Berkeleyside Editor-in-Chief

Job Description

About Berkeleyside

Berkeleyside is an independent nonprofit newsroom dedicated to reporting on and serving the city of Berkeley, California. Part of Cityside Journalism Initiative, Berkeleyside was launched in October 2009 and is widely recognized as a model for civic-minded newsrooms that help residents engage with and enjoy their hometowns.

Berkeleyside has built a loyal, engaged audience through our website, our newsletters, our community events and on social media. In 2024, our site averaged 270,000 monthly visitors, 15,600 people subscribe to our Daily Briefing newsletter and more than 20,000 follow us on Instagram. 

Our three founders — Frances Dinkelspiel, Lance Knobel and Tracey Taylor — are highly regarded journalists who have worked for the New York Times, the San Jose Mercury News, the Financial Times, and the magazine of the World Economic Forum, among other publications, and are leading thought-leaders in the sphere of nonprofit local news. In 2019, they were honored with the Benjamin Ide Wheeler Medal for distinguished service that benefits the people of Berkeley.

Our award-winning team of reporters dives deep into Berkeley City Council, education, public safety, housing, homelessness, local business, and arts and culture. Highlights from 2024 include breaking news coverage of upheaval at the city’s historic People’s Park; a three-part series on the closure of the Golden Gate Fields racetrack; comprehensive reporting on the local elections in November; and a deep-dive into the history of the achievement gap between Black and Latino students and their white and Asian peers in Berkeley schools, long been among the nation’s worst. Readers also loved our coverage of a Berkeley teen who braves sharks and hyperthermia in her world record swims and, in the spring, a guide to the best East Bay trails to enjoy wildflowers.

Berkeleyside has won the top Excellence in Community Journalism award in the Society of Professional Journalists Northern California chapter’s annual awards three times — in 2013, 2014 and 2019 . Over the years, individual Berkeleyside reporters have also won numerous awards for stories about education, housing, homelessness, features and longform reporting, as well as “emerging journalist” and “journalist of the year” recognitions.

Some of Berkeleyside’s work happens off the page, including when we have a presence at community events, are guest speakers at events and on the media, and host our own live events. Our Idea Makers event series at the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive included on-stage conversations about Berkeley’s cityscape and the future of local journalism and featured guests such as writers Jay Caspian Kang and UC Berkeley law professor Khiara Bridges. Our smaller Behind the Stories events take our reporting to the locations in which they are rooted, such as the now-closed Eastwinds bookstore and outdoors at Indian Rock in the Berkeley hills.

About the role 

We are looking for a first-rate editor-in-chief to take the reins of our pioneering nonprofit newsroom as it marks its 16th anniversary. The ideal applicant will be an experienced journalism leader who is passionate about producing first-rate local journalism, engaging with local communities and building on our editorial team’s excellent track record. 

Many Berkeleyans love and depend on Berkeleyside, but there are community members we could do a better job of reaching, and we look forward to working with and supporting our new editor-in-chief in finding thoughtful and creative ways to reach and serve the information needs of more people who live and work in Berkeley. 

While solely responsible for leading Berkeleyside, the editor-in-chief is part of a bigger mission to offer hope and optimism for the future of local news. They will be a member of Cityside’s leadership team, which includes the editors-in-chief of Cityside’s two other news sites, The Oaklandside and Richmondside, and revenue and operations leaders in our company. .

The position reports to Cityside’s Chief Content Officer, Tracey Taylor, and is based in the East Bay. Berkeleyside uses co-working spaces in both Berkeley and Oakland. Candidates must be able to work in our offices at least two days a week.

The salary range for this position is $110,000–$130,000, with a clear and transparent rubric for determining where a candidate falls on our scale.

What you’ll do

Editorial leadership and strategy

• Define and implement Berkeleyside’s editorial mission, editorial policies, reporting beats and benchmarks, including equity and inclusion.
• Hold the newsroom to the highest levels of transparency, accountability and consistency. 
• Ask the big questions that drive our daily reporting: What are the most important issues of the moment? What are the information needs of our different communities, and how should we meet them? How should we cover issues and tell stories? How should we best structure our newsroom to deliver on our mission?
• Oversee and guide daily newsroom operations, including breaking news, enterprise stories, and investigative projects, managing the daily story budget and workflows for staff and freelancers
• Edit across a variety of formats, from daily news stories and newsletters to long-form features, ensuring journalistic rigor, from fact-checking to legal review, and that our editorial standards are upheld
• Collaborate with reporters to develop and execute compelling, in-depth stories that resonate with Berkeley’s diverse communities. Champion the newsroom’s commitment to Berkeley’s underrepresented communities and ensure our reporting reflects their experiences
• Work with our audience team to set audience goals, elevate Berkeleyside’s work and expand its reach
• Collaborate with Cityside’s other newsrooms around collaborative reporting, including regional stories 
• Be accountable for Berkeleyside editorial financial budget

Team development and culture

• Lead and manage the Berkeleyside newsroom, ensuring it stays organized and focused. The current team comprises one associate editor, one reporter, two reporting fellows and one photojournalism fellow. (Two fellows will term out at the end of May.)
• Lead a culture of collaboration, quality, innovation and intelligent use of resources. 
• Work closely with reporters on story development, structure and line editing
• Manage a roster of regular freelance contributors, assigning and editing their stories 
• Mentor the newsroom team members, and help them to develop and reach their professional goals, including by conducting regular performance reviews
• Mentor reporters, fellows, and interns, fostering a collaborative and supportive environment
• Encourage open communication and be available to listen and collaborate with the team
• Be a steady presence in challenging times, supporting the team through challenging reporting experiences
• Bring diverse early-career fellows and interns into the newsroom and help supervise their work experience and support their career trajectory
• Ensure that the newsroom operates in harmony with the union contract we maintain with the Cityside Guild, a member of the Pacific Media Workers Guild 

Outreach and community engagement

• Serve as a visible ambassador for the newsroom in the community, including speaking at public events and with potential donors 
• Meet regularly with people in Berkeley to keep your finger on the pulse of what is happening across the city and what is top of mind within different communities 
• Work closely with Cityside’s Director of Community Journalism, our Events Director and our audience team to find creative and meaningful ways to engage with and grow our audience
• Develop and nurture partnerships with other media and nonprofits to best serve Berkeley’s diverse communities and their information needs
• Represent Berkeleyside at our own events, at third-party events, at conferences and on the media  
• Work with the leadership team to help raise awareness of, and funding for, Berkeleyside, including working with our development team on grant applications.

Benefits and compensation

The salary range for this position is $110,000–$130,000, with a clear and transparent rubric for determining where a candidate falls on our scale.

Some benefits are subject to a waiting period.

• $1,000 a year in professional development stipend
• 75% of costs are covered for medical, dental, and vision insurance plans
• 401(k) retirement plan with a company match
• 20 paid personal days
• 18 paid sick days
• 13 paid holidays
• End-of-the-year break between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day
• Up to six months of paid family leave
• $100,000 life insurance coverage

About Cityside Journalism Initiative

Cityside is an award-winning nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization in the Bay Area whose mission is to strengthen democracy through local reporting that matters to residents. Cityside currently operates newsrooms in Berkeley (Berkeleyside), Oakland (The Oaklandside), and Richmond (Richmondside), and covers the local food scene through East Bay Nosh. 

Cityside is an equal-opportunity employer and is committed to building a diverse organization and a work environment that is safe and inclusive for all employees. We recognize that people of color, gender-expansive people, the LGBTQ+ community, and people from working-class backgrounds have been marginalized in journalism organizations. We believe that historically underrepresented communities must be centered in our work, and we strongly encourage applicants from these identities to apply.

Job Requirements

Required qualifications

• A minimum of 7 years experience in a fast-paced digital newsroom
• Excellent news judgment and razor-sharp editorial instincts
• First-rate story editing and copyediting skills
• 4+ years experience managing and supporting a team 
• Cultural competence: the awareness and knowledge to ensure that our reporting agenda reflects the diversity of Berkeley, and the communication skills to coach and collaborate across lines of difference
• Belief that local newsrooms should support, and be responsive to, the needs of the communities they serve
• A flexible and entrepreneurial spirit: you can thrive in an environment where you are expected to learn as you go and think outside the box 
• Excellent organizational skills with a deep love of process and a desire to refine our processes frequently to better serve the newsroom and the community
• A sense of possibility around notions of what journalism can look like, who it serves, and who can contribute
• The ability to be forward-thinking, ensuring our nonprofit, mission-driven newsroom grows and adapts to the times we live in
• Have 3+ years of experience working with WordPress or a similar content management system 
• Must be able to work from downtown Oakland or Berkeley at least 3 days a week. We will provide relocation assistance as needed

We’re especially interested in candidates who

• Are familiar with Berkeley, its challenges and attributes, and have insight into its different communities and their information needs. Maybe you live there, or have done so in the past 
• Are personally grounded in underserved communities represented in Berkeley
• Have demonstrated experience in community engagement and audience growth

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