Associated Press Sports Reporter - Dallas

From: http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1358692

The Associated Press is seeking an experienced, aggressive Sports Reporter in Dallas.

The successful candidate will be expected to regularly break news and cover some of the premier sports beats in Texas, including the Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers, Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Stars and colleges including TCU, SMU and Baylor. We place a premium on being first with breaking news but also want strong game and event coverage, smart beat reporting, and a prime focus on source development. The reporter is part of a wider AP team responsible for regional and national sports coverage, and will work across multiple formats. He/she works with the regional sports editor to set priorities and develop aggressive spot and enterprise reporting for the AP's global newspaper, online and broadcast audience. The successful candidate, who will report to the regional sports editor in Chicago, must be able to:

* Identify key sources and develop a beat that ensures AP is competitive on the most important sports stories in the territory. * Identify and develop stories that break news and have impact. * Report and write accurate, compelling stories on deadline in competitive situations. * Work with his/her managers and colleagues to set priorities for a Texas sports report with multiple teams and sources. * Organize and coordinate freelancers for sports coverage as needed in Texas. * Work with staff photographers, videographers and other platform specialists to ensure complete and robust coverage of games and events.

JOB REQUIREMENTS: Candidates should have demonstrated superior news judgment, with experience reporting and writing news for global audiences on multiple platforms. Superior writing ability, beat reporting skills and source development experience required. Candidate must understand the growing importance of multimedia news and be able to coordinate with AP staffers from other formats. Candidate must be a creative problem-solver who can work as a member of a team. Qualifications for the successful candidate include:

* Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience. * At least five years of professional sports writing experience in a daily news setting. * At least five years of professional full-time reporting experience at a daily newspaper, broadcast station or AP or similar bureau. * Experience with computer-assisted reporting, FOI and investigative techniques is a plus. * A proficiency in multiple platforms, especially video, is a plus. * Proven ability to recognize and develop newsworthy stories of broad interest and work accurately under deadline pressure.

* Strong organizational skills with experience juggling multiple projects across formats and meeting deadlines. * Well-developed communications skills to work constructively with local and geographically dispersed staff, member editors and other AP departments. * The ability to travel and work a variety of hours to meet the needs of a 24/7 news organization.

Must be able to demonstrate a high level of fluency in written and spoken English. Authorization to work in the United States is mandatory.

For consideration, submit your cover letter, resume and clips to: NationalNewsJobs@ap.org. Do provide the name of this position in the subject line of your email. The Associated Press is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

To apply for this position, please email your resume and cover letter to: NationalNewsJobs@ap.org

 

One question.
How much does the AP really expect their guys to beat the DMN and FWST on the Cowboys/Rangers/Stars/Mavs … I can see those organizations having better relationships with the AP then the big papers. And, I beieve, the Dallas AP sports staffers, have been their for a long time and I'm sure have broken a lot of news. Still, is that a reasonable assumption for somebody new whose beat is the entire Metroplex. I would think the first challenge the AP has covering sports in DFW is the breadth of the coverage. That is, surrounding the forest is more important than getting down in the weeds (to mix my metaphors). Anyway, that's my thought.

 

Dream job. Still years from landing it, though. Good luck to those who apply.

 

Just realized I haven't seen much from Jaime Aron recently. Anybody know where he ended up?

 

How often does AP actually break news anyway? I see a lot of them repeating stuff that other outlets report, but not many really original stories. Sure, they go to the games, press conferences, etc. But if the Mavericks, for example, are in the middle of a coaching search, I don't see daily stories from them. I see a story when one coach is fired, maybe something if there is a big name emerge (Bill Parcells to coach Saints) and then a story when the deal is done or close to done. I don't see stories on every coach that interviews for the job along the way.

I guess what I'm saying is that I see AP as covering the big picture, primarily for an audience OUTSIDE the immediate area.

 

I realized Jaime's absence a few months back. Jaime left AP and is now editorial manger of the American Heart Association. #sellout

 

I don't think this means Stephen Hawkins is leaving AP. With Jaime out, Hawkins has more bylines in my paper than I do, and that's saying something.

 

Definite dream job and safely 10-12 years down the road at less but good luck to all those who apply and the one who lands it. I'm not familiar with the AP Dallas beat but I'd just like to hope there's not one writer for the entire Dallas Fort Worth area. Covering the Mavs/Cowboys/Rangers/Stars is a lot let alone the 3 colleges.

 

Noted physicist Stephen Hawking is still very much employed by Dallas AP and is working his wheelchair to a nub trying to cover everything since Jaime left.

 

Depends on the market. Rusty Miller, the Columbus, Ohio based AP writer, breaks plenty of stories on Ohio State and Columbus Blue Jackets related topics. Obviously, there is less going on in Columbus, though.

 

Well-played.

Some good points here about AP's expectations. It's hard to see how two writers can be expected to cover the entire Metroplex, something the DMN and S-T aren't doing as well as they did 10 years ago.

The metaphor about surrounding the forest and not getting down in the weeds was accurate, but expectations always run ahead of reality. BTW, this would have been my dream job 8-10 years ago. Now, not so much.

 

Not just the Rangers, Cowboys, Mavs and Stars but also Big 12 football, two PGA tournaments, two NASCAR races and whatever big meetings they have in Dallas, like the USOC media event this weekend.

This is a big-boy job.