Sports Writer Meridian, Mississippi

From JJobs

Company: The Meridian Star
Position: Seeking versatile sports writer
Location: Meridian, Mississippi
Job Status: Full-time
Salary: Negotiable
Ad Expires: September 12, 2011
Job ID: 1275906
Website: http://meridianstar.com


Description:




Sports writer


The Meridian Star, a 14,000 circulation daily that serves east Mississippi, is looking for a versatile journalist to complete its three-man sports staff. While the position will focus mainly on writing, copy editing and paginating responsibilities are also crucial, as is the use of social media to break news. The Star covers 19 high schools as well as Meridian, East Central and East Mississippi community colleges. Opportunities also exist to cover Mississippi State, Southern Miss and Ole Miss. We are looking to fill this position immediately. Interested applicants should send a resume, cover letter, writing and design samples, and references to:jwachter@themeridianstar.com or The Meridian Star, c/o Sports Editor Jamie Wachter, P.O. Box 1591, Meridian, MS 39302.

 

Used to work there and have a couple of close friends from Meridian. Here's what I can tell you:

PLUS
*There are very good high school sports in Meridian. Meridian High School was state champion in basketball last year, and won in football in 2008 (and probably would have a couple more titles if not for South Panola). West Lauderdale is a perennial powerhouse in baseball, and there are some great girls programs in softball and basketball at several of the smaller county schools.

*Meridian Community College is good at everything it plays (which does not include football), but is a longtime national power in baseball and soccer. East Mississippi Community College is generally pretty good at football, and sends several guys to SEC schools every year.

*The starting quarterback at Southern Miss (Austin Davis) is from Meridian, as is the guy who's likely to be the starting quarterback at Mississippi State from 2012-14 (Tyler Russell). So there's a lot of local interest in what goes on in Hattiesburg and Starkville.

MINUS
*It's CNHI, so you'll work your ass off for not much pay (mid-20K, I would guess), and probably have to take a furlough or two every year. This is probably issue No. 1.

*Though Davis and Russell are both from Meridian, they don't cover USM and MSU on a day-to-day basis. It's spot coverage of home games that don't conflict with local sports and/or desk shifts, which eat up a lot of your hours at a paper that size.

*The city is very meh, a run-of-the-mill southern interstate town. Lots of great golf in town if you're into that sort of thing and decent outdoor/recreational opportunities, but almost zero nightlife if you're young and single.

 

CNHI is 5 furlough days a quarter.