Cover Rutgers football for NJ.com

from jj.com

Description:

The Sports Reporter assigned to the Rutgers football beat is the “go-to’’ authority for coverage of the team. This individual will establish and grow a loyal audience through frequent and incremental posting of breaking news and analysis, with a strong, authoritative voice. Coverage of the team will be built around this person’s reporting and analysis. The person in this position will post frequently and incrementally into digital platforms; monitor reader response through audience data; engage readers in comment streams and on social media; work and communicate extensively with other reporters; and make appearances on television and radio as a team expert. Travel to away games is part of this job.

Job Functions:

Provide reporting, opinion and analysis as the authoritative voice for coverage of Rutgers football.
Gather information and write journalistically sound news elements for use in all media platforms that is:
Balanced and factual
Timely and topical
Well-sourced and contextually correct
Employ all techniques for effective digital reporting across multiple platforms, including but not limited to:
Frequent, incremental posting throughout the day
Story aggregation and topical link-posting
Monitoring and engaging in reader comment streams
Elevating comments into new posts when appropriate
Interacting on social media platforms, with story shares, objective commentary, promotion of your topic and NJ.com’s content initiatives
Understanding and employing the means for monitoring audience interest and competitors’ postings on Rutgers and college football, including setting up Google alerts, Twitter and RSS feeds
Work independently and remotely, while maintaining operational communication with the editor.
Use hardware, software and cloud-based equipment and systems for direct-to-web production and engagement, including but not limited to:
Taking photographs and short video, and posting it to the web as well as uploading to any internal production systems
Using laptops and smartphones for remote web reporting
Using the Moveable Type content management system, and any future CMS
Understand our news organization’s audience traffic tracking systems and analytical reports.
Make appearances on television and radio as a team expert.
Other duties as assigned.
Required Education, Experience and Skills:

Bachelor’s degree in Journalism or Communications or related field required
Minimum of 3 - 5 years of digital journalism experience, with demonstrated reporting, writing and organizational skills
Proven experience building, maintaining and engaging an active audience for a top-tier professional or college sports team
Ability to work independently under deadline pressure and prioritize tasks appropriately
Experience with search engine optimization practices
Experience using social media to source and promote content
Demonstrated capability in capitalizing on high-value topics by engaging audiences with frequency and urgency
Understanding of the methods and tools used to deliver content across a variety of platforms such as Moveable Type CMS,
Understanding the imperatives of multiple platforms – desktop, mobile, etc.
Ability to leverage relationships with sources to deliver content that differentiates the organization from competitors
Interested applicants should apply online via the following URL: http://nj.jobinfo.com/description.php?jid=21100451

 

NJ.com has also posted similar positions for Yankees, Devils and Jets reporters....they might post more. The postings all seem to be the same. Go to journalismjobs.com for those.

 

I wonder if NJ is about to undergo the same Newhouse changes other papers have...

 

Well, there's the chance the Star-Ledger gets killed: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/09/with_labor_negotiations_stalled_star-ledger_publisher_again_threatens_to_shut_down_paper.html#incart_river_default

 

Well, I WAS interested in this job.

 

Hell, I'd still apply. Either way something's up behind the scenes.

 

The MO has been to gut the newspaper operation, then rebuild it as a website with the print publications as secondary operations. New Orleans is back to six days a week of print, but what the papers are on three of the days are smaller tabloid-size deals.

Newsrooms work for the website and the "newspaper" operation simply puts the already existing info into print, for the most part.

I'd expect that to happen here.

 

Looks like they're rebuilding their newsroom.
Not only are the Giants and Rutgers jobs up for grabs, NJ.com also seeking reporters for the Jets, Yankees and Devils.

 

If this is being done like it is at other Newhouse shops (New Orleans, Cleveland, the Alabama papers), they've gotten rid of those they deem either too expensive or not "digital-savvy."

 

The Star-Ledger is not now, and has never been NJ.com. Not only are they not in the same newsroom, they're literally not even in the same county.

NJ.com did its own supplemental reporting a decade ago, completely independent of the Ledger's newsroom. They're just ramping that up for pro sports now, the same way as they've done for high school sports for the past couple of years -- and on news-side for almost as long.

NJ.com does more blogs and video and social media. The big, investigative pieces are still run solely by the Ledger. There's not a whole lot of collaboration between the two... though I've heard there's far more lately.

Back in the day, the NJ.com reporters posted their own stuff as well as everything that came out of the print product. Now, there's a separate web-production staff (some of whom work remotely) who post and position content on the various Advance websites.

 

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

So if the Star-Ledger gets shut down, NJ.com survives hunky-dory? I doubt it.