Music Reporter

Job Description:

The Wall Street Journal is seeking a reporter on its Style News & WSJ. Magazine team to break news, report trend and analysis stories, and write memorable and shareable features with a focus on music and the business of music that appeal to a general audience.

Music stardom has never been bigger. The ideal candidate is a high-metabolism reporter with both a zeal for chasing distinctive angles on the biggest music stories of the day and an eye for the big personalities and cultural forces shaping and reshaping the music world. 

Style News blends deep reporting, sharp wit and good taste to create compulsively readable quick-turn stories, timely analysis and enterprise features on the subjects of style, entertainment and culture. Stories from this desk 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 four stories each month about music.

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

• Embody the Style News and WSJ. Magazine mission to simultaneously inform and entertain. 

• Uncover stories no one else is chasing and develop them into juicy features and engaging reads.

• Develop or bring close relationships with music industry figures and sources to garner scoops, identify trends, and develop features and enterprise.

• Amplify traditional profiles of artists, fan trends or industry players with humanizing detail and great eye for shareable, well-crafted narrative that show potential for long-form magazine inclusion as features or 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.
   

You have:

• Unputdownable clips and exceptional writing and reporting skills.

• 4 to 6 years experience covering a relevant beat, including scoops and reported feature stories.

• A proven history of finding unexpected takes on fast-moving news events.

• An eye for music stories that appeal to a general audience. 

• A sense of humor, including a proven history of finding clever, intelligent ways into stories that are being widely covered. 

• A demonstrated meticulous attention to getting facts and details exactly right.

• 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 Deputy or News Editor of Style News.  This position is based in either our New York or Los Angeles 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. 

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/AA/M/F/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: $100,000 - $130,000

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..