The Sacramento Bee seeks a creative, hard-working service journalism reporter to join our newsroom, a role that includes quick-turn coverage of our region’s vibrant food and restaurant scene.

The Sacramento Service Journalism Team — in tandem with the California Service Journalism Team — provides our McClatchy Media audiences in Sacramento, the rest of the Central Valley and along the Central Coast with the answers they need to help them navigate daily life. These can be explainers on breaking news, Q&As, fact checks, or stories that celebrate and support local engagement, including “price checks” or “On A Budget” features that explore dining and other experiences people can do for under $25.

Expertise in a particular subject area is not required, but this job has a focus on restaurant openings and closings, hyperlocal dining options and restaurant guides, and grocery industry trends. This reporter will collaborate with our food and dining reporter, who has his fingers on the pulse of what Sacramentans and Northern Californians want to eat, as well as our farm-to-fork reporter, who is tracking how economic conditions drive what ends up in restaurants and on people’s plates.

Our service journalists are expected to write at least two stories a day on average. Besides food, the successful candidate might also jump in on entertainment, weather and retail reporting on a given day.

All McClatchy Media journalists are expected to take advantage of opportunities to ethically harness and leverage AI and other automation to enhance and elevate their work — and to find efficiencies that free them to focus on source-building and deep reporting that results in high-quality journalism.

Bottom line: We have fun writing off the news and covering a little bit of everything. Here are just a few of the Sacramento and California Service Journalism teams’ stories:

In this role, you will need to:

Use tools such as Google Trends, Reddit, Nextdoor and reader-submitted questions to surface and answer questions readers are asking.
Pitch stories that are off the beaten track and will resonate with readers across our region.
Report and write stories quickly in user-friendly formats.
Find questions the community is asking and determine the answers.
Collaborate with other journalists from across the newsroom on major news events.
Demonstrate versatility and initiative.
Work in a team environment, both virtually and in person.

Must have:

1-3 years of reporting or writing experience.
A college degree or work equivalent.
Residency in the Sacramento region — or the ability to move here before starting the job.
Strong reporting and writing skills.
Flexibility and speed in writing to respond to evolving news events.
Excellent news judgment and journalism ethics.
Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
Must have reliable transportation. Must have valid CA driver’s license and vehicle insurance required.

Nice to have:

Experience with the Sacramento food scene and/or food reporting.
Willingness to do some multimedia storytelling, including recording vertical video.
Familiarity with Google Trends, social media platforms, public records requests and data.
Familiarity with measuring and tracking success using metrics and analytics.
A track record for innovation, learning and using new skills and technologies, especially AI.

To apply, please submit a cover letter, resume, 3-6 work samples for full consideration. References may be requested.

The anticipated base pay range for this position is between $25.50/hour and 32.50/hour, based on a 40-hour week. Individual base pay may vary within that range depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience and relevant education.

What we'll bring:

The Sacramento Bee is the largest of five McClatchy Media news organizations in California. The others are The Fresno Bee, The Modesto Bee, the Merced Sun-Star and The Tribune of San Luis Obispo.

Ninety miles northeast of San Francisco and 100 miles southwest of Lake Tahoe, Sacramento is a vibrant capital city with a Mediterranean climate, a world-class food and music scene and numerous recreational opportunities, including the 31-mile American River Trail and 2,000 acres of parkland in the city alone. Our Bee office in East Sacramento lies within two miles of the Capitol, midtown, Downtown and the Golden 1 Center, home of the Sacramento Kings.

As a journalist at McClatchy, you will join a supportive, flexible, collaborative team. McClatchy strives to be an employer of choice, and our benefits package is made with this goal in mind. With a focus on health, well-being, wealth and daily life, our package options include healthcare coverage for employees and their families, financial protection from expected and unexpected expenses, multiple no-cost wellness resources and even coverage for four-legged friends.

Our overall benefits package also includes a 401(k) with employer match, competitive paid time off and corporate holidays, and a variety of mental health benefits. With an excellent support team and with focus on your well-being as a top corporate strategy, McClatchy provides benefits to support you and your family in achieving your health and wellness goals. For more information on McClatchy's benefit plan, please visit McClatchyLivewell.com.

About the McClatchy Media Company

The McClatchy Media Company features a portfolio of vibrant and trusted news, lifestyle, entertainment brands and a robust retail distribution network. Our iconic local news brands such as the Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star and The Sacramento Bee, have collectively earned a total of 57 Pulitzer prizes and are complemented by popular lifestyle and entertainment brands such as Us Weekly and Woman’s World. Together, our brands reach more than 100 million unique visitors a month. The McClatchy Retail Network, our distribution and logistics arm, offers delivery to more than 56,000 retail locations weekly.

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Sacramento Service Journalism & Food Reporter