We are no longer accepting applications for this position.
OVERVIEW
A core pillar of our strategy at The Marshall Project rests on engagement: how to conceive and distribute our journalism so that it better reflects and reaches people, including incarcerated people and their families, who have largely been ignored or marginalized by many news platforms.
Engagement journalism plays a central role in our efforts to serve local communities with few criminal justice reporting resources and significant opportunity for journalistic impact.
This form of journalism involves reimagining our storytelling forms, distribution platforms, and information needs of readers, including those in justice-affected communities who seldom see news that could affect their own lives or that reflects their lived experiences.
We are seeking a reporter based in St. Louis who is experienced in engagement/community journalism and its evolving practices. This reporter would be willing and able to forge ties with a wide range of communities and community groups in St. Louis and St. Louis County.
A successful candidate is curious, creative, open-minded, and willing to experiment, while committed to following the facts wherever they lead. You should be a clear writer and a reporter who is persistent and meticulous. This journalism involves seeking out and understanding the information needs of readers, allowing everyone to see news that could affect their own lives and/or reflect their lived experiences.
The position reports to the engagement editor in the national newsroom.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Use engagement reporting skills, such as callouts or town halls, to conceive and produce original journalism about the criminal justice system for The Marshall Project - St. Louis.
Develop strategic partnerships with community organizations serving people behind bars, formerly incarcerated people, or their families. These partnerships should help us understand our target audiences’ news and information needs and facilitate the distribution of our journalism.
Build long-term sourcing in Missouri state prisons to identify opportunities to serve our incarcerated audience via our various projects that reach people behind bars: News Inside, Inside Story, and Prisoncast!
Partner with our investigative reporters based in St. Louis on engagement projects that deepen the scope and reach of our award-winning accountability work, and help to connect these projects with the communities that we are covering. This would include the possibility of turning Marshall Project stories into formats that could better reach incarcerated people or their families, such as video or other print products (such as fliers or one-sheets) as well as new types of distribution, like Ameelio.
Commit to experimenting with alternate forms of storytelling. This could mean creating social-first stories, comics, audio pieces, and more. One goal of these pieces is to reach low-literacy audiences and/or those who do not typically engage with mainstream news platforms.
Participate in a Marshall Project engagement working group drawing from many sectors of the newsroom. The group discusses engagement projects, storytelling forms, and distribution channels to reach wider audiences. Together, the team builds and maintains our best practices and guidelines to inform our work.
QUALIFICATIONS
Use your listening and analytical skills to identify, conceive, and execute stories, social storytelling, and explainers that reflect the interests and information needs of people affected by the justice system. The right candidate will be comfortable juggling a mix of monthly stories as well as more complex projects.
Ability to ferret out information in places of restricted access and explain complex processes about criminal justice systems, such as prisons, jails, court and policing officials.
Ability to juggle and meet deadlines on both long- and short-term projects.
Cultivate and expand a broad network of sources to help generate story ideas. Even if you do not currently have sources inside prisons, you know how to develop them.
Collaboration is in our DNA. You’ll work closely with colleagues from The Marshall Project and partner organizations — online, print, audio, and broadcast.
Familiarity with engagement reporting practices, which can include writing up callouts, building partnerships, and mining social media networks to uncover story ideas and sources.
Ability to work effectively and efficiently with reporters, editors, data team, developers, designers, photo editors, video, and audience teams.
Eagerness to experiment with various storytelling forms across mediums including visual journalism, audio, and video.
Contribute to audience development and promotion through headline writing, social media post drafting, media requests, appearances, and live events.
Comfort maintaining relationships with a variety of justice-affected community members while still adhering to journalistic norms.
Engagement journalism is both new and evolving, which means no one has the exact perfect set of skills and experiences we are seeking. Please tell us about your other assets not mentioned here that may be valuable to this role. We encourage candidates to apply, even if they do not meet every skill listed. Reaching talent across a range of backgrounds and experiences is deeply important to us.
WHO WE ARE
The Marshall Project is a nonprofit news organization dedicated to covering America’s criminal justice system. In 2016 and 2021, The Marshall Project was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. We have also been honored with the Goldsmith Prize, multiple National Magazine Awards, and for General Excellence by the Online Journalism Awards. We are not advocates — we follow the facts, and we do not pander to any audience — but we have a declared mission: to create and sustain a sense of urgency about the criminal justice system. We do not generally cover breaking news (although we curate the reporting of other news outlets in our morning newsletter).
Our work includes investigative and explanatory projects and shorter pieces aimed at highlighting stories that other news organizations miss, underestimate or misunderstand. To assure our work reaches a larger audience, we partner or co-publish with other media outlets on almost all of our work; we have partnered with more than 200 newspapers, magazines, broadcasters, and online sites.
We are establishing a news team in St. Louis to address the significant loss of coverage on criminal justice issues caused by newsroom cuts. This team will produce in-depth and investigative content on criminal justice, covering the St. Louis area, statewide issues, and some matters with national implications.
We are an equal opportunity employer, committed to diversity. We welcome qualified applicants of all races, ethnicities, physical abilities, genders, and sexual orientations, including people who have been incarcerated or otherwise involved with the criminal justice system.
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
This job is full-time, with a competitive salary and benefits including:
Annual salary range: $75,000 - $85,000
100% employer-paid medical, vision, and dental insurance, matching traditional and Roth 401(k) (immediate vesting), and 20 weeks of paid parental leave.
Voluntary benefits include: Health and Dependent Care FSA, commuter benefits, pet insurance, short- and long-term disability insurance, employee and dependent life insurance, Aflac accident, hospital indemnity, and critical illness coverage, legal benefits, personal excess liability insurance, and employee discount marketplace.
Employees receive 15 days of paid time off, plus two personal days. The Marshall Project office is closed between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2.
HOW TO APPLY
To apply, use this form to submit a cover letter and resume. The cover letter should outline your previous experiences and your vision for engagement journalism in the context of the criminal justice system. Please also submit three examples of your best reporting work. For each piece, please briefly explain your role.
The deadline to submit an application is 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 1.
Due to the expected volume of applications, we will follow up with the most promising candidates but cannot respond individually to all applicants. We will host two office hours in August to answer questions about the role. Please know it usually takes us more than a month after applications close to review them.
We will be hosting a virtual office hours session to answer any questions you have about the role or TMP more broadly on Tuesday, Aug. 13, from 11:00 - 12:00 p.m. EDT. Register using this link