Reporter
Family-owned and operated, The Spokesman-Review is the largest, most utilized, and trusted news and information provider in the Inland Northwest! Our team works cohesively in a supportive environment, driven by a shared dedication to our community and the well-being of our valued employees. Each day, we strive to deliver the paper with a commitment to quality journalism and a genuine connection to the people we serve, fostering a strong and caring relationship with our community.
Position: Reporter – Spokane County
Status: Full-time
Salary: $44-47K
Hours: Monday – Friday, 9am-6pm
Location: Spokane, WA – On-site (SR building)
About this role: Our Reporter’s contribute to The Spokesman-Review’s mission to inform its audience through accurate, thorough, helpful, fair, and lively reporting and writing about Spokane County and Spokane Valley. This position requires pursuing at least one Spokane County and one Spokane Valley story a day. This position’ emphasis will be to highlight mostly positive developments with regards to development projects and the people connected to those projects within Spokane County and Spokane Valley.
What you'll do: Prepare accurate, fair, balanced and carefully researched stories and multimedia posts to meet assigned deadlines. Attend and report on planning and development opportunities within Spokane County. This includes attending city council and planning and zoning meetings/events. Pursue and report on public opinion/input on development opportunities. Build strong sources within the identified ‘beat’, extending beyond just official sources. Be able to keep the beat fresh with new ideas. Stay ahead of stories, anticipate changes, and write/publish those stories ahead of competitors. Clearly understand the beat to write with authority. Demonstrate appropriate focus on stories that matter to our audience and to the public record, using identified Key Performance Indicators made available to help you to improve audience relevance. Able to stay ahead and out front of the competition, local or national competitors, specifically on the primary ‘beat’ with regards to key daily and enterprise stories. Be willing and able to localize a national story when appropriate and do it quickly when needed. Write at least seven (7) stories a week, with at least five (5) that are published in our print edition. Maintain a standard of at least 10,000 weekly online page views. Finished stories should be clear and concise; self-edit for clean copy that can be posted quickly when needed for competitive reasons. Able to take photos, shoot simple video or record audio – or anything that can easily be done with a mobile phone – that will help tell the story or serve our readers; not relying solely on staff photographers for mug shots, especially those that will only run once. Able to grow the total size of your journalism’s audience; ensuring stories have appropriate headlines, especially for the website, adapting to the changes in print circulation and growth opportunities with our digital audience. Key indicators are the amount of times readers continue to turn to your stories and the amount of time your audience spends with your stories. Utilize art possibilities for every story, both in print and online, to increase and improve audience engagement; pull in graphics, design, photo and online team members so they can gain a better understanding of the story, when appropriate. Demonstrate ability to seek out and act quickly on story opportunities on all platforms used by our news organization. Aggressively follow through on stories, including interacting in a professional capacity with readers after publication through comments or other engaging tools. This means using those avenues to find follow-up information and expand on stories. Pitch stories for newspaper’s front page and homepage when appropriate. Promote and assist in the development and facilitation of events designed to promote public awareness and readership of The Spokesman-Review. Participate and provide positive experiences at company events as a liaison with key audiences/stakeholders such as community members, readers, service providers, donors, etc. Other duties as assigned.
What you'll contribute to our team:
Bachelor's degree (B.A.) in Journalism from four-year college or university, or equivalent experience.
Valid driver’s license
Proficient in use of a computer and smartphone, including use of Newsgate and Django content management systems. Demonstrate ability to create hyperlinks, attach photos, understand SEO and Key Performance Indicators. Abilty to use a smartphone to files stories and multimedia from the field and to stay current with news events. Demonstrate social media skills on Twitter, Facebook, and any emerging social media networks to both promote and enhance your journalism.
What we offer: As a family owned and operated organization, community and our team mean everything to us. We're dedicated to setting you up for success by providing the tools and training necessary to excel in your position! Imagine walking into a workplace where you're met with a friendly, supportive, and professional atmosphere every day. That's what we strive for – a place where you can thrive and grow.
As for benefits, we're proud to offer competitive wages along with a comprehensive package including Medical, Dental, Vision, 401K matching, and Employee Assistance Programs. Plus, we understand the importance of work/life balance, which is why we provide generous PTO, Sick Time, Paid Holidays, and Floating Holidays.
Join our team and become part of a company that values its community, cares about its employees, and is committed to your success.
For an overview of our benefits, please go to https://heyzine.com/flip-book/BAA+Cost.
What Next? Create your candidate profile at https://careers.cowlesco.com, complete all required fields, and upload any supporting documents such as a resume, cover letter, references, and examples of work! At the end of your profile creation, simply pick the position(s) you would like to apply for and press "submit." It's that easy!
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