Reporter jobs in Washington

General Summary of Responsibilities

You’ll cover business, agriculture and the wine industry throughout the Walla Walla Valley. But this job is about more than chamber of commerce meetings and monthly jobless reports. People want to know about the health of the Valley economy, where it’s growing and contracting and how those changes affect their lives. That means you’ll be doing a lot of enterprise reporting, which could involve any number of issues – health care access, for instance.

Essential Job Functions

1.      Coverage of business, agriculture and the wine industry in the Walla Walla Valley.

2.      Enterprise reporting, to put issues and events into context.

3.      Political coverage of business and economic issues at the local, county and state levels.

Other Duties

1.      Collaborate with YHR reporters, photojournalists and editors to develop compelling stories.

2.      Contribute to special projects and breaking news, as needed.

3.      Actively participate in newsroom planning discussions.

4.      Other duties as assigned.

Job Requirements

Experience

A newsroom internship or experience as part of a post-collegiate newsroom staff.

Skills and Abilities / Lifting Requirements

Strong news judgment; effective reporting skills; clear writing style; accuracy; highly developed interpersonal and skills, with an emphasis on interviewing; familiarity with open meetings and records laws; social media savvy; the ability to consistently hit deadlines. No lifting required.

Minimum Education, Certifications or licenses 

Bachelor’s degree in journalism or related field.

Contact with Others

Frequent contact with the public, YHR newsroom staff.

Supervision Received

Works independently with direction from editors.

Supervision of others

N/A

Pressure of Work

U-B journalists face deadlines throughout the day. Breaking news demands the ability to work quickly and efficiently. At the same time, you’ll need to make consistent progress on enterprise and investigative projects. This is a small staff, and at some point every reporter is called upon to act in a general assignment capacity.

Impact

Business coverage is part of our core mission as a newsroom.

Primary Job Location (Indicate whether the position is remote, or travel required)

Position is based in the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin newsroom, but reporters also work remotely, as assignments and scheduling demand. Frequent local travel is required.