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Audience
Jake Cox
Lisagor Award-winning journalist specializing in audience engagement, newsletter production, and news product development. I create content and refine strategy that connects reporting with readers — from email campaigns to platform strategy, data tools and more.
Currently a product manager with Michigan Public via The Magpie Project. Previously on the newsletter desk at Block Club Chicago and Digital Managing Editor of The DePaulia. DePaul University, June 2026.
Available for full-time & contract work →Featured Project
Block Club Chicago // 2025
WhatsApp Channel
Launched a WhatsApp channel to deliver immigration news to Chicago communities most affected by federal enforcement. Grew to 3,200 subscribers in six weeks. Recognized by the Knight Foundation, Newspack and Medill.
Read the Newspack Blog Post about the Channel→Stories
5Reporting on LGBTQ+ communities, arts and culture, and spot news.
4th Place, Best News Story — ACP
Newsletters
3Selected editions from Block Club's newsletter desk.
Experience
Newsletter Intern
Block Club Chicago · Chicago, Ill.
- Launched and scaled a WhatsApp broadcast channel to 3,200+ subscribers in six weeks, delivering verified immigration coverage to communities most affected by federal enforcement and earning recognition from Knight Foundation, AJP, Medill and Reuters
- Produce and publish daily newsletters to 130,000+ subscribers, making real-time story selection and placement calls against deadline
- Analyze open rates, CTR and CTOR across daily sends to A/B test subject lines and optimize story hierarchy for engagement lift
- Report breaking news and enterprise features across civic, arts, LGBTQ+ and weather beats for a nonprofit hyperlocal newsroom
- Partner with editors and reporters to shape newsletter editions around shifting coverage priorities throughout the news cycle
Producer & Lead Data Analyst
DePaul CJIE / NBC 5 Chicago · Chicago, Ill.
- Led data analysis, fact-checking and structural editing on two long-form investigations produced with NBC 5 Chicago's I-Team
- Built a Python web scraper to extract Illinois GA witness slips, surfacing opposition patterns that powered an investigative report
- Developed an interactive news app visualizing how Illinois' per-wager sports betting tax hits bettors in an accessible way
- Packaged investigative findings for multi-platform publication and produced vertical video for Facebook, Instagram and YouTube
- Both reports won Chicago Headline Club Peter Lisagor Awards
Digital Managing Editor
The DePaulia · Chicago, Ill.
- Drove a 53% increase in Instagram engagement and 250K+ organic views by rebuilding the social strategy around short-form video, platform-native formats and a repeatable content workflow that outlasted my tenure across a student newsroom
- Directed live breaking news coverage including a student encampment live blog that earned the Peter Lisagor Award for deadline reporting
- Led a digital staff of 25 across web, social and newsletter, setting editorial priorities and coaching reporters on deadline
- Relaunched the paper's newsletter, social and search strategy; grew newsletter subscribers to nearly 1,000
Selected Projects
Sports Betting Tax News App · html + javascript
Recognition
Peter Lisagor Awards
- Deadline Writing (Small Newsroom)
- Best Education Reporting (Student)
- Best Politics & Government Reporting (Student)
- Best Sports Reporting (Student)
- Chicago Headline Club
Associated Collegiate Press
- 4th Place, Best News Story
- 6th Place, Best of Show Website
- HM Breaking News Story
- HM Best In-Depth News Story
- HM Social Media Reporting
Education
B.A. Journalism — DePaul University
Minor: English Literature · Certificate: Geographic Information Systems
Expected June 2026
Coursework: Data journalism, GIS and spatial analysis, media law, investigative reporting
Expected June 2026
Coursework: Data journalism, GIS and spatial analysis, media law, investigative reporting
DePaul FOIA Fellows Bootcamp
Public records skills, FOIA strategy, request tracking and follow-up reporting
Professional Memberships
Investigative Reporters and Editors · Chicago Headline Club, SPJ · Online News Association
Skills
News Writing & Editing
Breaking news, enterprise, AP style, live updates
Audience Engagement
Platform strategy, newsletter writing, subscriber growth
CMS & Analytics
WordPress, Chartbeat, Google Analytics
GIS & Mapping
ArcGIS Pro, Leaflet.js, spatial analysis
Programming & Web
HTML/CSS, Python, R, GitHub
Data Analysis
Cleaning, visualization, statistical analysis
Digital Storytelling
Datawrapper, Flourish, scrollytelling
Adobe Creative Cloud
Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, Premiere
Public Records & FOIA
Request drafting, tracking, follow-up reporting
Newsletter Production
Newsletter Intern · 25+ editions weekly · 130,000+ subscribers
What I Do
- Write and edit web-ready newsletter copy, packaging stories from reporters for digital-first audiences
- Develop subject lines engineered to drive open rates above the 20–25% industry average, including A/B testing
- Shape story framing, hierarchy and sequencing — deciding what leads, what gets a callout and what context a reader needs
- Create custom design for large features
- Write original stories: service pieces, arts coverage, community features, civic news
WhatsApp Channel Launch
Immigration news distribution
The Opportunity
During intensified federal immigration enforcement, many Chicago residents were turning to WhatsApp for news and information — identifying a gap where reporting wasn't reaching this audience.
My Strategy
Launched Block Club's WhatsApp Channel to deliver verified coverage directly to the community most affected.
Results
3,200subscribers in six weeks
Recognition
Knight Foundation, American Journalism Project, Newspack, Medill Midwest Solutions Lab, Reuters.
Read the full case study on how the channel was built →
DePaulia Instagram Growth
Social media strategy & content workflow
Results
+2,000new followers (53% increase)
250K+organic views
What I Did
- Created short-form videos and grid posts for breaking news, explainers and feature stories
- Adapted stories for platform-specific formats following quickly changing industry standards
- Built a repeatable content workflow for a student newsroom that outlasted my tenure
Examples
