Reporter

Tribune Publishing • Chicago, IL

4d • $26

About The Position

The Chicago Tribune is seeking a reporter with proven skills to help cover education in the city and suburbs, as well as at the state level. The reporter will work alongside the education editor and senior education reporter to deliver a mix of daily news and enterprise reporting on local and national education trends in public and private schools and higher education. The reporter will assist the senior education reporter in covering Chicago Public Schools (CPS). CPS plays a critical role in serving the city's diverse population with a newly elected school board, a powerful union, and a mayor who rode labor's influence into office.

Requirements

• A proven record of reporting skills demonstrated in tackling complex subjects and providing balanced coverage of controversial topics
• Creativity, doggedness, and problem-solving skills in addressing roadblocks in newsgathering and idea generation
• A respect for readers' time reflected in clear writing, leads that command attention, nut graphs that make sense, necessary context, and an aversion to wasted words
• Energy, patience, and the drive to learn all you can about Chicago's communities, develop sources, and tell hard-hitting stories
• A commitment to upholding Tribune standards of fairness, accuracy, ethics, and quality journalism; a desire to be a collaborative and collegial newsroom citizen

Nice To Haves

• Data-viz and Spanish skills are considered a major asset for this role

Responsibilities

• Become a go-to source for breaking education news and smart enterprise reporting that highlights the stories of students, families, and educators while exploring the impact of broader education trends
• Deliver a mix of short-, mid-, and long-term news coverage and enterprise reporting, both assigned and self-generated
• Serve as a primary resource for news about higher education, as well as private and parochial schools in the Chicago area
• Report solo at times and collaborate with a mix of reporters and photographers on other occasions
• Own your beat and develop a vision for covering education by attending meetings and press conferences, developing sources, and working with the team to dig through documents to yield exclusives on major developing stories
• Work with your editor(s) to execute the needed balance of dailies and longer-term pieces

Benefits

• In addition to your salary, the Company offers eligible employees a variety of benefits including medical, dental, life and disability insurance, 401k, as well as paid time off and select paid holidays (all benefits are based on eligibility).

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed