The San Antonio Business Journal is looking for an ace reporter to cover primarily technology and banking and financial services. The city’s rapidly growing tech sector ranges from promising startups to market leaders such as Rackspace Hosting Inc., while the financial industry includes well-known companies such as Frost Bank and USAA, along with dozens of fiercely competitive community banks and credit unions also vying for business clients. Also, the venture capital, angel investing and crowdfunding segments are also growing in San Antonio, and they often — though not always — are tech-focused. And readers look to the San Antonio Business Journal to tell them what they most need to know in those key industries. This position will likely also include monitoring the military and defense industry and higher education to a lesser degree.
This reporter will report on and write multiple stories online each day, contribute to the weekly print paper and look for opportunities to tell stories in new ways, such as audio, video and photo essays (collaborating with our visual journalist and lead news designer).
The bottom line is that the position needs someone who craves and thrives in a fast-paced and competitive environment. It requires a person eager to get out into the business community to unroot the most interesting people and stories that you won’t get through press releases. Desk jockeys need not apply.
Duties
San Antonio Business Journal reporters write and post multiple stories daily online in a “digital-first” mindset, meaning that no news is “held” for the weekly print product and that reporters publish new information as soon as possible. Reporters are expected to:
- Cover their assigned beats like no one else in San Antonio, as well as occasional stories assigned that are not on specific beats
- Break news daily in this market and then own the most important ongoing stories
- Curate industry-related hub pages — collaborating closely with editors, the staff visual journalist and the lead page designer — that bring the most important news they’ve covered in a given week to the forefront
- Develop more in-depth centerpiece packages — also in collaboration with the editors, visual journalist and lead designer
- Maintain a strong presence in the community — through personal source development, networking, social media and other means — and be an energetic and enthusiastic representative of the Business Journal
- Write with an authoritative voice, as well as a conversational voice when appropriate, that puts the facts in context — the “so what” factor — for readers
Required skills
- Networking/source development
- Strong grasp of business reporting/writing, with an equally strong emphasis on getting all the relevant facts and compelling storytelling that never forgets that people are at the center of the news
- Interviewing
- Social media
- Great attitude, enthusiasm and competitive drive
Experience
Two years reporting experience preferred
Education
College degree in journalism or related field preferred
To apply
Send cover letter, including salary requirements: resume; and clips to Editor-in-Chief Tony Quesada at tquesada@bizjournals.com.
Chris RoushChris 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.