Yakima Herald-Republic seeks a business reporter

The Yakima Herald-Republic needs a business reporter.

Or, to be more precise, we need a journalist to lead our business coverage.

This job is about more than chamber of commerce meetings and monthly jobless reports. People want to know about the health of the Yakima Valley economy, where it’s growing and contracting, and how those changes affect their lives. That means you’ll be doing a lot of enterprise reporting, which could involve any number of issues – health care access, for instance.

The YHR is one of five pilot newspapers in the Microsoft journalism initiative. As part of the project, we’re investigating health care access in the Yakima Valley. You’ll serve as lead reporter.

Yakima is a city of about 95,000 people. Altogether, about 250,000 people live in Yakima County, and about half of them are Hispanic.

Agriculture drives the area economy, but health services, retail and manufacturing combined to generate about a third of the county’s total wages in 2019.

Now, a few specifics about the position:

• This job is about making connections. You need to get out and meet people.
• Many of those people speak Spanish. If you’re fluent in Spanish, that makes your reporting more effective.
• You need to use every tool at your disposal to engage the community, including social media.
• You’re going to file a lot of enterprise stories.
• And, since this is a collaborative newsroom, you’ll need to throw yourself into conversations and projects that involve journalists who share your same commitment to this community.

Requirements:

• A bachelor’s degree in journalism and newsroom experience, preferably in a coverage area that sets you up for this job.
• Social media and multimedia skills.
• Excellent time management and organizational skills.

The Yakima Herald-Republic is a daily newspaper in Central Washington, an area dominated by vineyards, hop fields, wineries, brewpubs and eateries. If you enjoy the outdoors, you’ll love it here – we’re close to the Cascade Mountains, rivers, lakes, trails and forests. Appreciate the big city? Seattle and Portland are just a few hours away.

We’re part of the Seattle Times Co., a family-owned company committed to journalistic excellence. The Blethen family believes that decisions about the Yakima Herald-Republic are best made by the people who live and work here.

The company values diversity in the workplace as well as in our news coverage. The Yakima Herald-Republic is an equal opportunity employer.

To apply, send a cover letter, resume and links to managing editor Greg Halling at ghalling@yakimaherald.com.