LA Times seeks transportation reporter

The Los Angeles Times has an opening for a reporter to cover transportation, mobility and commuting in California.

This position comes open at a vital time. The pandemic has upended certain bedrock assumptions – that the commute will always be long and bad, that the 405 will always be a parking lot, that Californians will never get out of their cars. A huge focus of this beat is charting the long-term changes of COVID-19 on how we move around and whether commuting patterns will ever be the same again. This is also a critical moment in the history of transportation in California, with the fate of high-speed rail, L.A. County’s massive rail expansion and a variety of other projects on the line. It has also become clear that the only way California can meet its clean-air targets is to get people to drive a lot less.

Job Description

The beat involves covering several key agencies including Caltrans and L.A.’s Metro, among others. But we are looking for someone who can get beyond simple government beat reporting and connect the dots of commuting, the environment, car culture and land-use policy. The successful candidate must have a deep interest in this topic, from wonky policy matters to the endless quest for the best shortcut. Experience in data reporting and investigative journalism is a plus.

The reporter will work on the local government team but collaborate with reporters across the newsroom, including those covering environment and Sacramento.

Requirements:

A minimum of four years of reporting experience
Bachelor’s degree or higher, or equivalent experience
Superior news judgment and knowledge of taste and legal considerations
An ethical and inclusive approach in the workplace that promotes positive collaboration
An understanding of the importance of accuracy and precision

The position is listed as Reporter in the Los Angeles Times Guild. Times staff is currently working remotely, but when we return to the newsroom the position will be based in El Segundo, Calif.

To apply, go here.

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.