Sports Reporter, The Minot Daily News (N.D.)

They said they were going to post the ad, but I haven't seen it yet. Either way, I have permission to put it on here.

The Minot Daily News, a 7-day, 19,000-circulation daily newspaper in north central North Dakota, is looking for a full-time sports reporter to round out a four-person team. Candidates should have some writing experience, and photography experience is preferred, but not necessary. The job also requires taking turns with the scoreboard page using Quark Xpress. Please e-mail all resumes to cbieri@minotdailynews.com.

I'm currently on staff at this newspaper and I'm also from the area, so I know it well. We are looking to fill this spot as soon as possible. We will not be taking our time with this one as we need to be fully staffed by the end of February for obvious reasons. Those willing to make the move faster and get here sooner will have a leg up on the position.

-- We still travel to all major state tournaments and also the smaller ones if we choose, but it's hard to staff state gymnastics...cross country...you get the picture.

-- We get overtime when necessary. It doesn't have to be approved; we just can't go nuts with it. They know they'll see overtime in February and early March, but certainly not in the summer.

-- We'd really like to get someone who's serious about staying in Minot for at least a couple of years.

-- There's a lot of freedom on this job to do a lot of writing. There's no layout duties (the sports editor does it once in a while to fill in for any copy desk struggles). You're free to write all the columns and features you like.

-- We don't just travel to state tournaments; when we're fully staffed, we get freedom to get into the area games as far as an hour away, or even farther depending upon how much the game matters to our readers.

-- We do take our own photos, so if you don't have experience with photography, then we'll be teaching you.

Any questions, please feel free to ask them to me on here. Any personal questions, PM me.

 

This is a very solid paper for its size. Recommended.

 

applied for an earlier opening year, before pulling myself out...everything I discovered made this sound like a good stop. Great opportunity to work in a solid environment.

 

You'd have some fun guys to work with, that's for sure. You can't do much better for co-workers than Chris & Chris. Plus, there so many sports going on in the Minot area and they have such a big area to cover that there's always something to do.

 

Just like Dickinson, cost of living is an issue. Don't know how much this gig pays, but I'm betting several thousand less than I made in Dickinson.

 

Have worked with these guys in the past when Minot had a CBA team, good guys to help you out. Always helpful and when the CBA was about to die, it was us here and them doing a lot of the leg work with standings and box scores. Good people up there.

 

Is it now standard for sports reporters at a 20K to take their own photos? I don't remember that being the case even a couple years ago.

 

Not standard, but its getting that way. We had two full-time photographers six years ago. Then four years ago it was cut to one. Then three years ago, the photography department was axed completely in favor of getting people who could both write and shoot. Sports got another full-timer out of the deal.

I know of a 12,000 circulation paper where there's a full-time photog, but he rarely shoots sports. Sports still shoots their own. It seems like it's getting that way.

 

I worked at this shop many years ago. Covered games in all sports all over Western North Dakota. High school, Minot State and Minot Vistas (American Legion) are big, or were back then.

Minot's a very livable city, parts are tucked down in a valley and out of the wind. Sad to see that circulation has dipped to 19K, and that the photo department has been axed. We had several excellent photographers and plenty of staff, but back in my day it was a family-owned paper.

 

How much snow does Minot get compared to say Lake Tahoe?

 

Minot gets averages about 40 inches. Snow isn't the problem, it's the wind and cold. Summers are nice, though.