Assistant Sports Editor needed at Clinton (Iowa) Herald

The Clinton Herald, a six-day-a-week newspaper, is seeking applicants for an Assistant Sports Editor position. The qualified candidate will be proficient in Quark and Photoshop. Coverage area includes high school and college sports, as well as a Class A Seattle Mariners minor-league baseball team, the Clinton LumberKings. Sharp writing, layout skills and AP style knowledge are a must, and multimedia experience is a plus. The Clinton Herald publishes in the afternoon Monday through Friday and on Saturday morning. Submit resume, cover letter and examples of your work to Associate Editor Scott Levine at the Clinton Herald, 221 Sixth Ave. South, Clinton, IA, 52732. Resumes can also be submitted to scottlevine@clintonherald.com. The Clinton Herald is an equal opportunity employer.

 

Anybody know anything about this paper and what the area is like?

 

I think the big question is the pay.

Any midwest cities compare with Clinton from a livability standpoint? Say, St. Joseph, Topeka, Wichita, Jeff City, Tulsa, Lincoln, etc.?

 

Don't think Clinton is anywhere near that large.

 

27,000 according to Wikipedia.

 

That far less than Lincoln, Omaha, Tulsa, Wichita, etc.

 

It's pretty cheap to live in Clinton. I grew up there and couldn't get out fast enough, though it's a lot nicer now than it was then.

It's about a half-hour from the Quad Cities and just more than two hours to downtown Chicago. Clinton is a river town on the Mississippi. There is one public high school and a very small private school. The paper also covers some nearby towns in both Iowa and Illinois, as well as the minor-league baseball team.

I cringe every time I go home and read the paper. There's rarely a feature or never much more than 25-inch, play-by-play game stories. If they talk to anyone other than a coach, it's a miracle. That just doesn't cut it for me, especially with an afternoon paper. Space also is very limited. A sports front (with ads now, of course) and a second page. Occasionally there's a third, but it's not nearly a full page.

When I said earlier I think it has potential, I mean that there's a lot of stories left untold. I've always thought they could get a lot of people interested in the minor-league baseball team is they focused on the personalities of players. If you don't know the players, who cares what's going on in the games? I know the paper's job isn't to be a PR machine for the team, but it might draw readers.

Just my two cents. Again, PM me if you have other questions.

 

Now that's a ringing endorsement, if ever there was one.

But I certainly agree with you about the features and such. A well-written feature puts a face to a team, gives the reader a reason to care. You can get more mileage that way than with a 20-inch gamer.

 

Is it mostly gamers because they don't want to do the other stories or they are told from above that's what is going in the paper?

 

I live in the region and I second just about everything that JB said. Lots of great stories in Clinton and surrounding towns; unfortunately, few of them end up in the Herald.

The Lumber Kings play in a throwback stadium that I visit every summer for a few Midwest League Class A games. It's a great venue, and depending on time and space, there would be a ton of good story opportunities, particularly in the summer when you don't have much prep coverage.

Among the big-leaguers I've seen play there in recent years (on visiting teams, too) are Joe Mauer, Ian Kinsler and Prince Fielder. Kinsler played for the Lumber Kings and, needless to say, hit the hell out of the ball.

I don't know the specifics of pay or why the previous assistant SE left, but I am familiar with the current SE and he's a good writer who knows the business (and the area) really well.

 

I've lived in that area twice, once when I was young and once as a professional, and it's nice enough.

It's your basic small midwestern river town, and the stadium is quite nice.

 

Can only agree with JB and ISC. I visit in-laws there 2-3 times a year and only pick up the Herald by professional obligation. It's dying for a sportswriter who's wanting to tell stories about high school teams and athletes from Clinton and Fulton (Ill., across the river).