Economic Development Reporter

Job : 74791

Job Views
: 67

Location: CHARLESTON, West Virginia, United States

Zip Code: 25301

Job Category: Online | New Media,

Employment Type: Full time,

Salary: $50000-$70000 per year

Posted: 08.21.2026

Now hiring:
Economic development reporter

For generations, West Virginia leaders have promised that the next factory, tax break, industrial park, federal grant or major development project will bring prosperity and ensure that communities thrive.

Sometimes those promises deliver. Sometimes they don’t.

Mountain State Spotlight is looking for an economic development reporter who wants to help West Virginians understand which is which, and who wins and loses along the way.

This reporter will go beyond ribbon cuttings, press releases and politicians’ promises to examine how economic development works, and doesn’t work, for West Virginians. Where is public money going? Who makes those decisions? What are taxpayers getting in return? Which communities and workers benefit? Which are being left behind? And what happens years after the cameras and politicians have moved on?

This is a beat about money, jobs and power.

West Virginia needs a reporter who can investigate multimillion-dollar incentive packages and also spend time in communities trying to understand why businesses are thriving or struggling. Our audience needs someone who can scrutinize economic data and government budgets, then talk to workers, business owners and residents to get beyond the numbers, explaining what they mean through people’s lives.

This reporter will also cover the economy from the ground up, with stories about the basic conditions that allow people and communities to participate in a healthy economy. That includes access to affordable child care, transportation, job training and workforce programs, reliable broadband and other infrastructure they need. We want this reporter to examine whether West Virginia is making the investments that help people get and keep good jobs, not just the deals designed to attract the next big company.

West Virginia is an especially rich place to do this work. For decades, political leaders have presented economic development as an answer to some of the state’s most persistent problems. At the same time, West Virginia has spent enormous sums trying to attract businesses and industries, often with limited transparency and little sustained scrutiny of whether those investments delivered what was promised.

Mountain State Spotlight believes West Virginians deserve to know.

• Follow the money:
  Track state and local spending, tax incentives, grants and other public investment intended to create jobs and grow West Virginia’s economy, and hold officials and companies accountable for the promises they make.
• Follow up:
  Return to the big announcements months and years later. Did the jobs come? What do they pay? Did the public investment deliver on its promises?
• Explain what’s changing:
• Help West Virginians understand the forces remaking the state’s economy, from the fortunes of major industries to the challenges faced by small businesses and workers.
• Investigate power:
  Dig into and take readers inside the relationships among government, businesses and other powerful interests, including conflicts of interest, secrecy and decisions that benefit private entities at the public’s expense.
• Cover the Legislature with an economic lens:
  Show readers how lawmakers make decisions about taxes, spending, regulation and economic development that create winners and losers around the state.
• Watch the agencies:
  Closely follow the government agencies and public bodies responsible for economic development, while getting out into the field to see and then show how their programs are actually performing.
• Listen to West Virginians:
  Build sources far beyond elected officials and corporate spokespeople, from CEOs and economic development officials to small business owners, hourly workers and residents.
• Work across the newsroom:
  Collaborate with other Mountain State Spotlight journalists on ambitious accountability stories and investigations that cross traditional beats.

We don’t expect every story to be a…