Job Description

Chron is seeking a food writer with sharp reporting skills and familiarity working for a digital-first newsroom. The ideal candidate will enjoy having a collaborative working relationship with the rest of the newsroom to ideate and execute stories for the Food & Drink vertical and, most importantly, knows how to find and tell a good story across platforms, including site, social, and video. The food reporter will chase and write stories that highlight Texas’ and the greater Houston area's diverse, vibrant food scene and dig up unique angles that haven't been explored yet. Knowledge of Texas and curiosity about food a big plus but not required. The reporter will have a collaborative working relationship with the food editor to ideate and execute stories.

 Primary responsibilities:

• Write features, daily news stories, and service-minded pieces and news about Houston's food and drink scene
• Pitch and develop stories and projects to editors
• Make photo requests from restaurants, bars and other food businesses
• Work with the food editor to follow an editorial calendar
• Occasionally attend events and media previews of restaurant openings

 Requirements:

• At least 2 years of professional journalism experience required
• Excellent news judgment and feature writing skills
• Excellent reporting, researching and interviewing skills
• Either experience or a strong interest in food and drink
• Strong copy-editing skills and knowledge of AP Style
• Familiarity with the needs of the Houston and Texas audience
• Familiarity with content management systems and metric tools

 Preferred skills:

• Knowledge of Houston restaurants, bars and other food and drink businesses
• Experience using Chartbeat, Google Analytics, Looker, or other analytics tools
• Experience working in a CMS and publishing to digital platforms

What are the measures of success for this position?

• Meeting deadlines and keeping pace with publishing schedule while improving quality of work overtime
• Overall traffic performance of original stories in aims of meeting daily and monthly goals
• Mentions, links, shares, and pickups of stories from prominent third-party publications
• Reader shares and other engagement with stories on social media platforms
• Overall increase of unique in-DMA visitors
• Overall increase of loyal in-DMA visitors

Chron is an essential digital-first local news source serving more than 6 million unique readers a month in Houston and the surrounding region, including Galveston and the Gulf Coast. Once the digital home for the Houston Chronicle, Chron became its own distinctive site and newsroom in 2012, when HoustonChronicle.com launched. Focusing on stories that capture local culture and spark conversation, Chron covers trending sports, food and entertainment, travel, local TV personalities, real estate, space and more. Chron.com has become the go-to destination for metro and regional readers who are curious about what's new in Houston and what's affecting culture and life in the Bayou City.

About Hearst Newspapers:

With 2,500 employees across the nation, HNP encompasses a network of 24 daily and 52 weekly publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union, several top digital-only news and lifestyle sites, marketing services businesses, and entertainment businesses such as King Features Syndicate. 

At HNP, we are investing in new and innovative ways to tell stories – growing newsrooms, diversifying tools, evolving platforms – to support the millions of people who trust us each month to help them make decisions, take action and be inspired.  

Be a part of something bigger – your headline awaits.

Recognizing the diverse needs of our candidates, if you are interested in applying for employment and need assistance or an accommodation to use our website or regarding the application process, please contact us by email at [email protected].  Please do not use this email address to inquire about the status of applications. We will only respond to inquiries concerning requests for a reasonable accommodation through this email address.

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