The Philadelphia Inquirer’s business news team is seeking an experienced reporter to cover the dynamic area of consumer news. This diverse beat includes human stories of people caught by online scammers and crooked car dealers.
You’ll report on Comcast, which has film projects with Stephen Spielberg, theme parks in China, a media network in Europe, and a big lobbying operation in Washington DC that supports its grip on cable in the Philly region.
The beat also includes the pizazz of innovative startups that affect consumers, like delivery service Gopuff, the future of Wawa and firms building everything from robots to way stations for the Metaverse. The goal is to produce a steady stream of enterprise stories as well as breaking news and scoops.
What You’ll Do
- Report on breaking news requiring your expertise and sourcing, collaborating with other reporters across the newsroom.
- Identify the consumer issues Philadelphians are talking about across social media platforms and bring those conversations to our readers.
- Aggregate consumer news of interest to our audiences with an eye to moving stories forward
- Seek out the best ways to use different story forms and approaches — explainers, visual stories, digital storytelling, long-form narratives and service journalism — to help our audiences better understand and engage with consumer topics.
- Use social media both as a reporting tool and as a venue for promoting work
Who We’re Looking For
- An experienced journalist who pays keen attention to the city’s rich diversity of race, economic circumstances, age, sexual orientation, geography and more.
- A reporter who can translate complex projects and trends for a general audience, and do it creatively.
- A reporter who doesn’t just think of a story in terms of word count but how that story can best be told
- A wordsmith with fine attention to detail and excellent written and oral communication skills
- Ability to use data and find trends that readers enjoy and learn from.
- Enthusiastic on-the-ground reporting and willingness to pitch in to help out colleagues on and off your beat.
- Ability to meet deadlines and adapt in a daily, unpredictable news environment.
