Sports writer: Greenfield, Indiana

http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1272333

The Daily Reporter in Greenfield, Ind., a suburb of Indianapolis, wants to add a good bat to its lineup: a motivated sportswriter who is able to handle multiple responsibilities. The right candidate will have strong writing skills, be able to thrive under deadline pressure and have a knack for designing sports pages and special sections using Adobe InDesign and Photoshop. Design experience is preferred.

Writing responsibilities include enterprise stories, human interest features, previews and game stories. The right candidate will work closely with the sports editor as a two-person sports department to produce detailed, interesting and topical coverage of the local sports scene, with emphasis on prep sports. Interested candidates should send a cover letter, a résumé with references and five to 10 writing examples to sports editor Brian Harmon at bharmon@greenfieldreporter.com or mail to the Daily Reporter, 22 W. New Road, Greenfield, Ind., 46140.

 

I have a lot of knowledge on this gig, so you can PM me if you so choose.

The good
*-Pay isn't bad for a suburban paper.
*-You're pretty much the only game in town. The Indy Star has drastically curtailed suburban coverage and the only other media in the area is an Internet broadcaster and a high school station.
*-Brian Harmon is a great guy to work with. Their editor, Dave Hill, is also first-class.

Informational
*-You'd cover 4 high schools -- three 4A football schools (out of 5 classes) and a 1A. One of them -- Mt. Vernon -- has a top-notch girls basketball program that generally churns out Div. I recruits. It's also a huge baseball/softball area, so don't expect to get a head start on summer vacation. The paper covers the four schools equitably, which really frosts the fans from the county seat school, who think the paper should favor them, so you'll have to deal with that.

The not-so-good
*-They're a mail-delivery PM, which means they have an 8 p.m. deadline. (except on Friday night). Therefore, just about every event you cover will be in the paper 48 hours later.
*-No Sunday/Monday edition means you've gotta be creative with weekend events, which won't appear in the paper for three days.
*-While the paper's EIC is top-notch, the publisher has a really intense sense of hyperlocal -- especially when it comes to sports. Their prep sports coverage is solid, but the paper is extremely preps-centric. They haven't staffed the Pacers or Colts for years.

 

Interviews have begun.

 

According to his own Twitter feed, hire has been made. Grant Freking, recent Ohio State grad.