The Roanoke Times is looking for a versatile copy editor to join its night editing desk. We need someone who has a demonstrated knowledge of sports – and relishes editing sports content — but is also comfortable editing a government story or writing a music review headline. This position has a sports-editing focus but our universal desk editors handle copy and design for all sections — news, sports and features. Strong candidates will be able to communicate effectively and compromise with reporters, line editors and other copy editors to make reader-centered decisions about content and packaging.
The ideal candidate will be an agile thinker, have keen news judgment, understand the value of compiling sports agate and feel comfortable taking a call from a high school coach and writing up a game summary. We're looking for someone who is collegial and collaborative and who won't be constrained by a title. While copy editing daily, advance and online copy is the heart of this job, also important is the willingness to learn — often and quickly — the skills needed to deliver news to our readers where they are and package it appropriately, whether it's for print, the web or a mobile device. The person in this position will need to become proficient in our print publishing system as well as our online content management system and how the two work together to produce the daily online report and breaking news.
Weekend and holiday work are a regular part of this job.
Essential duties and responsibilities
• Edit sports, news and features copy and write display type in accordance with AP style, the stylebook of The Roanoke Times, and Webster's New World Fourth Edition. (An editing test will be required.)
• Update roanoke.com as news breaks/stories develop and in a maintenance capacity to shepherd the posting of the print report to the website.
• Deliver news, information, stories, updates and other forms of coverage to our community via Twitter, Facebook, blogs, e-mail updates, text message, breaking-news e-mail and any other platform we employ in the future.
• Stay current on our coverage, that of the competition, and the big headlines from national and international news.
• Answer phones and compile game summaries and sports agate as needed.
Required Skills
• Bachelor's degree
• Experience copy editing on a daily news deadline.
• Knowledge of sports and sports editing style.
• Proven ability to write clearly, tightly and accurately — for headlines, cutlines, promos, briefs, updates, write-throughs, tweets, text messages and more — and to meet tight deadlines doing so.
• A visual eye and a sense of what's missing, what's needed and how the pieces of a package work together.
• Ability to be decisive and to adapt quickly and comfortably to change.
• Curiosity, creativity, enthusiasm and interest in new technology and finding ways to improve our strategies.
• Experience with Adobe InCopy and InDesign as well as Internet content management systems is a plus.
All candidates must apply online at www.jobs.roanoke.com. E-mail questions to michael.stowe@roanoke.com
