPublica
Are you interested in helping revitalize local reporting and reinventing journalism along the way?
Then apply to be the engagement reporting fellow for ProPublica's Local Reporting Network.
The network is an initiative we recently announced to support local journalism. We're going to be covering the salaries of, and providing editorial support for, reporters to do investigative journalism at seven news organizations across the country next year. Here are the organizations and reporters we're going to be working with.
In addition to hiring a senior editor to oversee see the initiative, we are hiring an engagement reporting fellow to help develop and execute ideas that give communities the opportunity to contribute to or participate in the work.
You'll work closely with the local reporters and their news organizations, as well as the senior editor and ProPublica's award-winning engagement team. Some of our partner newsrooms are bigger than the others; in some instances, you might be in a more advising or consulting position. In others, you might be leading and managing the engagement portion of the project.
You'll be involved from the very beginning of our work in the project, thinking about how to find and reach the communities we need in order to tell the story, pull them into the work to help inform the story, and find ways to maximize the resonance of the project after publication.
So what exactly are we talking about? Take a look at a project we've done about Vietnam vets exposed to Agent Orange. Unlike traditional investigations, we didn't start with a story. We announced that we were doing an investigation with a callout to the community. We asked vets to tell us their stories, and we've now heard from nearly 8,000 of them. This community has fueled our reporting, and it's gotten results.
This isn't a traditional social media job, but social media is very much part of the job. You'll need to understand not just social media but how news organizations can use it to tell stories. Here is a tweetstorm we did on refugee vetting. Here's a story we decided to do exclusively on social about a lobbyist now working at a federal agency he lobbied.
Is all of this the kind of work you want to do? Yeah? Cool. We are looking for someone early in their career who has some of the following skills (or interest in building out them out):
Experience organizing communities and audiences, especially in a journalistic context. This can have been done digitally (think Facebook groups or web forms) or in real life (events and forums).
Journalism experience itself, either locally or nationally, especially involving stories that shed light on injustices or covering marginalized communities.
Ability to spin many plates. You'll be working with a number of reporters across the country on different projects, potentially dealing with several different editors. You'll need to stay organized, focused and proactive.
A good listener - this includes on social media and all around the web. We want to understand what the conversation might be around a particular topic - and then turn that insight into actionable items. Like this.
Above all, we're looking for somebody who is excited about helping us build this initiative and make hard-hitting, great investigative journalism resonate in these communities.
We know there are great candidates who won't fit everything we've described above, or who have important skills we haven't thought of. If that's you, don't hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself.
We are dedicated to improving our newsroom, in part by better reflecting the people we cover. We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. We especially encourage members of underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities.
To apply, fill out this form. The deadline is Dec. 31.
This job will be based in New York. Pay is $800 per week and includes benefits. Expect some travel.
Any questions? Email terry.parris@propublica.org.
No phone calls, please.
