Job Description

The Dallas Morning News is offering a one-year fellowship on our Editorial Board for an early-career journalist interested in opinion writing and working as part of a collaborative team devoted to constructive solutions, fair debate and diverse viewpoints.

Joining the opinion team is an exciting opportunity for a journalist interested in how major media organizations develop perspective and voice. It is a highly cooperative area of journalism that combines fundamental journalism skills, especially reporting and writing, with debating ideas and wrestling with important social and political questions.

We are looking for a recent graduate interested in supporting our Editorial Board’s commitment to the spread of democratic values, fundamental human rights, free markets and the respectful debate of ideas. As an editorial page, we weigh in on issues of local, state and national importance while publishing a variety of views from other voices.

Opinion fellows get the chance to explore a wide spectrum of topics as members of the paper’s award-winning Editorial Board. It’s possible to spend the morning pitching an idea on how City Hall can do its job better and the afternoon meeting with a dignitary from a foreign country. Our guests range from city and state leaders to White House officials and foreign diplomats.

Many journalists who have interned for our Opinion department have gone on to work in newsrooms around the country with a solid grounding in local, state and federal government coverage. Others have left us to pursue careers in law and nonprofit work.

The primary responsibility for the opinion fellow is to research, pitch and write at least two editorials a week that touch on important news of the day and that reflect the Editorial Board’s positions. Candidates should familiarize themselves with the board’s positions and feel confident that they could write similar editorials.

Texas is always in the news. Dallas and its suburbs offer plenty of material for an enterprising opinion fellow to mine for ideas.

The editorial fellow will also be tasked with managing the board’s social media initiatives with guidance from editors. That work includes proposing ideas on how to promote the Opinion department’s work across different platforms and reporting audience metrics to the Editorial Page Editor.

As a member of the Opinion department, our fellow also is encouraged to explore his or her voice through signed columns. Past fellows chose subjects and themes that resonated with them deeply, such as finding connection in a religious community or learning a new city by training for a marathon. These columns are opportunities for early-career journalists to develop their writing and learn more about the personal essay.

Applicants should send no more than eight writing clips or links. Share work that showcases your original reporting, whether news writing or opinion.

Also include 200 words on why opinion writing is important to you and what topics interest you and why.

A cover letter and résumé with references are required with all applications.

About Hearst Newspapers:

With 2,500 employees across the nation, HNP represents a network of 24 daily and 52 weekly publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union, several top digital-only news and lifestyle sites, marketing services businesses, and entertainment businesses such as King Features Syndicate. At HNP, we are investing in new and innovative ways to tell stories–growing newsrooms, diversifying tools, evolving platforms–to support the millions of people who trust us each month to help them make decisions, take action and be inspired.

Be a part of something bigger–Your Headline Awaits