California Divide Reporter

If you’re a journalist who believes your work can make a difference in people’s lives, you might be the perfect fit for our ambitious, unprecedented effort to investigate inequity and poverty in California. 

CalMatters seeks an experienced reporter in the Los Angeles area to join a statewide collaboration we call The California Divide. We’re looking for a reporter who digs deep and writes compelling narrative. Someone who knows how to connect with those experiencing these issues and to navigate the layers of politics and policy around possible solutions. Someone who reports with words, sounds, pictures and data. Someone who’s a skilled writer while being savvy about the explanatory voice, short brights and social media and is comfortable on the air and at and public events. 

In four years, CalMatters has become the largest newsroom covering California policy and politics. We’re a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, and we give our coverage at no cost to more than 180 media outlets in California. With the California Divide project, we’re creating a landmark statewide collaboration that shares the experience of people navigating today’s social ladder, investigates the private and public paths to a better life and explains solutions and policies that may address the barriers. 

Responsibilities include:

• Report and write about a variety of topics related to poverty and income inequality in California, including housing, health, environment, education, public assistance programs and workforce issues, among other topics.
• Collaborate on stories with other California Divide reporters in newsrooms across the state. Write stories with feeds from other reporters.
• Incorporate data and other analytical tools into well-written, enterprise pieces that resonate with readers.
• Think creatively about ways to tell stories and communicate with readers. Work with the CalMatters team and our partners on various platforms including social media, interactive forums, public events, video and audio.
• Write longer narratives, weaving human experiences with data, policy and politics.

The ability to report in both Spanish and English would be a plus.

We are an expanding and collaborative newsroom, successfully forging a new model for sustainable, intelligent, nonprofit journalism. We’re committed to diversity and especially encourage members of underrepresented communities to apply. If you’re interested, please provide a resume, a cover letter that outlines how you would approach the job and links to at least six online samples of your work. Write to [email protected] with the job title in the subject line.