Within the local division of Gannett's USA TODAY Network, the Center for Community Journalism is a nationwide leadership, editing and planning structure supporting small and mid-sized newsrooms. Its mission is to provide timely, factual and relevant information as a public service in local communities. The CCJ focuses on unique and distinctive reporting on high-interest local topics including food, drink and culture; growth and development; government accountability; and people-centered "sense of place"stories. CCJ newsrooms succeed by valuing quality over quantity, recognizing that premium content for subscribers will sustain local journalism for the long haul.
Local editors are high-impact leaders, mentors, and coaches guiding a team of journalists within the CCJ. Supporting frontline journalists in both home and remote newsrooms, local editors provide guidance from idea to publication to deliver stories that engage on key issues and interests within local communities. This will mean working with reporters to hone ideas into focused stories that serve readers and help grow our subscriber base. By prioritizing DEI values in every aspect of their work, local editors cultivate high-performing teams and reach beyond traditional newspaper audiences. They intentionally create a culture of teamwork and belonging.
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Dedication to transparency and accountability is key, as well as an eye for meaningful enterprise and watchdog stories with a focus on solutions.
The local editor works closely with producer/planners to maintain a consistent flow of quality stories, visuals and other content, enforce deadlines and identify opportunities. The local editor must be a hands-on digital leader, making effective use of social media, SEO and trends garnered from metrics. The successful leader in this role is adept at translating raw data into the language of journalism and motivating front-line journalists to pursue their public service mission while advancing our goals.
Local editors may work across multiple newsrooms and even across state lines, so curiosity and commitment to remote teams and other communities is essential. The CCJ is designed to prioritize what matters most to local communities - even those that don't have an on-site local editor.
The Local Editor reports to a Group Editor and supervises frontline journalists within the wider context of the CCJ.
Responsibilities include:
- Boots on the ground editing for local newsrooms.
- Primary assigning, story vetting, line editing. Managing workflow to meet deadlines.
- Coaching and directly supervising front-line journalists, including regular 1:1s.
- Ensuring steady productivity around high value topics and adjusting as needed.
- Prioritizing DEI values in story selection, sourcing and hiring.
- Being the local face of the news organization for the community where based and ensuring local engagement by frontline journalists in others.
- Helping the staff hone skills in a wide range of storytelling: from real-time digital updates to narrative storytelling, employing alternative story forms and multimedia.
- Using metrics and analytics to determine how to best reach and grow the audience.
- Increasing digital audience and engagement and growing digital subscriptions.
- Assuring daily work is completed on time and efficiently, setting priorities and coordinating with colleagues.
- Receiving assignments in the form of objectives to meet goals; administering company policies that directly affect team members.
- Assigning and editing articles for context, completeness, fairness, accuracy, balance, and adherence to news values. Demonstrating strong news judgment in the selection, prioritization and editing of content.
- Writing effective digital headlines, social media posts, briefs and breaking news alerts that help attract audiences.
- Market leader duties such as office/building administration, compliance and customer service that require hands-on engagement at the local level (with Market Leader Administrators).
- Labor relations in certain markets (with Group Editor, HRBP, legal).
- Leading or coordinating coverage when local news attracts a national audience (with Group Editor, Producer/Planners, others).
- Cultivating a recruitment pipeline and screening, conducting first interviews for frontline journalists (with Group Editor, News and Talent Team, Recruiters).
- Reviewing and optimizing beat and topic assignments within local newsrooms (with Group Editor).
- Manage freelancers (with Operations Assistants).
Qualifications:
- Commitment to values of fairness, diversity, inclusion, and professionalism.
- Strong writing skills and a command of grammar and style.
- Strong story and word editing skills.
- Knowledge of data-based reporting and use of spreadsheets such as Excel.
- Experience with social media, including Instagram Stories, as a tool to build audience and as a source for beat development.
- Experience with and/or interest in multimedia, including video and podcasting.
- Ability to work collaboratively with others locally and regionally to meet common goals.
- Demonstrated commitment to reader interest and reader questions in helping reporters frame stories, utilizing tools such as Google Trends and Parsley.
- Top-notch planning, organizational and time management skills.
- Understanding of metrics, social media, and SEO and how they relate to the audience funnel.
- Self-motivation and self-direction.
- Ability to work as a member of a team.
- Ability to multi-task and excel under deadline pressure in a rapidly changing environment. • Solid news judgment and mastery of ethical and legal principles in day-to-day journalism.
- Bachelor's or master's degree in communications, journalism, marketing, or related field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- 3-5 years of relevant work experience. Management/supervisory experience.
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