Public policy reporter 85K-100K

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 May 15, 2026 — Remapping Debate is looking for an experienced reporter to join us on a full-time basis. You would be writing deeply reported (typically 2,500 to 3,500 word) stories on national and NYC-based issues. You would not be on the mind-destroying, soul-destroying, body-destroying treadmill of cranking out multiple pieces a day. The position can be as remote or as in person as you wish. 

Compensation and Benefits 

$85,000 - $100,000 to start

Six weeks of paid vacation. 

Full employer reimbursement of healthcare premiums (up to the level of the “New York State of Health” Marketplace Platinum Plan we’ve benchmarked). That’s not just for you; it’s for you and, as applicable, spouse or domestic partner, and children. 

You would be able to work remotely to the extent you wish

What Does Remapping Debate do? 

Remapping Debate is a domestic public-policy news website dedicated to in-depth reporting on critical issues shaping society. Remapping Debate’s reporting covers domestic public policy across a wide range of subjects, including housing, health care, education, taxation, market failures and successes, regulatory failures and successes, identarianism, immigration, law, justice, civil rights, and public safety. 

Many of our recent stories have been tied to New York City, but we have reported, and will continue to report, on issues of national concern. 

We are often interested in reframing questions: from “what is adequate?” to “what is optimal?” Or from current practice to the range of alternatives — those tried in the United States in the past, those tried elsewhere, past or present, and those that so far have only been imagined. 

What We Are Looking For 

You must be willing to push interviewees hard (though that might make them less willing to talk to you next time), slog through documents in some cases, and deal with an editor whose sins include saying things like, “I know that’s interesting and newsworthy, but it’s not the specific story we want probed.” 

Plus which, the editor title is not nominal: I would be closely editing your work, however experienced you may be. 

We will often be looking to reframe a question from “what is adequate?” to “what is optimal?” Or from a universe of current and practices to an exploration of alternatives (those tried in the U.S. in the past; those tried elsewhere, past or present; and those that have so far only been imagined). 

You have to be sufficiently heterodox to be comfortable asking the kind of questions many outlets find taboo (discussions of education policy come immediately to mind). Likewise, if, political pretending, demonizing, fetishizing, and romanticizing, whether on right or left, doesn’t drive you crazy, we’re unlikely to be a good fit.

 Finally, you need to be open to thinking about story development strategies and reporting strategies you may not have used before. 

Experience 

A minimum of five years of full-time reporting experience.

See sidebar for how to apply.