JOBS
Currently hiring:
General Assignment Reporter, Managing Editor, Outdoors Columnist and summer interns (news, sports, visual journalism and public relations). Read details below.Cascadia Daily News is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances.
General Assignment Reporter
Want to help us recreate local news in a fully funded, privately owned newsroom operating in a rare thriving, competitive news market?
Cascadia Daily News, a startup digital daily/print weekly news publication in Bellingham, Washington, needs an enterprising journalist to serve as a general assignment reporter in a desirable, growing Pacific Northwest community. We’re a young, growing publication with the largest newsroom in Northwest Washington state.
CDN is 100% chain, hedge fund and advisory board free; our news decisions are made in our newsroom.
Our ideal candidate will be a classic, nimble G.A. reporter, able to jump on breaking news and produce smart, contextual, enterprise journalism in a digital-focused newsroom. It’s not an entry-level gig; we need a reporter with the news judgment tools and reporting skills to anticipate and produce local takes on subjects with regional and national interest. On our team-oriented staff, this reporter must be able to work independently, with the drive and skills to produce cleanly written daily stories derived from original reporting.
Cascadia Daily News, a startup digital daily/print weekly news publication in Bellingham, Washington, needs an enterprising journalist to serve as a general assignment reporter in a desirable, growing Pacific Northwest community. We’re a young, growing publication with the largest newsroom in Northwest Washington state.
CDN is 100% chain, hedge fund and advisory board free; our news decisions are made in our newsroom.
Our ideal candidate will be a classic, nimble G.A. reporter, able to jump on breaking news and produce smart, contextual, enterprise journalism in a digital-focused newsroom. It’s not an entry-level gig; we need a reporter with the news judgment tools and reporting skills to anticipate and produce local takes on subjects with regional and national interest. On our team-oriented staff, this reporter must be able to work independently, with the drive and skills to produce cleanly written daily stories derived from original reporting.
What you will do:
- Report and write quick-turn explainers on breaking news, trending topics, interesting events and activities across Northwest Washington state, for publication on cascadiadaily.com or in our weekly print edition.
- Maintain an active presence on social media to promote and distribute your work, and occasionally report live events.
- Brainstorm story ideas and work with editors to repurpose some content and enhance our existing daily digital/social storytelling.
- This job will begin with a roughly 70-30 split between G.A. duties and online news production/deadline story editing for a short term before transitioning to full-time G.A. pending our hiring of a new managing editor.
What it will take to be successful:
- Comfort with producing high-quality work on deadline.
- Strong news judgment, creativity and meticulousness.
- Ability to report stories and write quickly while keeping the strictest commitment to fairness, accuracy and clarity.
- A focus on inclusion of a diversity of sources and voices in stories.
- Ability to maintain contact via Slack and other tools for breaking news assignments when working from home or on location; some flexible scheduling is required.
- Ability to mine social media and analyze digital data for story ideas.
- Ability to collaborate with all newsroom teams and work in a fast-changing news environment.
Required skills:
- Bachelor’s degree in journalism or related field.
- At least two years’ experience in a newsroom or a related work environment.
- Home base in Whatcom County, Washington. This position is full time in our newsroom in a historic building in downtown Bellingham.
- Some experience in front-line editing and online posting of stories, during initial stages of job; occasional fill-in producer shifts moving forward.
- Strong news judgment and the ability to distinguish process from news of community impact.
- Social media acumen including the ability to use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other networks to deliver news to a diverse audience.
- Familiarity with current AP Style rules and libel laws, and adherence to the publication’s ethics guidelines.
- Valid driver’s license and means of personal transportation.
Preferred skills and qualifications:
- Basic photography/videography skills and ability to post digital audio and images.
- Ability to work cooperatively in a team-oriented, multigenerational newsroom.
- Familiarity with MS Office (Excel, SharePoint), Adobe Suite, Slack and other typical office comms tools.
- Cohabitating senses of adventure and humor. We are serious about our hard work, but have fun doing it.
What we offer:
- Pay ranging from $50K to $60K DOE.
- Competitive benefits including full health, vision and dental insurance, holiday and sick leave pay and generous 401(k) plan.
- Employment by a privately owned publication that operates with strict ethical standards; is transparent and consumer-oriented in its approach to news; and is outwardly and unabashedly pro-democracy.
- Competitive news environment: We’re one of the few independent publications in the country going head-to-head, successfully, with a hedge-fund newspaper chain.
- A local news organization committed to incorporating the perspectives of colleagues and community members from varied experiences and backgrounds. We are committed to diversity in coverage and hiring.
- A team-oriented, enterprising work environment in a growing, thriving university town located on the Salish Sea between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, within easy reach of Mount Baker and North Cascades National Park. Our hometown is known for its stunning natural setting; a strong university vibe; a regional mountain biking obsession and a thriving urban microbrewery culture.
To Apply:
Send a letter of application, resume and work samples to Ron Judd, executive editor, ronjudd@cascadiadaily.com.
Managing Editor
Want to help us recreate local news in a fully funded, privately owned newsroom operating in a rare thriving, competitive news market?
Cascadia Daily News, a growing news organization in Bellingham, Washington, one of the country’s great places to live, is on the hunt for a Managing Editor to serve as a key cog in an innovative startup news operation. We’re a digital daily/print weekly publication with the largest newsroom in Northwest Washington state.
CDN’s team of a dozen full-time journalists, several interns and crew of contributors works in a growing city of 90,000-plus and one of the northernmost cities in the contiguous United States.
We compete against a hedge fund daily in the vibrant news region between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia. CDN strives for an approach that is the opposite of familiar corporate-cookie-cutter content, producing primarily local journalism based on original reporting. We are 100% chain, hedge fund and advisory board free; our news decisions are made in our newsroom.
We’re looking for an M.E. who’s a smart, enthusiastic team player/manager with at least five years daily experience managing journalists — someone perhaps seeking a step up, step down or fresh start in a newsroom creating high-impact local journalism with a distinct absence of internal bureaucracy.
CDN’s managing editor, collaborating with a hands-on executive editor and staff, will be the newsroom quarterback with traditional metro desk-style supervisory duties at a startup-focused publication where or work creates direct community impact.
As a team with a mix of young and experienced journalists, we work hard, have fun, and relish the opportunity to continually refine a publication we launched from scratch in January 2022. If you feel like you’d fit into this unique environment, give us a shout. We hope to fill this job quickly.
Interested? Send a resume, cover letter and access to work samples to Executive Editor Ron Judd, ronjudd@cascadiadaily.com.
Cascadia Daily News, a growing news organization in Bellingham, Washington, one of the country’s great places to live, is on the hunt for a Managing Editor to serve as a key cog in an innovative startup news operation. We’re a digital daily/print weekly publication with the largest newsroom in Northwest Washington state.
CDN’s team of a dozen full-time journalists, several interns and crew of contributors works in a growing city of 90,000-plus and one of the northernmost cities in the contiguous United States.
We compete against a hedge fund daily in the vibrant news region between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia. CDN strives for an approach that is the opposite of familiar corporate-cookie-cutter content, producing primarily local journalism based on original reporting. We are 100% chain, hedge fund and advisory board free; our news decisions are made in our newsroom.
We’re looking for an M.E. who’s a smart, enthusiastic team player/manager with at least five years daily experience managing journalists — someone perhaps seeking a step up, step down or fresh start in a newsroom creating high-impact local journalism with a distinct absence of internal bureaucracy.
CDN’s managing editor, collaborating with a hands-on executive editor and staff, will be the newsroom quarterback with traditional metro desk-style supervisory duties at a startup-focused publication where or work creates direct community impact.
As a team with a mix of young and experienced journalists, we work hard, have fun, and relish the opportunity to continually refine a publication we launched from scratch in January 2022. If you feel like you’d fit into this unique environment, give us a shout. We hope to fill this job quickly.
What you’ll do:
- Work in a collaborative, independent, forward-thinking newsroom: This position is full time in a historic building in downtown Bellingham, Washington. Remote work is not an option.
- Generally work full time Monday through Friday, but be on call to manage breaking news and supervise staff.
- Oversee newsroom scheduling, deadline editing, story budgeting, meetings, story and project planning.
- Collaborate with Executive Editor on broader coverage goals and staffing strategies.
- Supervise and back up Assistant Editor and Digital Editor, who handle news and photo assignments, print and web design, social media and daily digital newsletters.
- Work with colleagues to ensure sourcing routinely brings nontraditional voices from diverse communities into our coverage.
- Help craft and supervise daily and enterprise coverage that includes local government, schools and businesses; higher education; a port district that serves boating, maritime and fisheries industries; a busy international border; a thriving agricultural community; and three tribal nations, all in the spectacular, environmentally delicate Salish Sea region that includes Puget Sound and the Cascade Mountains. We also enthusiastically cover the local arts and entertainment world and prep, college and recreational sports.
What it will take to be successful:
- Strong, experience-based news judgment and keen sense of public optics.
- Adept people skills to manage a newsroom with a broad range of experiences, ages and approaches.
- Comfort with juggling multiple tasks and projects; firm attention to detail.
- Creative approaches to coverage and story assignments, favoring impact, enterprise and a consumer approach over old-school “beat” worthiness.
- Ability to edit stories quickly and thoroughly with an eye for clarity, fairness and accuracy.
- Instinctual grasp of AP style, and ability to quickly learn our own deviations from it.
- Ability to maintain contact via Slack and other tools when working from home or on location; some flexible scheduling is required.
Required skills and qualifications:
- Five years’ experience in daily newsroom management.
- Prior reporting/writing experience at a daily news publication.
- Impeccable copy-editing and AP Style skills.
- Demonstrated ability to manage, assign, edit and collaborate across the newsroom to cover both breaking news and enterprise projects.
- Ability to pitch in and report and write breaking news when warranted.
- Social media posting competency, both for breaking news and scheduled news blasts via email and other platforms.
- Bachelor’s degree in journalism or related field.
- Working knowledge of common news-industry content management systems. Familiarity with MS Office (Excel, SharePoint), Adobe Suite, Slack and other typical office comms tools.
- Experience with multiplatform newsgathering tools and resources.
- Ability to turn raw analytical readership data into intelligent focus of newsroom resources. (SEO knowledge a plus, but clickbait artistes need not apply; we are a subscription-focused revenue model.)
- Familiarity with the publication’s ethics policy and state and national open-records and open meetings laws.
- Ability to work cooperatively in a team-oriented, multigenerational newsroom.
- Cohabitating senses of adventure and humor. We are serious about our hard work, but have fun doing it.
Beneficial skills and qualifications:
- Design/layout experience for web, digital apps, print newspapers.
- Sprout Social experience is a plus.
- Digital editing (video, audio, basic html) skills.
- Current familiarity with federal and Washington state open records and meetings laws.
- A desire – a full step up from willingness – to mentor young journalists.
What we offer:
- Annual salary of $75K-$85K, depending on experience.
- Competitive benefits including medical, dental, vision, paid time off and a generous 401k savings plan.
- Employment by a privately owned publication that operates with strict ethical standards; is transparent and consumer-oriented in its approach to news; and is outwardly and unabashedly pro-democracy.
- A local news organization committed to incorporating the perspectives of colleagues and community members from varied experiences and backgrounds. We are committed to diversity in coverage and hiring.
- Competitive news environment: We’re one of the few independent startups in the country going successfully head-to-head with a hedge-fund newspaper chain (at the moment, McClatchy).
- A team-oriented, enterprising work environment in a growing, thriving university town. We’re within easy reach of Mount Baker and North Cascades National Park, with a regional mountain biking obsession and a thriving urban microbrewery culture.
Timeline:
We hope to fill this job quickly but will wait for the ideal candidate who fits into an existing, successful newsroom workflow. Start date is negotiable.
Interested? Send a resume, cover letter and access to work samples to Executive Editor Ron Judd, ronjudd@cascadiadaily.com.
Outdoors columnist
Does your love for the outdoors burn alongside a passion for writing? Cascadia Daily News is on the lookout for an additional contributor to write about the outdoors once a month in our print and online editions. We're open to a broad range of activities, but particular needs are for mountain biking/kayaking columns and profiles. Basic photo skills are a bonus. You won't get rich, but maybe semi-famous, and it's a paid gig. Interested? Contact Ron Judd, executive editor at ronjudd@cascadiadaily.com.
News interns (summer quarter)
Paid quarterly news interns get a rare chance to help build a news org from the ground up, filling a news vacuum in Whatcom County by covering a broad range of news on deadline.
CDN's paid quarterly visual journalism intern gets a rare chance to work in a vibrant Bellingham, Washington newsroom and help build a news org from the ground up, filling a news vacuum in Whatcom County by producing imagery for a broad range of news coverage, on deadline.
Internships are open to undergraduates and recent graduates. Candidates must be able to independently produce publication-ready, professional quality images with fact-checked captions, and occasionally create and produce video, for publication on cascadiadaily.com and in CDN's weekly print editions.
Candidates should be self-starters who can respond quickly to assignments with little supervision, but also be willing to accept critiques and discuss strategies for improvement with the publication's editors and award-winning staff photographers. Proficiency with expected digital editing tools and common communications platforms is a must. Ownership of your own gear kit is highly beneficial. Experience producing news graphics and other visual elements is a plus.
In return for your successful internship with flexible scheduling of roughly 20 hours per week for 10-12 weeks (weekend/holiday scheduling likely), we pay a stipend of $2,000.
For visual journalism internships, apply with a one-page letter of interest, one-page resume and work samples to Ron Judd, executive editor, at interns@cascadiadaily.com. Applications due May 15.
Internships are open to undergraduates and recent graduates. Candidates must be able to independently produce clean, clear deadline stories consistent with professional standards and AP Style. Strong curiosity and writing/reporting skills are required. Self-starting ability is a must. The ideal candidate will be able to take their own photos and video if needed.
In return for your successful internship with flexible scheduling of roughly 20 hours per week for 10-12 weeks (weekend/holiday scheduling likely), we pay a stipend of $2,000.
For news internships, apply with a one-page letter of interest, one-page resume and work samples to Ron Judd, executive editor, at interns@cascadiadaily.com. Applications due May 15.
CDN's paid quarterly sports intern will assist with live game coverage, compiling stats, writing profiles and other duties as assigned. The ideal candidate will be able to take their own photos and video if needed.
While the sports internship is a great opportunity any time of year, you’ll get the most out of the internship during the academic year when the most live game coverage and high-profile events take place.
Required skills:
Internships are open to undergraduates and recent graduates. In return for your successful internship with flexible scheduling of roughly 20 hours per week for 10-12 weeks (weekend/holiday scheduling likely), we pay a stipend of $2,000.
For sports internships, apply with a one-page letter of interest, one-page resume and work samples to Ron Judd, executive editor, at interns@cascadiadaily.com. Applications due May 15.
In return for your successful internship with flexible scheduling of roughly 20 hours per week for 10-12 weeks (weekend/holiday scheduling likely), we pay a stipend of $2,000.
For news internships, apply with a one-page letter of interest, one-page resume and work samples to Ron Judd, executive editor, at interns@cascadiadaily.com. Applications due May 15.
Sports intern (summer quarter)
CDN's paid quarterly sports intern will assist with live game coverage, compiling stats, writing profiles and other duties as assigned. The ideal candidate will be able to take their own photos and video if needed.
While the sports internship is a great opportunity any time of year, you’ll get the most out of the internship during the academic year when the most live game coverage and high-profile events take place.
Required skills:
- Applicants must have strong sports knowledge, as well as reporting, writing, and multimedia skills.
- Applicants must have a personal vehicle.
- Applicants must be willing to work nights and weekends.
- Applicants must be able to independently produce clean, clear deadline stories consistent with professional standards and AP Style.
Internships are open to undergraduates and recent graduates. In return for your successful internship with flexible scheduling of roughly 20 hours per week for 10-12 weeks (weekend/holiday scheduling likely), we pay a stipend of $2,000.
For sports internships, apply with a one-page letter of interest, one-page resume and work samples to Ron Judd, executive editor, at interns@cascadiadaily.com. Applications due May 15.
Visual journalism intern (summer quarter)
CDN's paid quarterly visual journalism intern gets a rare chance to work in a vibrant Bellingham, Washington newsroom and help build a news org from the ground up, filling a news vacuum in Whatcom County by producing imagery for a broad range of news coverage, on deadline.
Internships are open to undergraduates and recent graduates. Candidates must be able to independently produce publication-ready, professional quality images with fact-checked captions, and occasionally create and produce video, for publication on cascadiadaily.com and in CDN's weekly print editions.
Candidates should be self-starters who can respond quickly to assignments with little supervision, but also be willing to accept critiques and discuss strategies for improvement with the publication's editors and award-winning staff photographers. Proficiency with expected digital editing tools and common communications platforms is a must. Ownership of your own gear kit is highly beneficial. Experience producing news graphics and other visual elements is a plus.
In return for your successful internship with flexible scheduling of roughly 20 hours per week for 10-12 weeks (weekend/holiday scheduling likely), we pay a stipend of $2,000.
For visual journalism internships, apply with a one-page letter of interest, one-page resume and work samples to Ron Judd, executive editor, at interns@cascadiadaily.com. Applications due May 15.
Public relations interns (summer quarter)
Our business office interns get a rare chance to help promote and grow a local news organization.
Internships are open to undergraduates and recent graduates. This is an on-site internship. The ideal candidate will have the ability to efficiently and effectively multi-task across multifaceted projects simultaneously, while responding to multiple priorities. Being adaptable is required, as interns must be able to work under pressure to meet tight deadlines and goals; be a self-starter and self-disciplined, but also able to take direction and to fully start and follow through to completion of tasks. You must enjoy working with a variety of people, from internal staff and managers to current and potential readers and advertisers.
Experience working with Excel, Outlook and SproutSocial is helpful but not required.
This is a paid internship with flexible scheduling, roughly 15-20 hours per week for 10-12 weeks (weekend/holiday scheduling likely). A stipend of $2,000 is paid at the end of a successful internship.
To apply, send a brief letter of interest and one-page resume to Staci Baird, general manager, at stacibaird@cascadiadaily.com. Applications due May 19.
Internships are open to undergraduates and recent graduates. This is an on-site internship. The ideal candidate will have the ability to efficiently and effectively multi-task across multifaceted projects simultaneously, while responding to multiple priorities. Being adaptable is required, as interns must be able to work under pressure to meet tight deadlines and goals; be a self-starter and self-disciplined, but also able to take direction and to fully start and follow through to completion of tasks. You must enjoy working with a variety of people, from internal staff and managers to current and potential readers and advertisers.
Experience working with Excel, Outlook and SproutSocial is helpful but not required.
This is a paid internship with flexible scheduling, roughly 15-20 hours per week for 10-12 weeks (weekend/holiday scheduling likely). A stipend of $2,000 is paid at the end of a successful internship.
To apply, send a brief letter of interest and one-page resume to Staci Baird, general manager, at stacibaird@cascadiadaily.com. Applications due May 19.
Stringers
Cascadia Daily News seeks freelance reporters to write about business, health, sports and general news, as well as regular contributors to cover news topics in Skagit County and the San Juan Islands. Send resume, work examples and a letter of interest to newstips@cascadiadaily.com with subject line, “Contributor.”
Letters and guest columnists
Visit our submissions page for more information.