Sports editor, Fayetteville, N.C.

[Dennis Hall]

The Fayetteville Observer, an APSE award-winning 65K circulation newspaper in North Carolina, is looking for an editor to manage the sports department and oversee the desk at night.

Key areas of responsibility

• Work desk four nights per week, including laying out pages, editing copy and making decisions about story and photo play

• Work one day shift where focus is on planning

• Oversee college sports coverage, including supervision of reporters and planning coverage for ACC and region colleges

• Work closely with AME on planning for high school sports coverage, big event coverage and long-term enterprise and features

Qualifications

• Experience and expertise as a page designer

• Excellent copy editing skills and news judgment

Qualified candidates should send a resume and cover letter to:

Dennis Hall
Assistant Managing Editor/Sports & New Media
The Fayetteville Observer
P.O. Box 849
Fayetteville, NC 28306

You may also apply via e-mail to:
[email protected]

 

[Editude]

This looks like title inflation. The SE reports to the AME/sports, which is OK but in this case means being the lead desk person four days a week and planning (in consultation with the power above you) for another. Pretty soft definition of a department head.

 

[BrianGriffin]

This looks like title inflation. The SE reports to the AME/sports, which is OK but in this case means being the lead desk person four days a week and planning (in consultation with the power above you) for another. Pretty soft definition of a department head.

It sounds like it's an ASE position, from what you say. Wonder if it comes with SE pay or ASE pay?

It's like with SIDs. Most of them are now associate ADs for media relations (or communications) and the top assistant gets a title like Director of Communications...well is the director of communications getting paid like the head of the department, or did they just give this person a fancy title while still paying assistant SID pay.

 

[sgaleadfoot]

anyone know who, if anyone, is leaving?

 

[MrBSquared]

Talked to Dennis at the APSE judging this year and this was a position on his wish list ... which is actually encouraging, since he got it. He comes highly recommended as boss material from a friend who was the SE in Dallas.

 

[wannabeu]

The paper does good work and they have good people. Dennis is good people. He did great work when he was at The Dallas Morning News and is doing a good job at this paper.

 

[SixToe]

I may be incorrect, but isn't this where John Newsom works and didn't he post here recently about a move he is making?

If this is a totally new position, as it sounds, then that's fantastic. Small scraps of good news are better than nothing in this age.

 

[wannabeu]

I believe it is a new position from what I hear. Dennis had been helping run the sports section. They are one of the few papers that are actually adding staff. They also added another sports reporter position to cover high schools and some of their colleges. Not sure who got that gig.

 

[Moderator1]

John Newsom is in Greensboro.

 

[BrianGriffin]

I'm curious as to the structure of this staff. As I asked earlier, is this position basically a repackaged ASE position, or have they come up with a new job description?

I ask out of general curiosity about what's going on in the business and how others deal with the times we are in.

 

[FreddiePatek]

Good leadership to bounce ideas off of. Brian Tolley is the paper's EE. He's the former AME/Sports at The State in Columbia. Dennis, well, it's been covered here and everything said so far is spot on. I don't think this is a glorified ASE position per se, but they probably do need someone who rides closer herd over the production end of things. That said, I'm almost positive the day-to-day writing of the section will fall on this SE's shoulders with the big picture/broad enterprise stuff being formulated higher up. That's just a guess, though.

 

[joe king]

I have no pipeline -- maybe a dripping water faucet -- but from what I've heard there are an awful lot of chiefs at this shop relative to the number of Indians.

 

[wannabeu]

I know that they have a much larger staff than a normal paper its size. They have close to about 100 people in the newsroom. They are one of the few papers that are doing well (as well as a paper can do in these times), probably because they are a family-owned newspaper.

 

[Dennis Hall]

Some answers:

We have 10 people in Sports, not counting me. We've been without a sports editor since last year, and now our ASE (Matt Tabeek) has taken a position on the copy desk as assistant news editor. So we need someone who can do some of what each of those guys was doing.

I'm handling both sports and new media, so I can't spend more than half my time on sports. We need someone who can run the desk at night and also work with writers and plan coverage. We have six writers, so I'll probably have three report to the sports editor and have three report to me. (That's still to be determined.)

I don't know the exact salary range. I'll worry about that once I see some resumes.

 

[fishwrapper]

So, basically you're looking for a News Editor.
Spade=Spade

 

[John Newsom]

I may be incorrect, but isn't this where John Newsom works and didn't he post here recently about a move he is making?

Moddy's right. I'm in Greensboro, but no longer in Sports.

True story: Back in 1995, right after I got hired by Greensboro, I got a rejection letter from the Fayetteville paper. That was my only encounter with the Fayetteville paper, which by reputation does a very good job with its Sports section.

 

[Rockbottom]

I concur with the Fayetteville paper's rep ... a place I was in the SE running for back in the day before withdrawing my name. A quality paper, albeit surrounded by Fort Bragg.

rb

 

[thegrifter]

so, are they trying to fill the SE spot and the ASE spot, or will one person fill both duties considering the climate of things in our profession?

 

[Philkaplan]

A good guy in the business will be filling this job.
Congratulations Todd.

 

[WriteThinking]

A good guy in the business will be filling this job.
Congratulations Todd.

Um, Todd who?

Why do people allude to things, and make references to things -- things that are apparently decided to a secure enough extent that people will mention it on the board -- but do it with no explanation or clarification?

If it is too early to talk about with certainty, or you're not sure the person would want the situation announced, then why bring it up?