Northside Reporter, The Oklahoma Eagle

Reports to:

The Oklahoma Eagle Editor

Supervises:

Position Status:

The Oklahoma Eagle, a community-driven, award-winning news organization in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is seeking a reporter to cover North Tulsa, one of the city’s rapidly changing communities. Traditionally the home base of many Black Tulsans, the district is undergoing gentrification and business growth.

The reporter will report and write about community affairs, including housing, social justice, faith-based institutions, public safety, health, cultural events, and racial issues. The reporter will be intentional in incorporating underrepresented voices.

While the beat will focus on North Tulsa, the reporter will be expected to occasionally cover the Black enclaves in greater Tulsa and events in other local ethnic communities, including Latino and Indigenous communities.

The reporter will write a range of articles, including hard news, features, and in-depth articles. They will also, on occasion, produce multimedia articles and contribute to audio, video, and podcast productions, and collaborate with other reporters on specific topics, series or longer features.

About the organization:

The Oklahoma Eagle, one of the oldest Black-owned newspapers in the U.S., primarily serves the readers in the Black community of Tulsa. However, its base of readers reaches beyond the city, across the state of Oklahoma, and nationwide.

The Eagle is a newsroom at the forefront of the revolution centered on finding novel ways to report and present local news. As a first-read newspaper for many of Tulsa’s Black community members, The Eagle is a place for talented journalists to engage in the mission-driven work that impacts the lives of Black people and other underserved readers in Tulsa.

The Tulsa Local News Initiative is a yet-to-be named startup nonprofit organization that has raised nearly $14 million so far in service of a vision to give everyone in Tulsa the local news they need. The newsroom will produce high-quality accountability journalism while working directly with residents to produce and distribute community reporting, employing an innovative model for local journalism that is directly responsive to local information needs. In addition to a team of editors and beat reporters, the Tulsa newsroom will have best-in-class community engagement expertise, multimedia production, dedicated capacity for service journalism and research, and Tulsa Documenters.

At TLNI, we value learning, curiosity and diverse perspectives. We are dedicated to equitable hiring and follow best practices to create an inclusive hiring process.

Essential Functions:
  • Produce daily news stories on assigned beat or general assignment topics
  • Develop and execute longer-term enterprise and investigative projects
  • Cultivate a diverse network of sources
  • Engage directly with community members to identify and report on issues that matter most to them
  • Collaborate with the community engagement team to incorporate resident input into reporting
  • Utilize multimedia storytelling techniques, including photography, video, and data visualization
  • Participate in community events and forums as a representative of the newsroom
  • Contribute to the newsroom's newsletter products, social media presence, and engagement efforts
  • Work closely with editors to refine story ideas and improve reporting techniques
  • Adhere to deadlines for both daily stories and long-term projects
  • Stay informed about local issues, events, and power structures in Tulsa
Consider applying if you have some of these skill sets:
  • Journalism experience, with a track record of both daily reporting and in-depth projects
  • Strong writing and reporting skills across news and feature styles
  • Experience with community-centered journalism and engagement practices
  • Ability to manage multiple stories and projects simultaneously
  • Proficiency in multimedia storytelling techniques
  • Strong news judgment and understanding of journalistic ethics
  • Experience using public records and data in reporting
  • Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work collaboratively in a startup environment
  • Comfort with digital tools for newsgathering, production, and audience engagement
  • Ability to work flexible hours, including some evenings and weekends as news demands
  • Multilingual skills valued, particularly Spanish
  • Knowledge of Tulsa communities and local issues preferred
Compensation and Benefits

Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. The salary range for this role is $50,000-85,000 with a generous benefits package.

As a new organization, we endeavor to create a just and equitable compensation system. Salary ranges represent the full range of salaries and will be offered commensurate with experience. Entry-level and early-career reporters with fewer than five years of experience will fall within the $50,000 to $60,000 range, while reporters with decades of experience can expect to fall within the $70,000 to $85,000 range.

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