K-12 Education Reporter: General Assignment

The Houston Landing is looking for individuals to add to our team of passionate people on a mission to advance democracy in our communities and strengthen the lives of all Houstonians one story at a time. Houston Landing is an independent, nonpartisan news organization devoted to public service journalism. Initially supported by three of Houston’s leading philanthropies including Arnold Ventures, The Houston Endowment, and the Kinder Foundation, we are building a team to support our efforts in sustainability and revenue growth. This is a new position created as part of the Landing’s expansion of its education team, which will feature five reporters, an editor focused solely on education coverage and an audience engagement producer embedded within the team. Compensation is commensurate with experience, with a minimum salary of $70,000.

This position will primarily involve assisting our three beat reporters with their day-to-day coverage of their target districts/topics, which were chosen as part of our mission to deliver impact-driving community and accountability news to audiences that have historically been neglected by mainstream media outlets. Those beats are Houston ISD, the region’s largest district; four target districts — Aldine, Alief, Pasadena and Spring — that serve large shares of high-need students; and early education, literacy and STEM in Greater Houston schools.

Requirements

The general assignment reporter’s primarily responsibilities will include:

• Coverage of breaking news and other daily stories off the beats of the Houston ISD reporter and four-district reporter.
• Assisting with reporting, writing, content packaging and audience engagement on enterprise stories under development by other education team reporters. 
• Pitching and taking the lead on enterprise stories aligned with our target districts and topics.
• Creating explainers, guides and other resources that align with the education team’s target districts and topics.
• Working closely with the audience engagement producer to collaborate on ways to create and disseminate content to our target audience.

We also expect this reporter to coordinate closely with our audience team on identifying key figures and content platforms in our target communities, ensuring that our content reaches its intended audience. We know that it’s not enough to write a 1,000-word story, post it online and expect long-neglected audiences will find it. We want this reporter to help establish deep community ties that build trust and audience.

Spanish fluency is required for this position, given that large shares of students and families in our target districts primarily speak Spanish. Comfort generating written and/or video content in Spanish is preferred.

What we seek:

We encourage all interested applicants to apply. Each of the following skills is preferred, though not all are required.

• A demonstrated willingness and ability to tackle daily assignments, which will sometimes require reporting and writing a story on the same day.
• Strong writing, with an emphasis on clarity, context and brevity that respects the time of readers and viewers.
• Multimedia skills that demonstrate an ability and/or willingness to take pictures, shoot video and leverage social platforms to expand the reach of the story. 
• A willingness to develop meaningful relationships with historically underserved communities, particularly in Houston’s Latino population, in the service of building audience.
• A collaborative spirit that fits the Houston Landing. We work closely across news teams and with our audience, visual marketing and product teams to create the best possible package for our audience. This position will particularly involve collaboration with other education team members.
• Experience covering education is beneficial, but we are ultimately seeking a reporter who will approach the position with a fresh, open-minded, audience-first perspective.
• Spanish fluency is required, and comfort generating written and/or video content in Spanish is preferred.

Required:

• Valid driver's license, insurance, and vehicle.
  
  This reporter will report to Team Leader Jacob Carpenter, an experienced education journalist who has been a finalist for the IRE, National Headliner and Livingston awards.

Benefits

Our Values

EXCELLENCE: We wake up every day with the intent to be the best at what we do. We hustle. We have grit. When we make mistakes, we quickly correct and learn from them.

INCLUSION: We aren’t all the same, and those differences are what make us better. We’ll respect each person’s uniqueness. Perspective, context and life experiences help us to tell the story.

AMBITION: We will be bold and creative, open to all ideas big or small. We really mean it.

FUN: We are not making widgets, although there is nothing wrong with widgets. We tell stories - and stories are often fun, so we believe in having lots of fun.

COLLABORATION: We are all in this together. We may not always agree, but we will listen to each other and communicate candidly and respectfully.

Benefits

• Compensation commensurate with experience, minimum of $70,000
• 401(k)
• Healthcare 100% premium paid for employee and 50% for dependents
• 20 vacation days
• Ten sick days
• Generous paid parental leave
• Hybrid work policy (initially we all work together to build culture)
• Stipend for development / learning

We’re committed to building an inclusive organization that represents the people and communities we serve. We encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, veterans, LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities.