Reporting Fellow
Diversity & Inclusion are at the core of our mission to strengthen and empower the communities we serve.
Reporting Fellow
This is a hybrid work opportunity located within the Birmingham, AL area.
As part of our ongoing commitment to building talented newsrooms that understand the communities we serve, Advance Local Media is offering an exciting and unique opportunity to pursue a paid online master’s degree with one of the top schools for a Master’s of Journalism - the Syracuse University Newhouse School of Communications.
Through this fellowship program, you will receive real-life experience working with the Alabama Media Group and AL.com while earning your master’s degree. The program features a flexible work start date to coincide with Syracuse University’s online academic term, beginning in April 2024.
Alabama Media Group is one of the country's most innovative local media companies -- and operates AL.com, the Alabama Education Lab, This is Alabama, People of Alabama and the Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile editions of The Lede. In addition, the company runs a digital marketing business which serves advertising clients throughout the Southeast, a film production group Advance Originals, and the national brands Reckon and It's a Southern Thing. In the past 5 years, AL.com journalists have been awarded four Pulitzer Prize awards and been a finalist for another, won 21 regional Emmys for documentary work, an Edward R. Murrow award for podcasting and a Webby Award for short-form comedy, and most recently won the Scripps Howard Award.
As an Advance Local Reporting Fellow with Alabama Media Group, you will be part of a dynamic and inclusive newsroom team focused on local journalism for one of the country’s largest privately owned media companies. Your success will come from producing news stories for various platforms while meeting audience demand for immediacy, depth, and engagement. You’ll be supported by our leadership team, your colleagues, and our commitment to provide resources for your successful journalism career.
In your role during the academic program, you will:
- Help us tell stories through written text and video that go beyond the who and what, to give the how and why that help us bring change to our communities
- Gather information and write journalistically sound news items that are: balanced and factual; timely and topical; and, well-sourced and contextually correct
- Interact on social media platforms, sharing articles, answering questions, promoting your topic and the newsroom’s initiatives
- Bring a diverse mindset, through your voracious consumption of news about Alabama
- Pitch stories about news, trends and conversations about what’s happening in the community.
For this position we’re looking for candidates with:
- Degree in journalism, communications or other field, with demonstrated communication, writing and organizational skills
- Ability to work independently and remotely, under deadline pressure while prioritizing tasks
- Understanding of news writing, journalistic ethics, and story structure
- Experience with search engine optimization practices and social media to source and promote content
- Understanding of the methods and tools used to deliver content across a variety of platforms
- Understanding imperatives of multiple platforms – print, mobile, digital, etc.
- Relevant internships
- Excellent written and oral communication skills
A successful candidate will be able to cover General Assignment news in person, on location. Coverage includes the creation of General Assignment videos and live interviews for streaming on social media.
This job requires reliable transportation to meet with sources or cover events.
If you are interested in applying for this role, please include your cover letter and work samples.
Application Deadline
Final deadline for applications is January 31, 2024.