CJR is looking for an experienced journalist to be its Peterson Fellow, a part-time job blogging about and critiquing media coverage of fiscal and economic policy.
Funded by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, the Peterson Fellowship was created to encourage the business and Washington media to take the long view. Among other things, we’ll encourage the press to explore the national debate over the federal budget, the national debt, entitlement programs, and taxes; the impact of Washington economic policy on Wall Street and financial markets; the still-unknown public exposure to various financial stabilization measures and its impact on future economic policy choices; the fallout and long-term consequences of financial-sector reforms; the social consequences of the crisis, including wealth transfers resulting from foreclosures and other forms of economic dislocation; and the impact of the crisis on social mobility, income distribution, poverty, and personal savings and home-ownership rates.
The job is part time, but demanding, requiring wide reading and the ability to dole out frequent, tough and fair criticism based on journalistic criteria: fairness, depth, courage, originality, distance from sources, etc. Fluency with economic and policy questions a plus, as is familiarity with Washington media eco-system. The pay is $3,333.33 a month, no benefits (except working with the best darned media-crit organization anywhere), and runs through December 31, with a chance for a one-year renewal. Apply to theauditcjr@gmail.com
Dean Starkman Dean Starkman runs The Audit, CJR’s business section, and is the author of The Watchdog That Didn’t Bark: The Financial Crisis and the Disappearance of Investigative Journalism (Columbia University Press, January 2014). Follow Dean on Twitter: @deanstarkman.