Journalist/Correspondent (Crime and Court), The Straits Times

Overall Purpose of the Job

As a journalist/correspondent on The Straits Times crime and courts team, you will develop, write and produce stories, long-form features and other forms of content with a focus on crime issues. Your duties will include being rostered to cover proceedings at the State Courts and Supreme Court. These stories will include issues relating to scams, money laundering, and news breaks like accidents, fires, violent crime, and mass emergency incidents. You will get a front row seat to events as they happen and will be required to publish these stories quickly.

You should have a strong news sense and judgment, be resilient, have the ability to bring in exclusive stories, and be willing to respond to news speedily. You should be an engaging, fast and organised writer able to adapt to unexpected situations, and piece together stories in a compelling way.

Your work will appear online and in print; it may also take the form of digital content, such as videos, interactive graphics, podcasts and other visual storytelling formats.

Required Qualifications

• Degree from a recognised university
• Ideally at least 3 years of experience in journalism
• Experience in crime/court coverage is a plus but not a prerequisite
• Excellent command of English and strong writing skills
• Ability to work independently and in teams
• Enthusiastic, independent, resourceful, and can work under pressure
• Strong news sense, with a good understanding of what works for an online and mobile readership as well as surfing patterns
• Prepared to be assigned work at any time of the day if a newsbreak, like a fire/crime/emergency, happens
• Willingness to be rostered for work on weekends and public holidays