Sports Editor
Do you have what it takes to make PennLive the authority on everything from pro, college and high school sports? If so, we want to talk with you.
We want to get beyond covering the X’s and O’s of games and cheerleading, while still delivering the nuts and bolts of local sports to our loyal readers.
The ideal candidate will work with a talented team of reporters, photographers, videographers and podcasters to:
— Cover all things related to Penn State football, including recruiting, coaches, development of present players, updates on past performers, NFL prospects, and human interest stories.
— Go beyond the games to report on the institutions that govern collegiate and high school athletics. In recent years, we’ve written about the effects of NIL on college athletics and on high school students; we documented the lack of Black head coaches in the 64-year history of the Big 33; reported on a hazing scandal that led a local high school to cancel football for a year; and wrote about complaints that the PIAA’s classification system is unfair. We want more watchdog reporting.
— Develop relationships with coaches, athletic directors, school and conference officials to help PennLive develop robust library of standings and statistics on high school sports throughout Pennsylvania.
— Be an innovator, finding new ways and using a variety of mediums — live-streaming, video, audio, social media, texts and more — to tell stories.
— Renew PennLive’s coverage of Pennsylvania’s NFL teams. We have previously produced award-winning coverage of the Steelers and Eagles and want to revive our focus on our professional sports teams.
For this position, we are looking for a candidate with:
Bachelor's degree in journalism, communications or a related field required
A minimum of five years in journalism with a proven ability in writing/editing in-depth reporting. Preferred at least two years of management and/or team leadership experience
Ability to guide and motivate reporters to do their best work and to develop their skills
The ability to produce quality work quickly effectively with sports news focus
A command of news writing, journalistic ethics and story structure
Experience using social media to identify potential stories and promote content
Self-starter, detail-oriented with the ability to multi-task, meet deadlines and manage multiple complex projects to on-time delivery
Ability to develop and guide sports content that differentiates the organization from competitors
Strong collaborator and communicator experienced in working successfully with other departments, such as photo/video, marketing and the leadership team.
Ability to plan, implement and support popular events, such as sports media days and awards shows.
Ability to create and implement strategies to respond to the evolving nature of the industry by experimenting with new models, platforms and ideas to stimulate audience engagement and revenue growth
The tools to dive deeper into investigative issues and trends across sports topics
This is a hybrid position with weekly in-office team meetings. Travel to events and to meet with staff across Pennsylvania is required.
We encourage applicants to share writing samples and a cover letter regarding interest and experience.
