News Director

Job Description

KNWA-TV, KFTA-TV, and KXNW-TV, the NBC, FOX, and MyNet affiliates in Northwest Arkansas

The ideal candidate will be a highly experienced News Director with well-developed leadership skills who is an innovative and dynamic leader. We seek a true champion of aggressive broadcast and digital newsgathering with a proven track record of strategic, focused breaking news coverage. They must possess excellent writing skills, news and ethical judgement, strong digital content understanding, community development and a passion to be the very best. A competitive, clear communicator who genuinely enjoys staff development and teambuilding will stand out.

Northwest Arkansas is a rapidly growing and vibrant community filled with rolling hills, rivers, lakes and Fortune 500 company headquarters. Many high-end business industries call NWA home, and they bring in some of the best talent in their fields. Cost of living is low, and quality of life is high. Add in our world-class museums, performing arts centers, major sporting venues, amazing concerts, fantastic foodie destinations and tons of community-centric events, and Northwest Arkansas can't be beat!

In fact, US News ranks Fayetteville seventh 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're 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.

The News Director leads and supervises all aspects of news, weather, traffic and sports programming.
• Manages all aspects of the News Department (other than Production )
• Plans and manages staffing, training, and performance evaluations for the News Department.
• Makes decisions regarding hiring, evaluation, promotion and termination of employees.
• Develops news coverage strategy 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 communicated and met.
• Ensures achievement of viewer rating goals.
• Determines programming and evaluation of equipment needs to produce quality programming.
• Responds to coverage questions.
• Works with other senior station leaders to establish and reach station goals.
• 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.
• Minimum four years' experience in news management.
• Experience guiding, directing and motivating subordinates, including setting performance standards and monitoring performance.
• Experience establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.
• Ability to identify the developmental needs of others and to coach, mentor or otherwise help others to improve their knowledge or skills.
• Experience preparing and maintaining departmental budgets.
• Proficiency with computers, telephones, copiers, scanners, and other office equipment.
• 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.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-gpe7e9-18-224-38-3-42 in your application.