Truthout is seeking a 20-hour-per-week breaking news writing fellow.

You:

You’re a strong emerging writer who is keen to broaden

your knowledge and skills by learning valuable publishing and social

media strategies in a leading independent news organization. You are

passionate about progressive politics and avidly follow breaking news

and social media responses to it. You understand how news stories

develop and evolve, and are eager to learn more about this process.

You’re at home on social media and understand its

importance as a driver of social change. You’re comfortable writing

about racism, Black liberation, immigration and racial oppression and

have a broad familiarity with a wide range of topics including electoral

politics, LGBTQ issues, U.S. foreign policy, activist movements in the

U.S., judicial and legislative processes, climate justice, and more, and

are . You’re interested in increasing the reach of independent,

nonprofit news in an increasingly corporate media landscape, and you’re

ready to use your skills to further Truthout’s mission.

Us:

Truthout is a nonprofit news organization

dedicated to providing independent reporting and commentary on a diverse

range of social justice issues. Since our founding in 2001, we have

anchored our work in principles of accuracy, transparency, and

independence from the influence of corporate and partisan forces.

Truthout is committed to a vision of journalism

in pursuit of justice. We understand that courageous journalism can and

does drive social transformation. Through our work, we reveal systemic

injustice; provide a platform for powerful ideas; elevate authentic

storytelling; and develop journalistic practices that align with our

dedication to accountability, equity and integrity. We believe in

building the world we want to live in — within our organization, through

our journalistic work, and through our work’s impact on society.

The Role:

As Truthout’s Breaking News Fellow, you will

learn to utilize social listening tools to identify relevant trending

stories and write short, quick pieces around them — including pieces on

social media responses, responses from politicians, activists and people

directly affected by the changes, and new developments and context.

Working with our editorial and social media teams, you will be

responsible for writing the text, selecting supporting material (tweet

embeds, quotes etc.), choosing the story’s image, writing the headline

and publishing the piece in WordPress. You will generally be responsible

for producing two very short pieces (no longer than 500 words apiece)

on the top news of the day within five hours. There may be some other

duties as assigned.

You will engage in rigorous analysis of your own work and continually strive to improve its impact.

This is a fully remote, work-from-home fellowship

position, and applicants are welcome from anywhere in the United States.

BIPOC, women, LGBTQ candidates, and candidates with disabilities are

strongly encouraged to apply. Truthout offers a competitive

salary, an industry-leading benefits package, generous paid time off,

and a friendly and open work environment.

This paid fellowship requires 20 hours per week, Monday

through Friday. Fellows must be able to work on Eastern Time. There is a

brief trial period to assess whether the fellow is able to meet the

basic requirements of the job, after which point the fellowship is

guaranteed for a minimum of 6 months. This is a position with

opportunity for growth and professional development, and comes with a

stipend of $2,000 per month (in addition to an internet reimbursement

and phone reimbursement stipend).

Requirements:

• Dependable, deadline-driven and punctual;
• Excellent writing skills;
• At least 2 years of journalistic experience;
• Enthusiastic and passionate about Truthout’s work;
• Already established practices of near-constant monitoring of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram;
• Experience creating content with significant reach;
• Well-versed in a wide range of topics
• including electoral politics, U.S. foreign policy, activist movements in
• the U.S., judicial and legislative processes.
• Ability to thrive in collaborative spaces;
• Able to successfully deliver two short but
• solid pieces within five hours and respond with flexibility to
• unanticipated requests;
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with a very high level of detail;
• Able to adapt and multi-task;
• Enjoys working both independently and as part of a small team;
• Experience working with both Word and shared Google documents and spreadsheets;
• Familiar with the broader social media landscape of online news publications;
• Able to communicate in a friendly, thoughtful and effective manner via online chat, phone, video call and email;
• Has reliable access to internet during specified work hours.

Preferred:

• Experience with website and social media
• analytics, including Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Sprout Social
• and/or CrowdTangle;
• Experience with social listening tools, including BuzzSumo;
• Basic knowledge of WordPress;
• A demonstrable body of journalistic work that our team can evaluate to decide if you’re a good fit for the Truthout team.

https://www.idealist.org/en/nonprofit-internship/67818c108af5452e9a7f41e5f08e5e9a-breaking-news-writing-fellow-truthout-sacramento?utm_source=symplicity&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=listings-api