Editor at Gannett in Springfield, Illinois

Job Description:

The Midwest Group of the Center for Community Journalism (CCJ), part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, is recruiting for a top editor to oversee The State Journal-Register in Springfield, Ill., and The Courier in Lincoln, Ill. The editor would be based in Springfield, the state capital.

The Center for Community Journalism is a nationwide leadership, editing and planning structure supporting small and mid-sized newsrooms. CCJ editors are high-impact leaders, mentors and coaches guiding a team of journalists within the group. They provide guidance from idea to publication, delivering stories that engage on key issues and interests within local communities. CCJ editors intentionally create a culture of teamwork and belonging.

Dedication to transparency and accountability is key, as well as an eye for meaningful enterprise and watchdog stories with a focus on solutions.

The editor reports to a group editor and works closely with producer/planners to maintain a consistent flow of quality stories, visuals and other content, enforce deadlines and identify opportunities. The editor must be a hands-on digital leader, making effective use of social media, SEO and trends garnered from analytics.

The successful leader in this role is adept at translating raw data into journalism and motivating front-line journalists to pursue their public service mission while advancing our goals.
CCJ editors 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.

The editor will focus on news at the two sites, which have full-time and part-time reporters and the ability to use stringers. There is a dotted-line collaboration in each market with sportswriters, who report to editors elsewhere in the CCJ.

Responsibilities:

• Impactful and timely editing for local newsrooms.
• Primary assigning, story vetting and line editing, and managing workflow to meet deadlines.
• Coaching and directly supervising front-line journalists, including regular one-on-one meetings.
• 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 analytics to help 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.
• Leading or coordinating coverage when local news attracts a national audience (with group editor, producer/planners and other partners).
• Cultivating a recruitment pipeline and screening and 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).
• Managing correspondents.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's or master's degree in communications and journalism or related field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 3-5 years of relevant work experience. Management/supervisory experience.
• 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 audience acquisition and retention.
• 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.

Application Instructions

We are eager to learn more about you and how you fit this role. When you apply, don't limit your upload to a resume; show us what you've done. To do so, put together a single document file that includes the following, in this order:

Your resume - one to two pages.

A cover letter that outlines how you would approach the job.

Links to 3-6 online samples of your work. Show us what you've produced or had a hand in that best reflects what you can do in your desired role.

It is important that these items be assembled into a single document and uploaded in PDF format. Completing these steps will ensure that your application receives the highest consideration.

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