Brooklyn Reporter/Senior Reporter
THE CITY is seeking a reporter or senior reporter to cover Brooklyn and break local news that resounds beyond the borough.
The Organization
Launched in 2019, THE CITY is New York City’s preeminent nonprofit, nonpartisan, local news organization. Working across all five boroughs, our award-winning journalists bring deeply diverse skills and backgrounds to the task of covering New York’s neighborhoods, holding the powerful to account, and making sense of the greatest city in the world.
In the past two years, journalism by THE CITY exposed inequities in vaccine access, helped secure repairs in public housing, and shone a spotlight on New York’s delivery workers. THE CITY collaborated with readers to share stories of loved ones lost to COVID, leading to our Missing Them project, widely noted for its innovation. And our Meet Your Mayor interactive guide helped hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers make sense of a wild election.
THE CITY is currently in a growth phase that will add reporting and editing firepower to our newsroom, strengthen our business capabilities, and build our membership base.
The Position
You will join our team of ace borough reporters and cover all things Brooklyn, from local politics and policy to real estate, culture, community and more.
As the Brooklyn borough reporter you will…
- Be a scoop machine who generates exclusive, high-impact stories on both short-turnaround pieces and longer-term, in-depth projects
- Produce engaging work that’s driven by people and grounded in data, interviews and research
- Embed yourself in Brooklyn’s neighborhoods and communities, listening to everyday New Yorkers for stories and tips
- Make complex information compelling to non-experts
- Turn out sharp prose and firmly structured stories on deadline
- Know how to effectively use digital reporting and engagement methods, via social media and more, to propel a story, from the reporting to post-publication
- Embrace THE CITY’s mission of service to the people of New York — and deliver on it
Job descriptions like this one are wish lists that are rarely completely fulfilled, even by the successful candidate. Don’t hesitate to apply even if you don’t check every box. You can be right for the job even if you’re missing a bullet point or two, and you can have important skills we haven’t thought of that would make you a compelling candidate. Even if this doesn’t end up being a match, applying puts you on our radar – and it’s free!
Qualifications
- At least three years of relevant reporting experience
- Arrive with sources or a demonstrated ability to cultivate them quickly
- Brim with energy, ideas and story pitches
- Work well with others in a fast-moving, deadline-driven newsroom filled with people passionate about the power and importance of local news
- Show tenacity and grit, with a passion for follow-up
- Thrive in a start-up environment and be ready to grow with THE CITY
- Experience filing FOIL requests, court reporting, financial and/or real estate literacy, or working with large data sets is a plus, as is experience recording and editing audio or video.
THE CITY is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Individuals of color, women, people with disabilities, immigrants, veterans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, and those with lived experiences in the communities we serve are strongly encouraged to apply.
Other things to know:
Salary Range: Reporter $75,000 to $97,000; Senior Reporter $100,000 to $130,000
Benefits: Generous paid time off, including 20 vacation days, 10 holidays, 2 floating holidays and 8 paid sick days. Medical, Dental and Vision. 401k Plan
Location: New York City (Brooklyn preferably)
Please include links to three bylined articles in your cover letter, and also include your vision for covering a borough of 2.5 million people and where you’d want to focus your efforts in doing that.
We are dedicated to improving our newsroom, in part by better reflecting the people of the city we cover. We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages, and we especially encourage members of traditionally under-represented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ people, immigrants, veterans, people with disabilities, and those with lived experiences in the communities we cover.