Food Reporter, Chron

This is a Full Time Job

Chron is seeking a food writer with sharp reporting skills and familiarity working for a digital-first newsroom. The ideal candidate will have knowledge of Houston or Texas food, but most importantly, knows how to find and tell a good story. The food reporter will chase and write stories that highlight Houston's diverse, vibrant food scene and dig up unique angles that haven't been explored yet. The reporter will have a collaborative working relationship with the food editor to ideate and execute stories.

Primary responsibilities:
• Write features, service-minded pieces and news about Houston's food and drink scene

• Pitch and develop stories and projects to editors

• Make photo requests from restaurants, bars and other food businesses

• Work with the food editor to follow an editorial calendar

• Occasionally attend events and media previews of restaurant openings

Requirements:
• At least 2 years of professional journalism experience required

• Excellent news judgment and feature writing skills

• Excellent reporting, researching and interviewing skills

• Either experience or a strong interest in food and drink

• Strong copy-editing skills and knowledge of AP Style

• Familiarity with the needs of the Houston and Texas audience

• Familiarity with content management systems and metric tools

Preferred skills:
• Knowledge of Houston restaurants, bars and other food and drink businesses

• Experience using Chartbeat, Google Analytics, Looker, or other analytics tools

• Experience working in a CMS and publishing to digital platforms

The most challenging aspect of this position:
• Finding compelling stories within the beat that no one else is covering

• Balancing daily and longer-lead deadlines

What type of decisions does this person have the authority to make without a supervisor's approval?
• Developing sources and chasing features and news leads within their assigned beat

For what types of decisions does this person defer to others for approval?
• Publishing features and news stories to Chron's site

• Editorial strategy

What are the measures of success for this position?
• Meeting deadlines and keeping pace with publishing schedule while improving quality of work overtime

• Overall traffic performance of original stories in aims of meeting daily and monthly goals

• Mentions, links, shares, and pickups of stories from prominent third-party publications

• Reader shares and other engagement with stories on social media platforms

• Overall increase of unique in-DMA visitors

• Overall increase of loyal in-DMA visitors

The Houston Chronicle, recognized for its Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism, serves its 2.3 million residents with content and marketing solutions across two of Houston's largest websites - HoustonChronicle.com and Chron.com , along with our magazine, television and newspaper brands. Our mission is to spark conversations that inspire action to create a better Houston. All our content and the innovative business solutions we provide invite Houstonians to join conversations about a community we've been committed to covering and helping prosper for more than 120 years. The community we all call home.

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