Sports Editor - Bristol, VA

From the ad

Considering the number of layoffs expected over the next couple of weeks, this job could get flooded with resumes.

 

A few things to note

We lost our new sports editor right before his start date due to a family situation and need a new leader fast. We’re the Bristol Herald Courier, a 40,000-circulation daily on the Tennessee-Virginia line, and we need a sports editor to lead a staff of one designer and four writers. The editor, the sixth member of the staff, will help design pages, write at will, coach, motivate, plan and coordinate coverage that ranges from two annual races at NASCAR’s most-popular track (53 straight sellouts at 160,000 spectators a pop) to preps to small colleges.

Because of time constraints related to publication of our annual football magazine, the NASCAR section tied to the August race and the opening kickoff of high school football, we need a sports editor who fits the following criteria.

1. Has prior daily newspaper experience and enough versatility to put out an eight-page section on deadline. (By yourself, at times)

2. Can start by no later than Aug. 7. If you can’t or don’t know or have a lukewarm girlfriend or boyfriend, let’s not waste each other’s time. This is a great gig but we need to act now. Classy. God forbid you want to take your time in deciding to join a company that's laying people off left and right.

3. Can meet an application deadline of Saturday, July 19.

We offer a generous relocation package: You will be packed, moved, given two weeks’ pay for incidental expenses and receive some financial assistance with housing. There are full benefits, including medical, dental, vision and 401(k). The pay is competitive and the cost of living is extremely low. The quality of life is extremely high – if you like lush mountains, friendly people and no traffic outside of race weeks. And maybe the best part: Our newsroom has endured NO layoffs. (By the way, the BHC used to have a seven-person sports staff, so I guess they eliminated the position instead of laying a person off)

We cover more than 40 high schools and a half-dozen colleges, Division I East Tennessee State University, minor league baseball and some of motorsports’ premier events. We emphasize investigative and enterprise reporting and routinely publish 100-inch stories. We sue for public records. Our nine-story, three-day package on the ramifications of ETSU’s decision to drop football in 2003 ran entirely on A1 and just won first place in the investigative category of the Tennessee Sports Writers Association contest among competition with the state’s largest papers, including Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville – all more than four times our size. The same package was an APSE finalist.

The ability to craft eye-catching designs via InDesign is a must, although the editor will have time to write, plan, organize and just plain think. We have a 2-year-old German printing press that prints color on every page and is housed in a $22 million facility that is second to none. We have a robust Web site and a TV partner that will give you face time on air if you like.

Send resume, cover letter, and design and writing samples to btsmith@bristolnews.com (interesting that you're applying, I suppose, to a sportswriter and CCing the managing editor; not sure what that means) and cc jfoster@bristolnews.com. Or snail mail (overnighting will ensure deadline compliance) to P.O. Box 609, Bristol, Va., 24203. No resume carpet bombers. Serious candidates only.

I've said it before: This is a good gig in a good area. But, like any job, there is good and bad. Media General is not a stable newspaper chain (see Tampa Tribune layoffs), but then again I don't know if I could pinpoint a stable newspaper chain. I've heard tales from former BHC staffers who aren't fond of the current management team, but the managing editor did used to work for People magazine. Don't worry, if you talk to him, he'll tell you all about it.

 

Awesome. And yes, I find it incredibly interesting that applications are going to Brian T. Smith.

 

Is Brian the ASE, or maybe AME?

 

Pretty sure he's just a sportswriter there.

 

No, he's a sports reporter according to their web site and they have one other sports reporter. They don't have an AME. Todd Foster is the editor and from there it steps down to city editor and assistant, sports editor and copy desk chief.

 

Unless Tim Hayes or Allen Gregory has left, they still have at least two other sports writers.

 

I was just listing management structure. Left the news reporters out too.

Do they have a features desk at all? Didn't see anybody listed in that area.

 

To the best of my knowledge.

 

I'm going to guess that this is a shot at me since I had talks with him this week and couldn't get my fiance to go along with moving eight hours for the following:
1. A $5K bump in pay over my current salary.
2. An area with little to do.
3. A move away from family.
4. A move in two weeks where you have to sign on for two years or re-pay expenses.

I agree that it's a good job, but to put something like that in a posting is sophomorish and might be a sign of what you would deal with in the office. Next time I'll string the guy along for a few weeks instead of being up-front after two conversations.

 

I echo the earlier sentiment about Foster's remarkable ability to dominate a conversation supposedly about you and coming to work there with tales of People magazine and J. Mark Felt.

rb

 

The decide-now tone is a little off-putting. I get the urgency with the school season starting soon, but this level of commitment to what would be an unfamiliar area to many applicants doesn't let the process play out or the job speak for itself as it should. I'll be in the general vicinity visiting family around that time and am curious how the section looks.