The Staff Writer will own his or her respective beat(s) by diligently working with existing sources and developing new ones to find the type of information that has long made Sports Business Journal one of the most respected publications in the industry. They will then be able to present that information on various platforms — print, digital, video, social — in a compelling and creative fashion that will help SBJ and the writer stand apart in a crowded media space.
This position primarily will cover the business of baseball. The ideal candidate will have sources and familiarity with all 30 MLB clubs and MLB headquarters in New York.
The candidate also will also be responsible for tracking news and business developments in Minor League Baseball and all levels of professional baseball.
Strong, traditional journalistic skills — including source-building, interviewing, information-gathering, writing and analysis — are essential. So too is the ability to identify emerging trends and to have an understanding and awareness of where the industry is headed at all times and who the people and companies are that are fueling those changes.
Writers will contribute breaking news to our daily online product, often with more than one item per day, and to our weekly magazine. For the latter, news and analysis will be critical in providing one or more pieces in each issue to our news section, as well as features, investigative stories and profiles.
The writers will work closely with their assigned editor on a day-to-day basis, as well as with other editors as various projects arise. Strong collaboration and communication skills are vital and required to shape both the short- and long-term coverage plans around their beat(s). Writers may be asked to participate in podcasts, videos, SBJ conferences or other events as needed.
Required Education, Experience and Skills
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
- Minimum of 2 years of journalism experience with a proven ability in reporting and writing
- Familiarity and comfort with AP Style
- Creative planning skills
- Strong news judgment
- Ability to juggle multiple projects simultaneously
- Ability to hit deadlines consistently
- Excellent source-building and information-gathering
- Attention to and stickler for detail
- Strong organizational and communication skills
- Works well under deadline pressure
- Strong understanding of news writing, journalistic ethics and story structure
- Ability to break news and to identify newsworthy events and sources
- Strong writing, analytical and investigative interviewing skills
- Knowledge of sports business, and/or sports business community, a plus
- Proven experience building, maintaining and engaging an active audience
- Experience with using social media to source and promote content a plus
- Understanding imperatives of multiple platforms – print, web, social, etc.
- Proven ability to utilize a broad set of tools to tell stories and engage the audience
- Ability to leverage relationships with sources to deliver content that differentiates the organization from competitors
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Duties and Responsibilities, work schedules and/or location may change based on evolving business needs
- Regularly break news and identify newsworthy events and sources
- Work on breaking news, trends, analysis and longform pieces for SBJ
- Continually grow network of sources
- Work closely with Executive Editor and conference group on the planning and strategy around SBJ events
- Work closely with Executive Editor and conference group on conference ideas, sessions and panelists
- Reporters will be expected to facilitate/moderate at SBJ events and must be comfortable in taking a leading role in the community.
- Work collaboratively with editors, photographers, social media, video team and others to maximize the impact and accessibility of stories
- Contribute content from your beat each day for Sports Business Daily
- Contribute at least one news story per week for SBJ, and often more than one
- Be able to write compelling and informative feature stories multiple times per year and to contribute to multi-writer packages that arise as needed
- Contribute multiple stories per week to SBJ’s digital products
- Take on any other assignment made by manager(s).
- Work cooperatively and collaboratively with all colleagues and professionally with sources.
To apply, go here.