Wall Street Journal Los Angeles bureau chief Ethan Smith sent out the following announcement on Tuesday:
The Los Angeles bureau is seeking two reporters to fill out its entertainment group, covering Hollywood and the music industry, two iconic and vitally important sources of content in the digital world. Both require sharp business-journalism skills and a deft feel for popular culture.
In many ways, the big movie studios are the same ego-driven fiefdoms they’ve been since Sammy Glick maneuvered to the top in the classic Hollywood novel “What Makes Sammy Run?”
But even if the personalities remain familiar, the business is undergoing wrenching transitions thanks to new technology, changing viewing habits and shifting business models. That makes it a perfect opportunity for an intrepid, energetic and dogged reporter.
The Journal is looking for a reporter who can navigate the creative and business sides of the industry to break news, write insightful leders and second fronters, and craft entertaining aheds and features across the paper. Past experience covering Hollywood is not necessary.
We are also seeking someone who can dominate coverage of a music industry that is undergoing radical and fascinating shifts of its own. Even as CD sales crumble, new services like Spotify and Pandora provide fascinating opportunities to see how digital technology is reshaping the media industry. Music companies are also increasingly providing unique insight into tech giants like Apple, Google and Microsoft, who increasingly rely on music as a way to attract and keep users.
Knowledge of music is a plus but not a must. An ability to stay cool around artists, their handlers and occasionally hotheaded execs is a must.
These beats are a great way to keep a foot in the worlds of technology and culture, and provide many opportunities to write features and break news across all parts of the paper.
Both candidates will join veteran Hollywood reporter Ben Fritz, who we recently hired from the LA Times, and the rest of the buro, a congenial and tight-knit group in the nation’s second-largest city, where daytime temperatures rarely dip below 70 degrees and the relative humidity rarely cracks 50%.
