News Director

Job Description

WFFF (FOX) and WVNY (ABC), serving northern VT, Northeast NY and Western NH in Burlington, Vermont is seeking a News Director. Responsibilities include managing daily on-air and on-line news content; hiring, training, and mentoring producers, reporters and anchors; overseeing special projects and executing day-to-day operations in the newsroom. Excellent time management skills, the ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously and working within a defined budget are key. We are looking for someone who knows news, how to motivate and guide a combination of young reporting and producing staff, and works well and directs more seasoned anchors. We need someone who gets and can drive social media, knows the importance of marketing, community involvement, and works well with sales. A degree in journalism, mass communications, or a related field is preferred. Prior newsroom experience in producing or reporting is required.

he News Director leads and supervises all aspects of news, weather and sports programming production.
• Manages all aspects of the News Department.
• 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 met.
• Ensures achievement of viewer rating goals.
• Determines programming and evaluation of equipment needs to produce quality programming.
• Responds to coverage questions.
• Maintains compliance with FCC regulations and Nexstar guidance within the News Department.
• 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 five years' experience in news programming production, with at least two years' experience in a leadership role.
• 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, fax machines 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-d88e8q-216-73-216-180-42 in your application.