Contributors — LINK nky & Cincinnati CityBeat

LINK Media | Northern Kentucky & Cincinnati | Freelance, contract

We're looking for contributors. Not "content creators," not people who will write us four pieces and disappear — reporters and writers who want a standing relationship with a newsroom, on their own schedule.

LINK Media publishes LINK nky, covering Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties, and Cincinnati CityBeat, the region's arts and culture alt-weekly. We're hiring for two different beats, and they want two very different people. Read both. Apply to the one that's yours.

We're a small team, so everyone we engage is a critical part of the organization, and must be willing to work quickly, accept that we don't have everything figured out, remain flexible, and above all else, understand that what we are creating is bigger than any one person, or personality.

Track One: Civic & Government — LINK nky

Somebody has to sit through the fiscal court meeting. In most of America right now, nobody does.

We need contributors to cover city councils, fiscal courts, school boards, planning and zoning commissions, and public meetings across Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties. This is the least glamorous journalism there is and the most load-bearing. A three-hour meeting where the interesting thing happens at minute 140 and everyone else has gone home.

This is your track if you:

• Can read an agenda packet before the meeting and know which item actually matters
• Are comfortable approaching an elected official in a hallway afterward
• Can file clean copy on deadline the same night or the next morning
• Understand that a zoning variance is sometimes the biggest story in a county that week
• Know the difference between what was voted on and what was said

Bonus if you: already know the NKY municipal landscape, can read a budget document, or have filed an open records request under KRS 61.870.

Track Two: Arts & Culture — CityBeat

CityBeat has covered Cincinnati's music, theater, visual art, film, food and nightlife since 1994. We need contributors who are already out at the shows, in the galleries, and at the restaurants — and who can write about them with a point of view.

This is your track if you:

• Have a real beat inside the scene: a genre, a discipline, a neighborhood, a community
• Can turn a preview around fast when a tour date drops
• Know the difference between a profile and a favor

Bonus if you: shoot your own photos, have a working relationship with local venues and galleries, or cover a corner of the scene that Cincinnati media routinely ignores.

What We Expect from You (Both Tracks)

• Manage assigned stories, and pitch additional stories in your areas of interest
• Publish digital and multimedia reports and creative stories
• Accept assignments and follow up on news tips
• Strong journalistic integrity and creativity
• Maintain notes and audio recordings from stories and sources for review when necessary
• Work in collaboration with the community editor and executive editor
• Hit your deadline, or tell us early that you won't. Early is fine. Silent is not.
• Disclose conflicts before you file, not after. If you're in the band, on the board, married to the candidate, or your day job is at the institution — we need to know. It usually doesn't disqualify you. Concealing it does.

Skills We Need You to Have

• Experience or education as a news reporter
• Strong writing and speaking skills
• Multimedia knowledge (websites, photo, audio, video editing)
• Comfortable in social, government, and political settings
• Reliable transportation. Both beats happen in rooms, not on Zoom.

What You Can Expect from Us

• Per-story rates
• Bi-weekly pay for stories published
• Editorial support and management to help you grow as a writer
• Flexibility — write for us without having to keep full-time hours
• Your byline, and your clips are yours to use
• Opportunities for growth and advancement, if you want them

The Business Side

This is an independent contractor engagement, not employment. You'll be paid on a 1099, you set your own hours, and you're free to write for other outlets — though we'll ask you not to hand a competitor the same story.

On AI: Use it to transcribe, to organize your notes, to check your own work. Do not use it to write, to report, or to generate quotes, facts, or sources. Everything you file must be reported by you and verifiable by us. Any undisclosed AI-generated copy ends the relationship immediately.

You'll Need to Share Our Mission and Uphold Our Guiding Principles

Mission: LINK Media strengthens vibrant communities through independent, sustainable local journalism.

Guiding Principles — We are:

Solutions-Focused: We don't just report the news of the day. We dig deeper, informing our audience about how our community might solve its biggest issues.

Unapologetic Community Fans: We believe in our community—in what it is today, and what it has the potential to become. We want to see our community advance, and we understand the part that we play in that advancement.

Inclusive: We explore the issues that affect all of our readers, and give a voice to the diverse corners of our community, whether that diversity is economic, political, geographic or otherwise.

Good Stewards: It is our responsibility to make good use of our resources and to maintain a sustainable business model, so that we may serve the community long into the future.

Independent: We do not make endorsements, or publish our own opinions, about the issues that are facing our community. In addition to our reporting, outside opinions from multiple viewpoints will be sought, and clearly marked as such, in order to provide the robust debate that our community needs to make critical decisions about our collective future.

LINK Media does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law, in the selection or engagement of contributors. LINK conforms to the spirit as well as to the letter of all applicable laws and regulations.