Business reporter

The Charlottesville Daily Progress, the award-winning news of record for Charlottesville and Central Virginia for 130 years, is seeking a regional business reporter to cover the businesses, nonprofit organizations and startup enterprises in Central Virginia.

The Charlottesville area is home to a population of more than 220,000 people, but the news generated here belies its size. Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Charlottesville is home to the state's flagship public college the University of Virginia, the Monticello UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Virginia wine country generating more than $6 billion in national economic impact every year, a burgeoning tech industry that includes small startups and established developers, an arts community that is home to the avant-garde and the award-winning, and so much more.

As a central hub, The Daily Progress is looking for someone willing to cover the business stories of not only Charlottesville itself but the surrounding area: future financiers coming out of the Darden School of Business, vintners and field laborers at vineyards across Albemarle County, real estate sales in Waynesboro, the tight housing market in downtown Charlottesville, the growing eco-tourism industry in Greene County and more.
The successful candidate must be a professional journalist with at least five years of daily newspaper experience and a bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Attend daily budget meetings with the newsroom in Charlottesville, pitching stories, taking assignments and sharing insights.
• Conduct interviews with sources across Central Virginia, in person, by phone and email.
• Cooperate with photojournalists, videographers, editors, producers and designers to bring stories to life.
• Write breaking news and long-form enterprise stories for print and online publication.
• Work with news teams across the region and commonwealth to identify and collaborate on news stories to reach the widest possible audience.
• Develop story ideas by attending industry events.
• Tell human stories. ​

Experience

• Daily breaking news reporting and writing.
• Collaborating in a physical newsroom setting.
• Track record of converting stories from pitch and assignment into copy in a timely manner.
• Past coverage of tech, biotech, agritourism, real estate and/or hospitality.
• Web production, SEO and social media work a plus.

EOE

Why Join Us?

Lee Enterprises offers competitive wages in a dynamic, interesting work environment with career growth opportunities. We offer an extensive benefit program that can be personalized to your needs. Our benefit program includes medical, dental, vision, short and long-term disability, company provided life insurance and supplemental life insurance. In addition, we offer a 401K retirement plan with company match. We also offer generous paid time off to allow the flexibility to balance personal life and work. This includes paid parental leave for new parents.

Lee Enterprises is a major subscription and advertising platform and a leading provider of local news and information, with daily newspapers, rapidly growing digital products and nearly 350 weekly and specialty publications serving 74 markets in 26 states. Year to date, Lee's newspapers have an average daily circulation of 1.0 million, and our legacy websites, including acquisitions, reach more than 34 million digital unique visitors.

Lee Enterprises is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to attracting and retaining a workforce whose diversity reflects the communities we serve. Lee embraces change, and we recognize that we must create and maintain a culture of fervent inclusion. For more information about Lee, check us out at www.lee.net.

We are focused on building a diverse and inclusive workforce. If you are excited about this role but do not meet 100% of the qualifications above, we encourage you to apply.