25+ Media & Journalism Jobs in Chicago, IL

For the clearest local benchmark, BLS puts news analysts, reporters, and journalists in Chicago at a $70,350 median, $48,070 at the 25th percentile, and $103,550 at the 75th percentile in 2025. For the broader arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media group, the Chicago mean was $37.33 per hour, while the local posting sample centers annual pay around about $70k to $93k and hourly roles around about $24 to $25 an hour.

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 32 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $58,978 at the 25th percentile, $70,840 at the median and $105,232 at the 75th. These are advertised ranges, not earned pay.

Active openings as of October 15, 2026

Senior roles | Entry level | Remote | Posted this week

Live from the Callings.ai index of over 13 million postings, refreshed hourly and re-checked here nightly. Roles that close are dropped at the next refresh.

Showing 30 of 47 openings.

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What our analysts see this month

Competitive market | next 3-6 months

Chicago is still a workable market for media workers, but it is not an easy one. In the last 90 days, the local market showed more than 100 postings across more than 50 companies, yet the mix was fragmented and tilted toward education, photography, and on-site roles rather than broad newsroom expansion. Chicago's Information supersector was down 3.7179% year-over-year in August 2026, metro unemployment was 4.9% preliminarily, and Illinois media, journalism & entertainment employment was down 1.0% year-over-year even as statewide active postings rose 2.9%. Pure reporting or editor searches are harder; candidates who can shoot, edit, write, and work across platform or technical workflows have better odds.

Best positioned: The best odds right now go to an on-site, portfolio-ready candidate who can combine photography or video capture with editing, writing, and platform fluency, especially for education, photography, or community/platform employers rather than only classic newsroom titles.

Main caution: The biggest trap is assuming Chicago has a deep pure-newsroom market; most recent local demand sits outside legacy newsroom hiring, and recent local reporting shows some newsroom employers are still restructuring.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 47 openings in this market. 7 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. Saint Xavier University: 9 open roles
2. EVERSANA INTOUCH International: 2 open roles
3. Nexstar Media Group: 2 open roles
4. Penn State: 2 open roles
5. Rate: 2 open roles
6. TelevisaUnivision, Inc: 2 open roles
7. Univision: 2 open roles
8. AAP group: 1 open role
9. AbbVie Inc.: 1 open role
10. Audacy, Inc.: 1 open role

Where the openings are

• Chicago: 37
• University Park: 2
• Elmhurst: 1
• Lake Forest: 1
• Munster: 1
• Park Ridge: 1
• Itasca: 1
• Mettawa: 1

Work arrangement

on-site 36 (80%), hybrid 5 (11%), remote 4 (9%)

Where the demand is

Recent openings are not dominated by one employer. In the last 90 days, the local market showed more than 100 postings across more than 50 companies, and the employer mix was fragmented rather than concentrated. The most active industries in the sample were education at about 35%, photography at about 25%, media at about 10%, retail at about 10%, and business consulting at about 5%. Named employers in the current sample are led by Lifetouch Inc. at around 20 postings and Saint Xavier University at around 10. The mix also skews early-career and in-person: about 50% of postings are entry level, about 40% are mid level, and about 75% are on-site versus about 5% remote. For job seekers, that means the live opportunity set is concentrated in campus or education media work, photography-heavy roles, and selective platform or community editorial positions rather than a large pool of remote reporter jobs.

• Education and campus media (high): Education accounts for about 35% of the recent local posting mix, and Saint Xavier University is one of the named active employers in the sample.
• Photography and image capture (high): Photography represents about 25% of the posting mix, and photography plus camera operation are among the most-requested local hard skills.
• Newsroom and community-platform editorial (moderate): Media itself is only about 10% of the sampled industry mix, but Chicago Public Media's community-and-platform hire shows that some editorial demand is shifting toward audience and platform responsibilities rather than traditional beat expansion.
• Technical writing and documentation-heavy roles (limited): Business consulting is a smaller slice of the local sample at about 5%, but technical-writing-adjacent paths can be a useful opening for candidates with strong structured writing and process skills.

Where to focus: Target education, photography, and community-platform employers first; treat traditional newsroom reporter openings as selective bonus applications, not the whole search.

Roles worth searching next

• Communications Specialist: If your strength is interviewing, drafting, and stakeholder communication, this is a clean pivot when newsroom seats are tight; the current Chicago opportunity set is broader than pure media employers.
• Content Marketing Specialist: Platform distribution and contextual explanation are rising priorities, which overlaps with newsletter, blog, and owned-content work.
• Motion Designer or Multimedia Designer: Editors with video and visual storytelling skills can cross into motion and interactive production, especially as AI-assisted video workflows spread in brand environments.
• Brand Video Producer: Cross-platform audience intelligence and AI efficiency are shaping media and entertainment work, which favors creators who can package stories for distribution inside growth or brand teams.

What postings ask for

• Photography (table_stakes | immediate): Photography is the single most common hard skill in the current local posting mix at about 25%. Who: Entry-level candidates, photojournalists, and reporters who want hybrid roles.
• Editing and video editing (differentiator | immediate): Editing and video editing each appear in about 10% of local postings, which signals demand for people who can turn raw assets into publishable work quickly. Who: Entry-level and mid-career candidates competing for multimedia roles.
• Writing and journalism fundamentals (table_stakes | immediate): Writing and journalism each show up in about 10% of local postings, so even non-newsroom employers still screen for core reporting and editorial ability. Who: Anyone targeting editorial, platform, or technical-writing paths.
• Community and platform editorial judgment (differentiator | near-term): Chicago Public Media added a Managing Editor, Community and Platforms role, and publishers nationally say they are emphasizing original investigations, contextual analysis, and human stories. Who: Mid-career editors, audience-minded reporters, and candidates pivoting from newsroom work.
• AI literacy, verification, and ethical AI use (premium | immediate): Journalists are being asked to use AI responsibly, detect misinformation, and work in workflows where AI is increasingly embedded in CMS and research processes; Reuters Institute also found that 97% of publishers considered back-end automation important. Who: Reporters, editors, producers, and investigative candidates.
• Technical writing certification (differentiator | near-term): A technical writing certification appears in less than 5% of local postings, so it is not table stakes, but it can help switchers move toward documentation-heavy work as technical writing shifts toward information architecture and quality systems. Who: Career switchers and writers who want steadier non-newsroom paths.

Questions about this market

What do Media, Journalism & Entertainment roles pay in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN?

For the clearest local benchmark, BLS puts news analysts, reporters, and journalists in Chicago at a $70,350 median, $48,070 at the 25th percentile, and $103,550 at the 75th percentile in 2025. For the broader arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media group, the Chicago mean was $37.33 per hour, while the local posting sample centers annual pay around about $70k to $93k and hourly roles around about $24 to $25 an hour. That is decent pay on paper, and the reporter or journalist median sits above the national occupation median of $62,200. But Chicago-area prices were up 2.4% year-over-year in August and home prices were up 6.0% year-over-year in July, so midrange offers will not feel especially rich once housing is in the equation.

Where is demand for Media, Journalism & Entertainment roles in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN concentrated?

Recent openings are not dominated by one employer. In the last 90 days, the local market showed more than 100 postings across more than 50 companies, and the employer mix was fragmented rather than concentrated. The most active industries in the sample were education at about 35%, photography at about 25%, media at about 10%, retail at about 10%, and business consulting at about 5%. Named employers in the current sample are led by Lifetouch Inc. at around 20 postings and Saint Xavier University at around 10. The mix also skews early-career and in-person: about 50% of postings are entry level, about 40% are mid level, and about 75% are on-site versus about 5% remote. For job seekers, that means the live opportunity set is concentrated in campus or education media work, photography-heavy roles, and selective platform or community editorial positions rather than a large pool of remote reporter jobs.

Which employers are hiring the most Media, Journalism & Entertainment talent in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN?

Recent postings show the most activity from Lifetouch Inc. (20 postings), Saint Xavier University (10 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

Can Media, Journalism & Entertainment roles in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN be done remotely?

Of recent postings, 5% are remote and 20% hybrid, with 75% on-site. Use the Remote filter above to see only remote openings.

How current are these listings?

Openings come from the Callings.ai live index of over 13 million jobs, refreshed hourly. This page searches postings from the last 30 days; run the search yourself to filter by anything else in plain language.

Browse Illinois openings by job title

• General Manager: 145 open roles statewide
• Senior Manager: 78 open roles statewide

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