Sports editor, Patch (Prince George's County, Md.)

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/wri/1828491132.html

Hi, we’re Patch, a collection of local news websites launching in the area
this summer. We're looking for a sports editor to oversee sports coverage
for a handful of sites in North Prince George’s County, Maryland. You’ll
help drive sports coverage to a few sites in the area, such as College Park
and Riverdale Park, as well as write stories, cover games, hire freelancers and
manage a budget.

The sports editor would need to have strong editorial experience, with
local contacts, as well as internet and multi-media skills. Experience
managing freelance writers, photographers and videographers a plus.
You must be tech savvy, have a home computer, camera, internet
experience and good writing skills. Spanish language skills a plus.
Compensation is competitive and based on experience.

 

Wow. Craig's List. Anyone have any idea about this company?

 

Owned by AOL. $50 million investment. Hiring about 600 people around the country. This job probably pays $25K-$40K. Google them or go to Patch.com to learn more about how they are trying to take hyperlocal news reporting away from newspapers. See a complete listing of their jobs at corp.aol.com.

 

Pretty sure it's a startup based somewhere on the West Coast run by some hippies. (It's actually one word "craigslist.") Can't imagine how they'll ever make money. So minimalist. Online classifieds is a novel idea, but certainly nothing for newspaper execs to concern themselves with...

 

Actually, Patch is headquartered in New York City and is not run by hippies. Tim Armstrong, the current President and CEO of AOL, was originally a 75 percent owner of Patch. Later, Patch was bought entirely by AOL.

 

You're going to be hearing a lot more about Patch in the next few months. Basically, it's a network of local sites covering small communities. (Check out Patch.com to get some examples.)
Each site has a full-time editor who recruits and manages a staff of freelancers to help cover the community. A huge part of the coverage will be local sports, so many of the site editors will be hiring sports editors to help them. The sports editor might help oversee and contribute to sports coverage for several sites within a region.

I don't know for sure, but my sense is that this job is not quite full-time and does not include benefits. But it might be a good opportunity for someone right out of school with who has some other gigs and is looking to get some management and addition writing experience

 

I'm guessing tucson was referring to craigslist, and using a lot of invisible blue font.

As for patch, I laud them for launching these sites, I just wonder where the revenue will come from to sustain the operations. Fifteen years in, no one has found a way to monetize content online.

 

There's another patch thread on this board, and I recently included what the benefits package is like. Very competitive.

I'm joining next month as a local editor. The corporation that owns the paper I'm at now is full shitheads, and I've had enough of furloughs, layoffs, cuts in benefits, etc.

I'm willing to take a chance on a start-up just to get the web experience I'm lacking.

Can't comment on the SE job. Might be the first ad I've seen for that from patch.

But I will say again it's worth the chance if you are disgruntled with your current employer.

 

Pretty broad statement, Wicked. You say no one has found a way to monetize content online? Off the top of my head I can tell you that CBSsports.com is extremely profitable. Same goes for ESPN.com and Foxnews.com. Most major newspaper dot comes are also profitable, although many of them might not be if they had to pay for their content.

The fact is, people are indeed monetizing content online even though it's not a slam-dunk for every site.

 

Good point, but it's not happened on a local level.

 

But there are many people who believe that local online advertising is a big untapped market and has potential for growth. I also think that in the case of Patch, there will be economies of scale and their cost structure will be lower than the newspapers competing in those communities.