Government Accountability Reporter

We’re looking for a government accountability reporter to join our newsroom – but this isn’t your typical city council beat.

Flint Beat is a watchdog over city hall and education, which means we closely examine how elected officials’ decisions impact residents in the Flint community.

How are officials making it easier or harder for residents to make ends meet? Where are officials spending taxpayers’ dollars to improve lives? Are government programs performing as promised – and if not, what are policymakers doing about it?

We’re looking for a reporter with at least two years of reporting experience to produce quick hits and deeper dives on local government in Flint. They’ll connect with concerned residents, community leaders, and city insiders.

This reporter will experiment with different storytelling models; we’re not bound to the typical inverted pyramid news story when a graphic, chart, or short video would work as well.

The reporter should be comfortable using social media, particularly for finding sources, developing reader engagement, and speaking publicly about their work in various forums.

The successful candidate would be expected to live in the Flint area or relocate. We will work with the employee to determine a moving schedule.

We are not considering long-term remote candidates.

Founded in 2017, Flint Beat is an ambitious, digital-first newsroom with a mission to empower, impact and inform the Flint community. The organization’s parent company, Brown Impact Media Group, develops media products for underserved and marginalized communities.

Since 2017, Flint Beat’s journalists have won national and regional awards, including an Emmy Award, and Flint Beat was named “Publication of the Year” two years in a row after topping award categories with the Michigan Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. Our newsroom has also been nationally recognized for its solutions journalism work. We believe in collaboration: We’ve partnered with national outlets such as the Center for Public Integrity, PBS, TheTrace.org, and the New York Times.

Job Responsibilities

Generate story ideas focusing on local government and how their decisions impact Flint residents.
Produce an average of four weekly stories in coordination with your direct supervisor.
Keep close tabs on the Flint City Council, Flint Community Schools Genesee County Commission, and keep colleagues in the loop.
Develop and demonstrate the cultural competence required to cover marginalized communities.
Be familiar with other team members’ beats and how those intersect with local government.
Use social media in various ways, including source development and idea generation, along with sharing and distributing content.
Collaborate with the visuals editor and digital editor on storytelling.
Read Flint news publications regularly, as well as national news on poverty, power, and policy.
Stay abreast of social, racial, and economic justice movements locally and nationally.
Write clearly and concisely.
Adhere to the Associated Press style and pay careful attention to organization, clarity, brevity, grammar, punctuation, syntax, and accuracy.

You’ll be a good fit if…

You bring a collaborative, can-do attitude to the work.
You have a demonstrated commitment to cultural competency.
You can think coherently under pressure.
You have stellar news judgment and sharp editorial instincts.
You have a deep-seated commitment to independent, local journalism.
You know how to use and interpret public records and data sets to tell daily, enterprise, and investigative stories.
You’ve always thought local government should be covered differently and are eager to help shape this beat.
You have experience distilling long meetings into the essence of what readers/viewers need to know.
You think outside the box and agree that not everything needs to be a 1,000-word story.
You’re comfortable with making or willing to learn how to create short videos and graphics to tell stories.
You’re tired of working in a toxic news environment and want to be a part of a healthy newsroom.

Compensation and benefits

At least $42,000 annual salary.
Flint Beat offers health insurance compensation for full-time employees.
Employees receive at least 30 days off per year, including at least 10 days paid time off, 10 days off during our annual end-of-the-year break, and five days for our dark weeks and company holidays.
Flexible work schedule, with some evening hours (when elected bodies meet).

Application process

To apply, please send, in a single PDF, the following to editor@flintbeat.com by Feb. 2, 2024, with the subject line “Government Accountability.”

Your resume/CV.
A cover letter/statement of interest. Tell us why you are a good fit for Flint Beat. What does journalism focused on impacting, empowering, and informing communities like Flint look like to you?
Links to at least four samples of your best work.

We encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ people, people who were formerly incarcerated, veterans, and people with disabilities.

If you meet most of the qualifications but not every single one, apply anyway.

Applications will be reviewed and interviews scheduled on a rolling basis, giving an advantage to early applicants.

Please send questions to editor@flintbeat.com.