Sr. Manager - Data Journalism

Job Description

As a Senior Manager of Data Journalism for ABC Owned Television Stations and ABC News, you will be charged with supporting the Director and local and national news teams find high-impact, revelatory stories within the vast amounts of data that exist in our cities and across the country. The data journalism work will be done to support both investigations and day-to-day consumer and breaking news stories. You also will be part of the leadership team developing the local station group's nationwide data journalism center of excellence, with the goal of making data journalism a core part of the news-gathering process in our local and national newsrooms. You will be expected to regularly pitch and produce data-driven journalism for the New York- and Washington-based investigative teams at the ABC News, as well as in conjunction with the eight ABC Owned Television Stations across the country. This role also will be responsible for supporting the director in the strategic development of the data journalism team and program, including helping coach colleagues about data journalism practices and techniques and fostering data collaboration across the company's news units. This role requires practical data journalism and investigative reporting experience, strong leadership skills and a track record of establishing and building relationships across disciplines as part of a network of diverse newsrooms serving national and local news needs.

Responsibilities:
• Identify, acquire and analyze data sets of potential interest to ABC News and ABC OTV.
• Report revelatory news stories. Data journalists on the ABC OTV data team are not just gathering numbers to hand off to other reporters, but rather working in collaboration with producers, reporters, investigators and others to get to the bottom of the stories the data reveals – notably helping to find the people impacted and tell their stories and to find the people accountable and framing the difficult questions we need to pose.
• Collaborate with reporters and producers, across multiple newsrooms, to develop digital content based in data but supported by context and people-first storytelling.
• Assist the Director in leading and coaching a nationwide team of local data journalists.
• Be an advocate and resource for data journalism within OTV and ABC News newsrooms.
• Collaborate with videographers, editors, graphic artists and digital producers to bring data to life on television – and digital platforms. Build a network of collaborators with key visuals stakeholders at OTV and ABC News to further data storytelling capabilities.
• Serve as ABC News' eyes and ears on the OTV data team, helping work as a liaison for local data-driven investigations that might have national potential and then working with the ABC News team to execute stories – and doing the same on behalf of OTV to make sure we don't miss local opportunities from data-driven national investigations.
• Will stay up to date and engaged in the latest technology and innovation in the data journalism field, including further his or her own training to make sure ABC OTV's data team and ABC News are able to move to and stay at the forefront of data journalism.

Basic Qualifications:
• Ability to write quickly and accurately and with an eye for brevity and clarity.
• Established competence with using Excel and relational database tools to develop news stories from data, with any experience in coding and data visualization being a plus.
• Ability to work collaboratively, collaborating across newsrooms and across disciplines
• Self-starter able to work independently with strong journalistic instincts and story sense.
• Technical aptitude to learn new software skills.
• Strong presentation and pitch skills to advocate for data journalism in the newsroom
• Understanding of the importance of accountability and solutions journalism.
• Detail-oriented in handling of large datasets, with a focus on accuracy and fairness
• Up to date on developments, trends and tools in the data journalism space

Preferred Qualifications:
• Demonstrated track record of delivering local and national journalism of consequence.
• Experience working in a local newsroom environment and passion for local journalism
• 5+ years working in the news / media industry, preferably local
• Experience working in a video or television news environment

Preferred Education
• Degree or equivalent work experience demonstrating data journalism experience

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-dyj83k-3-145-165-8-42 in your application.