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Editor, Milwaukee neighborhoods reporting initiative

Job Description

Posted Thursday, February 27, 2025 at 7:00 AM

Gannett Co., Inc. is a diversified media company dedicated to empowering and enriching communities. We seek to inspire, inform, and connect audiences through scalable media and digital marketing solutions. Our portfolio includes the USA TODAY NETWORK and Newsquest in the UK.

Editor, Milwaukee neighborhoods reporting initiative

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is seeking a creative and public-service-driven editor to lead our new neighborhoods initiative, a grant-funded pilot project launching in early 2025.

This editor will lead a team that will pioneer a listen-first approach to community journalism in Wisconsin’s largest newsroom. With unprecedented grant support, this team will launch in three Milwaukee neighborhoods, including three neighborhood-specific reporters and a photojournalist.

We need an editor who is savvy, organized, and passionate, with an innovative spirit - someone ready to listen, help reporters make connections in neighborhoods, and shape distinctive journalism. This team will elevate neighborhood voices by informing and empowering residents, amplifying their voices, and exploring solutions to local issues.

We’re looking for a thoughtful, risk-taking leader motivated by the idea of launching something new, determined to make it sustainable, and inspired to create a community-minded journalism model.

Responsibilities:

1. Listening: Hold regular office hours and listening sessions to understand neighbors' needs and proactively reach out to residents.
2. Conversing: Foster ongoing dialogue with residents to earn their trust, publishing stories with no paywall and circulating information through neighborhood networks.
3. Reporting: Focus stories on solutions, prioritizing residents as experts, ranging from how-to guides to narratives of local accomplishments.
4. Convening: Host office hours, neighborhood chats, and summits to foster community change.
5. Empowering: Elevate voices traditionally excluded in media, hire interns from neighborhoods, and offer stipends for resident commentaries.

Other responsibilities:

• Make assignments and edit copy to meet deadlines.
• Manage staff, interns, and neighborhood contributors.
• Organize listening sessions and community events.
• Create benchmarks for pilot work.
• Coordinate internship opportunities and resident contributions.
• Communicate progress and challenges to the community.
• Foster ongoing communication with neighborhood residents.
• Work collaboratively within the newsroom and community.
• Identify strategies to deliver content to neighbors.
• Assist residents in contributing opinion pieces and participating in events.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's or master's degree in communications, journalism, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 3-5 years of leadership experience in management or community-based organizations, preferably in media.
• Understanding of strategy and goal-setting.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively.
• Strong time management and prioritization skills.
• Good verbal and written communication skills.
• Experience turning feedback into actionable steps.
• Skills in communicating progress and challenges.
• Comfort working outside the office in diverse neighborhoods.

Leading this three-year pilot project requires an editor who can hit the ground running. If you don’t have every skill listed, please don’t rule yourself out – let’s talk about whether you would be the right fit.

Application Instructions

We are eager to learn more about you. When you apply, please upload a single document file that includes:

• Your resume (one to two pages).
• A cover letter outlining your approach to the job.

These items should be in a single document and uploaded in PDF format for consideration.

Gannett Co., Inc. is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse workforce. We consider all qualified applicants and do not discriminate based on any protected classifications.