The Wall Street Journal is looking for a creative, ambitious reporter to cover our lives online.
The Personal Tech bureau is part of the Journal’s growing Life & Work team, which is devoted to covering the way we spend our money and our time. You will write news and memorable features that illuminate internet trends, the unexpected consequences of online life and ways social media shapes the world IRL.
There’s no better time than now to take on this beat, with TikTok overtaking Google as the internet’s most visited site, and the makers of Facebook and Instagram trying to move us into the metaverse. You’ll be instrumental in bringing to light new conversations around technology, from the shifting speech patterns of Gen Z to the rising influence of creators outside the social platforms they dominate, all reported via the people who are living these issues in real-time.
You have a track record of compulsively readable clips, the organizational skills to manage multiple reporting threads, and the ability to deliver insightful and original features. You’re expert at spotting trends and things that matter, and can show how people’s actions and experiences online reflect companies’ strategies and business directives. Most important, you bring wit and creativity to the task of making complicated issues conversational for our large and growing audience.
You will report to Wilson Rothman, bureau chief for Personal Tech. While you will likely start the job working remotely, you will be based in either our New York or San Francisco office.
You will:
- Write regular features, quick-turn news and deeper enterprise pieces about new trends and other big issues in tech as they relate to people;
- Have a notebook full of newsy, fun and highly shareable story ideas;
- Build a broad base of sources, in companies but also in homes around the world;
- Work with the Personal Tech team to conceive larger projects and themed packages;
- Know how to connect with and grow digital audiences;
- Appear on WSJ podcasts, host onstage conversations at WSJ conferences, and work with video and social teams.
You have:
- 5+ years of professional journalism experience, preferably on a tech beat;
- A demonstrated ability to consistently deliver deeply reported articles and feature pieces;
- An ability to explain complicated concepts plainly to a wide audience;
- An understanding of the analytics and audience-development tools of modern newsrooms;
- Experience with digital video and podcasts, and a comfort level with doing live journalism on stage.
To apply, please submit your résumé, a cover letter explaining how you would approach the job and 3-5 links to written work, along with 2-3 links to videos, podcasts or other media appearances. The application deadline is May 20.
To apply, go here.
