Democracy Reporter

We are not currently accepting applications for this position.

ProPublica is hiring a reporter to investigate efforts to undermine the power of the ballot and American democracy itself. Such threats can come in many forms, including gerrymandering, limits on voting, and violence.

We’re looking for a reporter to help anchor our work producing revelatory journalism that equals the critical importance of the issue. We know that can be challenging. But you will not be working alone — ProPublicans often team up.

You also don’t necessarily need a prior track record of covering voting rights issues. We’re certainly interested to see any work you’ve done on the subject. However, we’ve had a lot of success with reporters diving into new issues at ProPublica, and we’re very much open to that with this position.

In evaluating applicants, we’re going to look most closely at two things: First, we want to see the journalism you’ve done, and whether it shows the potential for memorable, important work. Second, we want to hear your own ideas for investigating threats to democracy. In our experience, the best answers come not from the top but from reporters digging in. What specific stories do you think would be worth exploring? How would you approach making them into compelling pieces? You’ll see that’s a question in our application; please take your time with it, as it’s a critical part of our process.

We’re looking for reporters who:

  • Have produced original, revelatory accountability stories.
  • Ache to report stories that are both important and powerfully told.
  • Have experience with or ideas about all the possible ways of doing journalism, whether that’s deep data digging, working with readers, or marrying narrative and investigative forms.
  • Really like working with others; we are a highly collaborative newsroom, both across our team and with other news organizations.

We know there may be great candidates who won’t fit what we’ve described above or who have important skills we haven’t thought of. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself.

We are dedicated to improving our newsroom, in part by better reflecting the people we cover. (Here is a breakdown of our staff.) We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. And we are taking steps to meet that commitment. We especially encourage applications from members of traditionally underrepresented communities, including women, people of color, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities.

This job is full time and includes benefits. ProPublica is based in New York, but we’re open to remote candidates. Applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S.

If all of this sounds exciting to you, please apply using this form. The deadline for applications is April 19 at 9 a.m. EDT.

Questions? Send them to [email protected]. No phone calls, please.

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