Indiana Local News Initiative seeks Indianapolis documenter’s assignment editor

The Indiana Local News Initiative is seeking an editor with a passion for local government, policy, and power to support our team as a Documenters assignment editor.

This editor will be a critical part of the newsroom team, which will include service journalism and community reporters as well as beat reporters focused on government, education, criminal justice and economics. They will help manage the deployment of Documenters, editing and reviewing some of the content produced from Documenter assignments, and writing a newsletter summarizing Documenters notes from the week. They will work to ensure Documenters’ work is reflected in newsroom output (e.g., identifying opportunities in meeting coverage for stories/deeper reporting, identifying new civic tools, and identifying opportunities for first-person accounts from Documenters to accompany reporting). As needed, they will produce explainers and how-to videos and hold office hours to assist the Documenters community with the work of documenting. They will lend an extra set of eyes to explainers, and will lead reporting that emerges from Documenters work.

This role is a great fit for you if you believe that getting more people engaged with local government is an important way to create a more equitable society. Strong candidates will also be passionate about distilling complicated topics into conversational and easy-to-understand language, and helping train a diverse group of Indianapolis residents in the nuts-and-bolts of reporting and meeting coverage.

Responsibilities & Priorities

As a Documenters Assignment Editor, you will:

• Edit, fact-check and approve Documenters content daily and on deadline
• Make and manage assignments for Documenters, in collaboration with the Community Journalism Director
• Provide written and verbal feedback to Documenters
• Produce a newsletter based on Documenters content
• Help run regular training sessions for Documenters, along with other community listening events
• Create guides and videos to support Documenters in their work of documenting
• Consult with and support reporters and editors on editorial coverage about local government and civic power
• Support our newsroom community events

Consider applying if you have some of these skill sets …

• You share the Indiana Local News Initiative’s commitment to a community-centered newsroom that engages and empowers residents
• You have strong communication skills, and are passionate about journalistic writing and editing
• You have excellent fact-checking and copy-editing skills, and are detail oriented
• You have a basic knowledge of local policy-making and the ways that people can get involved in local government
• You are able to quickly learn about complex issues and prioritize information
• You have excellent time-management skills and an ability to work on deadline
• You have experience with technology like Airtable and Google spreadsheets, or are willing to learn
• You have 1 – 3 years in relevant fields such as journalism, community organizing and/or political campaigning
• You’re flexible and entrepreneurial — you can thrive in a startup environment where you are expected to learn as you go and think outside the box
• You are able to to work evenings and weekends as needed

Salary minimum: starting at $55,000, commensurate with experience

For further details click here.