AP Elections Explanatory Reporter (Newsperson)

Associated Press • Washington, DC

6d • $100,000 - $120,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Associated Press seeks a curious, collaborative and data-savvy journalist who is passionate about American politics and U.S. elections to join its Elections News team as an explanatory reporter. This role will focus on analyzing data and explaining the details behind the elections results and race calls that AP delivers as part of our unique role in American democracy. In this role, you will also collaborate with AP U.S. News and Washington News teams, among others, to produce insights and analysis of our elections data and research in support of AP’s broader coverage of American government. This reporter will play an essential role in helping our customers and audiences understand not just who AP declares as winners of elections, but the how and why of those victories, pulling back the curtain on the electoral process and the broader implications of Election Day outcomes. This role is covered by the News Media Guild and is based in Washington, D.C.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in journalism, such as at least two years of full-time experience at a daily newspaper, broadcast station, online or digital news outlet, or an AP bureau or regional desk.
• Experience using tools such as Excel and programming languages such as Python, R, or SQL, to clean, explore and analyze data for storytelling.
• Demonstrated ability to clearly articulate and explain data to a broad audience.
• Must be able to work in the U.S. or be able to gain permission to do so.
• Ability and willingness to work at night and on weekends as AP is a 24/7 operation and polls almost always close after the end of the business day.
• Advanced-level professional competency in written and spoken English.

Nice To Haves

• Professional competency in a language besides English.
• Interest and background in covering the ins-and-outs of U.S. elections.
• Understanding of the importance of transparency in the electoral process.
• Demonstrated experience producing data analysis for stories on a deadline.
• Comfort working with a diverse set of data sources in a fast-paced, high-pressure news environment.
• Familiarity with AP Elections data and our products.
• Experience with visualization tools like Datawrapper.
• Experience building data apps and notebooks with tools like Shiny or Jupyter.
• Thrive in a team environment and are excited to collaborate and learn from others.
• Keep audience top of mind in your coverage.
• Interest in experimenting with format to expand reach.
• Experience with alternative formats and off-platform storytelling (i.e. social video, newsletters, graphics, podcasts, etc.).

Responsibilities

• Work on a team with other reporters, analysts, data visualization developers and designers to produce data analysis and storytelling about elections and their results, explaining the facts and information our Decision Team uses to declare winners in U.S. elections.
• Explore, clean, validate, analyze and report on the data behind election results and research that AP collects, maintains and delivers.
• Write clearly and authoritatively about elections data and politics for a broad audience, explaining the results and research in an approachable and accessible way.
• Collaborate with other reporters and editors on stories that might benefit from the Elections team’s data and research.
• Serve as a key partner for the rest of the newsroom, connecting colleagues with the repositories of data we maintain and delivering analysis to support stories that intersect with elections.
• Write contextual text for the election results graphics we produce for customers and AP’s direct audiences.
• Act as a resource for our visual teams, providing subject matter expertise and editorial feedback to ensure clarity and accuracy for the visuals we produce.
• Contribute storytelling across a variety of formats: text, photo, video, data, graphics and interactives, live blogs, social media and more.
• Collaborate with journalists who work in different mediums, experimenting with formats to connect with new audiences and expand the reach of our journalism.
• Conduct reporting and analysis with methodological rigor, upholding AP standards for integrity and fact-based, nonpartisan journalism.

Benefits

• Competitive medical, dental and vision coverage
• Retirement benefits
• Company paid life insurance
• Paid vacation and sick days
• Paid parental leave for any new parent
• Mental well-being resources
• Opportunities for professional development
• Access to tools, mentorship, and resources tailored to elevate proficiency and contributions.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level