Reporting Intern

Job Description

The Lawrence Times, a hyperlocal, online-only news outlet covering Lawrence, Kansas, is hiring for a reporting intern to join our award-winning team for the summer.

At The Lawrence Times, we value people over profit and power. This internship offers a unique opportunity to hone your skills and gain versatility, vast experience, and a range of clips that only a tiny local newsroom can provide.

About the Internship

• Role: Reporting Intern
• Commitment: Approximately 20 hours per week
• Work Environment: A blend of in-person shifts in our Lawrence newsroom, remote work, and regular reporting out in the Lawrence community.
• Ideal Start Date: Tuesday, May 26, 2026, or sooner
• Compensation: $18 per hour or more, commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Application Process

We review applications on a rolling basis. We encourage excited candidates to apply ASAP to ensure consideration. The application form will close at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, March 29.

We will reach out to candidates via email to set up interviews. Please keep an eye on your spam folder to avoid missing messages from us!

Basic Duties Will Include:

• Working closely with editors to develop pitches, seek out sources, shape strong interview questions, outline and write articles, and refine through edits for a professional final product.
• Reporting on Lawrence and Douglas County subjects, ranging from concise, quick-turnaround news articles to features and longer-term enterprise projects.
• Finding and pitching hyperlocal stories.
• Covering a potential range of topics, from hard news — such as government meetings, education, court cases, and breaking public safety news — to fun features and stories on arts and culture.
• Coordinating with our photo editor to ensure all articles have art.
• Working to sharpen other skills of particular interest to the individual intern.

Applicants Best Suited for This Internship Will:

• Be enrolled in a college-level journalism program and have completed at least one multimedia reporting class (such as JMC 415 at KU or equivalent).
• Move quickly to pursue stories zealously; always be on the lookout for news and ready to run a story down.
• Fearlessly pursue accountability and transparency as a watchdog for the people.
• Seek out and amplify the voices of people directly affected by the issues we’re covering.
• Place great value on, and pay great attention to, accuracy in all aspects of this work.
• Understand and abide by basic journalistic ethics, treat people well and be generally delightful.
• Be self-motivated to get work done and communicate well throughout the process.
• Loathe “the way things have always been done,” strive for better, and think outside the box.

Working with Us, We Hope You Will Gain:

• A strong portfolio of professional clips that will help you stand out and catch the eye of future employers.
• Practical experience reporting a variety of stories under different conditions that will serve you well into the future and add to your versatility as a journalist.
• Some experience digging deeper, such as filing requests for open records in order to shine a light on an issue.
• A stronger sense of the kind of journalism that interests you and an understanding of how a tiny newsroom functions.
• Money, class credit, and a glowing reference.

How to Apply

Those who are interested can find the application at: https://lawrenceks.news/internapp2605

More Information & Questions

Want to know more before you apply? Find links to more in the full job description on our site: https://lawrenceks.news/internjob2605

If you have questions, please contact Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder, and Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter/news editor, at editors@lawrencekstimes.com.