Indianapolis Business Journal is looking for a curious, aggressive and compassionate reporter to cover city government and urban affairs. It’s a beat that includes the mayor, city-county council and local elections but also socioeconomic mobility, neighborhood development, poverty, race, housing and transportation.
We are an award-winning, locally owned news organization that focuses on coverage of and for the business community, but we interpret business broadly. We believe that for the region’s economy to thrive, all parts of it must succeed, and therefore stories about poverty and race are as important to us as coverage of the corporate boardroom.
IBJ has a newsroom of 18 reporters, editors and artists who cover technology, real estate, banking, manufacturing, philanthropy, health care, government and politics. And we recently dedicated a top journalist to investigative reporting.
IBJ publishes a weekly printed paper and produces significant daily coverage at IBJ.com that is distributed through more than a dozen email newsletters (three of them sent daily). Parent company IBJ Media—which is locally owned and managed—also publishes The Indiana Lawyer every other week.
The city and urban affairs reporter will write two to three daily stories per week, plus a weekly enterprise story for the paper, which is published on Fridays. The city reporter will also contribute items to The Rundown weekly newsletter.
Job Requirements
- Experience with both breaking news and enterprise
- Ability to work independently and generate story ideas
- Curiosity about business, government and economic mobility
- Experience promoting stories and reporting with social media
- Ability to shoot smart-phone images
- Fast, thorough writing
IBJ offers a chance to work in an affordable capital city with a metro area population of more than 2 million people but in a smaller newsroom with plenty of opportunity to make a big impact. In Indianapolis, you will find professional sports, world class museums and performance venues, and neighborhoods filled with great restaurants, bike trails and parks.
Our offices are located on the city’s historic Monument Circle—the literal and figurative heart of Indianapolis, just blocks from stadiums, the Statehouse, the Indianapolis City Market and much more. Our commutes are short, our public transportation is expanding and our city and suburbs are thriving.
If you’re a reporter who can uncover compelling stories in a diverse city and drive conversations about equity, inclusion and economic mobility, send a resume, cover letter and examples of breaking news stories and enterprise to Editor Lesley Weidenbener at lweidenbener@ibj.com.
