Service Journalism Reporter

This is a Full Time Job

The Dallas Morning News is looking for a Service Journalism/Utility Reporter to join our award-winning newsroom.

This role focuses on serving our readers with accessible, clear, useful stories that help them navigate life while also interacting with our audience where they are.

We are seeking a reporter adept at writing explainers, Q&As and jumping on issues trending online to answer questions. This journalist will have a key role in major stories, weather events and seasonal coverage.

This is a fast-paced role and requires a journalist who thrives on readers' needs and interests, engaging directly with them in person or online.

The ideal candidate will be comfortable writing multiple daily stories, scouring social media and community groups for city curiosities and contributing to our Curious Texas project, where we directly answer questions posed by readers.

We're looking for a team player, a top-notch collaborator, a strong digital storyteller and a time-management maven. Audience engagement and analytics interest are a must.

Responsibilities and duties:
• Produce quick-turn, high-utility stories in user-friendly formats
• Answer key questions on news events and from our community
• Pitch stories that are off the beaten track and will resonate with readers
• Work collaboratively in a deadline-driven newsroom environment
• Write engagingly and accurately on North Texas
• Use social media as a tool to develop story ideas and respond to what our audience is already talking about
• Build stories with links, tags, SEO best practices, attractive web headlines and multimedia when appropriate
• Monitor analytics for your stories and work with editors to suggest approaches for improvement
• Collaborate with Audience editors and our Photo team to improve the digital presentation of your stories
• Work with editors to evolve and shape your coverage to deepen engagement with our digital audience
• Strong drive for innovation and experimentation

Qualifications
• A passion for utility journalism that helps readers in their daily lives
• Demonstrated strong reporting and writing skills
• Good news judgment, accuracy, speed, grammatical precision, a flair for headlines, energy, curiosity and an eye toward digital success
• Ability to use social media for newsgathering and audience development
• Ability to handle multiple stories at the same time
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• Aptitude for public records, data and legal filings
• Understanding of platforms and audiences and ability to compose stories appropriate to the platform of publication (e.g., voice, style, formatting, hyperlinks)
• Collaborating effectively with team members and across newsroom departments
• Willingness to cover a variety of topics
• Familiarity with Texas
• Fluency in Spanish is an advantage

Education:
• Bachelor's degree in journalism or a related field