IPB News Statewide Education Reporter

Job Description

IPB News is looking for our next statewide Education Reporter to cover early childhood through higher education, with a primary focus on K-12. 

We’re looking for someone who’s excited to own an important beat through daily and enterprise reporting, eager to build relationships with communities across Indiana and energized by working closely with a highly collaborative statewide team focused on finding the human stories at the heart of policy decisions. You’ll explain complicated issues, help people understand the many ways education policy affects their lives and respond to community needs and questions. 

Indiana is home to expansive school choice programs and debates over school funding and teacher workforce issues. The state is also focused on improving quality and access around early childhood education, preparing students for life after high school, and closing equity gaps intensified by the pandemic.

You’ll use research, data, community engagement and deep sourcing to tell stories focused on accountability, access and solutions for statewide and national audiences, including NPR and PBS. And you’ll work closely with and have the full support of a dedicated editor, digital editor and engagement manager to include the audience throughout your reporting process. This is a great opportunity for a reporter comfortable working across platforms (radio, TV, digital) and looking to advance and grow with support, training opportunities and a mission to produce community-focused statewide journalism.

IPB News is a collaboration of NPR and PBS stations in Indiana working closely together to expand and deepen reporting and community engagement for radio, TV and digital platforms and through community events. IPB News is partner-funded and receives grants from the Lilly Endowment. 

Job Requirements

To be successful in this role, an individual must be able to perform in a satisfactory manner the essential functions and responsibilities listed below. We will make reasonable accommodations to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions.

• Contribute to a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion, valuing and respecting the many experiences and perspectives across our team, stations, and communities. 
• Build expertise on the education beat, get to know the communities in Indiana, actively participate in engagement efforts, commit to diversity in sources and coverage 
• Report and produce daily news stories and feature stories on deadline for radio, television and digital that are timely and relevant, add context, and include voices and perspectives that represent the wide variety of communities across Indiana.  
• Write and produce high-quality digital stories and take photos for web and social, appropriate for distribution to IPB News partners. Build online posts using the NPR content management system. Contribute ideas for interactive graphics and web videos and collaborate to produce them  
• Participate fully in the IPB News engagement process as one way of identifying relevant ideas, topics and sources, including listening sessions, community conversations and other events. Provide input on community engagement strategies to Community Engagement Manager and Digital Producer 
• Report complex stories quickly; bring complicated ideas to air with limited direction from editor 
• Collaborate daily and work closely with the 13-person statewide IPB News team, contributing to editorial meetings and working collaboratively with editors, reporters and talk show producers to conceive and execute stories and series 
• Actively report through social media and engage audiences through social media channels
• Contribute to live events and live or taped talk shows and other audio programs, podcasts and video segments
  
   

OTHER FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Performs other duties as assigned

EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE

To perform this job successfully, an individual must have the following education and/or experience unless otherwise noted below.

• High School Diploma – required
• Knowledge of education and education policy – preferred 
• Knowledge and experience doing work in a radio and/or tv setting – preferred
• Experience with video production – preferred
• Fluency in Spanish – preferred
• Familiarity with public broadcasting – preferred

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. We will make reasonable accommodations to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions.

• One year of journalism experience or equivalent training or coursework
• Proven ability to identify and originate stories that are relevant to diverse communities, report accurately and quickly, and meet deadlines.
• Skilled in reporting including strong writing, reporting and interviewing skills
• Ability to produce -or quickly learn to produce – video news content
• Ability to excel in a collaborative team environment with a high level of personal motivation
• Ability to provide live reports and two-ways
• Ability to tackle difficult projects
• Ability to work simultaneously on short and long-term projects
• Ability to produce compelling storytelling and originality in writing

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those an individual must meet to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. We will make reasonable accommodations to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions.

• Ability to interact with others, both in person and through phone, e-mail, and written correspondence
• Ability to move in and between various facilities and handle exposure to inclement weather
• Ability to operate office equipment, including computers, copiers, fax machines, and phones
• Ability to perform focused work with close attention to detail
• Ability to sit for extended periods of time and to move intermittently throughout the workday
• Good speaking and listening skills
• Must be able to lift, carry and position 25 pounds at times

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