Job Description

West Coast Bureau Chief, The Christian Science Monitor - California

Job ID : 11386

Job Views : 10356

Job Category: Newspapers

Employment Type: Full time

Posted: 12.19.2025

Job Description

SUMMARY

The West Coast Bureau Chief works with the National news editors and fellow correspondents to cover the nations largest state economy, including the innovation hub of Silicon Valley. This beat also includes writing about AI, immigration, politics, climate change, disaster management, water, and farming, among other issues. It will also involve some travel for regional reporting assignments as needed. The incumbent works as part of the U.S. news desk, shaping coverage for our daily digital offerings as well as our print magazine.

The West Coast Bureau Chief approaches this regional beat with curiosity and openmindfulness and a willingness to set aside personal bias or prevailing consensus. The bureau chief reviews and selects pitches based on rigorous journalistic principles, and treats all points of view with diligent inquiry and respect. The incumbent prizes original reporting and builds stories that promote calm over fear and insight over assumption. A Monitor journalist depicts the subject of the story fairly and without embellishment, and eschews advocacy. The Monitor equips the reader to reach his or her own wellreasoned conclusions.

The bureau chief strives to uphold The Christian Science Monitors founding mission to spread undivided the Science that operates unspent, and its object to injure no man but to bless all mankind. That includes hewing to our five operational guidelines:

• Bring a healing, purifying thought to many homes. We counteract cynicism about news and humanity by upholding a higher standard of both.
• Get above the fray. Because were owned by a church, were free from corporate and political interests.
• Cover the days vital global news. We provide a trustworthy and concise compilation for our thoughtful, busy readers.
• Investigate ideals and endeavors, not just events. We keep abreast of the times by recognizing key currents of thought and their impact.
• Be clean, familyfriendly, and nonsensational. We are a newspaper for the home.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The West Coast Bureau Chief is an original and enterprising thinker. The incumbent knows that the people who call California home are diverse; has a keen eye for news and feature stories that capture through rich description and variety of voices how these states and communities govern and gather, educate and earn, and articulate their values and creativity; and knows that different types of stories require different narrative approaches. Writing grows out of reading. The West Coast Bureau Chief is a deep reader who draws from a diversity of sources to stoke curiosity, sharpen ideas, and spot stories not yet told, and is comfortable engaging people across the regions diverse communities. The incumbent complies with Monitor Ethics Policy as relevant. This includes not taking any public position on any political or publicissue campaign, including through social media posts, participation in protests, or donations to political candidates or issues.

• Conceptualize distinctly Monitor stories, in line with the five points above
• Demonstrate strong judgment about when and where to travel, how to make the most of a trip, and good budgeting skills
• Collaborate with other writers within and outside the pod as needed for more in-depth stories.
• Collaborate with pod editors throughout the editing and factchecking process.
• Respond to breaking news stories, while also showing mastery of features, focuslength pieces, and cover stories.
• Produce quality work at a consistent pace: deliver an average of 68 stories a month at the requested length and by the agreedupon deadline.
• Respond to reader feedback in a timely and respectful fashion.
• Responsibly manage bureau finances, including filing expenses promptly and according to established procedures.

Job Requirements

Education/Experience

• A Bachelors degree plus a masters in journalism or equivalent in newspaper experience (35 years on average) is required.

Knowledge and skills

• Reads widely, deeply, and regularly for subject knowledge and breadth of perspectives
• Demonstrates strong reporting instincts and discernment, persistence, and professionalism in getting to the most valuable sources
• Shows a mastery of both deadline writing and indepth pieces, including features
• Practices editorial rigor resulting in strong story angles and incisive, energetic writing
• Embraces a culture of feedback
• Understands, respects, and consistently applies Monitor style and language sensitivities.
• Engages collaboratively with editors and other writers
• Communicates effectively with editors and, when needed, senior management
• Has a keen understanding of how democratic institutions work and relate to each other within the constitutional structure

Technology Skills

Experience with EZ Publish, social media platforms.

Pay Range: $100,541 $130,702.40 annually

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification document form upon hire.

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