Racial/Social Equity Reporter
The Need: The community-funded journalism team in Spokane, WA, is looking for a reporter to help serve the combined missions of The Black Lens newspaper and the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund regarding racial issues in our community.
The mission is to inform, educate and entertain readers, primarily in Eastern Washington and North Idaho, about local racial equity, race relations, historic/systemic racism issues and the complexity of their impacts on all of our lives in the Inland Northwest. A component of the mission is to provide coverage of national race-related issues and how their influence is felt at the local level. This reporting will be accurate, thorough, helpful, fair and lively.
The Role: This grant-funded position is one of the first reporter positions in the nation to report to both the editor of The Black Lens -- an independent publication that is focused on the news, events, people and issues of importance to the African American community -- and to the executive editor of The Spokesman-Review, who has been designated by the founder of the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund, to help lead the reporting of this position.
The reporter’s journalism will include both daily stories and larger enterprise stories for both the general audience of The Spokesman-Review as well as The Black Lens’ monthly print audience. The journalist will be skilled in developing story ideas and projects on racial issues at the personal, community and national level in order to embed these articles in the context of Spokane’s and America’s racial history. All the work created by this reporter will carry a Creative Commons license, meaning this content is owned by the community, not the publications in which they appear; it can be published by any other news organization for free. No paywalls will be allowed to limit access to stories produced by this journalist and the stories will be syndicated by many other news organizations throughout the region.
The Partnership Organizations: Two not-for-profit news organizations are funding this position. The Black Lens newspaper was founded in 2015 by Sandra Williams and grew to serve as a primary news source for African American neighborhoods in and around Spokane. It has been hand delivered, free of charge, to targeted locations in Spokane’s Black community, including churches, libraries, businesses and African American focused events. At its peak it had approximately 700 paid subscribers in Spokane and across the country who received the paper by mail each month. This journalist together with other new positions will be part of the relaunch and expansion of The Black Lens after the death of its founding publisher and editor, Sandra Williams.
The Community Journalism and Civic Education Fund was established at Spokane’s community foundation (Innovia) in 2016 in order to develop not-for-profit news entities and community-funded journalism. It has grown to fund almost one-third of the journalists in the Spokesman newsroom and it started a popular event series, Northwest Passages. Northwest Passages hosts prominent authors, politicians and public figures and the resulting revenue generated supports a significant portion of the community-funded journalism, published by The Spokesman-Review.
What we offer: Full-time, non-exempt position. Located in Spokane, WA; salary range $47,000-$52,000/year, along with full benefits including vacation, medical and paid holidays.
To apply: Please send your resume, cover letter, references and samples of your work to marybethd@spokesman.com.
About the Spokesman-Review
The Spokesman-Review is a family owned and operated local newspaper serving Spokane since the late 1800s. The Spokesman-Review was an early adopter of philanthropic-based journalism and has received four Report for America positions over the past five years. The newsroom’s popular event series, Northwest Passages, hosts prominent and top-selling authors, with the forums funding a significant portion of the newsroom’s payroll and projects. The Spokesman-Review’s recently renovated newsroom still is housed in the newspaper's nearly 140-year tower building in downtown Spokane.