Public Safety Reporter - Cedar Rapids IA

Adams Communications Co • Cedar Rapids, IA

3d • Onsite

About The Position

The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, seeks a public safety and breaking news reporter who is focused on keeping our audience safe. You’ll be focused on local, state and federal criminal justice systems, police fire and EMS services in our region and also work with social service agencies doing adjacent work. This isn’t a job for writing daily police briefs. Our ideal candidate is interested in being the go-to for reporting on crises, crimes and emergency services. You have a mindset for accountability and watchdog journalism, but strive to fairly report the complexity and split seconds decisions that are involved in public safety. We’re interested in a tenacious reporter who strives to find layers to the story and works to share it with our audience. We want a journalist with high ethical standards, strong relationship building skills – for individuals, organizations and the community. You must be persistent, have a strong ethical compass while working for information, even when some doors may slam shut. Our ideal reporter is accurate, maintains impartiality, is deadline-oriented and a concise writer. You must cut through jargon. You’ll have an investigative mindset and should always work to help our audience understand the bigger picture. You’ll focus on quick updates to online, but also circle back and do more in-depth enterprise reporting. You are self-driven with strong news judgment, have critical thinking skills are are adept at obtaining and scouring reports or public records. Our ideal candidate will have strong news judgment, able to be accurate with a passion for digital news, and be thinking of the bigger picture and trends. You should have basic data skills, and be able to convey key points and have solid writing and interviewing skills. You should also expect to work in close coordination with our legal reporter.

Requirements

• Tenacious reporter who strives to find layers to the story and works to share it with our audience.
• High ethical standards.
• Strong relationship building skills – for individuals, organizations and the community.
• Persistent, with a strong ethical compass while working for information, even when some doors may slam shut.
• Accurate, maintains impartiality, is deadline-oriented and a concise writer.
• Ability to cut through jargon.
• Investigative mindset.
• Self-driven with strong news judgment.
• Critical thinking skills.
• Adept at obtaining and scouring reports or public records.
• Passion for digital news.
• Basic data skills.
• Ability to convey key points.
• Solid writing and interviewing skills.
• Ability to juggle a variety of deadlines and to work quickly and accurately while meeting deadlines.
• Ability to find the unexpected in data and routine documents.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree in journalism, communication, English or a related field.
• Three or more years of related experience.
• Ability to take and edit photos and video on as needed basis.

Responsibilities

• Respond with urgency to breaking news, producing information with a digital audience in mind.
• Drive audience and digital growth while producing engaging and timely content.
• Ability and comfort in an array of topics outside of public safety.
• Strong understanding of ethics and desire to explore news events speaking to officials as well as those impacted by events.

What This Job Offers

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