Lakers beat writer - Orange County Register

The Orange County Register is looking for a Lakers beat writer. Please see the job description below and contact our Lakers editor if you are interested.

Todd Harmonson
Sports Editor
Orange County Register

The Lakers beat writer will cover the subject areas without bias or favoritism. Stories of interest to Lakers fans in Orange County will form the dominant sphere of attention in our coverage, but the reporter will not ignore a story of regional or national significance. The reporter will be asked to cover developments with opposing teams as well as national developments within the NBA. Coverage also needs to look beyond the games and present a broad view of the Lakers and the league. Fans know what happened, but they want to understand why it happened and why it matters. Our beat writer needs to focus on those aspects far more than scores and statistics.

The Lakers reporter needs to be the guardian and point person for sports information from the beat. Information needs to be delivered to the proper sites and in an immediate manner. The reporter must create, organize and implement ideas onto various platforms. Though our basic philosophy is to be objective, commentary and strong opinions on controversial topics are welcomed and, in fact, encouraged.

REPORTER RESPONSIBILITIES
-- Game-day contributor (gamer, sidebars, opinion pieces, news and notes)
-- Report breaking news stories in an immediate manner and to do continuous follow-ups.
-- News stories on developments and policies within the league/team/program
-- Feature stories on athletes, coaches and programs.
-- Submit multi-layered features
-- Develop enterprise stories that examine key issues and personalities on the beat
-- Responsible for off-the-court news reporting
-- Reader involvement in stories
-- Q&A pieces with personalites involved within the beat
-- Work the Web through social networking and interacting with readers on our site


QUALIFICATIONS
Candidates must demonstrate strong writing, reporting, organizing and planning skills. We're looking for someone who is energetic and shows initiative. Also looking for someone to contribute enterprise and investigative projects from within the area of coverage. The ideal candidate will have a bachelor's degree and a minimum of 5 to 8 years covering a sports-related beat. Knowledge of the NBA, as well as sports in general, and Southern California preferred. Knowledge of the CCI word processing system and Web-related administration tools is a plus.

The position pays a competitive salary and includes a comprehensive benefits package. Please send your resume and 10 writing samples (including a mix of enterprise, features, gamers and analysis) to Register assistant sports editor David Bean at dbean@ocregister.com. Please no phone calls.

 

I hate to be *that guy* and take issue with a job ad, but....

Fans know what happened, but they want to understand why it happened and why it matters. Our beat writer needs to focus on those aspects far more than scores and statistics.

I would argue statistics are a pretty big part of WHY it happened. And if anything, I wish more beat writers delved deeper into that side of the game rather than just covering the drama and ESPN-manufactured storylines.

 

Or you can mix the two:

"Russell Westbrook scored 40 points on 12-for-18 shooting, his third straight 30-plus point game and fourth straight 60 percent shooting night.

"Question: Is he better than Jordan? Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith join us to discuss..."

 

LeBron's 30/60 streak laughs at Westbrook.

 

Thanks Skip. What say you, Stephen?

"That's disgraceful. You know who the victim is here? Kobe Bryant, that's who."

 

Man, Stephen A, you sound like a bitch!

 

There's something to be said for that. If you can get something from the numbers beyond the obvious that shows trends and such.

However, it seems the actual results of games are becoming less and less significant than all the other stuff that transpires outside the lines. Maybe just too many games.

 

I don't know if they're still doing it under the new regime there but they once had some middle-aged fan blogging about the Angels on the team website. I guess she offered her own perspective on what to wear, what to eat and who to cheer for, and who the cute players were. I guess that's going beyond the box score.

 

Please, we can all tell which ones are the cute ones. Er, I mean, pine tar, WAR, or whatever.

I'll see myself out.

 

This strikes me as a job where, if you don't hear from the headhunter, you probably ain't in the picture.

So far, no headhunter calls. Which means Charlize Theron won't be dating a sportswriter. Because if I got the call, she'd not be able to resist. I mean, a dog with a martini glass. Who could resist?

 

and the winner is......

Bill Oram, who used to cover the Utah Jazz at the Salt Lake Tribune.

The new Jazz writer at the SLTrib will be Aaron Falk, who used to cover Real Salt Lake and some preps.

Falk's replacement on the Real Salt Lake beat will be Chris Kamrani.

 

Yes, we hired Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune to cover our Lakers beat. The news has been out there for a bit, but I couldn't confirm until today. We're excited to have Bill, an excellent, award-winning writer and reporter, get started on the beat next week.

We also are adding Mark Heisler, who has been honored with the Basketball Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy Award and has covered the NBA for more than 30 seasons, as a contributing NBA columnist. Mark will deliver a weekly column and NBA rankings.

Thank you to all who applied for our Lakers position. We received a lot of strong submissions and enjoyed talking with several outstanding candidates.

Todd Harmonson
Sports Editor
Orange County Register