Project Reporter, New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative
Position type: Independent contractor up to 20 hours per week. Six-month contract, subject to renewal
Reports to: Project Editor, New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative
Location: NYMI SOJO prefers the Project Reporter be located in southeast Michigan (Detroit metro); however, candidates from either Western New York or southeast Michigan will be considered. Both NYMI SOJO and the Local Media Association, which will contract this position on behalf of NYMI SOJO, are virtual organizations, so the reporter can work from anywhere.
Compensation: $30,000 annually for 20 hours a week
Application deadline: The deadline to apply is November 30, but we will review applicants on a rolling basis.
Job summary: We seek an experienced, entrepreneurial journalist to work part time with the New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative. The collaborative is part of a bigger project of: transforming the way journalists engage and cover caregivers of older adults to offer stronger, community-centric information and storytelling rooted in what caregivers say are their main issues. The reporter will be trained on solutions journalism and will pitch, report, and write on a range of caregiving topics impacting readers in southeastern Michigan and western New York, in partnership with others in the collaborative.
The reporter should have a strong understanding of trends, policies, and challenges at the state, local, and federal level, and should have the proven ability to build relationships with a diverse network of sources. The reporter should be able to break down complex issues so that readers can understand why they should care and why they should care now, while also ensuring that stories and analyses are suitable for sharing with both legacy and new media across the collaborative.
We are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion; diverse candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
Specifics we’re looking for:
- Experience as a reporter
- Excellent oral and written communication skills, and the ability to write quickly and cleanly
- Solid analytical and editorial judgment
- Ability to tell stories on a variety of platforms
- Familiarity with solutions journalism
- Work with data that helps guide storytelling
- Demonstration of critical thinking skills and problem-solving abilities
- Knowledge of AP style
- Willingness to experiment
ABOUT NY&MISOJO and SJN
The New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative is a diverse group of news, academic and community organizations pooling time, talent and resources to cover chronic problems with a solutions lens. It is modeled on other successful news collaboratives supported by the growing nonprofit Solutions Journalism Network. Solutions journalism provides a framework, grounded in journalistic ethics and informed by today’s professional challenges, that enables journalists to cover society more comprehensively, revealing possibilities for civic agency and connection.
The New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative is Solutions Journalism Network’s first interstate collaborative — a diverse group representing at least 26 news organizations, three universities, a talk show, and a book publisher.
This role will be supported by the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation and the Health Foundation of Western & Central New York. Local Media Foundation serves as fiscal and administrative agent for the New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative (NYMI SOJO). LMF is coordinating recruitment and will be the contracting agent for the position.
Want to be considered for this role? Send a résumé, cover, and clips explaining why you’re ideal for it to jobs@localmedia.org. Do you have skills or experiences that we haven’t thought of that you can bring to this job? Tell us how you can see this role benefit from your own individual experiences.