As a salaried employee, hours will vary, but a news editor must be able to work a minimum average of 25 hours per week. The news editor coordinates a staff of three to four beat reporters (sometimes including a senior reporter) to cover the news and features pertinent to their assigned beats, and will be specifically expected to:
- Write a minimum of 25 inches of copy per week
- Work with reporters to generate story ideas during weekly news desk meetings
- Coordinate at least one enterprise story per reporter per month
- Line edit stories prior to publication to identify problems, such as libel, inaccuracy, wordiness or lack of clarity
- Assist reporters in writing and improving their work
- Become extremely familiar with the rules of Associated Press and Emerald style
- Ensure that all sources in the assigned beat areas are regularly covered
- Coordinate a minimum of two Podcasts weekly
- Keep up with news on reporters’ beats and assign them stories, blog posts or Twitter alerts as necessary
- Issue blog posts and/or Twitter alerts as necessary
- Be available to edit stories at any time throughout the day as news breaks and stories are posted to the Web site (If news is breaking on a reporter’s beat but he or she is unavailable, the news editor should disseminate the news.)
- Coordinate with the graphics department to ensure as many stories as possible have a visual element with them by posting photo and graphic tip sheets, talking in person with the photographer or graphic artist and when appropriate, by sending reporters out with a camera
- Advise the editor in chief and managing editor on issues in assigned beat areas
- Communicate to managing editor when stories fall through or coverage is changing
- Meet daily deadlines and ensure reporters meet daily deadlines
- Fill out news budgets at the beginning of the week and update daily
- Monitor reporters for compliance of job duties
- Assist in the hiring of news reporters
- Keep regular office hours
- Attend required staff meetings, and schedule and lead weekly desk meetings with reporters to discuss problems and plan coverage
- Attend week ahead meetings on Sundays and budget meetings at 3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday
- Monitor the news daily to keep abreast of all issues that need to be covered and see that no pertinent news is missed
- Set individual goals each term to improve journalistic skills and help others set goals each term to improve their journalistic skills
- Complete additional tasks as assigned
Direct supervisor: Managing editor
