Job Description
Title: Graphics Reporter (Contract/Remote)
Location: Remote
OVERVIEW
A thriving, mission-driven multimedia organization, NPR produces award-winning news, information, and music programming in partnership with hundreds of independent public radio stations across the nation. The NPR audience values information, creativity, curiosity, and social responsibility and our employees do too. We are innovators and leaders in diverse fields, from journalism and digital media to IT and development. Every day, our employees and member stations touch the lives of millions worldwide.
Across our organization, we’re building a workplace where collaboration is essential, diverse voices are heard, and inclusion is the key to our success. We are committed to doing the right thing in our journalism and in every role at NPR. This means that integrity, adherence to our ethical standards, and compliance with legal obligations are fundamental responsibilities for every employee at NPR.
NPR’s News Apps/Graphics team is looking for a civic-minded graphics reporter to join our team for a 5-month contract (mid-April through mid-September), working on information graphics, data visualizations and special story presentations. This job is remote, working from anywhere in the United States.
Members of our team wear many hats designer, reporter, data wrangler, developer, cartographer, etc. We work closely with various journalists and storytelling units around the NPR organization, including photographers and video journalists, beat reporters and show producers, copy editors, digital editors and engagement editors. And we have a mission: to help our broad national audience better understand the world around them.
This is a union represented role covered under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement with SAG-AFTRA.
What we are looking for:
- Strong news judgment and a sense for what makes a good visual story that serves the audience
- Strong communication skills to coordinate with colleagues across the newsroom, understand quickly-changing news situations and explain complex information to diverse audiences
- A team player willing to collaborate in an open environment, working with people across the newsroom with a variety of skill sets and areas of expertise
- Demonstrated initiative and self-starting skills; ability to work independently
- Sincere curiosity, attention to detail and enthusiasm for making things
- A passion for internet-native storytelling
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Help our audience understand issues in the news through visual storytelling methods, which may include information graphics, data visualization, interactivity and illustration
- Work closely with individual story producers, editors and other teammates to identify opportunities for visual storytelling and data visualization
- Assess what work realistically can be executed in the time available and meet agreed-upon deadlines
- Uphold and extend existing design standards for NPR graphics and editorial projects
- Document your work for teammates, newsroom colleagues and/or external audiences, as relevant
- Coach other team members, articulating story, design and code suggestions in a helpful and supportive way
The above duties and responsibilities are not an exhaustive list of required responsibilities, duties and skills. Other duties may be assigned, and this job description can be modified at any time.
QUALIFICATIONS
- At least one year of experience in news design (or a similar field)
EDUCATION REQUIREMENT
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience
WORK LOCATION
Remote Required: This is a remote required role. This role includes duties that are better performed or are required to be performed in a designated location OUTSIDE of an NPR facility. The employee is required to work at a designated remote work location.
SKILLS
- Solid news judgment and the ability to think in terms of the information needs of the audience.
- Fluency in JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS3, including responsive web design techniques.
- Proven success implementing complex designs in HTML/CSS.
- Experience with Adobe Creative Suite, or other design/visual prototyping software.
PREFERRED SKILLS
- Demonstrated experience applying user-centered design thinking to editorial work.
- Experience with GIS/mapping software such as ArcMap or QGIS.
- Familiarity with data analysis techniques, especially in command-line or scriptable environments like Jupyter Notebook.
- Experience working with the Git version control system.
JOB TYPE
This is a temporary (5-month) full time position.
COMPENSATION
Hourly Rate: The U.S. based anticipated hourly rate for this opportunity is $40.86 – $45.67 per hour. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum hourly rate NPR expects to provide for new hires for the position across all US locations.