Culture Reporter - Quad Times

The Quad-City Times seeks an ambitious, enterprising culture reporter who will aggressively pursue original stories and deliver coverage readers can’t find anywhere else.

We want someone who develops sources, follows tips, asks persistent questions and gets out into the community to uncover stories before they become public announcements. You should have a competitive drive to break news and the curiosity to recognize a compelling story others have missed.

This beat spans the people, places and ideas shaping culture in the Quad-Cities, from music, art and theater to food, festivals and neighborhood traditions. The expectation is to move beyond event previews and press releases to produce exclusive reporting, revealing profiles and deeply reported stories that help readers understand their community.

• Consistently pitch and pursue original stories no other outlet has. Cultivate sources who bring you tips, spot developments early and follow promising leads with urgency and persistence.
• Own and develop the culture beat, generating original ideas and building relationships with artists, performers, business owners, cultural organizations and residents.
• Deliver a mix of timely news, reported features, profiles and useful guides that help readers decide where to go and what to experience.
• Break news about cultural institutions, venues, restaurants and emerging trends, and follow developments beyond their initial announcement.
• Explore questions of money, access, growth and change, including how cultural investment affects neighborhoods and whose stories receive attention.
• Seek out communities, traditions and voices that have been overlooked in local coverage.
• Collaborate with editors and visual journalists to tell stories through words, photography, video and other digital formats.
• Use audience feedback and readership insights to make coverage more useful, discover new questions and build lasting reader relationships.
• Maintain high standards for accuracy, fairness and independence, including when covering businesses and organizations featured in entertainment coverage.

• Strong reporting, interviewing and writing skills, demonstrated through published work, student journalism or comparable experience.
• The ability to balance quick-turn stories with deeper enterprise reporting and manage competing deadlines.
• Curiosity about local culture and an instinct for finding the larger story behind an event or trend.
• A commitment to inclusive sourcing and building trust across communities.
• Comfort with digital publishing and social media, plus a willingness to develop photography and video skills.
• The ability to report throughout the Quad-Cities and work occasional evenings and weekends as coverage requires.

Experience covering culture, arts, entertainment, food or community life is helpful. Knowledge of the Quad-Cities is a plus; an eagerness to learn the region is essential.