Reporter -TrentLive & CheshireLive; Maternity Cover

Company Description

Ready to set the agenda in Stoke and Cheshire? We are looking for a Reporter to join our dynamic Stoke-on-Trent & Cheshire Live news team. This is a fantastic opportunity for a skilled journalist who is passionate about local news and is hungry to find and report on the issues which matter most to our readers.

We’re looking for fresh ideas and new perspectives from people from a wide range of backgrounds, and we want you to tell us the stories you believe are important from our many communities so we can continue to diversify our content.

This is a home based role, however due to the nature of the position, we are ideally looking for candidates based in or around Stoke-on-Trent.

This is a maternity cover fixed term contract role, initially for 12 months, starting early May 2026.

Hello, we’re Reach. Every day, our trusted news, stories and content connect with millions of people where they live - whether that’s on their social feed or at their neighbourhood newsstand; through their local community or their take on the hot topic of the day.

We're home to more than 120 trusted brands - from household names like the Mirror, Express, Daily Star and Daily Record, to local titles like the Manchester Evening News, MyLondon, Belfast Live and brands making a splash in the US like the Irish Star.

It's our ability to understand people and the things that matter to them that makes us the UK and Ireland's largest commercial news publisher. We reach 70% of the UK's online population and speak to over 100 million social followers around the world. And we’re just getting started…

As a modern media organisation, we're much more than just news. And it takes a wide range of people and skills to serve diverse audiences, customers and communities like we do.

We know everyone has their own story to tell, so we’ve built an environment where every background is respected and every day is a day to explore.

We’ll help you build a career that works with your life, while giving you the space to create and grow. .

You will work as part of our news team to produce engaging, digital content. You will have the opportunity to provide live coverage of breaking news and deliver exclusive off-diary stories written in a way that ensures as many people as possible see and respond to our work.

You will build strong contacts within the industry for story gathering, sourcing and conducting interviews. You will take pictures and film footage whilst you are out on patch reporting, always thinking of how to scoop the next exclusive. This role will involve working some weekends, early mornings and evenings on a shift based rota, so a flexible approach is required.

You are a passionate journalist with an NCTJ/NQJ or equivalent journalism qualification, with up to date knowledge of UK media law, and ideally 100 wpm shorthand. You are a first class writer with proven experience working in a similar regional or digital news room environment. You have excellent storytelling techniques and a keen eye for what makes a great story. You can create engaging content at pace and hit deadlines with ease.

You have expert knowledge of your patch and know how to tell stories that will relate directly to our ever growing and diverse audience. You have superb social media skills and an understanding of how to utilise various social platforms to make content engaging. Having a clean driving licence is highly desirable, allowing you to be first on the scene to cover breaking stories.

We take good care of our people - and that means more than just a pay packet. Whatever your role, you'll get a range of benefits, including:

• 25 days' holiday (plus bank holidays), as well as an extra day after you've been with us for three, five and 10 years. We also have a scheme to help you buy extra holiday if you want to.
• An extra day's paid leave each year to volunteer for a cause close to your community or your heart.
• Big moment day - an extra day’s paid leave for a moment that matters to you - like getting married, moving house or welcoming a new addition to the…