Sports Editor - Watonga, OK

JournalismJobs.com - Job Listing - Sports Editor

Description:

The Watonga Republican, Hinton Record and The Geary Star newspapers located out of the Watonga newsroom in Watonga, Oklahoma is looking for a full-time sportswriter to join our team.

TheWatonga Republican, Hinton Record and The Geary Star are weekly newspapers that provide local communities with award-winning coverage, a strong online presence and quality social media coverage.

We are located in a beautiful area known for tourism, fishing, boating, hunting and its school districts. We are also within an hour of Oklahoma City and within an hour and a half from the campuses of Oklahoma State and Oklahoma University.

The position offers flexible hours that include nights and weekends, paid vacation, paid holidays, sales commissions and a tight-knit team culture.

Responsibilities include:

· Build a rapport with sources on assigned beats to develop stories and story ideas.

· Cover sporting events, write stories, take photographs and video and post to our website the night of events.

· Manage content submitted by individuals and groups. Prepare this content for publication on our website and in our print editions.

· Collaborates with others in the newsroom on content and contribute to relevant social media accounts.



Qualifications include:

· Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.

· Excellent communication, organizational and social skills, and the ability to write accurate, clear and concise stories on deadline and under pressure.

· Must have valid driver’s license with a driving record that is insurable by the company.



Please notate if you can do the following:

· Paginate or have familiarity with Adobe Suite or Quark

· Write general assignment stories (city council, school board, police beat, etc.)

· Must have valid driver’s license with a driving record that is insurable by the company.

· Photography



For more information contact Eric Warsinskey, Group Publisher at Eric@WesnerCo.com

 

A sports editor who pitches in on council and cops? Sales commissions?

 

I have to pitch in on the news side. There's only three of us in the newsroom now — five in the entire building. When the reporter goes on vacation, I cover board meetings. When the managing editor goes on vacation, I fill in for her.

The sales commission part could mean 1) he also fills in for a sales person when they go on vacation, 2) he has to actually make sales, 3) he gets a cut of special sports publications, like football tabs. I'm guessing because I've never heard of that, either.

 

I'd rather shoot myself than cover a meeting.

 

Your non-sports duties are legend on this board, so I'm guessing that's the case here. Even I wrote some ad copy to help out on special sections at one stop. Ad rep slipped me a little cash after the section ran.

Either that, or the commissions part was some boilerplate that was not deleted.

 

At this point, I'm surprised they don't make me fill in for the sales rep when he goes on vacation.

 

A paper that wants their sports person to do regular news on top of all the sports work is the kind of paper that wants to pay one salary for multiple jobs.

 

Remember that Alaska job a few years ago? Skagway, I think. Wanted someone to do everything with the paper, including delivery.

 

Some small newspapers are cash poor to the point that there's no other way to get a paper out. About two years ago, the paper I just left promoted the head of sales to publisher ... but also said she had to remain head of sales. That, in a roundabout way, led to my current status as a journalism free agent. And I'm pretty sure the paper I just left will require even more non-sports work from the person they get to replace me.

 

I recall that vaguely. I remember seeing a job listing somewhere in Alaska where helping stuff the paper with inserts was part of the job.

 

They changed the location to Elk City, Oklahoma. Same job with the same responsibilities just a different location. They have been trying to fill the position on and off for over year. Sounds like a job that no one wants.

 

Considering they want someone to cover city council, police beat, school board and other general news items, when is there time to cover sports?