Deputy Regional Sports Editor - Raleigh

Hey, everyone. We have an opening to join our editing team. This position is open because the previous person who held it shifted to a new job we recently created on the news side. The plan, for now, is for this person to be based in Raleigh at the N&O but the right person/circumstance could join me in Charlotte. We have some flexibility.

McClatchy is looking for a great Deputy Regional Sports Editor.

We’re looking for a sports editor to direct sports coverage in Raleigh at the News & Observer. This person will collaborate with a team of sports editors and reporters across McClatchy’s Southeast region newsrooms to develop compelling and essential sports journalism for our readers. The ability to collaborate effectively is essential.

Our regional sports editors must have a strong understanding of how to grow digital readership and strengthen engagement in a competitive pro sports and Division I college market. Our major readership drivers in North Carolina include UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, NC State University, the Carolina Hurricanes, Carolina Panthers, Charlotte Hornets, NASCAR and a broad stretch of high school sports.

The primary focus of this editor’s duties will be college sports (UNC, NC State and Duke), but the sports editor will assist in high school and pro sports coverage.

The deputy regional sports editor will work closely with the Senior Sports Editor to lead our sports team in proactively breaking news on their beats, elevating our day-to-day coverage and identifying exclusive high-end enterprise that drives loyalty with our readers. He or she will succeed by being a strong coach for both early-career writers and sports-writing veterans.

Collaboration across newsrooms is vital, as well as effective teamwork with colleagues in advertising, product development and audience growth.

Responsibilities:

• Use strong editing skills and excellent news judgment to help shape our sports journalism and get it in front of digital readers.
• Work with reporters and other editors to develop smart short-, mid- and long-term coverage plans that are essential to sports readers.
• Directly supervise sports reporters and help them build key digital audience skills. Work collaboratively across the newsroom, region and McClatchy to help develop a high-performing sports team.
• Be innovative. We’re seeking an editor who can bring new ideas about how to grow our digital audience and serve our readers.
• Use analytics tools to determine the effectiveness of strategies and revise as needed to drive our top-level audience goals.
• Use problem-solving skills to negotiate hurdles and identify solutions to stay on course with projects and strategies.
• Coach and mentor staff for improved performance and progress on individual skills, career goals and newsroom and company priorities.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 3+ years of experience leading reporters and directing sports coverage.
• Ability to collaborate effectively.
• Ability to be a strong coach for both early-career writers and sports-writing veterans.

To Apply: Please include samples of breaking news coverage AND larger enterprise projects that you’ve edited and coordinated or a link to your portfolio containing these samples of work.


McClatchy is committed to providing equal employment opportunity (EEO) for all applicants and employees. McClatchy considers all candidates without regard to basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, ancestry, medical condition, family care status, pregnancy or physical disability (except where physical fitness is a valid occupational qualification), or any other basis protected by state and federal laws.

 

Damn it. This comes 20 years too late for me, but Matt is good folks and if you've always wanted to be a mentor/teacher, you could do a whole lot worse. And Raleigh is an awesome city. Seems like there's a new microbrewery on every corner.

Get on this ASAP.

 

Just wanted to update everyone to say that this job has been filled. I'm excited about the team we've built in the Carolinas.

 

Whoa, Nellie!

 

I'm torn on posting this link, but it's relevant, no matter how many years later it is.

Florida State Beat Writer Resigns After Plagiarism Charges

 

It’s absolutely relevant.

 

Some people just have a magical ability to defy physics and fall up.

Meanwhile, I'm working as hard as ever for a salary I was making when my former 31-year-old Lexus rolled off the assembly line.

 

No kidding. How does someone who gets nailed for plagiarism even get another job in journalism? Someone please explain that.

 

You do your research as an editor when hiring somebody and find out the real story of what happened, learn former editors say they'd hire them again and don't let something that happened to someone in their 20s (that, again, after doing your own research instead of relying on outside reporting) ruin someone's life. Especially when you understand what happened and realize how many young journalists the same thing could have happened to in the digital publishing age.

Natalie has not failed up. She's a damn fine journalist. I'm not just comfortable with her leading our colleges coverage, I'm excited about the potential she brings to our staff with her coaching.

 

It’s your decision to hire whoever you want. I get that. But ‘how many young journalists the same thing could have happened to in the digital publishing age’ no I don’t get that. It’s easy to avoid plagiarism. Don’t use somebody else’s words under your byline.

 

The plagiarism in Tallahassee wasn’t strike one - not by a long shot. But people change and perhaps she has too. I wish you luck with your decision.