Senior Investigative Reporter

Lookout Local; Santa Cruz (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Medical, dental, optical benefits

401(k) with matching

Stock options

Job summary

Lookout Local in Santa Cruz, CA, seeks a Senior Correspondent to lead accountability reporting and work with the team to deepen coverage on city and regional issues. The role focuses on investigative and data-driven storytelling with an emphasis on public records and transparency.

The senior correspondent will mentor fellow reporters, collaborate with editors, and drive enterprise reporting across beats, while maintaining fast turnaround on quick stories and long-form investigations.

Qualifications

• Eight to ten years as a daily news reporter.
• Proficiency with open records laws and libel laws.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with multiple priorities.
• Excellent writing and editing skills; ability to turn investigations into narrative.
• Data collection and analysis skills in data journalism.

Responsibilities

• Lead accountability agenda and identify opportunities for investigative, enterprise and in-depth reporting across the newsroom.
• Produce quick-turn and long-term accountability stories for a fast-paced newsroom.
• Mentor reporters on deep-dive stories and source development.
• Lead investigative tools, such as public records datasets that can be mined for stories.
• Track an ongoing newsroom-wide database of FOIA and public records requests.

Skills

Accountability reporting

Data journalism

Investigative reporting

Public records

Editing

Mentoring

News judgment

Diverse beats

Tools

Nexis

Public records databases

Data visualization tools

Job description

Lookout Local in Santa Cruz, CA, seeks a Senior Correspondent to lead accountability reporting and work with the team to deepen coverage on city and regional issues. The role focuses on investigative and data-driven storytelling with an emphasis on public records and transparency.

The senior correspondent will mentor fellow reporters, collaborate with editors, and drive enterprise reporting across beats, while maintaining fast turnaround on quick stories and long-form investigations.