Lead Tigers Reporter | Detriot, MI

JournalismJobs.com - Job Listing - Lead Tigers Reporter

MLive is seeking a Lead Tigers Reporter.

The Lead Tigers Reporter has the primary responsibility for covering the team and the season year-round. The reporter tells the story of the games and the players, and goes beyond the results to bring readers engaging analysis, striking commentary and offbeat features.

While it’s important that this reporter be on top of important breaking news, it’s critical that they not follow the lead of other media. MLive’s Tigers coverage must set the tone for how it’s done. This reporter must quickly spot and report on trending stories and also find the unique angles that will set our coverage apart.

This reporter must also have an audience focus and think like a fan, anticipating questions they’ll ask, plays they’ll be talking about and angles that will intrigue them. Do not confuse this with writing as a fan. The reporter must be comfortable asking the hard questions when situations call for it, which means developing authority on the beat and the relationships to make those connections possible.

Beyond knowing the beat, the Lead Tigers Reporter must have a passion for telling stories and presenting content creatively. That means geeking out on data, thinking about how multimedia might help tell a story and working with others as needed to see a project through.

It’s also essential that this reporter know what resonates on different platforms – desktop, mobile and social – and both experience those platforms as a user and craft content geared toward them.

Finally, the Lead Tigers Reporter will lead discussions with the audience on the website and on social media, answering questions and comments and incorporating them into coverage whenever possible.


Required Education, Experience and Skills:
• Bachelor’s degree in Journalism or Communications or related field required
• Minimum of 3 years of pro sports beat writing experience, including demonstrated ability to break news
• Established contacts on the beat and an ability to build and nurture new ones
• Proven ability to report and write on deadline with minimal guidance as needed, and effectively collaborate as stories dictate
• Demonstrated experience with storytelling in alternative formats, like data-driven stories and multimedia presentations
• Experience engaging with audiences on websites and social media
• Proven ability capture photos, video and audio and embed them in content
• Understanding of the methods and tools used to deliver content across a variety of platforms such as blogging platforms, video and photo gallery portals and budgeting and archiving systems
• Familiarity with analytics tools and experience using them to track content performance
• Experience with SEO, HTML, and data manipulation/visualization a plus

Duties and Responsibilities:
1. Cover and nurture the Tigers beat:
• Attend practices and games and other team activities on a regular basis; build interest by reporting on lineups and news that comes out of player and staff availability and proactively write about intriguing in-game action as well as the game results.
• Establish contacts within and outside of the Tigers organization to build a reliable source pipeline and maintain frequent contact with those contacts for comment.
• Break news on the beat regarding trades, contracts and other personnel-related moves.
• Quickly aggregate relevant coverage from other news outlets and follow up as needed.
• Identify storylines about the players and the team that go beyond the game and follow them with compelling features.
• Develop an authoritative voice on the beat and assert it with powerful analysis and commentary.
2. Differentiate the beat with special projects:
• Mine game storylines for trends on team and player performance and spin them into interesting data-driven narratives, including searchable databases where relevant.
• Create multimedia content (slideshows, videos, gifs) that suit the subject and give fans an alternative way to experience content.
• Monitor and engage in reader comments and social media to source ideas, and elevate comments and social media chatter into new posts when appropriate.
3. Collaborate with backup reporters and larger team as needed
• Communicate effectively on coverage to establish and understanding of swim lanes and reach out proactively so coverage is not missed.
• Coordinate as needed to enable deeper dives on projects.
4. Maximize audience to content through optimization, promotion and tracking analytics
• Closely watch analytics to gauge audience reaction and adjust accordingly.
• Advocate for promotion of content on the website and social media and promote it via personal channels.
5. Tweak content to capture the most traffic based on audience trends; smartly link, embed videos and photo galleries and craft headlines that will intrigue readers.

Working Conditions and Physical Requirements:
General Office Environment. Significant travel required.

 

This is my shop, so I'll chime in... Chris Iott, our lead Tiger reporter, is done as of May 31 (his choice). He's spending more time ramping up a new social media company he started a few years ago and I think he wants to get off the road.

PM me if you have any questions.

 

There are many recently-laid-off local candidates to choose from.

 

Yes, wasn't the other Mlive Tigers guy laid off a few months ago?

 

This sounds like fun. Always been my dream to cover an MLB team ... just not the Tigers.