Daily Journal (Indiana) seeks sports reporter

[gravehunter]

The Daily Journal, an award-wining newspaper near Indianapolis, is seeking an energetic sports writer who has the drive and skills to handle a variety of beats, including high school, professional, college and recreational sports. Candidate should be able to produce strong, well-written in-depth sports features and enterprise pieces and daily stories. Looking for a leader who can run with stories and come up with original story ideas that connect with readers. Previous newspaper reporting and photography experience required. Our sports section is consistently named one of the best in Indiana and our newspaper was named the top paper in state. Send resume and clips to: [email protected]. Phone: 317-736-2715

 

[bsugrad]

How serious is this place about opportunities to cover college and professional sports? Anyone have insight/experience?

 

[LevinTBlack]

How serious is this place about opportunities to cover college and professional sports? Anyone have insight/experience?

Good question. I would say if two Ball State grads don't know then it probably isn't all too serious. Could be wrong though. Just seems weird neither of us would know.

 

[dkphxf]

It appears the sports editor is doing columns on the Pacers and Colts. I don't know how much would filter down to the new hire.

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

The question is though, are they columns from the arena or from his couch?

 

[spikechiquet]

Hmmm, never heard of it before either. Then again, I don't hawkeye award ceremonies much.

 

[Dick Whitman]

It's in Franklin, Ind., in the south suburbs. That's the less moneyed part of the collar counties, but still pretty nice, especially the Center Grove area that's a few miles northwest of Franklin.

I believe that they mostly concentrate on those high schools, along with the Division III school in town which has a Top 25-caliber football program. But probably pretty tough to totally ignore the Colts in this era. Not sure about Indiana U. hoops and football.

 

[LevinTBlack]

It's in Franklin, Ind., in the south suburbs. That's the less moneyed part of the collar counties, but still pretty nice, especially the Center Grove area that's a few miles northwest of Franklin.

I believe that they mostly concentrate on those high schools, along with the Division III school in town which has a Top 25-caliber football program. But probably pretty tough to totally ignore the Colts in this era. Not sure about Indiana U. hoops and football.

The Div. III school is in a conference with schools around the state or just across the border. I went to Manchester College for a year before transferring to Ball State. They are in the conference, as is Anderson.

 

[NickMordo]

If the Colts were part of the position, it would be a win for anybody to cover that team (and quarterback).

 

[Stitch]

If the Colts were part of the position, it would be a win for anybody to cover that team (and quarterback).

Would it be that fun just to cover a Colts game? By the looks of it, the paper just uses AP for a Colts game.

 

[NickMordo]

If the Colts were part of the position, it would be a win for anybody to cover that team (and quarterback).

Would it be that fun just to cover a Colts game? By the looks of it, the paper just uses AP for a Colts game.

If it was part of your beat, then yes. Otherwise, it wouldn't be entirely bad to still cover a few Colts games a year if given the opportunity. If it's an AP-only type gig then it's different for sure.

 

[Stitch]

If the Colts were part of the position, it would be a win for anybody to cover that team (and quarterback).

Would it be that fun just to cover a Colts game? By the looks of it, the paper just uses AP for a Colts game.

If it was part of your beat, then yes. Otherwise, it wouldn't be entirely bad to still cover a few Colts games a year if given the opportunity. If it's an AP-only type gig then it's different for sure.

Covering a game only is not a beat. Nothing worse than a paper that sends reporters to pro games, but doesn't treat it as a beat. Having a reporter writing just on a pro team is worthless.

 

[playthrough]

They're serious about Colts/Pacers, and are recognized as such by the teams' p.r. folks (which is more than half the battle at smaller papers). But you'll also be cranking prep copy all the time, of course.

 

[bsugrad]

Thanks Play

 

[crimsonace]

To me, the DJ is the perfect small-paper scenario. They "get it" when it comes to running a suburban newspaper. They're preps-heavy, but the preps coverage is VERY feature-centric, and they don't treat the teams in Indianapolis like they have leprosy because they're across the county line (unlike a shop in the same chain where I worked). They're pretty serious about the Pacers and Colts and staff them. They also use stringers pretty liberally. Rick Morwick & Jeff Decker are two first-class, stand-up guys to work with, too. Both have been in the biz for quite some time and do tremendous work.

 

[sportsguydave]

Buyer beware: This position has turned over three times since July 2009.

In this position, you'll be expected to do a lot of enterprise and feature-type work. A big stable of stringers handles most of the game coverage...but you'll be covering football on Friday nights, of course. Some of the state's best programs (Center Grove and Indian Creek) interspersed with a few of the worst.

PM me for some information that should best be shared privately.