Overall good - News Reporter Daily Journal (California) Employee Review

Relaxed environment Smart and fun colleagues and leadership Opportunity to brief binding precedent Remote work

Limited variety of snacks in vending machine.

If you’re hired as a reporter you’ll learn a lot about a wide range of industries in what is arguably the most overlooked branch of the government—the judicial branch. You’ll cover interesting legal cases and legislation that impacts the state of California, and have experience attending court proceedings. If you’re the type of person who enjoys learning something new every day, you’ll get to do a ton of that here. If you’re a go-getter and have no problems coming up with your own assignments or project ideas without them being delegated to you and take the initiative to do so, you’ll have all the opportunities in the world to do so.

The reason why you’ll learn so much on this job of just how things work in the judicial branch of government is because nobody, and I mean NOBODY, will tell you how to do this job. You’re basically thrown into it without any direction whatsoever. Don’t bother asking questions, no one will help you (and nobody really seems to know the answer themselves either). The top editor has very little time or patience to teach anyone how to do anything and will get very upset with you if you don’t “get it,” whatever “it” is. The publication tends to have a libertarian angle to it. The publication also has a very specific writing style and tone that attempts to imitate the Wall Street Journal, and focuses a lot on corporate coverage, or anything that might have big impacts on government functions and private sectors. The top editor is a pretty intelligent person, is interesting to get to know, easy to talk to, and can be very friendly at times (if he’s having a good day), — despite what the other reviews say— but it’s objectively agreed that he has a huge problem dealing with employees. He likes it if you can write a piece without too much editing. Once you prove yourself, are a good writer, and can punch out stories quickly, the editors all will start throwing more assignments at you and will start largely depending on you to make miracles happen or find a front page story to the point there is a massive work disparity among the newsroom. You’ll also know right away if the editor is in a terrible mood because he’ll pick a scapegoat for the day regardless of how well you’ve been performing or how hard you’re working. The editors are always barely flying off the seat of their pants to get the paper printed each night so they could be delivered. There is no semblance of organized structure or set plan in place for daily operations so that things aren’t just changed last minute in the paper, or stories won’t get nixed, or even make it to print on time. Due to the urgency and the rushed nature of the newsroom environment every day, emotions are running high constantly. If you’re someone prone to anxiety, be careful— it’s a VERY high stress environment, causing everyone to panic and the editors to freak out on you and you end up freaking out yourself. Sometimes they’ll gaslight you and intimidate you, so don’t put up with that. You’re expected to beat your competitors every day, even though you’re stacked up against well-staffed, better-compensated newsrooms while you handle a single beat alone. If this type of fast paced, no -real -training-provided type of environment appeals to you, join the company and get some good clips in, and get on out of there after about a year or so. At least you’ll know how to dig up court cases, learn to figure out PACER (the federal docket), navigate your way around the judicial system, meet interesting people who do important work, and cultivate sources. You will learn more here than any government class you take in school, if that course focuses only on the legal/judicial system. I will say, my clips covering complex legal matters and niche subjects have indeed impressed other companies that I’ve interviewed with, even if I didn’t ultimately get hired by some of them.