Help wanted: TucsonSentinel.com seeking community reporter for our team

TucsonSentinel.com is a mission-driven nonprofit independent newsroom — we have a small staff, but we break BIG stories. We provide background and context about politics, public policy and the unique character of life in Southern Arizona's borderlands. We win awards as a publication, and help our journalists win state and national awards and recognition for their work.

We have an immediate opportunity for a part-time contract Community Enterprise Reporter, who will help hold government and other institutions accountable and capture the diverse details of life in our city and region.

We're looking for a dogged, ambitious, creative reporter, with the skills and experience to help grow our newsroom while upholding our national reputation as a leader in local investigative, breaking and enterprise journalism: https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/090220_reporter/help-wanted-sentinel-seeking-community-reporter-our-team/

Qualified reporters must have an interest in working in a startup environment with the ability to assist in setting the course for rebuilding local news all over the country. This opportunity is funded by local donors and grants.

Interested? Send us your info with this form ?

About you

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience — Your clips and demonstrated ability to do great work with us are more important than where or how long you've done it elsewhere.
• You can crank out consistently clean, crisp copy — Do you have a copy editor's eye?
• You're a self-starter with community connections and knowledge, and dedication to sourcing diverse voices.
• You can report and write longform investigative reports and turn around tight short stories with equal aplomb.
• You can see stories everywhere that need digging into. We want you to break news, pitch brilliant ideas, and craft both quick-turn dailies and long-term enterprise projects.
• You're hungry to break news, committed to local journalism and understand the transformative power of a well-reported story — and the responsibility to get it right.

Essential duties & responsibilities

• Cover breaking news stories and investigative/enterprise projects as determined.
• Develop sources and contacts to provide compelling exclusive, enterprising journalism.
• Pitch diverse investigative and community enterprise approaches to breaking news as appropriate.
• (Numerous) Other journalism duties as determined — you must be flexible and creative. 

Your skills

• You can produce excellent written and visual journalism that delivers essential facts and conveys relevance with voice and authority, while engaging our diverse community.
• Fluent Spanish (personal communication and writing) is a big plus — especially the ability to understand various dialects.
• Tech savvy (we were working mostly remotely/distributed long before COVID hit).
• Photo and video skills, including editing, are preferred but not required.
• Public speaking and media (radio, video) experience are a plus.
• You can coax out information in an interview, and research background information on the fly.
• You can find a needle in a virtual paperstack of records, and have experience poking at data.
• Excellent time management, multitasking under tight deadlines; working well both independently and collaboratively with other Sentinel team members.
• Working knowledge of AP style applied to well-organized, detailed copy, and a deep understanding of journalism ethics along with a commitment to the Sentinel's core values and principles.
• A wry sense of humor and established preference for a specific style of notebook.

Equity and inclusion

TucsonSentinel.com is built on the principle of equal opportunity. We are committed to diversity and especially encourage members of under-represented communities to apply to work with us. As we grow our newsroom, we're dedicated to reflecting the people we cover, and establishing an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages, including women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and people who are differently abled. Applicants will not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, marital status, or medical conditions.

Interested? Please fill out this form, and send us your resume, three to five clips that will rock our world, and a cover letter explaining why you want to work with us, and what sort of reporting you're driven to undertake.

Right now, we're focused on election and COVID-19 stories, in addition to our usual diet of border/immigration and public policy reporting. But we want to know which stories YOU think aren't being covered. Tell us in your letter.

How do you fit what we're looking for? What else do you bring to the table? Please tell us about yourself! Got questions? Contact Editor & Publisher Dylan Smith.