Service Journalism Reporter

McClatchy is looking for a collaborative, reader-focused reporter for our California service journalism team, whose mission is to help local readers navigate life and the news in San Luis Obispo, on the Central Coast and across the state. This position is based in the SLO County area and with The Tribune (sanluisobispo.com) newsroom.

This service journalist will report and write to answer reader-submitted questions, dig into local curiosities and issues, use engagement tools like Google Trends to surface high-interest topics, and contribute to projects and breaking news coverage.

This reporter must be ready to move with agility when the news demands. The successful candidate must also be able to take assignments and cultivate and pitch story and video ideas. As such, this reporter must have good time management skills and be organized.

Experience with audience growth and engagement tactics such as headline writing and SEO is a must. Expertise in a particular subject area is not required, but the successful candidate will bring a deep understanding of what’s important to local readers, preferably earned by working as part of a local news outlet.

This service journalism team works across McClatchy’s five newsrooms in California: The Tribune in San Luis Obispo, The Fresno Bee, the Merced Sun-Star, The Modesto Bee and The Sacramento Bee. The reporter in this role will report to the assistant California service journalism editor.

McClatchy’s service journalism teams focus on listening to and serving our local readers with need-to-know information in an accessible approach that includes explainers, Q&As and fact checks. These teams write stories that help our readers understand the news as well as have fun and live their best lives in their communities.

Here are just a few of the team’s stories:

California DMV is cracking down on disabled parking fraud. How a new rule is meant to help

Closed in SLO County: Here are 10 local restaurants and stores we lost in 2023

What should I do if I see a mountain lion on a California hike? Follow these tips

Snow in SLO County: See pictures of the Central Coast as a winter wonderland

The Tribune primarily serves San Luis Obispo County, covering important issues like government accountability, education, the coastal environment, major industries like tourism and wine, Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant and more. We have won the California News Publishers Association’s top award for general excellence three times in the past five years. And we do all of this while having fun, working in a newsroom full of lively and passionate journalists.

San Luis Obispo is a vibrant college town located minutes from the beach. It has a temperate climate that makes enjoying the outdoors a year-round opportunity. In fact, San Luis Obispo itself was once named the Happiest City in America.

In this role, you will need to:

Have strong writing and reporting skills, as well as excellent news judgment and journalism ethics.

Think about our audiences first and always, with a commitment to tactics that grow readership and community engagement.

Have a passion for the written word as well as video, audio and motion graphics

Demonstrate speed, competitiveness and SEO savvy through aggregating and storytelling tools.

Work well in a team environment.

Be adaptable and excited to experiment with new forms of storytelling.

Data reporting experience is a plus.

Education & experience:

College degree or equivalent work experience.

At least 1-3 years of reporting and writing experience.

When applying, include a persuasive cover letter, your resume and four to six examples of your best work.

The anticipated base pay range for this position is between $23.50 and $25 per hour. Individual base pay may vary within that range depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, relevant education, department equity, training, geography and local wage and hours laws.