METROPOLITAN INDIANAPOLIS PUBLIC MEDIA, INC.

WFYI Public Media is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer

Job Title:            IPB News Health and Science Reporter

Classification:                   Full-time, Exempt, Temporary (a two-year, grant- and collaboratively-funded assignment with possibility for continuation)

Salary:                  Commensurate with experience, includes WFYI benefits package

Reporting
Relationship:        This position is based at Lakeshore Public Media in Merrillville, IN and reports to IPB News Managing Editor in Indianapolis 

Position
Description:          

This is a position for an experienced reporter looking to dig into an important beat through daily and enterprise multi-platform stories and opportunities to engage diverse communities across the state. We’re looking for someone with strong journalism skills who wants to be an active part of a 14-person collaborative statewide team focused on finding the human stories at the heart of policy decisions. Indiana is home to major research institutions on the cutting edge of health and science, but also deep disparities in health access and outcomes. You’ll use research, data and deep sourcing to tell stories focused on accountability, access and solutions for statewide and national audiences, including NPR and PBS. And you’ll work closely with and have the full support of a dedicated editor, digital producer and engagement manager to include the audience throughout your reporting process. 

IPB News is partner-funded and receives grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Lilly Endowment.

Major Responsibilities: 

The Health and Science Reporter produces compelling multi-platform stories as part of the statewide IPB News collaboration. The reporter will immerse themselves in communities throughout Indiana to discover and report on important public health and science issues these communities face. The reporter will craft narrative stories that use characters, scenes, data and visuals in creative ways to help people understand complex issues. 

• Report and produce daily news stories and feature stories on deadline for radio, and television. Deliver focused, accurate stories with fully-developed on-air style and originality in writing

• Write and produce high-quality digital stories and take photos for web and social, appropriate for distribution to IPB News partners. Build online posts using the NPR Core Publisher content management system (or similar CMS)

• Participate fully in the IPB News engagement process as one way of identifying relevant ideas, topics and sources, including listening sessions, community conversations and other events

• Build expertise on the public health and science beat by getting to know the communities in Indiana, actively participating in engagement efforts, and by attending workshops and doing background research to generate sources and ideas for high-quality enterprise and investigative stories

• Report complex stories quickly; bring complicated ideas to air with limited direction from editor

• Collaborate daily and work closely with the 14-person statewide IPB News team, contributing to editorial meetings and working collaboratively with editors, reporters and talk show producers to conceive and execute stories and series

• Actively report through social media and engage audiences through social media channels

• Contribute ideas for interactive graphics and web videos and collaborate to produce them

• Provide input on audience engagement strategies to Community Engagement Manager and Digital Producer

• Contribute to live events and live or taped talk shows and other audio programs, podcasts and video segments

Qualifications:

• Proven ability to identify and originate stories that are relevant to diverse communities, report accurately and quickly, and meet deadlines

• Advanced skills in radio reporting, digital news and production including strong writing, reporting and interviewing skills

• Ability to produce -- or quickly learn to produce -- video news content

• A minimum of one year of experience in news writing and reporting

• Ability to develop areas of expertise and establish beat priorities and goals. Demonstrated capacity to use public documents, internet research and other reporting methods to provide independent material to inform stories

•  Ability to excel in a very collaborative team environment with a high level of personal motivation

• Ability to provide live reports and two-ways

• Ability to tackle difficult projects

• Ability to work simultaneously on short and long-term projects

• Ability to produce compelling storytelling with originality in writing

• Ability to develop stories with multiple interviews, scene changes, and strong knowledge of subject matter

PREFERRED

• Experience with video production

• Fluency in Spanish

• Expertise in public health, social or health sciences or social work