Education Reporter

Job Description

The St. Louis area has a storied, flawed and fractured education system that is ripe for an ambitious and enterprising journalist itching to dive into one of the most important reporting beats in the region. 

St. Louis Public Radio is looking for an education reporter who can explain arcane policy problems in engaging ways, who loves to connect issues to the people impacted the most and who can distinguish between public policy lip service and authentic attempts to change things.

You’ll join an award-winning newsroom of nearly 30 of journalists that covers communities across the bistate St. Louis region, in Rolla, Missouri, and in Quincy, Illinois. STLPR has a reputation as one of the most ambitious and innovative stations in the public radio system. Our reporters regularly have stories featured by NPR, Marketplace and other nationally syndicated programs. STLPR is also a founding member of both NPR’s Midwest Newsroom, which focuses on enterprise and investigative reporting, and Harvest Public Media, which reports on the food production industry, environmental topics and rural issues in the Midwest.

The STLPR newsroom prizes reporting that provides context and understanding, reflects the diverse voices and perspectives in our community and engages our region in crucial conversations. A great candidate would have a record of journalistic excellence and a drive to experiment with multiple forms of storytelling, including for the radio and on the web.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify relevant education stories, put them into context and explain them in an engaging manner.
• Research, report and produce stories and interviews for radio and web audiences.
• Write scripts, host, produce and mix audio features.
• Help foster community discussion around education issues that are impacting the region.
• Build a robust network of sources to help inform coverage and break new reporting ground.
• Meet deadlines while juggling daily news stories with enterprise feature reporting.

Supervision Received

The Education Reporter is supervised by the Arts, Health and Education Editor. 

Supervision Responsibilities

None. This job is an STLPR Guild-eligible position. 

Salary range: $52,000 - $68,000 annual

Other Information

St. Louis Public Radio is a service of the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL), and through UMSL offers comprehensive benefits including health, dental and vision insurance, retirement and wellness programs through the University of Missouri System Total Rewards program. University employees receive discounts at the College of Optometry's Center for Eye Care, discounted passes for the Metrolink and UM System-sponsored programs. Additionally, UMSL staff and their dependents enjoy discounted tuition, and employees have access to a wide array of professional development opportunities.

Application Instructions

To apply for this position, visit the UMSL Careers site (Job ID: 52161). Include with your application the following materials:

• Cover letter that describes your explains why you want to be STLPR’s education reporter and why your experience makes you a great fit for this job.
• Contact information for at least three professional references.
• Resume in PDF or Microsoft Word format.
• 2-3 writing samples, including both audio script and web writing examples, if available.  (PDF or include links to online stories at the bottom of the cover letter.)
• 2 audio samples, if available. (Include links to SoundCloud samples in cover letter or email mp3 files to jluther@stlpr.org.)

Email STLPR Chief of Staff Jess Luther (jluther@stlpr.org) if you have questions about this position or about applying for the job through the UMSL Careers portal.

We are committed to building a newsroom demographically representative of the St. Louis region. STLPR and UMSL are equal opportunity employers. We enthusiastically encourage members of groups underrepresented in public media to apply.

Job Requirements

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in journalism or a related field or equivalent professional experience.
• Two or more years of professional experience as a reporter, producer or other journalism-related role.
• Experience thinking creatively about how to effectively tell stories on audio and digital platforms.
• Solid writing skills and familiarity with AP style.
• Experience reporting on education issues, preferred.
• Audio reporting experience, preferred. 

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