Nashville Public Radio
News Editor
Nashville Public Radio
Job Summary
NEWS EDITOR – WPLN NEWS
Ready to work with some of the best reporters in Nashville?
WPLN News is looking for a news editor to help lead a thriving newsroom devoted to accurate and nuanced reporting.
As one of WPLN’s editors, you’ll mentor a diverse team of talented reporters as they develop their beats and master the finer skills of radio journalism. We’re interested in someone who can be a coach and advocate for our reporters – and a key decision-maker among newsroom leadership.
As a blue dot in ruby-red Tennessee, Nashville is a bellwether for national politics. Our newsroom is committed to elevating the voices of those most affected by our statehouse for both a local and national audience. Your passion for storytelling and your commitment to equity will help shape the next generation of journalists as they tackle stories about gun safety, LGBTQ rights, a new mayoral administration, and climate change.
Job Responsibilities
What you’ll do:
- Edit daily stories for accuracy, clarity, and context.
- Work with reporters to develop enterprising story ideas that go beyond the day’s news.
- Lead and mentor a team of 3-5 reporters. This means you’ll have weekly one-on-ones with each direct report and help them develop and shape their beats.
- Regularly work with reporters to appear on our midday show, This Is Nashville.
- Serve as a newsroom leader, including participating in key coverage decisions, workflow strategies, and long-term planning.
- Serve as a station ambassador, participating in community engagement events and striving to build relationships with underserved communities.
- Foster a positive workplace culture.
Who We Are
WPLN News is the newsroom of Nashville Public Radio, a community-licensed, nonprofit news outlet that strives to cover our region with context, courage, and respect. We aim to hold officials accountable and serve audiences that are often underrepresented in positions of power, including people of color, immigrants, and those in the working class.
Our newsroom helps journalists realize their potential on the job, while also giving them space to live a full life outside of it. We strive to perform at the highest level: Since 2019, our newsroom has received a Peabody, a National Murrow Award, and a Pulitzer finalist nod. We currently have formal collaborations with the New York Times’ Serial, KFF Health News, ProPublica, and Nashville Noticias, as well as being a leading newsroom within NPR’s Southern bureau.
Why Nashville?
Nashville is “Music City.” You may have heard that name before, but it’s hard to grasp its meaning without having lived here. Yes, it refers to the country stars. But it also refers to the session and touring musicians you’ve never heard of — world-class talents who live here so they can make art and still raise a family. It refers to the city’s rich Black music traditions — from the Fisk Jubilee Singers to the National Museum of African American Music. It refers to the fashion designers and the chefs, the visual artists and the writers who draw inspiration from the creative people around them.
Nashville is also a crossroads. It is in the South, but you’re as likely to meet someone from the coasts or the Midwest here. The city has a strong international community, anchored by one of the world’s largest Kurdish populations. And the construction cranes that dot the skyline speak to the growth that’s still to come. Nashville is where all of America meets — north and south, east and west, first or eighth generation. Here, you will speak to the breadth of this country.
Outside your job, you should know that there is plenty more to Nashville than honky tonks and cowboy hats (though those things can be fun too!).
- small-town and big-city feel all in one place
- more than a dozen universities, including Fisk, Belmont and Vanderbilt, and Tennessee State University
- not just country music. Also rhythm and blues, gospel, hip-hop, and rock
- several James Beard semifinalists and, of course, hot chicken
- diversity, including vibrant Black, Latino, Asian, and Middle Eastern communities
- beaches, mountains, and most of the South, Midwest, and East Coast are less than a day’s drive
- vibrant pro hockey, football, soccer, and baseball teams
- a cost of living that’s below the national average and no state income tax
- plus, it’s a good place to raise a family.
Want to learn more about what Nashville has to offer? We’ve compiled a handy list on our website.
Qualifications
Physical Demands
The employee in this position is frequently standing, walking, or sitting; using hands to finger, handle, or feel; reaching with hands and arms, and talking or hearing.
Lifts Weight or Exerts Force Work Environment
The employee in this position may regularly lift up to 20 pounds.
Vision
Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.
Additional Information
Benefits
Salary Information
$67,000+ (Negotiable based on experience)
About Nashville Public Radio
Nashville Public Radio serves Middle Tennessee by providing trusted in-depth news, engaging music, and unique cultural programs on 90.3 FM WPLN News, WNXP, Nashville Classical Radio, and our various digital platforms. For more than 60 years, listeners have turned to this community-supported service for programming that inspires conversation and curiosity, educates, and entertains. Our values are:
- To operate the station at the highest level of professional standards and integrity.
- To be responsive to our listeners, members, supporters, and public.
- To exhibit mutual respect for our peers and audience.
- To value the member and community support that our station receives.
- To work together in an environment that encourages participation and sharing of the decisions that affect the station and our listeners.
Nashville Public Radio is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusivity in our hiring. Nashville Public Radio is an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or status as a protected veteran. As part of this commitment, we will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided with reasonable accommodation.
Nashville Public Radio offers a generous benefits package including medical, vision, dental, and a robust Employee Assistance Program inclusive of six free sessions of counseling each year and basic legal assistance. Long-term disability and life insurance are provided at no cost to employees. We also have up to 40 days of paid parental or medical leave, inclusive for adoptive and/or foster parents.
In addition to these benefits, employees receive vacation and sick leave, access to a 401(k) plan with employer matching, and 13 paid holidays, 2 of which are floating to employee preference.
The job profile is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change, and/or new ones may be assigned at any time with or without notice.
How to Apply
How does the application process work?
To apply, please click here and upload the following to our portal by September 15, 2023
- Cover letter. Tell us why you’re interested in joining Nashville Public Radio and, using the prompts below, explain why you’d make a great editor and manager. Submit your letter as a PDF.
- Clips. Please provide links to 4 examples of your work, including at least 2 on which you were the primary editor. These do not have to be audio stories. Please explain your role in each and submit your clips as a single PDF.
- Resume. Please keep it to no more than two pages and submit it as a PDF. No need to send your references yet — we’ll ask that of the finalists.
Our search committee will evaluate your cover letter, clips, and resume on the following criteria:
- Writing and editing. Don’t give your cover letter short shrift or send a form letter. We want to know if you can tell a story.
- Leadership. Editing is not just fixing AP style errors or cutting down on prepositions. It’s about understanding people, fostering talent, and having patience as people grow. You don’t need prior experience being a manager, but you do need experience as a leader. How have you challenged your colleagues to grow?
- Collaboration. We value teamwork. Throughout your career, have you been able to work with people in other parts of the newsroom and in other departments? Tell us how.
- Commitment to equity. Do you seek out thoughtful stories about groups that are typically underrepresented in media? Do you consider the lens of underserved communities, even when they’re not immediately the focus of the story?
- Ability to think enterprisingly. You’ll be working with a team of busy reporters, and a big part of your job will be helping them see beyond what’s immediately before them.
After rating each application, our search committee will choose a set of finalists to interview. Finalists may be asked to complete a brief editing exercise. If you do not make it to the finalist round, we will alert you by email as promptly as possible. If you have further questions about the process, please email hradmin@wpln.org.
Details
- Date Posted: August 7, 2023
- Type: Full-Time
- Job Function: Other
- Service Area: Other
- Salary Range: 67,000+ (Negotiable based on experience)
- Working Hours: 40 hrs/week