About Chicago Public Media
Chicago Public Media is one of the nation’s largest local nonprofit news organizations. Home to WBEZ 91.5FM, the Chicago Sun-Times, and Vocalo. Chicago Public Media reaches more than 3.3 million people weekly across broadcast, print, and digital platforms. As a mission-driven organization, we aspire to be the most trusted news source Chicagoans turn to for understanding the people, events, and ideas shaping our community.
Chicago Public Media is a 100% community-funded newsroom powered by nearly 97,000 members whose support makes our journalism possible. This sustained community investment helped drive nationally recognized work in 2025, including 29 awards from esteemed organizations, including the Public Media Journalists Association, the Edward R. Murrow Awards, and the National Association of Black Journalists.
We believe independent journalism is essential to a healthy democracy and that access to objective, fact-based news is a right for every citizen. We serve the public interest by creating diverse content that informs and enriches our community, supported by a dedicated staff of approximately 250 professionals.
For more information, please see the Chicago Public Media Annual Report.
The Chicago Sun-Times is a distinctly Chicago news organization, with a laser focus on telling stories that matter to the working people of Chicago. We are seeking an experienced sports beat writer to cover the Chicago Cubs — a job that will require the successful candidate to break news, get the behind-the-scenes story, effectively use social media, embrace multiplatform reporting, and travel with the team.
Responsibilities
- Provide factual, accurate, fair and balanced coverage of the Cubs organization, including its players, front office and ownership, and Major League Baseball
- Break news, both on the Cubs and MLB
- Write a mix of stories, including “instant gamers,” analysis stories, and longer human-interest features, including features for the Sun-Times’ innovative Sports Saturday edition
- Be the face of our Cubs coverage, both in print and online through podcasts and, in some cases, video reporting
- Work with the Sun-Times audience and visual teams to develop video, infographics, and other interactive elements that engage both digital and print readers — with some of these elements to be used to promote stories on social media
- Use social media to interact with fans, including during games, and to promote one’s work
Skills Required
- Write clearly on tight deadlines and thrive in breaking-news situations
- Produce multiple daily stories with multiple elements (text, photo, video)
- Team player with excellent news judgment
- Highly self-motivated and self-directed
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in journalism, communications, or related field
- Experience covering a Major League Baseball beat for a daily news organization is a must.
- Commitment to work long hours following the team at home and on the road — and during weekends and holidays
- Ability to travel nationally and to Canada
- Proficient knowledge of social media, including Twitter and Facebook
Note: All candidates must submit at least five samples of work along with a resume and cover letter.
Compensation
The expected pay range for this position is $61,953.84 to $72,153.12 per ANNUM. Per the Guild contract for writers of major sports, you are also eligible for night differential pay of 10 percent of your base salary.
Chicago Public Media provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of what the organization reasonably expects to pay for a position. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal equity, geographical location, and external market pay for comparable jobs.
Working at Chicago Public Media
At Chicago Public Media, we care deeply about our employees as we know attracting, developing, and growing talent is key to our success and enhancing our impact.
Our culture is one where collaboration, diversity of ideas, and innovation are encouraged. We value colleagues who will enhance our culture by bringing new ideas, divergent experiences, and talents to our dynamic workplace.
At Chicago Public Media we believe dedication to a great workplace includes supporting our employees and their families. As a result, we provide a broad and generous benefits package for employees at hire and in the years to come.
Our benefits include a competitive salary and benefits package which includes medical, dental, vision, vacation, holidays, life insurance, disability coverage, retirement savings, and a commuter benefits plan.
Chicago Public Media is an Equal Opportunity Employer and we actively seek and welcome people from all backgrounds, orientations, and life experiences to join our team.
The essential functions described above are not all-inclusive and are not intended to create any contractual or other legal commitment. Chicago Public Media may change the content or format of this job at any time in its sole and exclusive discretion without notice.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in journalism, communications, or related field
- Experience covering a Major League Baseball beat for a daily news organization
- Commitment to work long hours following the team at home and on the road
- Ability to travel nationally and to Canada
- Proficient knowledge of social media, including Twitter and Facebook
What We Do
We are Chicago’s NPR news station, one of the largest and most respected public media stations in the country. Our mission is at the heart of WBEZ Chicago. We fulfill our mission at WBEZ by serving as a cornerstone of the public conversation; as a central pillar of our civic community; and by reasserting ourselves as the heart of innovation within public media. We amplify the public conversation by telling the stories that matter; stories that provoke thought, entertain, capture emotion and inspire action. We are a trusted source of news and information in the Chicago region. People turn to WBEZ for our high-quality, fact-based journalism; engaging, entertaining programs on 91.5FM; original podcasts; and digital content
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