POSITION OVERVIEW
KTOO is looking for a talented and curious digital journalist to help our Juneau, Alaska-based newsroom shine. Your job will be to make sure the journalism and programming coming out of KTOO is important, engaging and inspirational for our digital audience.
Our content is a mix of digital-first stories and web posts that come from broadcast versions of stories. Regardless of the format the story starts out as, you will make it look like it was made for the web. As a copy editor, you’ll polish up great reporting from across the state and make it shine online.
About 50% of your time will be spent posting and sharing news content online. Our website includes original reporting and content from KTOO and republished news stories from a vast network of public media organizations across Alaska.
The other half of the job will be spent working on a digital focus that you will help define. We’re looking for someone who can make KTOO stand out by offering something special.
- Maybe you’re obsessed with audience engagement and live events
- Maybe you’re an experienced visual storyteller who wants to make explainer videos or data visualizations
- Maybe you’re into web design or development and could make interactive web pages or apps
- Maybe you’re inspired by the intersection of social media and journalism and want to start a bunch of affinity newsletters, audience Facebook groups or experiment with a platform we haven’t used before
- Maybe you’re incredibly fast at writing up breaking news and sharing it widely
- Maybe you’ve had fulfilling experiences reaching underserved communities with creative outreach
- Maybe you can offer something (related to digital journalism) we haven’t even dreamed of yet
This position reports to KTOO’s Managing Editor and works closely with the news team as well as KTOO’s Arts & Culture and Production teams occasionally.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Edit news stories for KTOO.org, including copy editing, headline writing, identifying appropriate visuals
- Manage KTOO’s homepage and social media accounts
- Create a workflow and maintain a posting schedule for digital content on web & social media
- Measure, monitor and analyze available data and present findings and best practices to content creators
- Collaborate with other members of the KTOO News team on special reporting projects
- Write and/or edit KTOO’s news newsletter(s)
- Learn as much as you can about KTOO’s digital audience (and potential digital audience) and help shape our digital strategy so that we are as engaging and relevant as we can be
- Strive to help underrepresented communities and individuals feel at home with our content and platforms
- Produce original digital content, including but not limited to graphics, videos, slideshows, multimedia presentations, podcasts, audio stories
- Work with Managing Editor to identify evolving digital strategic priorities
Successful candidates will possess the following skills and competencies:
- At least 2 years of experience working in a newsroom or similar digital media environment, producing content on deadline
- Confidence in your skills and experience and a willingness to collaborate with others
- Excellent writing skills, proven news judgment, and journalistic integrity
- Experience reaching out to traditionally underrepresented communities
- Enthusiasm for local news and audience engagement
- Demonstrated strategic thinking about digital audiences
- Ability to stay calm under pressure when technology fails, plus a willingness to learn new equipment and operations
- One of the following interests / competencies:
– Graphic design
– Documentary film making or visual storytelling
– Coding, programming and website development
– Photojournalism
– Audience engagement tools like Hearken or Ground Source
– Data journalism and data visualization
– Online news / digital-first journalism
– Podcast or other digital media project management
– Quantitative and qualitative data analysis / social science
ABOUT US
KTOO has a mid-sized newsroom in a small market, which means we have robust reporting power and a strong presence and reputation in the community. You will be joining a team that includes 2 news editors, 3 statewide reporters and 3 local reporters. With you, there will be 9 journalists in the newsroom. You’ll also join a fun Slack group with 40-something reporters, editors and producers at public media stations around Alaska.
Our editorial focus is a mix of stories of local and statewide importance. Our statewide reporters focus on state government (Juneau is the capital of Alaska), healthcare, energy & natural resource policy, Alaska’s economy, science and climate change. Our local reporters focus on city governance, housing & homelessness issues, tourism & other local economic drivers, criminal justice & re-entry/recidivism, early childhood education & schools, and Alaska Native culture and governance.
KTOO supports station-wide efforts to increase diversity and inclusion. The newsroom is committed to consciously seeking out voices, perspectives and stories not found in other outlets or in the media at all. We keep track of the gender and race and/or ethnicity of all our sources and strive to source our stories with diversity and inclusivity in mind. Our community is almost 20% Alaska Native and 10% Asian and we are trying to ensure that those voices are represented in our coverage.
Deadline: Open until filled. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.
Salary: Depends on experience, but starting in the high $40s. Plus competitive benefits including paid health insurance, retirement plan, paid leave and holidays.
Apply: online at https://www.ktoo.org/job-opportunities/apply-online/
Posted: 06/08/2020
KTOO is an Equal Opportunity Employer