150+ Media & Journalism Jobs in Washington, DC

Official wage data show Washington pays well but unevenly. BLS puts the broader local arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupational group at a mean hourly wage of $49.19 in May 2025, the broader media family at a $90,060 median and $102,300 mean in 2025, and news analysts, reporters, and journalists in the metro at a $101,020 median, $151,310 mean, $75,580 at the 25th percentile, and $214,280 at the 90th percentile. In the current posting sample, advertised salaries center on about $85k to $120k, with a broader 25th-75th band of about $70k to $150k; hourly roles center on about $28 to $31 an hour.

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 124 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $81,000 at the 25th percentile, $102,000 at the median and $138,875 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 160 openings.

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What our analysts see this month

Competitive market | next 3-6 months

This is still a viable market, but only if you target Washington-specific niches rather than broad media searches. The metro shows more than 450 recent postings across more than 250 companies, yet the backdrop is soft: Washington metro information employment was 79 thousand in August 2026, down -4.7045% year over year, and total metro nonfarm employment was down -1.9610%. Opportunity is concentrated in government/public sector, media, consulting, and defense-adjacent employers, with government/public sector accounting for about 25% of sampled postings and media about 20%. Pay can be attractive—the broader local media family had a $90,060 median wage in 2025—but most openings are mid-career and mostly on-site, so landing a role is harder than the salary headlines suggest.

Best positioned: Candidates with Washington beat expertise, strong editing or technical-writing samples, and willingness to work on-site or hybrid have the best odds right now.

Main caution: Do not mistake a few visible newsroom expansions for a broad recovery in traditional journalism; targeted growth is happening alongside cutbacks and a nationally cautious sector outlook.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 160 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. Washington Post: 7 open roles
2. Radio Free Asia: 6 open roles
3. American University: 3 open roles
4. Atlantic Media Company: 3 open roles
5. Bloomberg Industry Group: 3 open roles
6. Booz Allen: 3 open roles
7. Hive Group: 3 open roles
8. Leidos: 3 open roles
9. Nexstar Media Group: 3 open roles
10. Politico: 3 open roles

Where the openings are

• Washington: 81
• Arlington: 12
• Baltimore: 10
• McLean: 8
• Bethesda: 6
• Fort Meade: 4
• Falls Church: 4
• Annapolis Junction: 3

Work arrangement

on-site 94 (59%), hybrid 58 (36%), remote 7 (4%)

Where the demand is

Real opportunity is not evenly spread across media. In the recent Washington sample, about 25% of postings sit in government and public sector, about 20% in media, about 15% in IT services and consulting, about 15% in defense and space manufacturing, and about 10% in broadcast media production and distribution. That mix tells you this market rewards people who can translate complex institutions such as Congress, agencies, policy, procurement, and national security into publishable copy, video, or documentation. Within named employers, the most consistently active hirers include Bloomberg Industry Group, Washington Post, CACI International, Leidos, American University, USAGM, Politico LLC, and Lifetouch Inc., and hiring is fragmented rather than dominated by one employer. That is good news if you are willing to target multiple employer types, but it also means the market behaves like several sub-markets at once: newsroom reporting, public-service media, academic and institutional publishing, defense-adjacent communication, and production or photography work. The practical pattern is that Washington-specific expertise wins. The strongest local newsroom signal is beat hiring around local news, Congress, economic policy, politics, federal agencies, law enforcement, and sports, while the strongest non-newsroom signal is the pull of technical writing, editing, project management, and clearance-aware roles.

• Political and accountability reporting (high): Growth is concentrated in Washington-specific beats such as Congress, federal agencies, economic policy, politics, law enforcement, local news, and sports, highlighted by The Washington Sun's expansion and The Washington Post's senior political hire.
• Government and contractor technical communication (high): Government/public sector is about 25% of sampled postings, with IT consulting and defense adding about 30% more combined; these roles often reward technical writing, editing, workflow discipline, and sometimes TS/SCI eligibility.
• Broadcast, video, and audio production (moderate): Broadcast media production and distribution makes up about 10% of the local sample, and Reuters Institute reporting says 79% of surveyed publishers expected more video investment and 71% expected more audio expansion.
• Institutional and mission-driven media (moderate): American University and USAGM appear among the recurring local employers, pointing to steady demand in education, international broadcasting, and public-interest media settings.

Where to focus: Prioritize Washington-specific beats plus technical-writing and contractor-adjacent roles; that is where local demand is deepest and outsider competition thins fastest.

Roles worth searching next

• Public affairs or communications specialist: Washington demand leans heavily toward government and institution-linked employers, so interviewing, drafting, editing, and deadline skills transfer well.
• Policy or research analyst: This is a strong pivot for candidates with source development, document review, subject-matter reporting, or economic and government beats.
• Proposal writer or capture writer: Local demand strongly rewards technical writing, project management, and contractor-facing documentation, making this a practical bridge role.
• Open-source intelligence or research specialist: Washington rewards document digging, verification, public-record research, and structured synthesis, especially near government and defense work.

What postings ask for

• Technical writing (premium | immediate): Technical writing is the single strongest local hard-skill signal at about 25% of sampled postings, and it aligns with the heavy presence of government/public sector, IT consulting, and defense-adjacent employers in this market. Who: Career switchers from policy, engineering, science, government, or military work; reporters and editors who are open to institutional writing.
• Editing (table_stakes | immediate): Editing appears in about 15% of local postings, and editors are defined by reviewing and revising content for publication, so this remains core across newsroom and institutional roles. Who: Everyone in this category, especially mid-career applicants who want editor, producer, or senior-writer roles.
• Video editing (differentiator | immediate): Video editing appears in about 10% of local postings, and Reuters Institute reporting says 79% of surveyed publishers expected more investment in video. Who: Reporters, photographers, videographers, broadcasters, and anyone who wants more than text-only roles.
• Project management, SharePoint, and Microsoft Word (differentiator | immediate): Project management, SharePoint, and Microsoft Word each show up in about 10% of local postings, which is a strong clue that institutional, contractor, and documentation-heavy roles are pulling weight in this market. Who: Technical writers, producers, editors moving toward government or contractor employers, and career switchers with operations experience.
• TS/SCI clearance (premium | near-term): About 5% of sampled postings explicitly mention TS/SCI clearance, which is rare enough to materially separate candidates in Washington. Who: U.S. citizens who are eligible for cleared work and interested in defense, intelligence, or government-adjacent roles.
• Data journalism stack: Python, R, SQL, APIs, visualization (premium | near-term): Data-journalism skill sets now include programming, data scraping, APIs, analysis, and visualization, and experts expect AI to further empower document-heavy and dataset-heavy reporting in 2026. Who: Reporters, researchers, policy specialists, and anyone targeting investigations or explanatory journalism.

Questions about this market

What do Media, Journalism & Entertainment roles pay in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV?

Official wage data show Washington pays well but unevenly. BLS puts the broader local arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupational group at a mean hourly wage of $49.19 in May 2025, the broader media family at a $90,060 median and $102,300 mean in 2025, and news analysts, reporters, and journalists in the metro at a $101,020 median, $151,310 mean, $75,580 at the 25th percentile, and $214,280 at the 90th percentile. In the current posting sample, advertised salaries center on about $85k to $120k, with a broader 25th-75th band of about $70k to $150k; hourly roles center on about $28 to $31 an hour. Washington can pay above national norms for serious reporting and editing work. The local journalist median of $101,020 is well above the national reporter median of $62,200, and the broader local category median of $90,060 is also above the national arts/media family median of $62,750.

Where is demand for Media, Journalism & Entertainment roles in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV concentrated?

Real opportunity is not evenly spread across media. In the recent Washington sample, about 25% of postings sit in government and public sector, about 20% in media, about 15% in IT services and consulting, about 15% in defense and space manufacturing, and about 10% in broadcast media production and distribution. That mix tells you this market rewards people who can translate complex institutions such as Congress, agencies, policy, procurement, and national security into publishable copy, video, or documentation. Within named employers, the most consistently active hirers include Bloomberg Industry Group, Washington Post, CACI International, Leidos, American University, USAGM, Politico LLC, and Lifetouch Inc., and hiring is fragmented rather than dominated by one employer. That is good news if you are willing to target multiple employer types, but it also means the market behaves like several sub-markets at once: newsroom reporting, public-service media, academic and institutional publishing, defense-adjacent communication, and production or photography work. The practical pattern is that Washington-specific expertise wins. The strongest local newsroom signal is beat hiring around local news, Congress, economic policy, politics, federal agencies, law enforcement, and sports, while the strongest non-newsroom signal is the pull of technical writing, editing, project management, and clearance-aware roles.

Which employers are hiring the most Media, Journalism & Entertainment talent in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV?

Recent postings show the most activity from Lifetouch Inc. (10 postings), Bloomberg Industry Group (10 postings), Washington Post (10 postings), CACI International (5 postings), Leidos (5 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

Can Media, Journalism & Entertainment roles in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV be done remotely?

Of recent postings, 5% are remote and 25% hybrid, with 70% 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.

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