Career Opportunities

McClatchy is a digitally driven company focused on innovation, with newsrooms in 30 communities in the United States. Their journalism focuses on our local communities, and in that role we have the ability to spotlight problems, highlight solutions and truly make a difference — all the reasons you got into journalism. McClatchy and MVJ are seeking five fellows for the new McClatchy Veterans in Journalism Fellowship Program. Please note: you must be logged in on Google to apply.

Here are some key features of the program:

• This opportunity is available to military veterans who are interested in pursuing a career in one of McClatchy’s local newsrooms – as a written journalist, multimedia reporter, photojournalist, digital designer, or human resources personnel.
• Fellowship recipients will participate in a six-month full-time fellowship.
• Fellows are eligible to join McClatchy’s benefits plan after two months of time in-fellowship. Fellows will remain eligible for the remainder of their fellowship.
• Recipients must agree to be available for the fellowship’s six months as well as commit to working for McClatchy for one full year upon completion if selected to continue employment. Every effort will be made to provide the fellowship and job in the applicant’s area of interest.

McClatchy Veterans in Journalism Fellows can expect to:

• Be assigned to a mentor from MVJ during the fellowship period.
• Receive coaching and mentoring both from newsroom teams and from MVJ.
• Work with seasoned staffers and work directly with local leaders.
• Work on projects that help solve recurring problems and improve McClatchy’s business.
• Develop and refine professional skills for success in the journalism field.

Successful candidates should meet many, though not necessarily all, of the following requirements:

• College degree or equivalent work experience
• 1-3 years of reporting experience or equivalent
• Must have reliable transportation. Must have valid driver’s license and vehicle insurance required.
• Strong writing skills, excellent news judgment and a demonstrated ability to “see the story” that is going to matter to readers.
• Unwavering commitment to accurate, ethical journalism.
• Ability to build source networks and bring a constant flow of story ideas.
• Ability to work collaboratively to aggressively tackle stories.
• Comfort with a job that will be demanding, fast-paced and constantly evolving.

What we’ll bring: As a journalist at McClatchy, you will join a supportive, flexible, collaborative team. McClatchy strives to be an employer of choice, and our benefits package is made with this goal in mind. With a focus on health, well-being, wealth and daily life, McClatchy’s package options include healthcare coverage for employees and their families, financial protection from expected and unexpected expenses, multiple no-cost wellness resources and even coverage for four-legged friends.

McClatchy’s overall benefit package also includes a 401(k) with employer match, competitive paid time off and corporate holidays, and a variety of mental health benefits. With an excellent support team and with focus on your well-being as a top corporate strategy, McClatchy provides benefits to support you and your family in achieving your health and wellness goals. For more information on McClatchy’s benefit plan, please visit McClatchyLivewell.com.

Earlier this year, Military Veterans in Journalism launched our new, non-partisan effort to combat the spread of disinformation and extremism in veteran and military communities. Now, we are seeking applicants for two new positions to help us manage the digital components of this effort.

As part of our new “Fighting Disinformation in Military & Veteran Communities” program, MVJ will hire two new team members for digital marketing and strategy efforts related to the project. These positions will be responsible for online sharing and engagement around the articles produced by our reporting team.

Check out the listings and apply below. Please note: you will need to be logged in on Google to submit an application.

The Marketing Manager for the MVJ Counter-Disinformation Program is responsible for uploading content from the Counter-Disinformation reporting team outside of the MVJ community. Responsibilities include promoting the reporting team’s reporting and relevant information online in online forums to engage with military and veteran community members in various online forums. This person applies critical judgment when distributing information online.

Working on a contract basis, this person will be supervised by the Executive Director and work with the Counter-Disinformation team. This person will also work alongside a strategy consultant to find groups to post reporting in and engage with group members.

Main Duties:

• Posts promotional content across social media platforms for new stories and information from the reporting team as appropriate
• Ensures relevant content prepared by the Community Engagement Manager is shared in a timely manner
• Engages veterans and service members outside of the MVJ community via social media; engages with MVJ members to assist as appropriate
• Monitors social media engagement and discusses strategy with the Partnerships Director, Community Engagement Manager and Executive Director

Requirements:

• Knowledge of basic social media posting etiquette on all platforms, including (but not limited to) Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter
• Dedication to non-partisanship in online posting
• Demonstration of a calm and cool demeanor in social media engagement; good decision-making skills
• Efficient and effective communication skills
• Broad and deep understanding of social media/SEO strategies related to fact-checking content on social networking sites
• Highly organized, with excellent copywriting and verbal communication skills
• Team player with good attitude and commitment
• Knowledge of military and veteran community online content consumption habits.

Time Required: 10-20 hours a week

The Social Media Strategy Consultant is responsible for crafting the initial strategy for MVJ’s Community Engagement Manager and this project’s Marketing Manager to follow when spreading project-related reporting. This person will search for and identify online communities of veterans and service members that should be targeted by the Marketing Manager. Responsibilities include conducting thorough research and analysis of online communities and groups and providing general linguistic and design guidance to the Community Engagement Manager and Marketing Manager. This person applies critical judgment when finding these communities and advising on interaction best practices.

Working on a contract basis, this person will be supervised by the Executive Director and work with the Counter-Disinformation team.

Main Duties:

• Advise the design of social media strategies to achieve project marketing targets
• Conduct research and analysis of online communities for the Marketing Manager to engage and post in
• Advise on visual content design practices to employ for the Community Engagement Manager to ensure content is informative and appealing to the target audiences
• Facilitate communications by conducting initial posts in various groups to gauge response
• Communicate with fellow professionals via social media to create a strong network to build relationships within these communities
• Inform MVJ teammates of ongoing adjustments to strategy to integrate and maintain a cohesive social media presence

Requirements:

• 2-3+ years of experience as a social media strategist or social media manager
• Hands-on knowledge of using social media for advocacy and spreading awareness
• An ability to identify target audience preferences and build content to meet them
• Excellent multitasking skills
• Strong written and verbal communication skills

Time required: 10-20 hours per week

Military Veterans in Journalism is pleased to announce the return of the MVJ-Washington Post internship collaboration. As part of the Washington Post’s 2023 Summer Internship program, MVJ and The Post will select one military veteran to participate as an intern.

Washington Post interns have gone on to win Pulitzer Prizes and become top leaders in the newsroom. Working alongside top professionals in the field, interns do meaningful work across a variety of departments at The Washington Post. The Washington Post selects interns to fill various roles for reporters, visual journalists, multiplatform editors, multiplatform producers, news and digital designers, graphics reporters and developers, audience producers, and audio producers. This will be an important early career step for veterans working to advance within the media field.

While participating in this program, interns will work 37.5 hours per week for 10 weeks, starting June 5, 2023, and ending August 11, 2023. The Washington Post is committed to a safe work environment and currently maintains a mask-friendly environment and requires proof of vaccination (booster included) and weekly COVID-19 testing.

As with the last round of this program in 2020/2021, it is preferred that applicants have had at least one professional news media job or internship. Applicants will also be asked to submit three samples of their work and a personal essay with their supplemental materials.

Applicants for this program may apply online with Military Veterans in Journalism. The deadline to apply is September 1, 2022 at 11:59 PM Eastern.

Thanks to generous support from the Ford Foundation, Military Veterans in Journalism has launched a disability inclusion initiative to create conversations and reporting within American newsrooms about military veteran issues, with a focus on disabled veterans. 

As part of this effort, MVJ is launching a speakers bureau of military veterans in journalism to advocate for better, more nuanced reporting on disabled military veterans and to share best practices with newsrooms across the nation. 

MVJ is seeking applicants for its 2022 Speakers Bureau. MVJ will provide training to eight military veterans on best practices in disability reporting. Afterwards, the veterans will lead their own training and presentations at local newsrooms in the veterans’ communities.

Over the course of 12 months, each veteran will:

• Attend about 8 hours of training (held virtually) by subject matter experts in Disabled American Veterans and the Disability Media Alliance Project as well as a reporter specializing in disability reporting.
  
• Attend about 3 hours of group presentation preparation (held virtually) 
• Attend about 3 hours of individual presentation mentorship (held virtually) 
• Conduct about 90 minutes of presentation at 2 local news outlets

Each selected veteran will receive a $3,000 stipend to participate in the pilot program.

Ideally, the selected veterans will:

• Be based in military or veteran-heavy areas, creating incentives for local news outlets to provide more nuanced reporting on this reporting issue
• Have experience conducting news reporting on military / veteran affairs or issues in the disability community
• Have at least 1 year of professional news reporting experience 
• Have personal experience with their own disabilities, including receiving care at the VA

‘’This program is a great opportunity for military veterans in journalism to help shape better news reporting on disabilities within their community,” said Zack Baddorf, MVJ’s Executive Director. “We hope these conversations elevate this issue within newsrooms while also leading to more nuanced reporting.”