Political Correspondent, Houston

Political Correspondent, Houston

Location: Greater Houston

Who We Are

At Courier Newsroom, we empower individuals and communities through local reporting that helps people understand and affect the issues impacting their lives. We believe that by investing in the work of local journalists across the country we can positively impact civic participation and build a healthier democracy from the ground up. Through original reporting and human-focused storytelling, we highlight the issues and forces that shape our lives while calling attention to the impacts of policy-making and political action at the local level. We are a rapidly growing team with new ideas on how to change the landscape of this world.

Summary

The Political Correspondent, Houston will lead our regional political coverage in the Houston area, telling important, timely, and engaging stories about the fourth-largest city in the country. You’ll be responsible for producing Houston-focused media products — such as newsletters, video series/streams, podcasts, and social media content — that you manage and through which you will personally build trust with your audience. 

Through your product-driven reporting, you will connect important policy decisions in the city and state to the day-to-day lives of our readers. You’ll humanize and localize what’s happening in government on key issues, in order to improve our audience’s understanding of state and local politics and government and motivate our readers to get involved.

Thinking beyond the methods of legacy outlets that rely on a broader, official media brand, you will personally build confidence in Houston communities by being a visible, relatable, frequent presence in their social feeds and/or inboxes. 

The position is remote, but the Houston Political Correspondent will need to reside in the Houston area. The position requires some weekend and evening work, along with flexible scheduling. The position reports to the Texas Chief Political Correspondent.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop a deep understanding of the mission and core audience for the community and best practices for communicating with that audience. 
• Pitch, develop, and market specific media products designed to reach audiences who aren’t currently being served by legacy or local media. 
• Produce a regular cadence of coverage for your product(s) that is engaging and help build an audience with a product that is created at least once weekly 
• Generate multi-platform content for your product in order to maximize your journalism’s reach, such as creating Instagram carousels for a newsletter, or if you do a podcast, ensuring it’s on video, too. 
• Regularly brainstorm and pitch story and content ideas that align to your products. 
• Break news through your products.
• Work to build a personal brand through social platforms.
• Work with editorial leadership to ensure high-quality reporting and content is created.
• In conjunction with editorial leadership, develop and execute strategies for how to help grow and ultimately monetize your product.
• Attend public meetings, town halls, political rallies and other events in the Houston area to find sources, stories, and people impacted by the decisions made by elected officials and government agencies. 
• Collaborate with other members of the Texas newsroom, including our Newsletter Editor and Social Media Manager, our national video and design teams, and occasionally with reporters in Courier’s other newsrooms.
• Build broad and diverse relationships so that sources, story ideas, research, and reporting reflect the diverse communities of the Houston region.
• Ensure all editorial content — such as newsletters, videos, and graphics — are curated and branded consistently.
• Be committed to accuracy and meeting deadlines.
• Participate in special projects as needed.

The ideal candidate will:

• Have at least 1-3 years experience in political reporting/content creation or similar communications work. 
• Experience crafting stories about people impacted by the issues you’re covering.
• Demonstrable writing skills with the ability to report — through videos, social media content, and written stories — complex issues with simplified, accessible language.
• Be comfortable in front of a camera and reporting through videos, creating presenter-led videos with your phone, and writing scripts. Video editing experience is a bonus.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal.
• A highly-organized, resourceful and proactive self-starter.
• Fluency in Spanish is a plus, as is experience in a marginalized community. 
• A desire to be part of a new media model that meets people where they are — most often on social platforms — and looking to leverage your talents to protect democracy through progressive, factual, relevant information rooted in shared values and well being.
• Be comfortable in a startup environment and nimble to switch direction as priorities and projects.
• Have a desire to grow (or already have) an audience as a political content creator.
• Have experience using Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other social platforms.
• Be able to produce compelling social media posts that deliver key information to our audience in five seconds or less.   
• Familiarity with tools like Canva, Capcut, and Descript to support social content production.
• Have a grasp of AP Style.
• Have experience with or a willingness to learn WordPress.
• Have experience with or a willingness to learn Sprout and/or Creator Studio for social media publishing.

Benefits Include

• Salary range of $60,000 to $75,000 
• Unlimited paid time off
• 11 paid holidays, plus week-long winter break at end of year
• Full suite of health benefits
• $500 home office reimbursement
• Flexible working arrangements

Equal opportunity employer

Courier Newsroom is an equal-opportunity employer. Women, people of color, those with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people are strongly urged to apply. Applicants shall not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, marital status, or medical conditions.

Compensation$60,000 - $75,000