Job Description
Responsibilities
Want to work with one of America's most trusted and loved brands? As one of the biggest brands in the lifestyle space with more than 50M unique monthly visitors, TODAY Digital is looking forward to our biggest year of growth yet. With a significant investment in the future, we're innovating and creating new ways to help audiences live better, more informed, happier, and healthier lives.
TODAY Digital is looking for an intrepid, energetic and curious Features Reporter to join our editorial team. The ideal candidate is someone who is driven by a desire to uncover a story and explore the angle or perspective no one is talking about. We're looking for someone with extensive experience investigating, reporting, and researching, as well as someone who can interview and write on deadline in a high-pressure, fast-paced environment. This person should be well-versed in lifestyle, entertainment, and celebrity culture; have their pulse on what conversations are happening across social media and the web; and have a passion for leaning in to voice-y and conversational writing and headlines.
This position is represented by the News Guild.
Responsibilities:
• Regularly pitch innovative stories that go beyond the headlines everyone else is writing. This person won't just cover the current conversation, but start conversation.
• Put accuracy first, above all else. We're looking for a features reporter who will leave no stone unturned in order to verify every fact of a story and ensure all sources are the right fit for the brand.
• Find sources and activate on interviews quickly, being unafraid to ask big questions and approach a conversation with the intention of getting quotes that will make a story sing.
• Obsessively monitor what's happening in the world, whether it's constantly checking wires and other media outlets or scrolling through social media, Reddit, or your own conversations to tap into what stories aren't being told - or could be told better.
• Write clean, fast and accurately reported copy for multiple stories weekly.
• Be versatile. You must be able to easily flex between topics like hard news, pop culture, health, parenting, food and more.
• Seamlessly craft headlines for stories and social media that resonate with audiences with a knack for finding a hook into a piece.
• Work with the art department on just the right art, photos, or illustrations and packaging that will make your story stand out.
• Work closely with our broadcast team to pitch stories from digital to broadcast or vice versa.
• Follow the rules of AP Style and meticulously edit and fact-check copy before filing.
Qualifications/Requirements
• 6+ years of writing and reporting experience, with
experience specifically writing deep-dive stories,
investigative features, and in-depth takes.
• Extensive experience with interviewing and sourcing.
• A portfolio of skills: Strong and fast writing and editing;
clever and SEO-friendly tactics, impeccable and strong
editorial judgement.
• Appreciation for TODAY's broad range of topics and
personalities
• A gut instinct for a good story. You're decisive on angles
and assignments and write in a fun, clear TODAY-friendly
voice. If you love to uncover a story before anyone else
and have a great sense of the kinds of stories that will
make waves before anyone else on the internet, this is
the job for you.
Additional Job Requirements:
• Must submit an attestation disclosing your COVID-19 vaccination status and, if partially or fully vaccinated, submitting your vaccination record no later than 7 days following commencement of employment.
• Must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 at the commencement of employment or adhere to advanced protocols if Company determines your job position requires accessing an NBCUniversal worksite.
• Must be willing to adhere to all Company COVID-19 workplace safety policies and protocols
Desired Characteristics
• Outstanding communication skills with the ability to
prioritize while multitasking.
• A desire to work in a creative, demanding, competitive
but highly rewarding news environment.
• Comfort being an independent self-starter, but also part
of a multi-location, multi-time zone team.
• Active awareness of TODAY's personalities and brands.
• A robust and diverse source list built out around
entertainment and features reporting
• Speaks fluent Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Reddit,
with ideas for how to harvest and promote stories on
social platforms.
• Savvy with CrowdTangle, Domo and Chartbeat: You
know how to use analytics to help guide story selection
and pivot based on performance.
Jobcode: Reference SBJ-rvp46n-52-90-121-17-42 in your application.