Supervising Editor / Supervising Senior Editor - Planet Money

Job Description

Temporary Supervising Editor / Temp Supervising Senior Editor – Planet Money (9-month Role)
OVERVIEW

Across our organization, we're building a workplace where collaboration is essential, diverse voices are heard, and inclusion is the key to our success. We are committed to doing the right thing in our journalism and in every role at NPR. This means that integrity, adherence to our ethical standards, and compliance with legal obligations are fundamental responsibilities for every employee at NPR.

Inflation, supply chains, inequality, climate change, the great renegotiation, recession, all of it and more. What a time to cover the economy! Capitalism itself is coming under question. Basic assumptions about economics are falling away. We're facing a profound moment reshaping Americans' relationship with work, wealth, economic growth. We see deep human suffering, disparate impacts along racial and ethnic lines, while wealth and innovation and many standards of living are soaring. It's complicated. It's confusing. It's a lot. Does that energize you?

We need someone with a steady hand, analytical mind, creative instincts, narrative experience and caring heart to help us chart our course through this moment in American history. Someone able to make tough decisions, working with each reporter/producer and our other supervising editor to do their best work. Millions of people are counting on us.

We're an extremely collaborative and tight-knit team with broad creative freedom to tell stories however we can.

We're looking for a 9-month temporary supervising senior editor who can juggle all of that, with news instincts, narrative audio chops and leadership and management experience. Someone at home supporting the vision of reporters and helping others do their best work including experience coaching even experienced reporters to grow; someone with experience offering constructive, rigorous, fair feedback with empathy and kindness; an over-communicator at home in a fast-moving team with lots going on at once. If all of that is interesting and exciting to you, read on.

RESPONSIBILITIES
• Manage some (4 or 5) of the talented, experienced reporters and producers.

As part of the leadership of this consensus-driven team, set the editorial agenda in collaboration with hosts and other editorial staff, then empower, motivate and encourage staff to achieve goals, creatively removing obstacles along the way.
• Edit episodes, quickly, decisively, with insight, rigor and kindness
• Be ambitious, thinking up the biggest impact ways to tell a story about the most confusing and complicated economic questions
• Ensure every episode meets our high standards for craft, journalism, and tone and substance
• Keep the show from sounding boring, predictable, generic
• Have tons of ideas
• Know how to pluck news from unexpected sources, or from business or trade press, or the 13th paragraph of a magazine article and turn it into a narrative the general public can't help but listen to
• Approving or rejecting story pitches from staff and freelancers, along with other editorial staff, and provide clear reasons for your choices
• Offer feedback at the macro and micro levels: on story conception and framing as well as fine tuning scripts
• Re-writing stories along with hosts, including restructuring arcs, sharpening narration, punching up jokes, trimming episodes to time and whatever else is needed
• Thinking ahead with reporters about getting that dream tape with just the right question, or by being in just the right place
• Participating in our collaborative group edit process
• Offering direct, critical feedback with kindness, consideration, collegiality
• Embody the team values of kindness, consideration, empathy, inclusivity, diversity, and equity.
• Keeping it fun
• Thinking big. Really big. Pushing the ambition of the team on all fronts is key, innovating in craft, format, journalism, narrative, insight, all of it.
• Cultivate and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace
• Cultivate and support an inclusive and equitable workplace culture
• Other duties as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION: Formal education is not what matters to us. Though if you have studied economics or business, or work experience in those fields, please include that in your application.

WORK LOCATION:

This is a hybrid permitted role. The employee will be required to be onsite at our New York, NY office at least 10 days a year. The employee must also reside in an NPR supported location based on the number of onsite days they choose.

REQUIRED SKILLS
• Experience leading a team of journalists, aiding in the professional development of junior staff, motivating a team, maintaining high morale, infusing the values of diversity, equity, inclusion and creativity into every aspect of the editorial process.
• Narrative audio journalism experience
• 7+ years' experience explaining complicated topics to audiences, as a journalist, writer, teacher or other setting.
• 7+ years' experience in a deadline news environment (though this job is NOT itself a news job)
• 5+ Experience editing the work of others
• Demonstrated experience innovating in storytelling with examples you can point to
• Cultivate and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace
• Cultivate and support an inclusive and equitable workplace culture

PREFERRED SKILLS
• Experience managing senior reporters
• Audio production skills
• Expertise in business and economics
• Experience coordinating or project managing large scale audio journalism projects

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-gm8q2x-3-143-168-172-42 in your application.