Investigative Reporter (Washington State) - The Center Square

Employment Status: Full-time

Salary range: $80,000 – $90,000

Position Overview

The Center Square is seeking highly motivated investgative reporters to join our Washington state bureau and Enterprise and Investigative Unit (EIU). The Center Square has a five-person bureau in the state. The EIU is a five-person national investigative team, which, despite only starting a year ago, has already been a finalist for major national awards, changed state laws and removed corrupt and incompetent government officials. 

These key roles will be joining an eastern Washington reporter and state government reporter to provide readers and partners with the best coverage in the state. The city hall reporter reports to The Center Square’s Washington State Editor and the EIU job reports to the Managing Editor for EIU and West Coast Region.

Essential responsibilities for the Washington EIU Reporter:

• File records requests, obtain data, make confidential sources and regularly read the journalism around the state to find weekly investigative pieces and work on team projects.
• Supplement print reporting with video; be willing to shoot and edit video, and discuss your reporting in front of a camera
• Analyze data and records, talk to sources and officials responsible for policies and corruption and confront them at public settings if necessary.
• Work with EIU editor to revise, ensure stories meet fairness, completeness and avoid libel or defamation.
• Regularly produce impactful investigations, follows and enterprise stories. This is not a position to report for six months to produce a 10,000-word series. We expect regular, high-impact investigations.

Expectations for the Role:

• Have excellent writing and research abilities while adhering to Associated Press style.
• Take direction well and be willing to learn from The Center Square's experienced editors and other journalists.
• Live in Washington state, preferably near Seattle and Olympia. Meet sources both inside and outside of government.
• Focus on stories that will have impact and make a difference. We look for stories with the potential to change state law or policy, start criminal or internal investigations and spark audits and reviews.
• Bachelor’s degree in journalism, communications, political science, or a related field is preferred but not required, and at least two years of investigative government reporting experience or five years of high-impact daily journalism with a proven track record of enterprise and investigative work on a beat.
• Proficient in understanding news and moving fast to find new and investigative angles on breaking and developing stories. 
• Able to be aggressive but professional and not take no for an answer.
• Writing approachable news copy to distill complex issues into concise explanations.
• Be well-versed in libel and defamation law and knowing how to make sure stories avoid those and are fair, complete.
• Multimedia reporting focused on utilizing video stream to pull and edit video and audio clips for affiliate use.