High School Sports Feature Reporter - Muncie, Ind.

High School Sports Feature Reporter researches, writes and reports compelling journalism that continuously grows a readership base by informing and engaging readers. Acts as a public ambassador through community outreach and connects with readers through social media. Provides thoughtful analysis of complex issues. Works with the content coach, content strategist and audience analyst to shape storytelling to meet audience needs and interests on every platform. Contributes to the community’s greater good through impactful journalism.

Our High School Sports Feature Reporter tells vibrant, front page-worthy stories about young athletes both on and off the field that don’t get covered in gamers. Produces high-value digital-focused content including breaking news, insightful columns, engaging features and enterprise stories that provide context and analysis targeted to appeal to Millennial players and their Gen-X parents. Collaboration with news partners, including the Indianapolis Star, the Lafayette Journal & Courier, the Richmond Palladium-Item and Fox59 TV is essential. Develops content that takes advantage of all platforms available to us, especially video, Twitter, Facebook and mobile vectors where younger audiences prefer to consume content. Builds and continually develops a personal brand and leverages that brand to help grow digital readership and subscription revenues. Covers other sports in off-season as assigned. Reporter is also charged with maintaining master schedule for sports department, coordinating game coverage to ensure that the key games are covered.
•Ability to produce top-notch watchdog journalism.
•Exceptional cross-platform storytelling skills
•Exceptional core journalism skills (reporting, producing, editing).
•Deep understanding of and curiosity about competition for our customers' time and money.
•Self-motivation and self-direction.
•Advanced knowledge of social media and how to engage fan base on digital platforms in the public space.
•Photo and video skills.
•Effective communicator; able to get along with diverse personalities.
•Able to multi-task and excel under intense deadline pressure in a rapidly changing environment.
•Knows how to use time effectively in a 24-hour news environment.
•Works collaboratively within a cross-functional environment.
•Must embrace peer-to-peer feedback and training.
•Applies innovative, creative thinking to support the company’s goals.
•Writing, spelling, grammar, AP and local style.
•Industry knowledge.
•Organizational skills.
•Command of media law and Principles of Ethical Conduct.

Required Skills:
•Bachelor's in Communications or Journalism
•One year of journalism experience developing personal brand and fan base.
•One year experience with advanced storytelling techniques on multiple platforms.

Full disclosure, I work here.

 

How do you apply for this?

 

Eric:
This URL should take care of you: http://bit.ly/1AUWFGz

 

This sounds very fun, but it also sounds like an editor's job without the title.

 

No matter where you have lived or visited, with whom you have lived or visited, and what your situation was at the time . . .

Time spent in Muncie, Indiana would not be near the top of the list in regard to places you have enjoyed.

 

Ah, Muncie's not a bad city. Hour and change from the Indy suburbs, Ball State athletics do reasonably well. Hell, David Letterman went to school there so it can't be half bad.

 

Muncie's a mixed bag. The parts near Ball State make for a decent college town ... not the best, but not the worst, either. And Muncie Central has a rich tradition in basketball, although many will say Indiana high school basketball has taken quite a downturn since the move away from the single-class tournament in the late 1990s.

The negatives: Muncie was hurt HARD by the decline in the automotive industry. Muncie proper used to have three high schools; now it's just one following the recent closing of Muncie Southside. Nearby Anderson, which has its own paper, also went from three high schools to one. Muncie definitely has some rough spots, and it's far enough from Indy to where it's not really experiencing the growth spurt. (That said, the northern suburbs have grown so fast that they're only 30-35 miles away now, and it's only about 40 miles from the Ball State exit on I-69 about 6-7 miles outside Muncie to that interstate's merge with I-465.)

The paper? I don't know much about it these days ... Gannett picked it up about 15 years ago when it bought Indy and Phoenix. I'm sure it's going through the same stuff all other Gannett papers are going through. They used to cover high schools in parts of six counties, but I'm not sure what they do these days.

 

Any movement on this?