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LAist Is Looking For Contributors
Fishing for stories (Photo by Culture Shlock via the LAist Featured Photos pool)
LAist is expanding and deepening our coverage of Los Angeles, and we're paying. We are also looking for writers with blogging experience who can fill in for full-time shifts, particularly on weekends.
For freelance pitches, we want original, compelling, heartbreaking, funny, enraging, enlightening work, written clearly and with an eye towards stories that cut through the dull hum of the internet—stories that help the reader better understand L.A. and the people living in it. It should not have been published anywhere else in print or online. Here are some recent examples from our NYC site, Gothamist.
A well-sourced, 1,500-word indictment of governmental incompetence is just as welcome as a 500-word profile of the people who perform death-defying stunts on the Venice boardwalk. We want the gems buried at the bottom of Kafka-esque municipal board meetings and the life-affirming acts of kindness often obscured by the relentless crush of humanity; the joys of working for a dog-walking marijuana delivery service and the hazards of being a mechanic for Angels Flight.
We're also interested in buying short video clips or photo features along the lines of the topics mentioned above.
You should be as excited writing or pitching your story as we are reading it. The only thing we don't want—at the moment—is fiction. Pay depends on experience, quality, and length. Please go here to share a submission or pitch. (Due to the high volume of pitches we receive, we regret that we are unable to reply to every submission.)
For contributors interested in filling in, please email us at tips@laist.com with the subject line "Fill In." Let us know any relevant experience you have, what shifts you would be available for and send us links to at least five clips. No attachments.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
