Oregon Public Broadcasting seeks a land & environment reporter/producer

OPB is hiring a Land and Environment Reporter/Producer to join our newsroom. We’re looking for a skilled reporter with a watchdog approach eager to produce hard news that seeks to inform our region about the role land use and environmental policies and regulation play in exacerbating, curbing and responding to the impacts of climate change. In this beat you’ll cover topics such as environmental regulatory agencies, public land use, and debates over natural resources. We’re looking for a reporter who is skilled in building strong sources, holding those in power accountable and explaining complicated topics in conversational ways.

Position Details

This Reporter/Producer produces high quality enterprise and breaking news stories for OPB that appear on multiple platforms and consistently meet daily deadlines, as well as ethical, technical, legal and aesthetic standards. This involves daily research, writing, online filing, photography, voicing and production. The bulk of this reporter/producer’s newsgathering efforts will focus on environmental regulations, public lands and natural resource debates in Oregon and Southwest Washington. This reporter will be part of the OPB news department’s climate and environment team.

Responsibilities:

80% – The reporter/producer reports, writes and produces breaking and enterprise news stories on multiple platforms, including audio and digital, focused on business and the economy. Other duties include scheduling and conducting interviews and planning future news coverage related to the beat, recording and editing material using digital audio tools, using social media for information gathering and engagement and taking photos.

10% – Participate in local news programming by appearing as a guest on shows like Think Out Loud or being debriefed by an on-air host. Support efforts to include other local voices in OPB’s on-air programming.

5% – Produces reports for national news programs and newscasts, as assigned and with approval of supervising editor.

5% – Other duties as assigned, including participating in fundraising and outreach functions.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Economics, Journalism or related field or the equivalent combination of education, training and experience that provides the requisite knowledge, skills and abilities for this position.
• 3 years of journalism experience
• Experience developing and maintaining a beat.
• Enterprise reporting experience.
• Ability to develop and maintain sources.
• Strong writing and interviewing skills.
• Familiarity with photography, audio, video and social media in the presentation of news stories.
• Passion for covering the human impact of environmental regulations and climate change.
• Commitment to high ethical standards in reporting.
• Ability to file live reports and participate in breaking news.
• Enthusiasm for the mission of OPB.
• Enthusiasm for the changing news production environment and the tools and software used to facilitate our work.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in journalism.
• Experience using digital audio recording and editing equipment.
• Experience covering climate change and the environment.
• Bilingual in English and another language.
• An eye for diverse voices and sources in stories.
• Photography or video production skills.

Salary: OPB has set a hiring range of $63,000-$73,000 for a candidate that meets the above described qualifications and years of experience.

How to Apply: For application instructions, please visit OPB’s careers page. You will be asked to create an account, upload your cover letter and resume and answer a few position related questions. Once you click “submit” you cannot make changes to your application.

Your application materials are due by 8:59 PM Pacific Time on August 28, 2023

For more details click here.