Chalkbeat Colorado Bureau Chief

Posted On: April 7, 2015

Journalism Job

Media Organization: Chalkbeat

Company Description

About Chalkbeat Colorado

Chalkbeat is the nonprofit news organization covering the national effort to transform public education. We are mission-driven journalists who believe that an independent local press is vital to ensuring that education improves. We seek to provide deep local coverage of education policy and practice that informs decisions and actions, leading to better schools.
Chalkbeat was founded in 2013 as a merger of GothamSchools and EdNews Colorado, the award-winning news sites that are now known as Chalkbeat New York and Chalkbeat Colorado. While each local Chalkbeat bureau works together to sustain our operations, each bureau is editorially independent.

Chalkbeat is a project of the Colorado Non-Profit Development Center (CNDC). CNDC is the legal governing body of this organization and is responsible for legal and fiscal oversight of this project; all positions are employees of CNDC. CNDC is dedicated to equal employment opportunities in any term, condition, or privilege of employment. CNDC prohibits unlawful discrimination against applicants or employees based on race, color, national origin, ancestry, creed, religion, sex, age 40 and over, disability, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, marital status, gender expression or any other characteristic protected by state or local law.

Job Description

Position: Bureau chief
Location: Denver, CO

Chalkbeat Colorado, the nonprofit news organization covering Colorado public schools, is seeking a bureau chief to support its efforts to deliver high-quality reporting about Denver-area schools and state-level education policy to readers.

The job
The bureau chief in Colorado will be the editorial and strategic leader of an award-winning team of reporters working toward the goals of increasing quality of journalism, readership, reader engagement, and impact. The right candidate will have a track record of planning and executing high-quality, mission-driven daily and long-term news coverage, particularly in digital formats, working with reporters to improve their copy, and guiding editorial and reader engagement strategy for a news operation. S/he will oversee a team that includes four reporters.

Responsibilities:
Establish high-level Chalkbeat Colorado editorial strategy and set bureau goals
Create and execute short- and long-term strategies for developing content that achieves Chalkbeat’s mission
Daily oversight of the newsroom including assigning and editing a variety of stories (breaking news, analysis, investigative pieces, enterprise and features, newsletters, and aggregation), with special attention to innovative modes of presenting digital journalism
Design and implement systems to manage a staff of reporters and a community editor
Ensure that content finds its audience through social media and other distribution pathways
Pitch in to report and write content, particularly but not limited to breaking news and aggregation, as needed

Qualifications

We are seeking candidates who are energized by our mission and excited to help us build a news organization that re-imagines daily newsgathering without abandoning traditional journalistic values. Candidates should have strong reporting and editing skills, a passion for (and ideally, a strong familiarity with) the subject matter, and experience leading a team.

In particular, you should have:

Five or more years of journalism experience
A high level of comfort with the exciting opportunities and challenges inherent in helping to lead a start-up organization
Demonstrated organizational skills and an ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously
Experience on the education beat, a familiarity with Colorado, and experience with running a WordPress website are pluses but not requirements. Compensation depends on experience and is highly competitive.

To Apply

Send a résumé, links to five relevant clips, and a cover letter explaining your interest in the position to Maura Walz at mwalz@chalkbeat.org.

Compensation depends on experience and is competitive, with full benefits package and, after one year of service, a 401(k).