Company Description
The Tab and Babe are student-written sites covering college and youth culture run by journalists who like being first. Most websites are happy to chew up their competitors’ articles and spit them out at their audience — we believe that readers deserve more. Our editors in New York publish confrontational interviews, sharp takes and voices that usually go unheard. We also have local teams of bold and entertaining writers at leading colleges in the US and UK, breaking campus news and shooting original videos that reach millions of people every month. Last year our scoops appeared in The New York Times, BuzzFeed, and pretty much everywhere else. Every day we train our most talented student contributors to be the first generation of truly digital reporters. They get hired straight out of college, either by us, or by the world’s leading media companies.
Job Description
The Tab breaks the biggest stories on campus. We started at Cambridge University in 2009 with the mission to publish news students care about in a style they want to read. We’re now a global news network read by millions of people a month, with offices in New York and London. What makes us unique is our mix of original local reporting and global reach. Our campus editorial teams deliver bold, fearless and entertaining journalism to readers at their universities. Then we help those stories find a much wider audience. There are a number of ways you can get involved — writing stories, shooting video, taking pictures.
Breaking News
Breaking news is anything you would immediately tell a friend or a group of people about. If you could describe it with a phrase it would be: “Look what’s going on right now.” This could be a protest, fire, accident, concert announcement, someone doing something ridiculous, an important statement from the university, or even a celebrity on campus — if it hasn’t been reported elsewhere, it’s a story you can break. If you would tell someone about it, it’s news.
Interview with an interesting person at your school
This can be either a video interview or a written article. Say what makes them special, and what they are known for. It could focus on their achievements, or the obstacles they have overcome. Write a three line introduction, and six questions that you would ask them for a Q&A. This is your chance to tell their story. Then, once we approve your interview subject, you can contact them to arrange an in-person meeting or phone call.
Insider’s Guide to something on campus
This can be a guide to a tradition, a dorm, a bar, a frat, anything people really care about. Write the first 3-5 paragraphs of your guide, explaining why your topic is important and why people are excited about it. Make it as descriptive and funny as possible – an ode to that event. Then list the 8-12 points that will make up your piece – the things people need to know about this event, just so we can see how you structure a guide like this.
Op-eds about topical issues that affect students
Ideally it would be something that everyone knows and cares about — it could be a restaurant, a tradition, even a professor or class. It can be serious or light-hearted — as long as it’s engaging. List everything point you want to make, and then develop each one with brief details. Be passionate and emphatic. For the more humorous pieces, use lots of inside jokes. If the person is familiar with your subject, they should be laughing along. If they aren’t, they should want to be by the end.
Game day video features
We want talented videographers and camera-friendly faces to host light-hearted segments at tailgates which we will run on our social platforms. If you’re confident, funny and a natural on camera, get in touch. Or if you’re happy pointing a camera at the person described above, we’d love to hear from you too.
