Public Matters Editor

Occupations:

Job Description:

The salary range for this position is $7,500 - $8,333.34 per month ($90,000 - $100,000 per year) depending upon qualifications and is non-negotiable.

This position is grant-funded for up to three years. Continued employment is dependent on funding. 

Cover letter is required.

The job posting for this position is scheduled to close on 9/18/2024 at 4:00pm (PST).

KPBS serves the greater San Diego community with informative, cultural, entertaining and educational television, radio, and digital programming.  KPBS TV/FM is the public television and radio station for San Diego.  Licensed to San Diego State University, KPBS supports and furthers the university’s educational and community service mission by informing, enlightening and empowering its audience.  It does so not only by presenting national and locally produced programming of value to its San Diego audience, but also by producing programming about San Diego and its people for distribution nationwide.

Perks you'll enjoy as a member of #teamKPBS

• Working on a college campus & in public media: Access to campus facilities and staff perks, farmer's market Tuesday's, tons of eateries, community events, entertainment, etc.
• Hybrid schedule/ remote work flexibility options (varies by job)
• 24 vacation days, 1 personal day & 13 holidays off (4+ days off over winter break)
• Enjoy a 'beautiful day in the neighborhood' with local employee discounts
• Opportunity drawings to attend SDSU basketball games, local concerts and events
• Discounts on local attractions (theme parks, entertainment, restaurants, memberships)
• Free wellness classes & programs
• Monthly pop-up events
• Full benefits packages that are unmatched (medical, dental, vision, life)
• Sick leave accruals and paid leave options
• On-site childcare at a discounted rate (based on availability)
• Opportunities for continued learning and professional development
• Flexible spending account(s)
• Employee assistance program
• Matching and voluntary retirement savings plan

Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Managing Editor, the Public Matters Editor plans, manages and supervises the editorial and engagement vision of the Public Matters Democracy team. This new initiative seeks to engage the San Diego and  Imperial County communities around elections, civic engagement and thoughtful conversations among individuals with diverse perspectives. KPBS’ Public Matters initiative will center people and solutions throughout our coverage.

The news division’s mission is to provide fair, accurate and contextualized reports about the people and issues of import affecting San Diego and Imperial counties, their residents and extended communities. Keeping the mission in mind, this key individual will ensure that KPBS is embedded in our surrounding communities and expanding our efforts in communities where we don’t currently have a strong foothold, to provide representation from the full spectrum of San Diego and Imperial Counties and bring together a diversity of voices and perspectives through our journalism, and digital and in-person engagements. Public Matters Editor supervises the Public Matters Social Media Host/Reporter; and Investigative Reporter. 

This team will prioritize audience engagement and accountability-driven journalism, including a mix of thought-provoking short-, medium- and feature-length stories, fresh explainers that teach the audience something new – all with a digital-first, audience-first orientation and which might be fashioned for audiences on all KPBS platforms. The Editor collaborates regularly with other KPBS leaders at all levels in all departments in order to illuminate the key roles democracy and civic engagement play in a healthy society and partners closely with the digital news editor on our Voter Hub, which is a bilingual English and Spanish service on our website. 

This person has infectious enthusiasm for democracy and civic engagement, and develops internal and external engagement  throughout the organization and the community toward these concepts. Enthusiasm for the topic is paired with diplomacy; this is a cross-departmental opportunity with several public-facing duties. 

The editor is curious about the ultimate drivers of democracy and civic engagement, why people participate deeply or superficially, why others do not engage in these ways, or don’t have the time, and finds ways to engage with these groups.

The Public Matters Editor is responsible for but not limited to:
 

Leadership, Planning and Execution (45%)

• Helps develop key performance indicators to measure progress, and uses data to inform decisions.
• Directs digital and community engagement efforts surrounding democracy, civic engagement and other related issues. 
• Ensures the Democracy Investigative Reporter and Democracy Social Media Host produce a steady stream of content, live, dailies and features with a digital first orientation. 
• Collaborates with the Director of Grants and Engagement and other team members to amplify the project.
• Distributes content that arises from the One Small Step initiatives across KPBS platforms.
• Manages the team’s long term schedule.
• Manages the relationship with Public Matters Initiative partners at inewsource and Voice of San Diego, via weekly editorial calls. 
• Serves as a key point of contact for the project’s work both internally at KPBS, as well as externally including via pitches to other news organizations such as the California Hub, NPR, PBS, Marketplace and Public Radio International and others.
   

Assigning and Editing News (45%)

• Collaborates with the News Director, Managing Editor, Digital Editor, Senior Producers  and reporters to develop story ideas and engagement projects that cover issues surrounding democracy and civic engagement with major impact in our audience’s lives;
• Encourages enterprise reporting and engagement, and helps hone pitches and carefully selects stories that best match the KPBS news mission.

• Ensures writing is focused, spare, and conversational, at times irreverent; and that audio and video for broadcast stories moves the narrative forward, allowing the writer to “get out of the way” of stories that appear to unfold spontaneously.  
• Help reporters write with style and word economy, create audio-rich radio, write to the pictures in the video, and adapt stories creatively for the web, including but not limited to “top five” lists, interactive budget games, and useful election guides.
• Ensures reporters start their stories on the website or other digital platforms, and that on-air versions are timely, fair and accurate. 
• Develops a Mission Statement for the Democracy Desk under the Public Matters initiative to establish the philosophy for coverage. 
• Contribute to daily news meetings and ensure KPBS is covering the top democracy and civic engagement stories in the region every day while contributing segment ideas for Midday Edition, Evening Edition, All Things Considered and Morning Edition.
• In collaboration with the Senior News Producers and the Digital Editor, ensures that a multimedia approach to all stories is a priority in order to reach diverse KPBS audiences. 
   

Other Duties and Responsibilities as Assigned (10%)

• Actively participates in required meetings
• Attends company wide meetings and events, including weekends and evenings as necessary
• Represents KPBS at public meetings
• Assigning and editing duties will periodically fall on weekends and evenings and as news coverage requires.  
• Serve as a back-up for News Editors, the Digital Editor, and other positions as warranted.
• Participates in fundraising and audience engagement events
• Responsible for appropriate record keeping, correspondence, phone calls, supplies and equipment
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Demonstrated knowledge of journalistic and ethical standards and practices and the  editorial/technical/logistical processes required to assess and elevate multimedia content.

• Demonstrated ability to foster diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace and understands that DEI is an element of offering an accurate report to audiences
• Demonstrated excellence in news judgment and ability to swiftly and accurately lead reporting on all platforms while emphasizing fairness, accuracy, context, transparency, facts and truth.
• Impeccable knowledge of grammar, spelling and AP Style.
• Strong organizational, project and time management skills.
• Ability to lead, motivate and supervise a team; superior people and mentoring skills, and knowledge of good management practices.
• Ability to successfully engage audiences on all platforms, including in-person events, web, social media and broadcast.
• Expertise in at least one broadcast platform and one other platform
• Record of leading successful accountability and people-centered journalism
• Ability to interact effectively with co-workers and the community
• Ability to understand and follow posted work rules and procedures
• Ability to display motivation and strong interpersonal skills
• Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing
• Ability to display organization, meet deadlines, display detail orientation, possess good judgment and common sense
• Ability to demonstrate a high level of cross-cultural sensitivity
• Ability to embrace the KPBS News Politics, Democracy and Elections Policy

Job Requirements:

Minimum Education/ Experience

• Bachelor's degree in relevant field or additional experience in a newsroom may be substituted for the required education on a year for year basis.
• Four years of full-time professional journalism experience in an audio, digital or video newsroom environment; two years of which in a progressively responsible, full-time newsroom supervisory or management role with experience including recruiting, hiring, managing, coaching and evaluating professional journalists

Preferred Qualifications and Special Skills

• Five or more years of full-time professional journalism experience. 
• Daily digital, broadcast news, broadcast news magazine, public affairs program or podcast experience.
• Project management skills, including successful prioritization of short-and long-term planning.
• A spirit of experimentation and learner’s mindset.
• An appreciation of the journalism on all KPBS platforms.
• Broad knowledge of current San Diego regional issues.
• Ability to place issues in a national, state or international context.
• Audio and/or video recording and editing experience.
• Experience working in public media.
• Fluency in Spanish.
• Cultural competencies; an awareness that your own worldview is one of many.

Additional Applicant Information:

• Candidates must reside in California, or be willing to relocate, and live within a commutable distance to the SDSU campus at the time of hire.
• Job offer is contingent upon satisfactory clearance based on Background Check results (including a criminal record check). 
• San Diego State University Research Foundation is an EEO/AA/Disability/Vets/Title IX Employer