News Director

Job Description

WGMB (FOX) and WVLA (NBC), and digital media operation (BR Proud.com) serving the Baton Rouge Louisiana DMA is seeking an experienced News Director who is an innovative and dynamic leader. They must possess excellent news and ethical judgment, strong digital content understanding and a passion to be the best. We are seeking a leader with a proven track record of team, product, content, and community development leading to audience growth both on TV and the Web.

The market has great local diversity with healthcare, education, petrochemical manufacturing, software development, and water studies, all playing significant roles in the economy.
Our community is surrounded by several institutes of higher learning like Louisiana State University, Southern University, Southeastern Louisiana University, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University, Baton Rouge Community College, River Parishes Community College, and the Louisiana Culinary Institute. In addition, the market is within an easy drive to New Orleans and sunny beaches on the Mississippi coast. In addition, the food and entertainment establishments are second to none in the country offering something for every pallet.

The News Director leads and supervises all aspects of news, weather, and sports programming production. As well as oversees the development and growth of our digital department.
• 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.
• 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. (More or less depending on market size.)
• 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-g4yney-3-138-110-119-42 in your application.