Sports Reporter | Elizabethtown, Kentucky

JournalismJobs.com - Job Listing - Sports Reporter

The News-Enterprise, an aggressive daily newspaper in Hardin County, Ky., with 13,000-plus circulation Monday-Friday and 16,000-plus Sunday, is accepting applications for a sports reporter to cover high school, community and youth sports in the diverse, 105,000 population county that includes Fort Knox. The newspaper is published in Elizabethtown, 40 miles south of Louisville. The candidate who lands this newsroom position will be a high-energy performer who reports and writes effectively on deadline and is able to design, paginate and proof pages effectively; understands the value of online immediacy; sees story ideas where others don't and just can't wait to tell readers about them. The sports team consists of three full-time and one part-time staffer. The newspaper can be found online at www.thenewsenterprise.com.

Qualifications:

• Strong communication, organization and time-management skills
• Ability to write compelling, comprehensive, fact-filled stories on deadline and put readers first by avoiding cliches and arcane language
• Bachelor's degree preferred
• Proficiency in using computers to write and the Internet to research

• Demonstrated ability to design effective pages in deadline situation using InDesign and InCopy
• Familiarity with requirements of photojournalism and ability to take publication quality images with a digital camera
• Available for evening and weekend work as scheduled
• Strong initiative
• Adaptable
• Must have reliable transportation and a valid driver's license
• Working knowledge and understanding of Hardin County sports community is helpful

Essential Functions:

• Report and write previews of local sports events, focus on individual athletes, cover high school and other local sports events.
• Focus on young athletes and their efforts. Looks for interesting stories in participatory sports that don't normally receive much attention.
• Use effective headline writing that accurately summarizes the story while engaging the readers.
• Develop daily and long-range story and photography ideas.
• Use a digital camera and work with Adobe PhotoShop.
• Establish and nurture sources among athletes, coaches, administrators and others involved in local sports.
• Demonstrate understanding and commitment to serving readers.
• Work with photographers to develop ideas for illustrating stories.
• Participate in Sports Team meetings and decisions.

Schedule: Evenings and weekends; 42-hour schedule

 

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Sports reporter (Elizabethtown, KY)

Sports reporter | Elizabethtown, Kentucky

Sports writer/designer, The News-Enterprise: Elizabethtown, Ky.

 

42-hour schedule? Is this a salaried position or an hourly job with two hours of OT each week? If it's the latter, that's not bad. You're gonna work those 2 hours — and more — anyway.

 

It's hourly. Believe there are three salary positions in the entire newsroom: Editor Ben Sheroan, News Team Leader Jeff D'Alessio and Sports Editor Chuck Jones. The copy desk, which is a four-person staff, might have a salaried leader.

I'd be straight-up floored if the latest sports opening pays more than $12 an hour.

That being said, $12 an hour in Elizabethtown, KY, goes a LONG way. Kentucky is statistically one of the cheapest places to live in America. Gas prices around $2 a gallon and very affordable housing in the city (or in the county, where I live, but just a 10-minute drive to the office on the busiest surface street in the county).

And not that this should sway anybody, but the Kentucky Press Association, which The News-Enterprise is a member of, puts The N-E's daily (non Sunday) readership at 11.3K, not 13K. The KPA updates the readership count of its members, so it's not like the KPA numbers should be several years' off.

 

And it is open.
AGAIN.

 

I'm interested. Who do I send my stuff to?

 

Uh, the ad makes it clear how to apply.
Consider this a test of your research skills.

 

Thanks @Slacker .

 

Just apply, Patrick. You asked on another job posting if the position was still available because you didn't want to waste your time submitting your materials if they'd already begun interviewing. Dude, just apply. The worst that happens is they have your stuff for possible future work - or maybe someone moves on from there to another paper and that place has an opening. The person who switched jobs remembers you and on and on. Remember, it's always about who you know.
Also, read the damn postings and pay attention to them. In two job threads, you have made yourself look like someone who doesn't take the time to notice relevant details - that's sort of important for journalists.

 

Moddy couldn't have said it any better. As Joaquin Andujar said, "youneverknow." You might knock their socks off.

 

Don’t apply. Go sell insurance instead, this whole industry is doomed

 

The good:
* Community has a very nice cost of living. You are far enough (40 miles) from Louisville that you are not paying metro prices like many of the closer suburbs. Gas still below 280. Housing and school district taxes are low.
* You are less than 3 hours each from Indy, Cincy and Nashville. So day trips are no big deal and you can still get your pro fix.
* Outside of one small school, you are watching pretty decent programs for Kentucky standards. The largest school in the area, Central Hardin, is ranked in the top 20 in the state in all four spring ball sports (baseball, softball, boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse).
* No Saturday edition. So plenty of Fridays off in the summer.
* Monday-Friday section is usually 3 pages at max. So no killing yourself design wise.
* Newsroom editor and city editor are both former sports editors at this paper. So they can help with style and history and will sometimes pick up a story for you. I worked for both of them for more than a decade and they are both friends on Facebook.

BAD
* This is strictly preps and amateur community sports (yes, including in AARP bowling league and church fastball scores). Haven't covered colleges or anything pro in years.
* Shrinking help. When I was there 5 years ago, the sports team was sports editor, 2 sports writers, part-time clerk (who was @KYSportsWriter and he was AWESOME at his job and saved me from myself plenty of times) and you had two savvy photogs who loved sports. Now, it is the newly promoted sports editor (the only guy left after sports editor Chuck Jones resigned after 18-plus years) and you. That's it. No photogs period in newsroom. No sports/agate clerks. No part-time help. No freelance budget. No layout help except from other guy.
* Except for Sunday, the sports "section" is usually A7, A8 and A9 in the middle of the news section. So no front-page coverage. Many community old timers thought the paper had completely axed the sports section.
* You're in my backyard. So you will get scooped routinely if you don't have the knowledge of the area. Or you can get on my good side. I'm OK either way.
* Oh, pay. I was there 15-plus years and topped out at $10.80. Earlier this year, when Person A covered for Person B when Person B was on vacation, Person A saw his hours slashed in the next couple weeks because of overtime/payroll.

The same month they canned me in 2015, landed a higher-paying job at logistics warehouse less than 30 minutes up I-65. Now making more than $5 more an hour than I got at this paper, weekends off, consistent 7-3 schedule, way better benefits, ability to take vacation darn near any time I please (outside Thanksgiving to Christmas) and I've made $4K plus every year since freelancing.

So there are better financial options in the area.