McClatchy seeks a service journalism reporter, The Bellingham Herald

McClatchy is looking for a collaborative, audience-focused reporter for our Northwest service journalism team, whose mission is to help local readers navigate life and the news. This reporter will be based in the Bellingham, Whatcom County area, which is surrounded by some of the best outdoors the PNW has to offer.

This reporter must be ready to move with agility when the news demands. The successful candidate for this position will be able to take assignments and cultivate and pitch ideas with various reporters and editors. As such, this reporter must have good time management skills, with the ability to work independently while also enjoying a team environment.

Experience with audience growth and engagement tactics such as headline writing and SEO is a must. Expertise in a particular subject area is not required, but the successful candidate will bring a deep understanding of what’s important to local readers, preferably earned by working as part of a local news outlet. A knack for innovation and creative problem solving are essential.

The Northwest service desk works as a team to write across newsrooms in two states: The Bellingham Herald, The News Tribune in Tacoma, The Olympian, the Tri-City Herald and the Idaho Statesman. The reporter will report to the Northwest service journalism team editor.

In this role, you will need to:

Have strong writing and reporting skills, as well as excellent news judgment and solid journalism ethics.
Think about our audiences first and always, with a commitment to tactics that grow readership.
Have a passion for the written word as well as video, audio and motion graphics.
Demonstrate speed, competitiveness and SEO savvy through aggregating and storytelling tools.
Work well in a team environment.
Pitch and execute story ideas quickly.
Data reporting experience is a plus.

Education & experience: