Freelance Writer, Service Journalism
Freelance, per-piece assignments. Fully remote.
The Media Copilot is building a bench of freelance writers for a service journalism partnership with the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) at the University of Missouri. The work: practical, rigorously reported pieces that help newsrooms and media professionals evaluate and adopt digital tools, with an emphasis on AI.
This is service journalism in the real sense. Hands-on evaluation, clear methodology, honest verdicts, original reporting on real newsrooms doing real work, and writing that respects a professional reader’s time. If you’ve ever tested a product properly before recommending it, you know the difference between that and content marketing. We’re hiring for that difference.
One more thing makes this different: we run an AI-forward newsroom, and our writers are inside the process, not upstream of it. Your reporting works harder here: a single assignment often becomes a review, a case study, and a getting-started guide, all drawn from one round of reporting. And with the help of our AI production system, that raw material can become more. You’re involved at every step, and your byline only goes on work you’ve signed off on.
What you’ll write
- How-to guides: step-by-step pieces explaining key AI and digital workflows in newsrooms, supplemented with screenshots and short videos
- Review articles: hands-on, structured evaluations with a clear verdict, focused on usability, affordability, and newsroom adaptability
- Case studies: reported pieces on newsrooms and media teams that have implemented AI successfully. Expect these to be a big part of the work
- Expert pieces: occasional analysis and best practices, usually based on your pitches
Pieces run roughly 500 to 1,500+ words depending on format. Work is assigned and edited by our Managing Editor, published through the RJI partnership with attribution, and held to journalistic standards, including the SPJ Code of Ethics.
Who you are
- A journalist or someone with a strong media or communications background. Not a content marketer
- A strong writer who knows what good service journalism looks like and has the clips to show it
- Experienced at evaluating software or products: you test things hands-on, develop criteria, and back up your verdicts
- Background at a review site or a publication that evaluates products is a real plus
- Curious about AI’s role in media work. You don’t need to be an evangelist, but you need to be willing to get your hands dirty with the tools, and comfortable working in a newsroom that uses AI to get more mileage out of your reporting
The details
- Freelance, per-piece assignments. Rates are competitive and depend on format and scope
- Fully remote
- Volume varies by month; writers who pitch well and deliver clean copy get more assignments
- Assignments run through The Media Copilot’s editorial process; bylined work published via RJI
- Assignments are built to work hard. From the articles you’ve written, we work with you and our AI production system to develop additional content from your raw material, with you in the loop throughout
How to apply
Send a short note on your background, links to two or three clips that show your service journalism or product-evaluation chops, and your rates to [email protected]. Reviewed on a rolling basis.