Date Posted	April 05, 2024
Industry	Newspapers, Digital Media
Specialty	Investigative
Job Status	Full-time

Description:

Politics and Investigations Reporter

Location: Helena, Montana

Compensation: $53k -$58k depending on experience

Basic description:

Montana Free Press has an immediate opening for an investigative reporter covering government and politics to join our newsroom in Helena.

Who you are:

A curious, resourceful and competitive journalist who understands politics and policy, embraces documents and data, and is equally comfortable cultivating the state’s most influential and informed sources and filing open records requests. You should be driven to break deeply reported and compellingly written stories that untangle complicated topics for the state’s most engaged audience.

The ideal candidate will report and write daily and enterprise stories with a core beat focused on politics, partisanship and power, and will simultaneously pursue high-impact investigations.

Topics you’ll report on for Montana Free Press will include:

• Campaign finance and “follow the money”
• Elections and electoral politics
• Montana’s biennial legislative session
• State government
• Partisan strategy

Who we are:

A fast-growing, entrepreneurial, nonpartisan, multimedia news organization whose stories are published online and republished in print and broadcast news outlets statewide. We value accuracy, insight, context, innovation, and collaboration. We’re seeking a mission-driven reporter with the talent and desire to help us continue building a sustainable noncommercial model for high-quality journalism in Montana.

Essential qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience
• Two years of professional experience covering politics 
• Excellent writing, editing, research, fact-checking, and interpersonal skills
• An understanding of and curiosity about the news needs of diverse audiences, cultures, communities, and identities
• Ability to juggle multiple projects and deadlines in a fast-paced environment 
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively 

Nice-to-have skills:

• Experience in broadcasting, podcasting, audio reporting, video production, and/or photography

MTFP is committed to newsroom equity and to providing market-competitive salaries and benefits. MTFP is a safe and inclusive workplace for people of all backgrounds and walks of life. We strongly encourage you to apply if you are from an underrepresented group. Some candidates may see a long list of job requirements and feel discouraged because they don’t match every single bullet point — we ask you to please consider applying anyway. We don’t believe in a “perfect” candidate. If this is a role you’ll be excited to work in every day, you want to be a part of our mission, and you will be relentless about pushing boundaries to succeed, we want to talk to you. 

Applicants should submit a résumé with two professional references, five of their best published clips, and a cover letter to jobs@montanafreepress.org by May 1, 2024.

MTFP is a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News, Local Independent Online Publishers, Online News Association, Montana Newspaper Association, and the Montana Nonprofit Association. Our work is supported by donations from individual members and organizations and institutions that value high-quality, in-depth journalism.