Trending and General Assignment Reporter

The Buffalo News, an award-winning daily print and online news organization located in New York’s second-largest city, is seeking an energetic, digitally savvy journalist to be our next trending/ general assignment reporter. The ideal candidate will be a self-starter with an understanding of social media platforms, SEO techniques and audience metrics. This reporter will start early each day looking for the most talked about trending content.

We are looking for a reporter who will be able to work quickly and deliver tight, lively and enterprising stories daily. This reporter will chase news, politics, entertainment – whatever the most important trending stories are of the day – and produce content on alternative and traditional platforms. This reporter is also expected to have the range to handle breaking news coverage and quick-turn enterprise. General assignment reporters for The News also often find themselves working on daily features – the stories that generate conversations in the community but that don’t fit neatly into other traditional newspaper beats.

The ideal candidate must demonstrate the flexibility to respond to everything from a press conference to Western New York’s difficult-to-predict winter weather. This trending and general assignment reporter should feel equally comfortable in a throng of reporters covering an impromptu press conference at the scene of a crime as they are visiting the Erie County Fair.

Knowledge and skills:
High-level writing, communication and time management skills.
Experience with multimedia storytelling techniques on multiple platforms.
Demonstrated ability to work well on deadline.
Ability to produce content that is clean, accurate and publication ready.
Comfort with using social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to enhance reporting and promote stories.
Understanding of reporting ethics and sourcing.