Spotlight PA seeks a rural affairs reporter

We are seeking a passionate reporter to provide vital reporting on the rural communities of north-central Pennsylvania for Spotlight PA, an award-winning, independent, and nonpartisan newsroom.

What You’ll Do:  

• This reporter will be critical in telling the stories of the people who live in our rural communities to a regional and statewide audience, including policymakers.
• This reporter will focus on how policies enacted by the state departments of Agriculture, Community and Economic Development, and Environmental Protection affect residents of north-central Pennsylvania.
• They will also dig into grants and programs meant to benefit rural communities to determine the true impact.
• They will be embedded in the region and expected to spend time in the communities they are covering.
• This is an enterprise beat, and the reporter will be expected to publish one story per week, as well as to uncover and investigate issues that are otherwise getting little to no attention.
• Those stories may at times be in collaboration with journalists from our many partner news organizations in the region.

Who We’re Looking For: 

• Ideal candidates will have clips that show an ability to report beyond daily news, build a diverse network of sources, and aggressively fight for and use public records.
• We want someone who can persistently pitch stories and keep several projects of varying lengths cooking at one time.
• The best candidates will bring big ideas and a sense of urgency to work each day, and be eager to work with Spotlight PA’s team of like-minded reporters.

Some other ideal traits, though not essential:

• Knowledge of Pennsylvania;
• Fluency in foreign languages, particularly Spanish;
• A comfort with requesting, scrutinizing, and using data in the reporting process;

Salary: $65,000-$75,000, depending on experience. 

For more details click here.