Health Beat Reporter

Paycom; Norfolk (VA); On-site; USD 42,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

WHRO is seeking a Health Beat Reporter to cover health in Hampton Roads, exploring the business, science, policy, and human angles. The reporter will develop daily stories, pursue enterprise pieces, and build trusted sources across hospital systems and public health programs in the region.

The role emphasizes human-centered storytelling with local context, collaboration with editors, and involvement in community events to illuminate health changes affecting residents of Norfolk and surrounding

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or 4 years equivalent experience.
• Minimum 4 years of demonstrated experience in professional journalism.
• Experience in newsroom, preferably local or regional.
• Experience in audio field reporting and production.
• Knowledge of Adobe Audition audio editing software.
• Fluency in more than one language is a plus.
• Knowledge of the Hampton Roads, VA region.

Responsibilities

• File regular daily and long-form news pieces with digital and broadcast components.
• Engage with the Hampton Roads community to build sources and trust.
• Maintain detailed beat knowledge at local, state, and national levels for enterprise topics.
• Research large quantities of information and distill clear takeaways for audiences.
• Collaborate with editors and hosts to set priorities and deliver timely health news.
• Pitch big projects, series, and investigations when opportunities arise.
• Represent the station at events and ensure accuracy, fairness, and context.

Skills

Written communication

Verbal communication

Community engagement

Multilingual

Enterprise reporting

Education

Bachelor’s degree or 4 years equivalent experience

Tools

Adobe Audition

Job description

The Health Beat Reporter will cover health for Hampton Roads, digging into the topic as a major local industry, a science, tackling consumer protection themes all while keeping human stories at the center of their work.WHRO's health reporter will think of health as a business, science, government policy and human interest topic, sometimes all at once. The ideal candidate will look for stories in Hampton Roads' numerous hospital systems, emerging public health education programs and in the communities who are living with longstanding health disparities.The health reporter's primary responsibility is to look for daily stories to document major changes in the local health and health care landscape while pursuing long-term feature stories of interest to the regional community.The ideal reporter will look for story ideas before major health policy changes and in some cases, uncover and document challenges that may inspire change in the health world. To that end, the reporter may collaborate with the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO to bring Hampton Roads story to a larger statewide audience with more reporting and sources.All beat reporters will be expected to produce several daily stories a week and regular enterprise stories.Supervisory Responsibilities:N/ADuties/Responsibilities:File regular daily and long-form news which includes digital and broadcast componentsEngage with the Hampton Roads community to build sources and trust within your assigned beat to ensure a full accounting of the storiesMaintain detailed knowledge of assigned beat at a local, state and national level to find enterprise story topics and break local news within the beatResearch large quantities of information on one topic and distill it into meaningful, understandable takeawaysWork closely with an editor, hosts and other colleagues to determine editorial priorities, share ideas and provide accurate, timely engaging health news to WHRO’s audienceContextualize and humanize reporting by seeking out a diverse range of local people to center health storiesParticipate in station events as appropriate.Ensure all reporting meets the WHRO expectations of accuracy, independence and fairness.Have an interest in and talent for engaging with diverse communitiesLead occasional training and/or listening sessions for the newsroomAvailable to work varied shifts as required by the news cyclePitch big projects, series and investigationsOther duties as assigned.Required Skills/Abilities:Demonstrated written and/or verbal communication skillsEducation:Bachelor’s degree or 4 years equivalent experienceExperience:Minimum 4 years of demonstrated experience in professional journalismExperience in newsroom, preferably local or regionalExperience in audio field reporting and productionAdditional Preferred Skills:Visual journalism including still photography and videographyKnowledge of Adobe Audition audio editing softwareFluency in more than one languageData visualization skillsKnowledge of the Hampton Roads, VA region