Sports Editor, The Greeneville [sic] Sun

http://www.tnpress.com/employment/index.php?opt=jobdetails&p=495


The Greeneville (Tenn.) Sun, a six-day-a-week community newspaper in Northeast Tennessee, is in search of an editor to lead its sports department in an award-winning newsroom.

The Sun publishes Monday through Friday afternoon, with a weekend edition published early Saturday morning. The paper covers athletics at five local high schools and a regional college, plus a wide variety of other sports activity related to the community and the interests of its readers.


Skills Desired: The preferred candidate for this position will be hungry to lead in reporting local sports, and will have keen news judgment, excellent grammar and writing skills, excellent photographic and page-design skills, and experience with video creation and editing software.

Experience with Microsoft Word, Adobe InDesign, and Adobe Photoshop is required. Applicants should also have at least basic understanding of photo and video editing software and basic web technologies, as these skills will be needed in the position.

The Sports Editor will be responsible for all sports-related reporting, writing, photography, page-design, and layout and production on deadline for the print edition and special sections. The Sports Editor will be expected to manage internal sports staff and to recruit and manage free-lancers as needed. The Sports Editor will be expected to produce on a consistent basis high quality audio/video for the Sun’s digital platforms.

This opportunity requires speed without sacrificing quality, excellent planning skills, and the ability to effectively and efficiently juggle responsibilities. The person needs to understand and embrace teamwork and be an effective communicator and relationship-builder. Familiarity with integrating social media tools is highly desirable.

The Sports Editor’s position offers a very competitive compensation and benefits package. The Greeneville Sun is the 131-year-old flagship newspaper of Greeneville, Tennessee-based Jones Media, Inc., a fourth-generation family-owned media company with community newspapers in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina, and specialized publications that serve the Southeastern United States. Greeneville is a beautiful, historic town located in a valley between two ridges of the Appalachian Mountains.

Please send cover letter, resume, references and samples of writing, photography and page design to: sportseditorjob@greenevillesun.com

 

Wayne Phillips was the sports editor there for many years. Nice guy, one for whom I had the pleasure of writing for just over a year before moving to southern Illinois.
As far as the paper goes, it covers high schools intensely, as well as Division II Tusculum College and the Appalachian League's Greeneville Astros. They staff all high school football games home and away -- I got to drive to such lovely venues as Oneida, Cumberland Gap and Pigeon Forge last fall -- and also have the nationally-recognized Greene County Ladies' Classic (preps) in the last week of December.
It's a two-man staff; Joe Byrd's the other full-timer and he does a lot of the TC coverage. This paper hasn't done much with social media or video, so anything you do there will be fresh.
Management seemed to be pretty easy to get along with, but I only dealt with them a few times. Anyhow, if Joe wants to be the SE, I'd be surprised if they didn't give it to him because he's been there a while, too.

 

Greeneville is the correct spelling. Take it up with Nathanael Greene if you don't like it.

 

The senior Mrs. Editude lives in the area. Good four-season climate, reasonable amenities (taking Johnson City and Bristol into account as well) and a lot of outdoor diversions. Pace is slow, pay will be low, and it's pretty isolated. Greeneville pitches itself as a tourist magnet (downtown walking tours, Andrew Johnson's home) but comes across as a bit tired.

 

I wouldn't say too isolated. Right near the interstate, little over an hour to Knoxville, and Tri Cities have something like 300-400k between them.

Greeneville also has the Astros' Appy League affiliate, although its lack of mention in the ad might signal the priority placed on it. Still think more people would care about that than freaking Tusculum.

 

Greeneville leads the Appy League in attendance every year, though it doesn't draw quite as much as it once did. Still, they had nearly 4,000 for the 4th of July game this season. It's a little bit off the interstate but it's not what I'd call isolated. Tusculum's athletic program has never really caught the community's imagination, even when its teams are good.