Local News Reporter
We’re looking to make a critical addition to our talented local news and enterprise team at The Mercury News.
This reporter will cover the Peninsula, one of the most dynamic sub-regions of the Bay Area. You’ll handle a torrent of breaking news in the birthplace of Silicon Valley – from crime and housing to politics and development – in an area that includes Google, Facebook and Stanford University as its leading institutions. The ideal Peninsula beat reporter thrives in a fast-paced, intensely competitive setting but also has the ability to turn slice-of-life features and deeper enterprise off the news. You should be able to work both alone and collaboratively with a rotating cast of reporters and editors.
The reporter in this job will provide primary coverage for The Mercury News print and online local reports. What happens in the Peninsula -- whether it’s coronavirus research at Stanford, a shocking massacre of farmworkers in Half Moon Bay, or a city’s effort to ward off affordable housing requirements by declaring itself protected mountain lion territory -- resonates across the country. Our news organization has the ambition and ability to tell the story of the Peninsula and the broader Bay Area with the impact it warrants. You will work in real time, publishing words, sounds and images individually and in collaboration with colleagues. We serve a savvy, sophisticated audience that includes millions of online readers and hundreds of thousands of people who read our printed newspapers.
If you’re the ideal candidate, you’ll have these qualities:
Excellent news judgment and a drive to compete
Demonstrated ability to write sharp, clean copy that draws readers in, including nut graphs and online headlines
The skill to mine human sources, documents and data, including a facility for obtaining and using public records
The ability to juggle multiple stories of varying complexity, from quick news posts under intense deadline pressure to daily news stories and longer-term enterprise or features
Proficiency at using the web and social media to report stories and to share them
At least two years experience as a working journalist, preferably including at least some coverage of politics and government, breaking news, business and the environment.
In our diverse region, facility with multiple languages is a plus.
The salary range for this job is $52,000-$62,500 depending on experience and qualifications. Email your resume, 6-10 clips and a cover letter highlighting your vision for the job to newsjobs@bayareanewsgroup.com to convince us why you're the right person to join our local news team. Please put the words "Peninsula news job" in the subject line of your email.