SE at Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier

For anyone interested in the management side of the biz.

I've heard a lot of nice things about this place. I'm good friends with their recent APSE winner and have talked with Foster several times. They seem to take a very aggressive approach to their coverage and turn out some nice work. I think there's a lot of potential here for the right SE.

From journalismjobs.com

Company: Bristol Herald Courier
Position: Sports Editor
Location: Bristol, Virginia
Job Status: Full-time
Salary: Negotiable
Ad Expires: May 12, 2008
Job ID: 904980
Website: http://TriCities.com

Description:
The Bristol Herald Courier, a 40,000-circulation daily on the Tennessee-Virginia line, seeks a sports editor to lead a staff of six, be the primary section designer and coordinate coverage that ranges from preps to two annual races at NASCAR's most-popular track.

The editor who lands this job will inherit a staff that is loaded with talent, including a recent APSE finalist and one of NASCAR's preeminent beat writers. We're looking for a leader who can navigate a coverage area of more than 40 high schools and a half-dozen colleges, including East Tennessee State University, in two states and thrive in a fast-paced environment filled with compelling sports stories and convergence opportunities with our Web site and television partner. Candidates should have at least three to five years of newspaper experience, including a previous stint as a sports editor at a daily newspaper. The ability to craft eye-catching designs via InDesign is a must. We have a 2-year-old German printing press housed in a $22 million facility that is second to none. This person also must wear deadline as comfortably as an old pair of cleats and be as organized as an official scorekeeper.

Send resume, cover letter, and design and writing samples to J. Todd Foster, managing editor, at jfoster@bristolnews.com or write to P.O. Box 609, Bristol, Va., 24203.

 

I wear my deadline like a codpiece.

 

I know someone who knows someone who ... there.

It is a good paper and a good section. Staff is strong, too. Plus, who doesn't want to be able to bump heads with Dale Jr. and Tony the Tiger twice a year? "I mean, c'mon!" - G.O.B.

For a 40,000 circ. in these times, it's hard to do better.

 

I got a nice note from their ME after applying for one of their more recent sports openings. It's funny -- Media General considers Lynchburg the crown jewel of the community newspaper division, and it's a fine paper, but Bristol's bigger now. A job probably out of my grasp, but from all accounts a quality paper with good people and very nice coverage opportunities.

 

I hate when people sign up to warn us off of jobs and then don't elaborate.

 

I never fought the urge. The first time he e-mailed me I replied with a "Seriously? Your name is Samuel Jackson? That's AWESOME!"

He's a good guy, and I would have loved to take him to Cootie Brown's for some grub last time I was down there.

 

I don't know Alpha Bits, and I'm not as caught up with things in Bristol as I used to be, but a lot of that stuff could be very true.

MG really used to crap on Bristol, and it's had some tough times with upper management in the past. I don't know anything about the current bosses, but I'd be cautious about a lot of things there. I don't know about jobs being frozen, travel being eliminated or special sections being cut (which were selling very well five or so years ago when I was there), but it does sound like the typical MG/Upper Management garbage we went through when I was there.

With that said, if you do good work there for a couple years, you can move up quickly. One former SE is a page designer at the Tampa Tribune. Another designer is working at a big paper out west. Both did excellent work in Bristol and parlayed that into a bigger gig.

Bucky, Allen and Tim are GREAT people and do a fantastic job there. I don't know any of the others on staff.

It's got good and bad attributes about it. The question is how much of the bad are you willing to take/accept.

 

The BHC can be a great place to work. I know some things have changed since I was there, but that's the nature of the business right now. As SE you'll still get the opportunity to coordinate coverage for a couple great NASCAR events (160,000 fans can't be wrong), several smaller colleges (not sure how much they do with Tech and UT anymore, we used to cover all the football games), loads of preps, rookie-league baseball, etc.
Designing the section will be a major duty for the SE. It always has been, which isn't bad. Like others have mentioned on here, past guys there have moved on to bigger papers as designers.
There has been some bad stuff said about MG, but I think they do try to recognize talent and move those individuals up through the chain. There is good and bad everywhere, but this can be a good opportunity for the right person.