Position Open – The Charlotte News Seeks New Editor

Job description: Editor
The Charlotte News is a nonprofit community-based newspaper dedicated to informing townspeople of current events and issues. It serves as a forum for the free exchange of views of town residents and celebrates the people, places and happenings that make the Town of Charlotte unique.

The editor is hired by and reports to the board of directors, which acts as the publisher of The Charlotte News and runs the business side of the paper. The editor is responsible for the content, layout and look of the paper and meets with the board as needed to discuss issues and plans relating to these matters. In the event of disagreement between the editor and the board, the board will make every effort to discuss the disagreement with the editor and reach a mutually satisfactory resolution; ultimately, however, the board has the right of final decision.

The editor is responsible for planning, creating and publishing each issue of the paper, editing the submissions of contributors and providing photography and writing one or more bylined stories to complete each issue on time. The editor shall not, however, write editorials that take a position on any town matter or concern.

The editor will support the mission of the paper and will strive to avoid legal confrontations by publishing all letters to the editor that are not slanderous or libelous or that personally attack other members of the community. In the event of submission of questionable contributions of any kind, the editor will seek the advice of the board of directors of the paper.

The editor directs the work of the layout manager and the contributing editor (both of whom are hired by the board in consultation with the editor), finds and assigns stories to freelance writers, and identifies volunteers as needed to help with the editorial, production and circulation for the paper.

The editor will coordinate with the advertising manager on special stories, sections and business-related articles that are relevant to the advertising sales effort and, by October of each year, create the master plan for the next calendar year, including themes for and dates of each issue.

The editor will, at all times, work to maintain the longstanding excellent reputation of The Charlotte News as an unbiased, lively forum for the community and as a vital source of town news, local advertising and communications from community volunteer organizations.

More specifically the editor is responsible for:

  • publishing 25 issues of the paper each year, on time
  • planning the content of each issue, soliciting articles, cultivating writers and encouraging submissions from community organizations and individuals,
  • together with the layout manager, highlighting breaking news and important information through electronic communications, social media and the website,
  • ensuring that Charlotte public meetings and important issues are covered
  • providing the layout manager with a content ladder and layout instructions by no later than the Friday evening prior to production,
  • ensuring that volunteer staff copy edit and proof each issue by the Tuesday morning preceding publication and that the layout manager has entered all corrections prior to sending final PDFs to the printer,
  • holding a regular meeting of the production team no later than the Monday after production to review the prior issue and to plan for the next issue,
  • serving as the face of The Charlotte News, representing the paper at community meetings, events and fundraisers,
  • keeping the board up-dated and attending board meetings when requested, and
  • coordinating the Outwater Internship Program,

Please contact Rick Detwiler by January 21.