Birmingham Biz Journal seeks reporter

The Birmingham Business Journal is seeking a reporter who is able to marry strong traditional journalism skills – source building, sharp interviewing techniques, strong analytical and investigative reporting skills, clear writing, document use – with online and social media know-how.

Whatever the platform, reporters will produce content – original and curated – that is accompanied by perspective and context. Beat available at this time is health care and technology.

Duties: The top mission: to own audience, by every measure. A BBJ reporter is expected to contribute both short-form (daily online posts) and long-form (print) stories to our news products. Scoops matter. A lot. Specifically reporters will be expected to own their beat audience and conversation; use networking events, Twitter, LinkedIn and other community-building outlets to expand and fortify their source pool and audience; work collaboratively with other newsroom staffers to maximize impact and accessibility of stories reported; and meet or exceed goals related to audience engagement.

Required skills:
Proven ability in reporting and writing
Ability to work independently and remotely
Ability to break news and to identify newsworthy events and sources
Strong analytical and investigative interviewing skills
Ability to relate comfortably to a wide range of people, in person and online, and to develop sources and audience
Competitive, collaborative, curious
Solid understanding of news writing, journalistic ethics and story structure
Ability to leverage relationships with sources to deliver content that differentiates the organization from competitors

Experience: Minimum of 2 years of journalism experience; Proven experience building, maintaining and engaging an active audience; Knowledge of business, and/or business community, a plus. Experience with using social media to source and promote content also a plus

Education: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

For more information, contact Editor Cindy F. Crawford at ccrawford@bizjournals.com or (205) 443-5631.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.