The Chicago Tribune is seeking a savvy, aggressive and numbers-friendly reporter to be our government finance watchdog, holding public officials accountable in their role as stewards of the taxpayers’ money. The state’s finances are a mess, the city’s finances are a mess, and the same goes for any number of suburban governments. It’s a vital part of our public service mission to generate original reporting that will expose where fiscal missteps occur and how these problems are affecting us all.
This reporter will need to go beyond the basics of budgets to analyze a range of complicated financial documents on, among other things, pensions and borrowing. You will need to quickly develop a level of expertise that allows you to speak the language of money in contentious interviews with finance officers and pension officials, then write stories that make the numbers accessible and relevant to our readers.
This is a true enterprise assignment, one that will require you to develop short, mid- and long-term ideas. It also is a job that necessarily leads to collaboration with other reporters covering government beats or working in our business department. You will be part of the investigations team, reporting to editors George Papajohn and Kaarin Tisue.
To apply for the position send these materials to fiscalreporter@tribpub.com.
+resume
+samples of work
+cover letter
+at least 3 to 5 story ideas or areas of interest (no limit on ideas or pages)
