The Lawrence Times is hiring for a full-time staff reporter to cover community news.

We are a small, independent, online-only publication covering local news in Lawrence and Douglas County, Kansas.

We launched almost five years ago. Our coverage is free to read, and we are supported by community members who choose to subscribe and local businesses that advertise with us. We have earned many awards and honors even in our fledgling years.

We currently have two full-time employees, but our team is robust with part-time team members and freelance contributors. We’re excited to welcome the next staff reporter who will help us further our community-focused coverage and serve our readers better than ever before.

Basic duties as staff reporter will include: 

• Reporting daily news articles on Lawrence and Douglas County subjects, ranging from concise, quick-turnaround articles to features, longer-term projects and investigative work.
• Connecting with community members and sources to cultivate strong beats and relationships.
• Finding and pitching hyperlocal stories that aren’t otherwise being covered and shedding light on issues that have slipped under the radar.
• Making a concerted effort to seek out and amplify the voices of people directly affected by the issues we’re covering.
• Covering a range of topics that could span anything from hard news — such as local government meetings, K-12 education, crime and courts, the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University — to features about interesting local people and groups, and stories on arts and culture.
• Moving quickly to pursue news zealously.
• Preparing content for publication on the website using WordPress.
• Coordinating with our photo editor to ensure all articles have art. This may include taking some photos (with a camera we’d provide).

Applicants we’ll want to interview will: 

• Genuinely enjoy doing this work and not crack under pressure, but thrive on the delightful chaos of a busy news day.
• Communicate well, and often, with members of the news team and sources.
• Have previous experience in a full-time journalism job.
• Understand urgency and always be on the lookout for news, reaching out to sources and ready to run a story down.
• Place great value on, and pay great attention to, accuracy in all aspects of this work.
• Understand and abide by journalistic ethics, treat people well and be generally delightful.
• Have an aptitude for technology and learn to use new programs (web platforms, apps, etc.) quickly.
• Have an understanding of how to interpret and chart numbers and data. (This position will not require coding, but if you know how to do it, great!)
• Have/gain a basic understanding of AP style and The Lawrence Times style guide.
• Be self-motivated and get work done without constant supervision.
• Loathe “the way things have always been done,” strive for better and think outside the box.
• Laugh at our jokes. (Just kidding. But see? We’re funny.) 

This position is partially remote, though reporters will often cover events and meetings in person as well as attend regular in-person team meetings in our Lawrence newsroom, where we will also work collaboratively together on some projects.

This is a full-time, salaried position. Candidates should generally expect to work 40 hours a week, with the understanding that although we put great emphasis on avoiding overworking, there is some fluctuation and unpredictability within the ebbs and flows of the news cycle. Full-time salary offerings will start at $41,000 annually, and although we do not currently have benefits such as health insurance or retirement accounts, we would be willing to negotiate a monthly stipend with the right candidate to seek out their own health coverage. 

This position will remain open until filled, though the sooner we receive your application, the better. We will review applications on a rolling basis and aim to begin reaching out to applicants starting Tuesday, Feb. 17. 

Those who are interested can learn more and apply at this link.

If you’re not sure you have the experience necessary to apply for this position but you are interested in working with us in some capacity, please see this page to learn more about other opportunities. 

Want to know more before you apply? You can find some helpful information about working with us on this page, find our bios at this link and read even more about who we are, what we do and where we came from on this page.

If you have questions, please contact Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder, and Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter/news editor, at editors@lawrencekstimes.com. 

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