Assistant Director, News

Job Description

KNWA & FOX24, the NBC & FOX affiliates in Fayetteville, Arkansas, are looking for an aggressive, innovative, creative and dynamic Assistant News Director to help build a high-impact newsroom staff and cultivate a positive environment!
• Do you love breaking news and investigative reports?
• Are you willing to drop everything to win the big story and showcase weather?
• Do you live for the thrill of finding a new way to make a story pop?
• Are you ready to share that knowledge and passion with others?

If so - you could be the right person for this job! We need an Assistant News Director who can be a true leader and make an impact in our newsroom and our community!

The Assistant News Director will help craft the station's daily content, work with community leaders and with our crews in the field, and mentor reporters, anchors and producers. The Assistant News Director will work closely with the News Director and other managers to maintain a positive, supportive newsroom culture and to set and uphold the high standards for how KNWA & FOX24 shows are produced and executed.

The ideal candidate must have a proven track record of creative producing, showcasing stories, owning the big stories and a passion for weather. The successful candidate will have experience leading others and the ability to coach and grow a team.

Above all, we're looking for someone with an optimistic outlook, a coach's mentality and a winning attitude.

Applicants should have a minimum of three years of TV news experience.

Northwest Arkansas is a rapidly growing and vibrant community filled with rolling hills, rivers, lakes and Fortune 500 company headquarters. Our population just crossed 500k and is rising. Why? Because high-end business industries are here and they are bringing in some of the best talent in their fields, cost of living is low, quality of living is high and we fill up our days/nights with world-class museums, performing arts centers, major sporting venues, amazing concerts, fantastic foodie destinations and tons of community-centric events.

In fact, US News ranks Fayetteville the fourth best place to live in the country: http://realestate.usnews.com/places/arkansas/fayetteville
Our newsroom is forward-thinking and built on a strong emphasis of positive reinforcement, feedback, growth and development of talent and a desire to win. We are consistently winning awards from our local audiences for our commitment to our community and our service-centered sense of duty. Whether you are looking for a place to settle in or a place to equip yourself and launch into that ''big step'' – we have a proven track record of providing both outcomes.

KNWA-TV/KFTA-TV is an equal opportunity employer.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

The Assistant News Director assists the News Director with all aspects of news, weather and sports programming production, and serves as the News Director in his/her absence.
• Assists the News Director with management of all aspects of the News Department
• Assists with planning, staffing, training, and performance evaluations for the News Department.
• Consults on decisions regarding hiring, evaluation, promotion and termination of employees.
• Develops news coverage strategy and executes that vision for the station and its website.
• Critiques newscasts daily to correct errors, improve coverage and provide mentoring feedback to news staff.
• Assigns projects to staff and verifies that deadlines are being met.
• Ensures achievement of viewer rating goals.
• Ensures achievement of digital goals.
• Determines programming and evaluation of equipment needs to produce quality programming.
• Responds to coverage questions.
• Serves as the News Director in his/her absence.
• Rotate as weekend on-call manager.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements & Skills:
• Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and work-related experience.
• Fluency in English.
• Excellent communication skills, both oral and written.
• Strong organizational skills and detail oriented.
• Minimum two years' experience in news programming production, with some leadership experience preferred. (Depending on market size.)
• Minimum three years' experience producing newscasts.
• Ability to identify the developmental needs of others and to coach, mentor or otherwise help others to improve their knowledge or skills.
• Ability to meet deadlines, prioritize assignments and handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Ability to effectively listen to fully understand employee needs and communicate with a team to shape a solution.
• Strong news judgment, journalistic integrity and understanding of viewer needs and expectations.
• Ability to work in a rapid, fast-paced environment.
• Working knowledge of how to engage viewers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
• Experience with iNews, Avid and WordPress a plus.
• Proficiency with computers, telephones, copiers, scanners, fax machines and other office equipment.
• Must be able to work a flexible schedule, including nights, weekends, and holidays.

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Work Environment:

Deadline driven environments can be stressful. Must be willing and able to work any and all shifts, including nights, weekends, and holidays and be on call as needed.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-r7j8q9-3-139-82-23-42 in your application.