About Chicago Public Media

Home to WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Public Media is the largest local non-profit news organization in the country. WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times serve more than 2 million people weekly across broadcast, print, and digital platforms. As a mission-driven organization, we aspire to become the essential and most trusted news source that Chicago turns to each day for understanding the people, events, and ideas that shape our community.

WBEZ is home to local and national news programming as well as a growing portfolio of popular podcasts. WBEZ serves the community with fact-based, objective news and information, and its award-winning journalists ask tough questions, dig deep for answers and expose truths that spark change and foster understanding. WBEZ is supported by 77,000 members, hundreds of corporate sponsors and major donors. In 2024, Chicago Public Media won 33 national and local awards including from the National Headliner Awards, National Association for Black Journalists, Public Media Journalists Association, Radio Television Digital News Association, Chicago Headline Club, Chicago Journalists Association, Media for a Just Society, and the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.

Chicago Sun-Times is Chicago’s oldest continuously published daily newspaper serving Chicago and is known for its hard-hitting investigative reporting, in-depth political coverage, timely behind-the-scenes sports analysis, and insightful entertainment and cultural coverage. Chicago Sun-Times is the winner of eight Pulitzer Prizes and countless other awards. In recent years, the Sun-Times has focused on a digital transformation to deliver its news and content to a growing digital audience. Most recently, the Sun-Times dropped the paywall on suntimes.com to expand access to its journalism, and shifted to a community-funded digital membership program supported by voluntary member donations.

Chicago Public Media believes independent journalism is essential to a well-functioning democracy and access to fact-based, objective news and information is a right of every citizen. We serve the public interest by creating diverse, compelling content that informs, inspires, and enriches. We connect diverse audiences and help them make a difference in the community, the region and the world. And, we employ 300+ staff who want to belong to an organization that inspires, supports, and challenges them to do their best work.

For more information, please see the Chicago Public Media Annual Report.

The Opportunity

The Immigration Reporter is an integral part of the News desk and the Race, Class & Communities team, working in collaboration with other reporters covering the immigration beat. The reporter will write and report a mix of daily, feature and enterprise stories examining immigration policy, enforcement and Chicago’s diverse immigrant communities. The ideal candidate is someone who is already familiar with the many federal agencies carrying out immigration enforcement and eager to find stories that show how people’s lives have been impacted by changes in immigration policy.

This is a three-year, grant-funded opportunity.

Qualifications

A minimum of 2-3 years of reporting experience
Experience and skill in writing daily news, feature and enterprise stories
Strong editorial judgment, including attention to diverse experiences and perspectives, resourcefulness and initiative in finding and pitching story ideas
Proven ability to consistently meet deadlines, prioritize factual accuracy and comply with high ethical standards
Brings perspectives that drive toward fresh angles and approaches for covering the news
Team player; we are a highly collaborative newsroom
Previous experience covering immigration policy or immigrant communities highly desired
Fluency in Spanish or another language other than English strongly desired

Responsibilities

Develops original and creative story ideas
Develops sources, investigates and researches to gather information for a mix of daily and enterprise stories
Reports and writes breaking news, news features, enterprise pieces both independently and on assignment
Produce high-profile work that contributes something new, compelling and/or useful to the public conversation
Regularly meet deadlines and communicate with managers, editors and colleagues, and help improve audience relationships, workplace culture, editorial excellence and impact
Works with the audience and visual teams to develop video, infographics, and other interactive elements that engage both digital and print readers — with some of these elements to be used to promote stories on social media
Works with the audio team to conduct audio interviews for short daily newscast items
Collaborates with audio hosts and daily talk shows by participating in taped or live interviews about immigration stories

Position Requirements

Must be available to provide evening and holiday coverage as needed.
In your cover letter, please include links to on-air work.

Compensation

The expected pay range for this position is $60,000 to $66,000 per ANNUM.

Chicago Public Media provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of what the organization reasonably expects to pay for a position. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal equity, geographical location, and external market pay for comparable jobs.

This is a Chicago News Guild position.

Working at Chicago Public Media

At Chicago Public Media, we care deeply about our employees as we know attracting, developing, and growing talent is key to our success and enhancing our impact.

Our culture is one where collaboration, diversity of ideas, and innovation are encouraged. We value colleagues who will enhance our culture by bringing new ideas, divergent experiences, and talents to our dynamic workplace.

At Chicago Public Media we believe dedication to a great workplace includes supporting our employees and their families. As a result, we provide a broad and generous benefits package for employees at hire and in the years to come.

Our benefits include a competitive salary and benefits package which includes medical, dental, vision, vacation, holidays, life insurance, disability coverage, retirement savings, and a commuter benefits plan.

Chicago Public Media is an Equal Opportunity Employer and we actively seek and welcome people from all backgrounds, orientations, and life experiences to join our team.

The essential functions described above are not all-inclusive and are not intended to create any contractual or other legal commitment. Chicago Public Media may change the content or format of this job at any time in its sole and exclusive discretion without notice.

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Immigration Reporter