Sports Editor

The Detroit Free Press/freep.com, the largest metro publication within the USA TODAY NETWORK, is seeking a champion journalist to lead the sports desk that covers the busiest sports scene in the country, with historic professional franchises in the NBA, NHL, NFL and MLB, along with two national brands in the Big Ten, other regional college programs in the MAC, Horizon League, GLIAC, MIAA and one of the most robust high school sports scenes in the country. Our college audience includes more than 50 million readers annually.

The ideal candidate will guide our established beat writers and columnists with solid editing and headline writing and work with our award-winning photography staff. In all, the best person for the job will use their sharp journalistic edge to draw readers to freep.com and engage a national audience.

The editor will be the lead for the sports department on all platforms, including print, digital (website, app and social media) and audio (podcasts and voice stories), working in concert with the all newsroom leaders both within the Free Press and the Gannett sports organizational chart to remain the leader in pageviews and subscriptions for the company.

This person will dig deep into trends and maintain freep.com’s voice on all thing’s sports, from planning daily, weekly and tentpole event coverage, assigning and editing stories and engaging our audience when there are things to celebrate or lament. Additional responsibilities include leading our award-winning high school sports coverage, the Free Press marathon's editorial coverage, being the liason for book production for special moments and editing Mitch Albom's weekly Opinion column.

We are looking for someone with a nose for news and the know-how to present that news to readers across platforms, in print, on screens and in ears. We need someone raring to make our coverage better with impactful and provocative enterprise journalism and who wants to be part of a winning team. There is no ambition too big for this role.



Requirements

• Bachelor's or master’s degree in communications, journalism, marketing or related field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• At least 10 years of reporting/editing experience, with five years of managerial experience.
• Experience building a brand on social media.
• Expertise in writing, spelling, grammar, AP style.
• Command of media law and Principles of Ethical Conduct.
• Effective communicator; able to get along with diverse personalities.
• Able to multitask and excel under intense deadline pressure in a rapidly changing industry.
• Knows how to use time efficiently in a 24-hour newsroom.
• Works collaboratively within a cross-functional environment.
• Understands competition for our customers’ time and money.
• Self-motivated and self-directed.
• Applies innovative, creative thinking to support team’s goals.
• Employment is contingent on passing a post-offer pre-employment background check.
  
  

Application Instructions

We are eager to learn more about you and how you fit this role. When you apply, don’t limit your upload to a resume; show us what you’ve done. To do so, put together a single document file that includes the following, in this order:

• Your updated current resume - one to two pages.
• A cover letter explaining your interest and fit for the position.
• Your portfolio/clips/links to a few samples of your work.
  
  

It is important that these items be assembled into a single document and uploaded in PDF format. Completing these steps will ensure that your application receives the highest consideration.

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