Sports Editor | Pensacola, Florida

Job opportunity at Gannett | USA TODAY NETWORK - Sports Editor

The award-winning Pensacola News Journal, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, a top global digital media company, which reaches more than 100 million people monthly through a powerful network of mobile & publishing properties, is looking for a dynamic leader with strong digital skills who has a passion for helping sports reporters develop their journalism skills, particularly storytelling, watchdog coverage and enterprise writing to join our team.

The Sports Editor leads reporters in content creation and optimization and has primary responsibility for ensuring quality sports and outdoor recreation content across digital and print platforms. The sports editor supervises and directs the work of reporters, encouraging independent planning and self-direction. Guides reporters by applying story-telling expertise to ensure they create high quality content that fulfills strategy across platforms. Focus areas include video, narrative writing, photography, alternative story forms, story presentation across platforms and beat development. Guides journalists by consultation and coaching before, during and after the creation of content. Responsible for ensuring that reporters cover the topics and issues most important to key audiences, and for creating strategy to ensure the optimal flow and placement of content across digital and social channels to optimize reader engagement.

In this role, you will:

• Supervise beat reporters: Prep sports, community sports and semi-professional sports reporters and columnists.
  
  
• Coordinate freelance relationships to enhance staff content.
  
  
• Serves as the primary editor providing front-end coaching and line editing for the daily report for Sports and Outdoor sections across platforms, taking a hands-on approach, as needed, to accelerate a story’s path to publication.
  
  
• Supervise the work of reporters with an emphasis on coaching them toward independent idea and content generation.
  
  
• Work individually with reporters by identifying areas for improvement and coaching them on how to elevate their work.
  
  
• Edit content for publication-readiness, including clarity, fairness, legality, spelling, grammar, punctuation and style.
  
  
• Work with the Planning Editor to ensure the right quantity and quality of content for print section fronts, mobile, desktop, special projects and specialty publications.
  
  
• Work with Executive Editor to identify and respond to key audience needs with quality content and to identify opportunities for community connections via events related to key content areas.
  
  
• Provide great customer service, helping readers find answers and solutions.
  
  
• Performs other duties as necessary.
  
  
• Edit evening news content for publication-readiness, including clarity, fairness, legality, spelling, grammar, punctuation and style during
  
  
• Monitor breaking news and displays good news judgement to determine overnight coverage needs in the event of breaking news.
  

Here’s what you need:

• Bachelor’s degree in journalism, Mass Communications or equivalent years of experience in a related field
  
  
• Five years reporting experience, digital acumen and the ability to lead a team in a fast-paced, every-changing environment.
  
  
• Ability to coach reporters as the story idea develops, helping the reporter turn their good story ideas into well-rounded, intriguing, solid journalism that can be told across platforms
  
  
• Strategic planner who can create and maintain aggressive digital strategies to broaden audience reach and engagement
  
  
• Strong understanding of copyright laws, fair use, etc.
  
  
• Effective communicator; able to get along with diverse personalities, adept at explaining complex data
  
  
• Able to multi-¬‐task and excel under intense deadline pressure
  

Here's what we have to offer:

• Competitive compensation
  
  
• Comprehensive Health, Dental and Vision coverage
  
  
• Life Insurance
  
  
• 401(K) Saving Plan
  
  
• Paid Time Off
  
  
• Paid Company Holidays
  
  
• Paid Time Off to Volunteer in the Community
  
  
• Employee Discount Program
  
  
• Tuition Reimbursement
  

 

As far as I've heard, I think they filled this position. If not, feel free to DM me about it. This is my old position. Great sports scene in Pensacola, but not without its faults.

 

Wonder if it says something about the state of the Reds farm system that their Double-A affiliate is considered "semi-professional"?

 

Maybe they meant that the sports reporters are only semi-professional. LOL

Blue Wahoos are fun to watch (hard to beat that view of the Bay). Quite a few of the current Reds have passed through that team. Of course, you're not likely going to see the Wahoos play much if you take this job. Not unless you walk there during your dinner break for an inning or so.

 

Hate to call BS, but 100 million monthly? That's a third of the nation's population. Maybe, maybe Gannett reaches that many counting all the online entities, but not your Pensacola sports section. If you'd said 20 million monthly (that's the entire population of Florida, each month) I'd still raise an eyebrow.

 

Edit out the extraneous comma -- though I don't know why you would, as it'd be the first time in years anyone from Gannett edited anything for clarity -- and you'll see the "writer" intended to infer it's the USA TODAY NETWORK that reaches 100 million people monthly.

 

Imply.

 

Last time we were there - two years ago? - we drove by the former site of the newspaper, which had clearly had the wrecking ball taken to it.

"This is what comes from empire building." - Harry "Breaker" Morant

 

New office is about two blocks down. Old office is now a really nice YMCA.

But new office has windows in the newsroom. Old office had the feeling of a bunker.

 

Looks like the job is open again. Stagger, any idea of what's happening?

 

Person that was in line to take the job got another full-time offer and took that instead. So, yep, the position is once again open.

 

That sounds right. I was only in there once, when i came down before Emmitt Smith's senior year in high school, and I remember almost nothing about it.