Local Politics Reporter

We need to output HTML fragment with sections: About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule. Only include sections that have real specific content. No job title heading. No Job ID etc. Remove boilerplate. We need to parse the job description. Content: - Intro: "Strengthening and empowering all of the communities we serve. NJ.com is seeking an experienced journalist to cover politics, conflict, and power struggles in New Jersey's towns, school districts, and local and state government agencies — the stories that fracture communities and hit closest to home. The Local Politics Reporter will zero in on the politics of local flashpoints — school board fights, town hall power struggles, and the controversies that spill from one community across the entire state — and elevate them through detailed reporting, sharp writing, and engaging storytelling. We want a dogged journalist who will find the next mob hitman-turned-councilman and the next mayor who declares war on his own town's schools. We seek a versatile reporter who can cover everything from a contentious school policy fight to a town council power struggle, with the range to step into Statehouse issues — the state budget, Gov. Mikie Sherrill's agenda — when they directly affect Jersey residents and their wallets. And we require the rare journalist who can drill down on the smallest detail but write with sweep, scale and smarts. Coverage will include breaking news, short-term enterprise and trend pieces, but there could be opportunities for longform stories. We're also looking for reporters who think beyond the written word. Fluency in social video storytelling, podcasts, and other multimedia formats is a plus — we want someone who can bring these stories to life across myriad platforms. We're committed to building a newsroom that reflects the diversity of the community we serve. In this position, you will be part of a dynamic and inclusive team focused on local journalism for one of the country's largest privately owned media companies." That's about the role. Then: "The pay rate for this position is $65,000 - $85,000 annually. This job requires reliable transportation to meet with sources and cover events." Then: "Our ideal candidate will have the following:" then bullet list (actually sentences separated by line breaks). Let's extract: - A bachelor's degree in journalism, communications, or a related field; or an equivalent combination of education and experience - A minimum of five years in journalism with a proven ability in reporting and writing required, preferably including experience in investigations. - A sound understanding of newswriting, journalistic ethics, and story structure. - Possession of a clear and engaging writing style. - An ability to cultivate sources in government, advocacy groups, educational circles, and other demographics offering unique and visionary coverage. - A demonstrated capability in capitalizing on high-value topics by engaging audiences in frequency and urgency. - Proven experience building, maintaining, and engaging an active audience. - An understanding of the methods and tools used to deliver content across a variety of platforms. - Experience using social media to find stories and promote content. - An ability to work independently under deadline pressure and prioritize assignments. - An ability to work collaboratively with editors and fellow reporters. - A willingness to keep abreast of industry advances and proactively consider new methods of reaching audiences. - Comfort and fluency in multimedia storytelling formats — social video, podcasts, and beyond — a plus. Then Additional Information: benefits etc. "Advance Local Media offers competitive pay and a comprehensive benefits package with affordable options for your healthcare including medical, dental and vision plans, mental health support options, flexible spending accounts, fertility assistance, a competitive 401(k) plan to help plan for your future, generous paid time off, paid parental and caregiver leave and an employee assistance program to support your work/life balance, optional legal assistance, life insurance options, as well as flexible holidays to honor cultural diversity." Then description of company etc (not needed). Then EEO etc (remove). Also mention "reliable transportation" maybe as requirement. We need sections: About the role (intro paragraph). Responsibilities (maybe from description of duties). Requirements (maybe education/experience). Qualifications (maybe similar). Skills (maybe abilities). Benefits (benefits paragraph). Pay (pay rate). Schedule (maybe not present; we have no schedule info, so omit). Also maybe "Transportation" could be a requirement. We need to avoid filler like "commensurate with experience". Not present. We need to use

for each section heading. Use

• for any list of duties/requirements/benefits. Use

  for prose. We must preserve all substantive info; not invent or summarize away detail. So we need to keep details like specific examples (school board fights, etc). We'll need to put them in appropriate sections. Let's decide sections: - About the role: paragraph summarizing role (the first big paragraph). Could be multiple paragraphs but we can combine into one

  maybe with multiple sentences. - Responsibilities: list of duties: covering politics, conflict, power struggles; school board fights, town hall power struggles; controversies; detailed reporting, sharp writing, engaging storytelling; find mob hitman-turned-councilman; mayor declares war on schools; cover contentious school policy fight; town council power struggle; step into Statehouse issues (state budget, Gov. Mikie Sherrill's agenda) when affect residents; drill down on smallest detail but write with sweep, scale and smarts; coverage includes breaking news, short-term enterprise and trend pieces, opportunities for longform; think beyond written word; fluency in social video storytelling, podcasts, other multimedia formats a plus; bring stories to life across platforms; part of dynamic inclusive team; reliable transportation to meet sources and cover events (maybe responsibility). We'll list as

  • . - Requirements: maybe education and experience: bachelor's degree; minimum five years journalism; proven ability reporting and writing; preferably investigations; sound understanding newswriting, ethics, story structure; clear engaging writing style; ability to cultivate sources; demonstrated capability capitalizing high-value topics; proven experience building/maintaining/engaging audience; understanding methods/tools to deliver content across platforms; experience using social media to find stories and promote content; ability to work independently under deadline pressure and prioritize assignments; ability to work collaboratively with editors and fellow reporters; willingness to keep abreast of industry advances; comfort and fluency in multimedia storytelling formats (social video, podcasts, beyond) a plus. Also reliable transportation maybe requirement. - Qualifications: maybe overlapping with requirements; but we could treat Requirements as education/experience, Qualifications as skills/abilities. However guidelines: we should not create thin sections. Might combine into Requirements and Skills. Let's think: The posting has "Our ideal candidate will have the following:" which is a list of qualifications/requirements. Could treat that as Requirements. Then Skills could be separate list like "Ability to work independently..." etc. But many items overlap. Better: Use sections: About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Benefits, Pay. Possibly Skills not needed if covered in Requirements. But we need to follow instruction: include a section ONLY when posting has real, specific content for it. So we can decide which sections have content. We have content for About the role (intro). Responsibilities (duties). Requirements (education/experience/skills). Benefits (benefits paragraph). Pay (salary). Schedule: none, so omit. We should not create Skills section if we already put skills in Requirements. But we could still have Skills if we want to separate. However risk of thin section. Let's keep Requirements covering education, experience, skills. Benefits separate. Pay separate. Now we need to format. We must not repeat job title as heading. So no

    Local Politics Reporter

    . Good. We need to output only HTML fragment, no /. So just headings and content. Let's craft:

    About the role

    Strengthening and empowering all of the communities we serve. NJ.com is seeking an experienced journalist to cover politics, conflict, and power struggles in New Jersey's towns, school districts, and local and state government agencies — the stories that fracture communities and hit closest to home. The Local Politics Reporter will zero in on the politics of local flashpoints — school board fights, town hall power struggles, and the controversies that spill from one community across the entire state — and elevate them through detailed reporting, sharp writing, and engaging storytelling. We want a dogged journalist who will find the next mob hitman-turned-councilman and the next mayor who declares war on his own town's schools. We seek a versatile reporter who can cover everything from a contentious school policy fight to a town council power struggle, with the range to step into Statehouse issues — the state budget, Gov. Mikie Sherrill's agenda — when they directly affect Jersey residents and their wallets. And we require the rare journalist who can drill down on the smallest detail but write with sweep, scale and smarts. Coverage will include breaking news, short-term enterprise and trend pieces, but there could be opportunities for longform stories. We're also looking for reporters who think beyond the written word. Fluency in social video storytelling, podcasts, and other multimedia formats is a plus — we want someone who can bring these stories to life across myriad platforms. We're committed to building a newsroom that reflects the diversity of the community we serve. In this position, you will be part of a dynamic and inclusive team focused on local journalism for one of the country's largest privately owned media companies.

    Responsibilities

    • Cover politics, conflict, and power struggles in New Jersey towns, school districts, and local and state government agencies.
    • Focus on local flashpoints such as school board fights, town hall power struggles, and controversies that spread statewide.
    • Produce detailed reporting, sharp writing, and engaging storytelling.
    • Investigate and report on stories like mob hitman-turned-councilman and mayors declaring war on local schools.
    • Cover contentious school policy fights and town council power struggles.
    • Step into Statehouse issues (state budget, Gov. Mikie Sherrill's agenda) when they affect residents.
    • Drill down on small details while writing with sweep, scale, and smarts.
    • Handle breaking news, short-term enterprise and trend pieces; pursue longform opportunities.
    • Think beyond the written word — use social video, podcasts, and other multimedia formats.
    • Bring stories to life across multiple platforms.
    • Provide reliable transportation to meet sources and cover events.

    Requirements

    • Bachelor's degree in journalism, communications, or a related field; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
    • Minimum of five years in journalism with proven ability in reporting and writing, preferably including investigative experience.
    • Sound understanding of newswriting, journalistic ethics, and story structure.
    • Clear and engaging writing style.
    • Ability to cultivate sources in government, advocacy groups, educational circles, and other demographics.
    • Demonstrated capability to capitalize on high‑value topics by engaging audiences with frequency and urgency.
    • Proven experience building, maintaining, and engaging an active audience.
    • Understanding of methods and tools used to deliver content across a variety of platforms.
    • Experience using social media to find stories and promote content.
    • Ability to work independently under deadline pressure and prioritize assignments.
    • Ability to work collaboratively with editors and fellow reporters.
    • Willingness to keep abreast of industry advances and consider new methods of reaching audiences.
    • Comfort and fluency in multimedia storytelling formats — social video, podcasts, and beyond (a plus).

    Benefits

    Advance Local Media offers competitive pay and a comprehensive benefits package with affordable options for your healthcare including medical, dental and vision plans, mental health support options, flexible spending accounts, fertility assistance, a