Southern Correspondents, Kaiser Health News

Location: States in the South and Texas
Status: Full Time
Program Area: Kaiser Health News

KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation), the nonprofit health policy analysis, polling and journalism organization, is seeking several correspondents to join the staff of Kaiser Health News (KHN), its editorially independent newsroom distributing in-depth coverage of health and health policy issues across the country. KHN has a vibrant and ambitious staff based in Washington, D.C., California, Missouri, Colorado and Montana — and now we’re expanding into the South.

We are seeking journalists located in, or interested in moving to, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee or Texas. We are looking for reporters with a strong interest in exposing the problems — and possible solutions — to one of the most pressing concerns of Americans: their health care. We are seeking journalists who can write strong stories on state and regional struggles over health care that can also be amplified for a national audience. We want scoops; we want analyses; we want lively people-centric features. Our focus is on accountability and edge and how our health system (or lack thereof) plays out in the lives of Americans. We want you to help infuse our coverage with rapid-fire reporting and thoughtful writing on the big issues affecting diverse populations in the South. Your job is to make sense of policy-making and politics — and more. Be a journalist wonk, but be one who sees the humanity of this job.

We are hoping to find self-starters who are a constant fountain of ideas and have the skills to turn their bulletproof reporting into compelling reads. You will likely work remotely but could be co-located in the newsroom of one of our many media partners throughout the South.  Our Southern Bureau is headquartered in Georgia, and you will work most closely with our interim Bureau Chief Andy Miller and national editor Kytja Weir, but also with the bureau’s Senior Adviser Sabriya Rice who will become our bureau chief and your primary editor in July 2022.

We’d like you to have four or more years of experience (preferably with experience covering health issues). Knowing how to tell stories with data is a plus. The corporations that control our health care and the government programs and regulations that finance and shape it are a big part of the story, so knowledge of business and policy are extremely helpful.  Coverage of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be critical for a Georgia-based reporter.

We’re seeking journalists who want to be part of an ambitious and fast-growing organization and who can collaborate and contribute to daily digital and multimedia stories, big projects, investigations and podcasts.

Tell us why you want to work at this great organization and why no one else could do this job better than you. We’re excited to hear from you.

We are willing to pay to relocate you, though we’d prefer people who already have ties and sources in the region. We offer a competitive salary commensurate with experience and qualifications, and we have enviable health insurance and retirement benefits.

More about KHN and KFF:

KHN is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. With a staff of more than 60 reporters, editors, web producers, and photographers/videographers in D.C., Georgia, Missouri, Colorado, Montana and California, plus dozens more freelance journalists, animators, web developers, photographers, and videographers around the nation, KHN is committed to in-depth reporting on health policy news. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF. KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation. KFF serves as a nonpartisan source of facts, information, and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the public. It has no connection with Kaiser Permanente.

KHN provides this coverage on kffhealthnews.org as well as in partnership with other news organizations, including NPR, The Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today, CNN, NBC and a host of other media outlets. All material is provided free of charge. In addition to publishing in-depth articles on new developments in the health care system and on national and local health care initiatives and debates, KHN also produces daily briefings summarizing news coverage of health policy. For more than a decade, these reports have provided readers with daily updates on how the media are covering U.S. health care policy.

How to Apply:

If this opportunity interests you, and you have the requisite experience and qualifications, please email your resume, clips and a cover letter explaining how your background matches the job requirements and which state is the best fit for you to jobs@kff.org. Please submit these documents as separate attachments, labeled as “Last Name_First Name_Document Title”, and include “Southern Correspondent” in the subject line of your email.

KFF has an efficient applicant review process and will contact candidates who have applied for this position and whose qualifications most closely fit the criteria for the job. No phone inquiries, please.

It is the policy of KFF to actively promote a diverse and inclusive workplace in every respect, and to provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees in every phase of employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, gender-identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, veteran status, political affiliation, arrest or conviction records, or other categories protected under the law.