The Fort Wayne (Ind.) Journal Gazette -- College beat writer

The Fort Wayne (IN.) Journal Gazette, a morning paper with a 46,000 daily and 76,000 Sunday circulation, has an immediate opening for a college beat reporter who has at least a year of experience at a daily newspaper, can produce a mix of game stories, features and enterprise, show sound news judgment and demonstrate an ability to engage readers daily with social media such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs. The successful applicant will be the lead reporter for Indiana and Purdue football and Purdue basketball. Will also help cover high schools and a Low-A minor league baseball team. Strong communication and organizational skills are necessary. Posting and updating blogs daily and on game days as well as using Twitter is required. Experience with videos preferred.

We cover Notre Dame, Indiana, Purdue, the Indy 500, Brickyard 400, several minor league teams and some 50 high schools in a nine-county region. Send resume, a mix of six game stories, features and enterprise, online history and a cover letter explaining what you’d bring to our sports section to Mark Jaworski, Sports Editor, The Journal Gazette, 600 W. Main St., Fort Wayne, IN., 46802
Contact: Mark Jaworski, Sports Editor mjaworski@jg.net (260) 461-8260

http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1599495

 

Sounds pretty cool, but Purdue is pretty far from Fort Wayne and Bloomington is even farther. Does anyone know how that would work out?

 

I think you'd be based in Fort Wayne and go down occasionally during the week. Did they expand?

 

I believe this position was open back in November or December.

 

That was largely covering IU basketball. IU basketball isn't listed in this posting, and I imagine that's the second biggest college beat in the state.

 

What do you want when you say online history?

 

They've done some restructuring at the JG in recent months thanks to a lot of turnover. They recently had an ASE and their longest-standing columnist leave, and they had just hired someone for the IU-Purdue beat before that. The ASE covered Notre Dame along with his duties, so there was (and still is) a lot of shuffling to do. Anyway, here's a bit of info.

The job used to be covering IU and Purdue basketball and football as well as the town's minor league team. I'm guessing it's heading the way of one guy covering IU hoops and Notre Dame and another person taking on Purdue for both sports and IU football. Given the changes in the staff, you can likely expect a lot of local coverage on your plate as well as the travel.

As far as online history, they're referring to any Web pages you're attached to (your Twitter handle, Instagram, portfolio sites, archives from previous work spots, etc.).

If anyone else has questions, go ahead and PM me. I know a bit about the area and the gig.

 

Looks like a very solid gig! Don't know much about the paper or pay though

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23kFiqFiOlA

 

In addition to the two sports listings, there are now two news listings for jobs in Fort Wayne. What's going on up there? Are long-frozen positions being opened up? Cleaning house? It's a strange amount of activity all at one time for a mid-sized paper.