Power & Culture Reporter

Job Description:

The Wall Street Journal is seeking a New York-based culture reporter on its Features & WSJ. Magazine team to deliver trenchant, well-observed coverage of society power players and their proclivities, reporting lively and prescient news-features and delectable trend stories and profiles that are one step ahead of the group chat. 

Today’s intersection of power, wealth, culture and style has created scenes for the ages, from $1 billion art-collection feuds to wedding cutlery that has its own security detail.  The triumphs and foibles of the rich and privileged—as expressed through social events, summer-colony feuds, strange micro-industries and high-profile squabbles—are the backdrop of this beat, an ideal blend of coverage opportunities for the right self-starting reporter.  What is it like to arrange for a derivative clone of your six-figure pedigreed dog?  Or fly him on BarkAir?  And can you add his cloned dogchildren to your will?!

The ideal candidate is a high-metabolism feature reporter with a sense of whimsy and a zeal for chasing distinctive, character-driven enterprise in the space where power and privilege meet, as well as the good sourcing and unique eye on the personalities and forces shaping society and culture in wealthy enclaves nationally.  They will resist Instagram insularity and know how to interpret ideas in a vivid, writerly manner for a general, national audience.

The Journal’s Features teams blend deep reporting, sharp wit and good taste to create compulsively readable quick-turn stories, timely analysis pieces and enterprise features on the subjects of lifestyle, entertainment, culture and ideas. Stories from this team offer a lively lens on the zeitgeist, drawing connections between events and trends in the culture to form original, big-picture theses about the present moment. Reporters on the team are also expected to pitch and write long-lead stories—think exclusive sit-down interviews and juicy narrative storytelling—for WSJ. Magazine.

You will:

• Report, write and fact-check an average of three stories each month about the cultural or social side of where power and privilege meet.

• Burst with highly shareable, witty, adrenalized story ideas with clearly understood news value and elegant, writerly execution.  

• Bring a deeply seasoned knowledge of key power players and a good roster of sources and contacts to help garner scoops, identify trends, develop features and work toward access-driven profiles and sitdowns.

• Easily modulate between tough, surprising, detail-driven enterprise stories as well as whimsical, amusing features that mine for joy and humor.  Embody the Features and WSJ. Magazine mission to simultaneously inform and entertain.

• Work collaboratively and egolessly with others—both with fellow senior feature storytellers, as well as with our enterprise and Wall Street, D.C. or Los Angeles teams.

• Uncover stories no one else is chasing and develop them into juicy features and engaging reads.  Amplify traditional profiles, trends or event stories with humanizing detail and great eye for shareable, well-crafted narrative that show potential as cover stories.

• Embrace audience data, learning or continuing to fuse metrics with great taste and imaginative ideas.

• Ensure the voice, tone and standards of The Wall Street Journal are consistently met;  that stories are accurate, fair, objective and of impeccable quality.  Scrupulously uphold newsroom policies and procedures around ethics and conduct.
   

You have:

• Unputdownable clips and exceptional writing and reporting skills.

• 5 to 9 years experience covering a relevant beat, including news, reported feature stories, and well-developed enterprise or longer-form feature storytelling.

• A proven history of finding unexpected takes on fast-moving news events, as well as an eye for cultural and zeitgeist-y stories that appeal to a general audience. 

• Great sources and a dogged, indefatigable sense of how to make stories happen.

• A sense of humor, including a demonstrated ability to find clever, intelligent ways into stories that are being widely covered. 

• A meticulous approach to getting facts and details exactly right, knowing how to avoid errors and bulletproof high-profile, consequential stories with a close attention to detail.

• A sharp sense of how to connect with digital audiences.

• Visual thinking and a vested interest in how your stories will look and present across platforms.

• A collaborative, team-player attitude, an upbeat outlook and an entrepreneurial spirit as we grow and evolve coverage needs.
   

You will report to the Bureau Chief of Culture within the Features team.  This is a full-time position based in our New York, NY office.

To apply, please submit a cover letter describing your experience and interest in this job, a detailed resume and five clips with a sentence or two as to what the stories show about your capabilities by February 26th. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and we encourage early submission as the position may be filled before the deadline.

Reasonable accommodation: Dow Jones, Making Careers Newsworthy - We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. EEO/Disabled/Vets. Dow Jones is committed to providing reasonable accommodation for qualified individuals with disabilities, in our job application and/or interview process. If you need assistance or accommodation in completing your application, due to a disability, email us at [email protected]. Please put "Reasonable Accommodation" in the subject line and provide a brief description of the type of assistance you need. This inbox will not be monitored for application status updates.

Business Area:

Dow Jones - News - WSJ

Job Category:

Editorial/Journalism

Union Status:

Union role

Pay Range: 120,000 - 150,000

We recognize that attracting the best talent is key to our strategy and success as a company. As a result, we aim for flexibility in structuring competitive compensation offers to ensure we are able to attract the best candidates. The quoted salary range represents our good faith estimate as to what our ideal candidates are likely to expect, and we tailor our offers within the range based on the selected candidate's experience, industry knowledge, location, technical and communication skills, and other factors that may prove relevant during the interview process.

Pay-for-performance is a key element in our strategy to attract, engage, and motivate talented people to do their best work. Similarly to salary, for bonus eligible roles, targets are set based on a variety of factors including competitive market practice.

For benefits eligible roles, in addition to cash compensation, the company provides a comprehensive and highly competitive benefits package, with a variety of physical health, retirement and savings, caregiving, emotional wellbeing, transportation, and other benefits, including "elective" benefits employees may select to best fit the needs and personal situations of our diverse workforce..