Sports Editor: Greenfield, Ind.

this is from journalismjobs.com:

Company: the Daily Reporter
Position:
Sports Editor
Location:
Greenfield, Indiana
Job Status: Full-time
Salary: Negotiable
Ad Expires:
August 2, 2009
Job ID: 1067201

Description:
Do you like to seek out the story behind the score? Do you look for creative ways to tell stories? Do you feel like you've hit a home run when a well-edited edition hits the streets? If so, you may find a spot in our lineup. The Daily Reporter, an award-winning small-town newspaper, is looking for a sports editor to direct our fast-paced coverage of the local sports scene. Emphasis is on high school sports, but the ideal candidate will share our vision to increase coverage of participatory and youth-league events. The ideal candidate also will have experience managing a small staff. A background in design/presentation also is preferred. If you think you meet these standards, send a resume and work samples to David Hill, editor of the Daily Reporter, 22 W. New Road, Greenfield, Ind., 46140. E-mail submissions are welcome, but no phone calls, please. The e-mail address is dhill@greenfieldreporter.com

 

I always cringe when the sports ads use ``sports language'' like this one. It's like the higher-ups don't think we can communicate in anything regarding normal speech and writing.

 

i agree with you, and not only that, but it feels really cheesy. I wonder if the guy that wrote this felt good about himself and his "genious" writing with sports analogies...

 

A look at their website shows that it's all local content. I wonder if the daily paper is all local as well.

 

I will out myself here (as if I haven't already), but I was the SE here for several years.

Paper is about a 10K circ, one county east of Indianapolis. You'll be leading a two-man staff -- so the SE is expected to do a lot of writing AND pagination. There is also a page-design person that is assigned to sports during the morning deadline shift, and you have a full-time photog (who is very good) shared with news-side, and a couple of *very* reliable stringers -- one a photog, one a writer. This is a PM M-Th and an AM on Sa, so expect split shifts. There is no Friday publication, which is a bit of a problem because Thursday is one of the biggest prep nights of the week.

Your section will be preps-heavy -- there are four high schools in the county. There's an interesting dynamic. Myself & my predecessors always gave the four schools pretty equitable coverage -- three are of roughly equal size and the other is a small farm school with a pretty fanatical fan base (who are very loyal readers). However, a vocal group of followers of the county seat school (Greenfield-Central) are very possessive of "their" paper and complain loudly if they don't get homerrific coverage (and they complain just as loudly if the coverage is in any way equitable toward the county schools ... I was hearing complaints a couple of weeks ago that the paper was covering a local school's *state title* in softball "too much" because it wasn't Greenfield, and even passing petitions to complain the sports coverage isn't slanted enough towards Greenfield-Central). The same group loves to send anonymous letters accusing the local varsity coaches of everything from playing the "wrong" kids to starting the Iraq war, so you get some small-town politics to cover.

You can get credentials for the Indy pros -- Pacers, Colts, IMS -- but you'll have to do it on your own time.

The area is known for *very* strong prep baseball & softball. County schools New Palestine & Mt. Vernon have 4 state titles & 7 State Finals appearances between them in the last decade in softball. New Palestine won a state baseball title in 2004, Greenfield-Central has had a couple of final eight teams in the last decade and Mt. Vernon was ranked in the top 10 much of last year. You also have a couple of baseball pros in the Cubs' Jake Fox and Twins first-round pick Kyle Gibson to follow.

For a small newspaper, the pay is decent -- or at least it was when I was there.

The editor, David Hill, is a first-rate guy to work for. He pretty much leaves you alone and lets you run your show, but he will provide supportive feedback. The rest of the staff is very cohesive and professional -- they are very good for a small newspaper. Several have been there 10+ years. A couple have left & come back.

The publisher will push you very hard for youth & middle school sports coverage, as he sees that as *the* way to boost circulation. He likes names & faces journalism and "reader input" (submitted photos, anonymous published quips, et al).

They do have AP wire, but just got rid of AP photos, so all art you run will have to be locally-generated.

If you have any other questions, PM me.

 

Youth sports sells papers. How did this publisher get the job with that line of thinking?

 

Publisher = business guy. I fought him for years on that stuff. He's great with the numbers, but likes to offer his opinions on the news product, too.

 

If the paper is small enough, youth sports has its place. When the circulation is 10,000 and less, and there might be 1,000 parents and family members of kids in various youth sports who all want to see their kids' name in there, then youth sports has its place, even if it is just a small place.

Truthfully, this position sounds pretty good for a paper of its size. It sounds like a good place to start if you want to get into being a sports editor. The working conditions sound WAY better than most papers so small.

 

Nothing wrong with covering youth sports no matter the size of the paper. The emotion that Little League kids bring to the field make for great pictures, and I know it is some of our most appreciated coverage each summer.

I work at a suburban paper outside or Portland, OR

 

Any word on where they are in the process...I was excited about this one.

 

There is a difference between taking a photo of a Little League and writing a gamer from a youth sports game.

 

Amen Stitch. I actually got shoved by a fan in Nevada, claiming I blamed his kid for losing a game. All I did in the course of describing a sixth-inning comeback that failed was that that there were two baseruning mistakes that cost them a chance to win or tie