Local Democracy Reporter 'The Lincolnite', Stonebow Media

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Location: Lincoln
Salary details: £24,000pa base (+ more with experience)
  • Full-Time

Stonebow Media, the independent digital publishers of The Lincolnite, are the Greater Lincolnshire partner for the BBC Local Democracy scheme of 150 journalists deployed across the country to cover local authorities.

As part of this innovative programme, Stonebow Media is hiring a local democracy reporter based at our offices in Lincoln city centre to provide accurate and timely coverage of local democracy issues across Greater Lincolnshire.

The local democracy reporter will work jointly with our current reporter to provide impartial coverage of the regular business and workings of local authorities in Greater Lincolnshire, including Lincolnshire County Council, North and North East Lincolnshire unitary authorities, the Lincolnshire district councils, the Police and Crime Commissioner and other relevant democratic institutions.

This coverage will be published in both Stonebow Media publications and will also be shared with other media partners including the BBC. There is currently an expanded coverage scope due to the Covid pandemic.

Ideal candidates will have a minimum of two years’ experience as a reporter in a daily news environment and/or working to daily news deadlines and good writing and multimedia skills.

If you are a motivated self-starter with a strong understanding of the workings and processes within local government, then we would like to hear from you.

Overview of the role

  • To ensure that matters, decisions and issues relating to the public authorities are covered in a timely, impartial and audience-friendly way
  • To generate multimedia content which engages the public and which meets Stonebow Media and the BBC’s standards of quality, consistency and legal accuracy
  • Be a public ambassador for the project, and become a trusted source of news and information about the public authorities covered

Key role responsibilities

  • Deliver strong content in a multimedia format on a daily basis, focusing primarily on text but also providing images, audio and video as and when required
  • Write content in a way which engages and drives audience including through SEO and social media awareness
  • Ensure all content is politically neutral and provides a fair reflection of views
  • Ensure agendas for councils and public bodies are scrutinised, identifying issues and stories which need to be brought to the public’s attention
  • Working with your content editor, identify which meetings need to be covered and reported
  • Build strong contacts for story-gathering within local communities
  • Be active on social media, in line with editorial policies, to build audiences and communities
  • Deliver live coverage as and when required
  • Provide two-way interviews for broadcast media as and when required

The ideal candidates will have:

  • Good writing skills, up-to-date legal knowledge
  • A journalism or joint university degree
  • A minimum of two years’ experience as a reporter in a daily news environment and/or working to daily news deadlines
  • Excellent communicator on social media
  • Excellent at working under pressure and identifying priorities
  • Self-starter
  • Be familiar with digital tools and techniques across a range of mobile devices
  • Strong understanding of working and processes within local government
  • Demonstrable experience of delivering great ideas for content
  • Strong contact-building skills
  • Proficiency taking images, shooting video and gathering audio
  • A full UK driving licence and access to a car for transport purposes

What we offer

  • £22k base salary + more with experience
  • Relocation package
  • 21 days’ holiday + bank holidays
  • One day per week work from home

This job description summarises the main aspect of the job, but it does not cover all the duties that the jobholder may be required to perform.

For an informal discussion about the role, you can call managing editor Daniel Ionescu on 01522 837 219.

To apply:

Please send your CV and link to any of your published work (or portfolio) in the cover letter to Daniel Ionescu, MD, Stonebow Media – daniel@stonebowmedia.co.uk

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