Sports reporter, Red Wing, MN

from jj.com

Salary is $25k to 30k

website of paper is: http://www.republican-eagle.com


The Republican Eagle has an immediate opening for a sports reporter. Duties are predominantly local sports coverage, but also include outdoors for this twice-weekly newspaper. The ideal candidate will be a creative and responsible news professional interested in both print and web products. Photography and page design skills a plus. Must possess a valid driver's license with a driving record that is insurable by the company. The Republican Eagle is part of RiverTown Multimedia, a division of Forum Communications Co., which provides a comprehensive benefits package. Send resume, four sports clips and photo examples to: Anne Jacobson, editor; Republican Eagle, Box 15, Red Wing, MN 55066 or email to ajacobson@republican-eagle.com. Application deadline is Aug. 1.

 

Great location for an outdoorsman. Right on the Mississippi River, lots of bluffs to hike and numerous trails to run/bike. About an hour from the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) and 45 minutes to Rochester, which will be investing ~$2B in infrastructure to support a major Mayo Clinic expansion over the next 20 years.

The actual community is one of the oldest in the state — which is good and bad. Social scene leaves a lot to be desired, but they'll devour everything you write.

Rent is also higher than you'd expect (pending roommate situation), due to the lack of quality options. Plan to spend at least a full weekend looking.

The paper itself is struggling, like the rest of the industry. It published 6 days a week less than a decade ago...dropped to 5 days about 6 years ago...dropped again to twice a week in 2009. Shoot all your own photos as of 2008. Used to cover 9 high schools, but now consolidated to 6. As of this winter, all the news pages began being paginated off-site...but sports is still done by the two-person staff on deadline.

Paper now hits newsstands on Wednesday and Saturday...but the print deadline is something ridiculous like 8pm on Tuesday. You won't get any Tuesday results in Wednesday's issue, which is awkward.

With all that said, it's a solid place to start for a rookie or relative newcomer to the biz.

I don't check this site a ton, but feel free to DM me with questions.

 

So the position is to report on everything and design pages as well? Strictly high school reporter or do they do a couple of stories a year on the pro sports down the road in Minneapolis?

 

There are occasional opportunities to get your bIG bREAK.

 

Surprisingly clean website for a small paper. Very impressed. Haven't seen the print version in a few years, but as a Minnesota native I can tell you without bias that you'd be living in the country's finest state

 

True dat, if you rent a place on the other side of the river.

 

It's almost exclusively preps. There are opps to do some college/pro coverage, but that's way down the priority list unless you're tracking a local athlete. Fair number of D1 athletes from the area recently though — four from Red Wing (enrollment 800) I can think of off the top of my head.

As an aside, Minnesotans just voted Red Wing the 2nd-best spot in the state to take day trips — a nod to the things I posted earlier.

http://www.vita.mn/best-of/215848311.html