Community Reporter

Community Reporter

Salary Range: $40-48K

The Bedford Citizen is looking for a fulltime (35 hours/week) Community Reporter to cover local government meetings, schools, community events, and features as well as breaking news in the town of Bedford, MA. 

The candidate must be able to attend meetings (mostly in the evening) and occasional weekend/holiday events, have their own transportation, and be able to work without a physical office. The candidate should be a self-starter who is comfortable working in a fast-paced environment, able to turn stories around quickly, and be familiar with covering local government.

Reporting to the Managing Editor and Editorial Committee, the Community Reporter will join two online content-oriented meetings each week. The Community Reporter will share information on upcoming meetings and events while talking about story angles and prioritizing stories with the Managing Editor and Editorial Committee.

The Community Reporter will cover local government, town elections, and town meetings with some understanding of how a Town Meeting form of government works and with an eye out for events that impact the community at large. Regional coverage may include news coming from entities such as Hanscom Field Advisory Committee, Middlesex Community College, NEMLAC, and Middlesex3. There are also opportunities to write features. We invite members of our staff to be creative and try out new ideas. 

The Bedford Citizen is a popular and well respected digital civic news organization serving residents and businesses within Bedford. Founded in 2012, The Bedford Citizen serves the 14,000 residents as well as owners and employees of ~500 businesses in town.

The Bedford Citizen’s mission is to inform and engage the Bedford community through reporting news of local significance, promoting local events, fostering connectivity, and encouraging participation. The Citizen offers a motivated reporter the opportunity to share important and relevant information with members of the Bedford community so they can make informed decisions, participate in community life, and stay connected to fellow community members. 

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, English, Communications, or a related field.
• Strong writing, editing, and communication skills with a keen eye for detail and a commitment to journalistic integrity.
• Excellent grammar, ability to follow AP/Bedford Citizen’s writing style and formatting for the web as well as excellence in spelling and grammar.
• Ability to cultivate and, when necessary, maintain confidentiality of sources.
• Ability to work with a variety of volunteers.
• Maintain awareness of key interest points that would be important to local readers and be able to generate ideas for articles/stories that are relevant to the community.
• Attend meetings and community events as assigned.
• Willing to work up to four nights/week and occasional weekends/ holidays.
• When possible, take photos of community events and some public meetings; this is not a requirement of the position.
• Some fluency with social media journalism desirable.
• Have a valid driver’s license and access to a vehicle in order to attend meetings and events.
• Have steady access to a computer.
• Other duties as assigned.

To apply for this position, please send your resume and cover letter to jobs@thebedfordcitizen.org.