Sports Editor -- The Hillsdale (Mich.) Daily News,

We are looking for someone with a heart for sports and a track record to prove it. Primary responsibilities include coverage of prep and college sports, with recreation and outdoors coverage as well. Our sports desk is a one-person operation with a good stringer and help from the main editor. Must know Quark, have design and photo skills and be proficient in AP style. We cover eight public schools, a charter school and a couple of private schools, in addition to Hillsdale College a Division II school. Sports editors need to develop/possess news-hunting skills and be able to dig deep into the beat. Stories should not be limited to games. Must be flexible to cover news/features as the need arises. We are located in south-central lower Michigan. We just recently celebrated our 100th anniversary as a six-day daily and won several awards, including 2nd place for general excellence in the Michigan Press Association contest. We are committed to continue publishing in our current mode. We are owned by GateHouse Media, Inc. We offer competitive pay, benefits and a chance to grow. We are looking to fill this position quickly. You may send us your clips and correspondence via e-mail at james.pruitt@hillsdale.net. No phone calls. The job starts at $455 a week.

Per: http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1042168

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Sounds like a lot of work for little pay.

 

Less than 24k to be a one man department with 10+ schools to cover ... umm no.

 

Ouch

 

10 schools AND a Division II college.

Not a ton to do in the area either. Although it isn't far from Michigan International Speedway, if you're a gearhead.

 

Competitive with WHAT exactly? The local McDonald's? (No offense to anyone who happens to work at McDonald's)

 

Uh, competitive pay for this business...and yes, it is that...unfortunately.

 

I don't feel like an editor of any daily should make less than $30K

 

Umm no it's really not. I'm making the equivalent of 25-26k at a small six day a week paper. I'm not an editor. I'm just a reporter in Nowhere North Dakota. It's also my first full-time gig.

23k for a small six day a week paper where you do all the reporting on 10+ teams plus the design is an absolute joke.

 

There is a stringer and during the busiest seasons you may get some help from news side. But yea the pay is pretty low.


Sadly, a few years ago, the pay was a couple thousand LOWER.

You may also be asked to take a sports/news aptitude test. (sample questions like who Barack Obama is, who is the current speaker of the house, where does Coach K coach, etc, etc.

 

It may be a joke, but don't laugh. Yours is just one job, and you did well to get one that paid that much for your first gig.

How much job hunting did you do before you got your job? How many interviews did you go through in which you could, and did, ask about pay?

Right now, $24K-28K is the going rate in this business, in most places, at most papers, for most positions, outside of, maybe, whatever applicable "name" beats there are at that paper.

 

For that reason, it's become even more of a young person's business. You can digest $24-28k for a couple of years when you are first starting out, but not forever.

 

Ha, reading that reminded me of my first job offer. One-man shop, five days a week 20K. I think it bumped to 10 an hour after a few months. Faced with that, three months out of college and living at home, I had the temerity to say no.

Good times