Mississippi Today is seeking a journalist who can code to join our new Health team. 

We believe data is one of the most important ways to effectively tell a story. But if it’s not done right, data can just as easily glaze your eyes over and steer you away from reading at all. We are seeking a data-minded journalist who is passionate about interactive storytelling and can help us present important, often complicated information in compelling formats. Whether it’s a tracker that shows how far each county has come in its vaccination efforts or an interactive database that shows readers where a nearest doctor is located, the opportunities to create fascinating health care-related data visualizations in Mississippi are endless.

The Community Health Data Journalist will be an integral, founding member of our new Health team, which will create a hub for Mississippians to access data, fact-finding and dissemination of in-depth and explainer public health journalism. Through this team, we will report on how the healthcare system works, and in some cases does not, in Mississippi. We will dig deep on how healthcare providers, hospitals, insurers, governments and consumers are interconnected and impacted, with an eye for equity and access. We will build a readership targeted at thought leaders and everyday Mississippians who most need accurate and easy-to-understand information on public health matters.

The ideal candidate will work hand-in-hand with the Health team to design creative graphics, charts and other visualizations to both help us frame news stories and also serve as stand-alone posts. We’re looking for a creative mind who can find ways to present important information in visually appealing, easily digestible formats. 

Expectations:

• Design and create interactive, user-friendly graphics
• Find, clean and analyze data — this includes submitting public records requests
• Search existing databases to identify trends, patterns and outliers.
• Work often with reporters and editors on interpreting datasets to find patterns and interesting details to present to readers in eye-catching, easy to understand formats.

It’s a plus if you have:

• Journalism experience. This person does not have to have worked in a newsroom before, but solid news judgement and the ability to discern what is important to readers is crucial
• Experience working in a collaborative setting
• Proven success implementing complex designs in HTML/CSS
• Demonstrated experience applying reader-centered design thinking to editorial work
• Familiarity with data analysis techniques

What you’ll get:

• The opportunity to work alongside award-winning journalists and make significant contributions to Mississippi’s only fully staffed, nonprofit, nonpartisan digital news and information source.
• Highly competitive salary with medical insurance, and options for vision and dental insurance.
• Cell phone stipend.
• 29 days paid time off.
• Up to 12 weeks of parental family leave, with return-to-work flexibility.
• Simple IRA with 3 percent company matching. Group-term life insurance provided to employees ($15,000 policy).
• Support for professional training and attending industry conferences.

How to apply:

Fill out an application at this link.

We’re committed to building an inclusive newsroom that represents the people and communities we serve. We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply for this position, including women, people of color, LGBTQ people and people who are differently abled.

Questions? 

Email Editor-in-Chief Adam Ganucheau at adam@mississippitoday.org or Managing Editor Kayleigh Skinner at kayleigh@mississippitoday.org. 

The post We’re hiring: Community Health Data Journalist appeared first on Mississippi Today.