News Director Job at Vermont Public Co in Colchester

Job Description

Job Title: News Director

Department: Content

Reports To: Senior Vice President of Content

Classification: Regular Full-Time

FLSA Status: Salary Exempt

Work Location: Vermont; This position may be hybrid, based from any of our Vermont Public studios (Colchester, Montpelier, and Norwich)

Cellular Phone Reimbursement Eligible: Yes

Prepared Date: November 2024

Application Process: Applications should be accompanied by a resume, cover letter, and relevant writing samples. Applications missing a cover letter will be considered incomplete and thus not reviewed.

Summary

The News Director leads Vermont Public’s news operation. They play a key role in developing the vision and strategy for our journalism. The News Director oversees news across broadcast and digital platforms, and serves as the center of the hub of daily production. Leading a team of three editors and working closely with other content managers and across departments, the News Director coordinates daily, long-term, and special coverage. The director works collaboratively to strengthen the organization’s journalism and culture and leads our efforts to better understand and reflect the communities we cover and serve.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Deep familiarity with Vermont news, and commitment to quality, in-depth and innovative journalism

• Set the strategy and vision for Vermont Public’s coverage, in collaboration with the SVP of Content and other news editors

• Make editorial and ethical judgment calls

• Help determine and communicate daily news plans across multiple platforms

• Edit on-air and digital newscast and enterprise stories from reporters, producers and hosts; produce audio as needed

• Coordinate and communicate weekend and holiday on-call news staffing

• Serve as Vermont Public’s liaison to NPR, the New England News Collaborative

• Serve as newsroom liaison to the University of Vermont’s Student Media Program

• Represent Vermont Public news publicly and proactively meet with community members regarding our news coverage.

• Create and maintain newsroom documentation and internal references

• Plan and manage newsroom budget

• Foster a culture of engagement with community members and with staff across the department

• Lead newsroom efforts to recruit and retain journalists from backgrounds underrepresented in public media

• Write stories for broadcast and digital platforms, as needed

• Participate in membership drives

EXCELLENCE IN THIS ORGANIZATION

• A high level of commitment and dedication to the mission of the organization and public media.

• Ability to cultivate and develop inclusive and equitable working relationships with co-workers and audience, supporting and enhancing a culture of belonging.

• Preserving confidentiality appropriately.

• Serving as an excellent ambassador for the organization, both formally and informally. Helping audience and potential audience members, donors, and potential donors connect with the organization.

• Facilitating excellent communications across departments, among employees, and with the public. Fostering open and candid relationships with Vermont Public audience and donors. Managing conflict constructively.

• Demonstrating a commitment to the continuous improvement of the organization’s ability to fulfill its mission and vision.

• Demonstrating and encouraging creativity and enthusiasm for this work.

• Expressing consistent, high-performance expectations for themselves, their department, the leadership, and the organization itself.

• Developing a broad understanding of the organization’s departments, programs, and services to assist donors, collaborate effectively with peers, ensure respectful communication and teamwork among departments.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Senior Editor

• Broadcast Editor

• Digital Editor

Position Requirements

Education and Experience

At least 10 years of journalism experience and 5 years management experience. Experience in audio and/or video reportage, production and storytelling strongly preferred. Must hold a valid driver’s license to drive to various work sites.

Working Conditions

Work is normally performed in a climate-controlled office environment with moderate noise levels (computers, telephones, etc.). No known environmental hazards are encountered in the normal performance of job duties.

Standard Work Week: Monday-Friday

Working conditions may vary outside the office and for jobs in production, maintenance, and engineering.

Physical Demands

Work involves standing and walking for brief periods, bending, and filing, but most duties are from a seated position. There is potential for eyestrain from reading detailed materials on a computer screen. Deadlines, workloads during peak periods, and changing priorities may cause increased stress levels. Work requires finger dexterity and eye-hand coordination to operate computer keyboards at a moderate skill level.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Please note: This is not an all-encompassing statement of this position’s responsibilities. While it attempts to be comprehensive, new responsibilities may be assigned to this position at any time.

Vermont Public is a proud equal-opportunity employer. We work diligently to recruit a broad pool of candidates and to hire and promote qualified individuals whose personal experiences, characteristics, and talents reasonably reflect the diversity of the communities served by Vermont Public. Our equal employment opportunities apply to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training. We encourage applications from women, minority groups, veterans, and people with disabilities.