Editor, Web-First

WAMU 88.5 is seeking an Editor, Web-First to join its newsroom and play an important role in multi-platform coverage. If you’re an experienced editor with a passion for news, we’d love to hear from you. 

The Editor leads a cross-platform, multimedia coverage team of reporters, ensuring that WAMU and DCist have thoughtful and inclusive coverage of the D.C. region.  This position directs general assignment and arts reporters, and primarily edits those reporters for web. They also coordinate with the Deputy News Director, Audio to ensure on air coverage. 

The Editor acts as a sounding board for their team, helping reporters find fresh angles for both daily and enterprise stories, and ensures the development of diverse sources that reflect the communities we serve. The Editor will also otherwise support individual reporters’ growth and career goals, helping to identify opportunities that advance their desired skillsets.

The person in this role oversees Arts and Food coverage on DCist, with a focus on publishing stories that are compelling, relevant and shareable. The Editor sources and selects stories that interest audiences and meet the evolving creative needs of the site. The Editor also tracks DCist web traffic and works to increase it via consistent, reliable, accurate, and timely stories.

The Editor oversees, edits and polishes the writing and reporting of other staff members, including freelancers, to ensure that all content published meets established editorial and style guidelines. As part of that effort, the Editor helps grow our database of go-to freelance talent, with a particular emphasis on diversifying our group of regular contributors.

Working a later shift, the person in this role also serves as the breaking news editor for the last 1.5 hours of their 11-7 shift They coordinate with the evening reporter to scan for late breaking stories, edit coverage, and coordinate with our All Things Considered Producer to set up the morning.

This role reports to the Deputy News Director, Digital, and works closely with the Managing Editor, DCist and other Editors to enforce a unified vision for WAMU’s regional coverage agenda. 

What you’ll do:

• Develop robust Arts and Food sections for DCist, and coordinate with Deputy News Director, Audio to represent that coverage on air. Assign and oversee freelance work.
• Edit stories written for DCist by staff and freelance contributor, ensuring that content meets editorial and style guidelines and meets a high standard of journalistic accuracy and integrity.
• Ensure that headlines, images, captions, and text are compelling and that all content is worthy of readers’ time.
• Lead the evening breaking news shift, monitoring various sources and ensuring stories are produced quickly and accurately.

And much more…