The Hechinger Report is a nonprofit news outlet that covers education across the United States. We’re a small newsroom with big ambitions to cover the most pressing issues facing classrooms and campuses. Our journalists travel across the country and the world asking tough questions, seeking out promising solutions, and listening to the voices of educators, families and kids. Here are the opportunities to join us in our mission.
Openings
Senior Editor, Higher Education
JOB DESCRIPTION:
The Hechinger Report, an award-winning news organization focused on innovation and inequality in education, is seeking an experienced editor to oversee our higher education coverage. The editor will lead a small team of staff reporters and many freelance contributors, assigning and editing stories that meet Hechinger’s high bar for in-depth investigative, feature and explanatory journalism.
The editor will help identify story ideas, make assignments, guide reporters and line-edit stories. This position will also be responsible for shaping our strategy for covering higher education, and for working closely with other editors, as well as engagement, web and data staffers, on ideas for new and innovative storytelling techniques and products. The editor will collaborate with our existing partner outlets, such as The Washington Post, NPR and the Los Angeles Times, and help us develop new partnerships.
Hechinger is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Building a diverse and inclusive newsroom is integral to Hechinger’s mission. Just as we seek to elevate diverse perspectives through our journalism, we also strive to ensure that the writers and editors telling those stories come from diverse backgrounds.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Oversee a team of 2-3 staff reporters, helping with story planning, prioritization and career development
- Assign and line-edit stories, including features, analyses and investigations, primarily on higher education; assist with second reads as needed
- Work with freelance reporters to assign and edit their journalism, and assist in recruiting new freelance contributors
- Help manage our higher education budget
- Communicate and collaborate with our partner publications and help develop new collaborations and partnerships
- Conceptualize and coordinate projects with other editors
- Travel a few times a year, to our annual staff gathering and potentially to higher education and/or journalism events; occasionally meet with sources and represent Hechinger at conferences
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent professional experience
- 7 to 10 years of professional experience in journalism, with at least 3 years supervising reporters
- Superior line-editing skills
- Experience in editing explanatory and features journalism
- Experience and interest in the education beat
- Ability to generate ambitious feature story ideas
- Excellent interpersonal skills, with experience motivating and supporting colleagues
- Familiarity with audience engagement tools and strategies
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- Experience in project management and organizational development
- 5 years of editing experience at a news organization
- 5 years on the education beat
- Experience assessing, guiding and editing investigative reporting projects
BENEFITS:
This position will be paid between $100,000 and $107,000 a year. This position also receives Teachers College Full-Time Professional Benefits, which include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance plans, a 403(b) tax-advantaged retirement investment plan, and tuition remission for employees and eligible dependents.
RESTRICTIONS:
The Hechinger Report’s main office is located in New York City. This role may be remote.
Hechinger is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Building a diverse and inclusive newsroom is integral to Hechinger’s mission. Just as we seek to elevate diverse perspectives through our journalism, we also strive to ensure that the writers and editors telling those stories come from diverse backgrounds.
The application deadline is May 28.
Data Reporting Internship
The Hechinger Report is searching for candidates for the Fazil Khan Memorial data reporting internship. During the 12-week internship, the intern will produce at least one data-focused feature story on an education issue that will appear on our site and potentially with one of our media partners. The intern also may assist with data analysis for other reporters and data visualizations.
This is an excellent opportunity to work with our experienced editors and reporters on in-depth journalism. The Hechinger Report’s award-winning coverage is known for its focus on how education policy affects students and educators in classrooms and on campuses.
The internship pays $700 a week and will begin Sept. 1, 2026. This is a remote position. An intern based in New York City would be able to interact with our staff there.
The Hechinger Report established this fund to honor Fazil Khan’s legacy as a data reporter. Khan, who moved to the U.S. from India to attend Columbia Journalism School, was a beloved colleague and star data journalist dedicated to exposing injustice. He died February 2024 in a fire in his Harlem apartment building. He was 27. During his time at Hechinger, Fazil used his data skills to create our College Welcome Guide and conducted the analysis that served as the backbone of our Suspended for… what? series.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
- College student or bachelor’s degree in journalism or related field
- Comfort incorporating data into news and feature stories
- Ability to gather and interpret data from a variety of sources (including through public records requests) and to combine data from multiple sources
- Experience with cleaning messy data sets
- Solid understanding of at least one data analysis tool such as Excel, SQL, Python and/or R
- Ability to collaborate well with reporters
The application form has two essay questions, about why you chose data journalism and about a published data project that you worked on. We also request a copy of your resume and links to two published clips. (If they are behind a paywall, you can upload a file.)
The application deadline is June 7.
Please contact Sarah Butrymowicz, Senior Editor for Investigations, with any questions.
The Hechinger Report is always in search of new writers. Learn more about freelancing for us.