Community News and Outreach Reporter

The Journal News/lohud.com, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, is looking for a Community News and Outreach Reporter to deliver daily, trending and enterprise content of interest and relevance to diverse and fast-growing portions of the local population in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam neighborhoods, home to people and families with an array of backgrounds and incomes.

Topics might range from a specific community’s sense of pride around an annual festival to questions of equity in our communities. Source development is critical to the beat, and this reporter must be able to own the beat by becoming the community’s leading voice on issues that impact the audience directly.

This reporter will play a crucial role in covering a wide range of news topics, events and trends. This reporter will cultivate relationships with new audiences, local officials, business leaders and community stakeholders to break stories.

This is a Tuesday-Saturday position that requires flexibility in work hours.

HIGHLIGHTS:

The ideal candidate will:

Pursue revelatory breaking, trending and enterprise stories related to issues in communities around Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties.
Develop relationships with public officials, citizens, experts and others to provide unique insight into community issues.
Report on topics that are close to readers’ lives – their families, their neighborhood, their livelihood, their meals, their traditions, their culture and their opportunities.
Seeking story ideas by fostering conversations with organizations and community members.
Work with the entire staff, planners and producers to ensure fairness and sensitivity and cultural competence in headlines, stories, social media posts and video.
Work with editors to shape reporting and storytelling to meet audience needs and interests on every platform. Many stories will be 500 words or less, respecting audience time and bandwidth, while others might be longer narratives or investigative pieces.
Stay informed about state and local policies and laws that might impact marginalized groups and report about these developments in a reader-friendly way.
Consistently make use of solutions journalism principles to produce outstanding daily and enterprise work that serves our communities.
Able to work in tandem with a team of veteran visual journalists.
Tell many stories first on social media.
Use metrics and analytics to determine how to best reach and grow the audience.
Increase digital audience and engagement and grow digital subscriptions.
Apply innovative, creative thinking to support the company’s goals.

Requirements:

Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.
At least two years of applicable experience as a reporter/writer.
Ability to capture and edit photos, videos and audio in the field, and/or a willingness to be trained in these areas.
Proven experience with content management systems and social media channels.
Good time management and organizational skills.
Solid news judgment.
Understanding of metrics, social media and SEO.
Self-motivation and self-direction, including the ability to report and respond to breaking news.
Top-notch planning, organizational and time management skills.
Ability to multi-task and excel under intense deadline pressure in a rapidly changing environment.
Energetic self-starter and a fast thinker who can spot stories that matter.
Command of media law and principles of ethical conduct.

We are eager to learn more about you and how you fit this role. When you apply, don't limit your upload to a resume; show us what you've done. To do so, put together a single document file that includes the following, in this order:

Your resume - one to two pages
A cover letter that outlines how you would approach the job
Links to 3-6 online samples of your work. Show us what you've written, produced or had a hand in that best reflects what you can do in your desired role.

It is important that these items be assembled into a single document and uploaded in PDF format. Completing these steps will ensure that your application receives the highest consideration.