Managing Editor of News – State at Hearst Communications Inc. in NORWALK, Connecticut

Job Description:

Managing Editor of State News – Hearst Connecticut Media Group

Hearst Connecticut Media Group’s Managing Editor of State News will help lead journalistic excellence across multiple newsrooms at the largest media network in the state. This dynamic leader will be joining HCMG at a time of record digital subscription growth, spurred by quality, award-winning content, both locally and statewide. 

With an unwavering focus on quality journalism – anchored in enterprise, investigative and public-service reporting, breaking and local news, and other core coverage areas such as sports – HCMG has been recognized with scores of highly-regarded industry awards.

Our journalists cover communities in Fairfield, New Haven, Litchfield and Hartford counties and beyond, serving readers across platforms, including our websites – which now includes the statewide CTInsider.com, an app, newsletters, social media accounts and more for nine daily and multiple weekly newspapers. HCMG has more than 160 newsroom staff across its network.

The Role:

The Managing Editor of State News will be responsible for supporting a large group of editors and reporters in their work. With a staunch focus on journalistic excellence, digital-first publishing, audience data, innovation, expansion and more, we are looking for a groundbreaking editor who will continue to evolve what we do both in real time as the news happens, as well as strategically in the long term.  

With a focus on local and statewide content, and an emphasis on digital-first storytelling, this newsroom leader is a forward-looking journalist who not only understands the quality, cadence and various formats of stories needed to inform readers, but also works in collaboration with other leaders such as the managing editor of audience and innovation to make sure content is optimized. This includes working with staff to improve audience reach on search, social media, newsletters and more, where we continuously look to evolve and deepen reader experience. This leader will also have the opportunity to work closely with HCMG’s award-winning visual and data visualization teams, together producing some of our strongest work.

This leader will report to the Senior Vice President of Content and Editor-in-Chief, and also work closely with the senior newsroom leadership team (the Managing Editor of Local News and Managing Editor of Audience and Innovation). The role involves supporting editors, reporters, and other staff to produce stories of journalistic excellence, while also supporting their own growth both journalistically and within the organization.

The candidate must have a strong grasp of the operations of all newsroom departments, as well as newsroom standards and journalistic principles, including legalities and ethics when it comes to newsgathering and content publishing.

This leader should also have a strong track record when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion – from evolving and expanding the breadth of our coverage in this vital area, to supporting a thoughtful and inclusive culture within our newsrooms.

The Managing Editor of State News will also play a key role in talent development and recruiting, regularly sharing constructive feedback with editors and reporters and looking for opportunities to elevate their journalism and support their development and career pathing at HCMG. They will consult regularly with the EIC on coverage, as well as on broader strategic and budget considerations as part of the senior management team.

Duties and Responsibilities:

- Leads, supports and mentors editors, reporters, and photographers to tell impactful stories across platforms.

- Elevates reporters’ work, seizing opportunities for in-depth enterprise and investigative stories, including those with statewide, and at times national, reach.

- Demonstrates a high comfort level with analyzing and interpreting metrics and uses them to inform coverage decisions in real time and the long term.

- Strong understanding of growing reader engagement, digital subscription growth through journalistic excellence, while continuing to publish quality print products.

- Conceptualizes and assigns stories, guiding staffers through the reporting process and editing their work with excellent command of grammar, usage and AP style.

- Develop the talents of staffers, offering constructive criticism of their work. Coordinates and communicates well with managers in other newsrooms and non-editorial departments on projects.

- Communicates quickly and effectively with editors to break news online and follows up when appropriate with more in-depth enterprise pieces, while guiding staffs through the reporting and editing process.

- Leads diversity, equity and inclusion efforts which help evolve newsroom coverage, as well as fostering a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion within the newsroom, for example, with hiring practices and retention efforts.

- Works closely with the editor-in-chief to achieve journalistic excellence, maintain high standards, strive toward growth goals, support teams to do their best work and more.

- Analyzes and interprets metrics to inform coverage decisions or create a conversation around how coverage could be elevated.

- Develops the talents of staffers, offering constructive criticism of their work, as well as positive reinforcement, while overseeing evaluations of reporters and editors on various teams. 

 

Qualifications: 

- Minimum 10 years of experience as a senior editor.

- Demonstrated experience managing newsroom personnel and producing high-quality news.

- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in journalism, English, communications, or related field preferred. 

- Demonstrated success working in a deadline-driven environment.

- Highly organized and detail oriented with a proven ability to effectively juggle multiple tasks.

- Ability to speak a second language like Spanish a plus.

- Ability to mentor editors and journalists of all skill levels. 

- Understanding of social media landscape and SEO, as well as audience data analysis. 

- Command of newsroom standards and principles.

- This full-time job with benefits is based in Connecticut and is not eligible for remote candidates.

 

HCMG is committed to growing and retaining a more diverse workforce that better reflects the communities we serve. We strongly encourage all people of working age, who are traditionally underrepresented in media to apply, including women, people of color, applicants with disabilities, those from the LGBTQ+ community and veterans.

Here's a look at Hearst CT's 2023 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion report: https://bit.ly/3H7UNkV

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