Carlisle SE

The Sentinel of Carlisle, Pa., has reopened its search for an outstanding sports editor. We’re looking for a strong leader to manage a team of full- and part-time reporters and correspondents responsible for covering 15 high schools, Penn State football and three local colleges – Shippensburg University, Dickinson College and Messiah College – plus local auto racing and youth sports.

This position requires someone who can make sound decisions quickly, communicate well, train and coach reporters, edit copy and produce attractive pages on deadline. The sports editor is also a key player on the news team responsible for developing strategy and content for our Web site.

Applicants must have, as a minimum, a bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience and three years on a daily newspaper of general circulation.

The Sentinel, with 15,000 circulation daily and Sunday, is a p.m. paper Monday through Friday and an a.m. on the weekends

The Sentinel offers an excellent compensation and benefits package. We are part of Lee Enterprises, a premier publisher of local news, information and advertising in primarily midsize markets, with 52 daily newspapers and a joint interest in six others, rapidly growing online sites and more than 300 weekly newspapers and specialty publications in 23 states. For more information about Lee Enterprises, visit www.lee.net.

To apply, go to www.cumberlink.com/sentineljobs to submit a resume and cover letter. No phone calls or e-mails, please. If we are interested in your application, we will contact you for more information and work samples.

The Sentinel is a drug free employer. The Sentinel (www.cumberlink.com) and Lee Enterprises, Inc. (www.lee.net) are Equal Opportunity Employers.

 

They just had an opening for a sports reporter there, does anyone know what this means for that position?

 

From what I heard last time around, Jeff Pratt is staying on-board, ideally as features editor once all the newsroom shuffling -- new executive editor took over for a long-timer in June or July -- is done. Things still shaking out and still a position or two on the news side open.

Let me put it this way: If you wanna work there now, you better enjoy change.

Regarding the market: There are far worse places to be than Carlisle, which is relatively neat for a small central Pennsylvania college town; Penn State's law school has a campus there, so there's some mature, educated life swirling around; Market Cross is a fine drinking establishment; and The Patriot-News (with a staff of numerous Sentinel refugees) will be up your ass on every story.

 

Do the Redskins still do camp there? I know they used to, then they moved it to Redskins Park as a money-making venture. I thought Gibbs moved it back, but I'm too lazy to look.

 

They moved it back for two years after they had gone to Frostburg State and then Redskin Park, but Spurrier had it moved back to Redskin Park in his last year there. After the second go 'round, they're not really lobbying for it to come back, anymore.

 

Division III Dickinson is in town ... but its sports is not that much to write home about. Division II Shippensburg is 18 miles away, covered by the Sentinel. Pretty good D-II football, women's basketball and baseball.

The Sentinel is pushing hard into Shippensburg (which only has a semi-weekly) and rural Perry County with zoned coverage.

They have done some coverage of the Eastern League's Harrisburg Senators. As far as Carlisle itself goes, since the Redskins left, I really can't think of anything sports-related which the town would be known for.

 

Jim Thorpe, Pop Warner, Jeff Lebo, Billy Owens, Lee Woodall ... every so often you get to drop one of those names in a story. Sometimes it's fun to go by the barracks (where the Indian School was) and imagine Jim Thorpe running.

 

Chambersburg and Carlisle are basically fighting to see who will win the Shippensburg battle.

The Sentinel, as of now, does not cover much college stuff -- they never staff anything. Messiah's a soccer dynasty and has won several Division III titles in a row, but the paper's never done anything other than rip the press release off from the SID -- not even as much as arrange for a stringer.

 

Chambersburg's always had solid sportswriters ... right back to little ol', 15-year-old me.

 

Isn't that pretty much the case if you want to work anywhere in this industry?

As for the Sentinel, there were a lot of folks looking to leave when they underwent their regime change, but folks on the news side there that I know say it has stabilized and those who wanted out were basically those afraid of, or unwilling to, change.

Sportswise, preps is def. their focus. I don't know if they still do a lot of Penn State, but they used to staff home football games. Not sure as a manager you'd find that the best use of your staff at a paper that size, but if you wanted to take it on yourself, being salaried management, and if the folks above allowed it, you could probably do that. Nowadays a paper that size would have a tough time getting season credentials at PSU, but they were grandfathered (I think).

You could probably also adjust the coverage of local colleges to be less reliant on SIDs, again assuming you are willing to work a lot of extra hours yourself, since salaried management costs no OT.

The good thing about papers that size is that as SE you still get to actually write. It is not just managing like it tends to be bigger places.

As mentioned above, it is a good area to live in. Carlisle itself has several decent restaurants and bars, college cultural activities and it is only 20 minutes from Harrisburg, where a young person can do a lot of damage to their liver if so inclined.

 

Second Street in Harrisburg ... good times.

Hoop's moles are right on the money. They actually cover Penn State home and away with a staff writer. (Alicia Johnson was the most recent on the beat, but she's just left, hence the reporter opening.) Legend has it that The Sentinel was the first paper to go online with Penn State coverage, so their Web site got a lot of hits from that. And State College isn't too far away (90 minutes going back roads if you know what roads to take).

 

Hoop Time, Shotglass and Wicked all are right on. I was a news reporter there in late 2005 and early 2006. Carol Talley, the longtime editor, was in the middle of a retirement, partly due to illness, so a lot of things were in turmoil. I had some tussles with the higher-ups, but those people have left. The town itself is awesome, especially the south side of town by Dickinson School of Law. Cost of living is reasonable compared to what you will be paid. (I started out in the mid-20s as a rookie reporter.) I don't know Jeff Pratt, the outgoing SE, or the staff really well, but I can say they all do bust their behinds and compete well with the Public Opinion (Chambersburg) and The Patriot-News (Harrisburg). If anyone has questions, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at ssmyth-at-psualum-dot-com.