Culture Editor, Chron

Job Description

Culture Editor

Chron is seeking an experienced culture editor who's focused on covering the films, books, TV, music and other media that's inspiring Texans right now, as well as featuring the undeniable work being done in the arts across the state. The ideal candidate has in-depth knowledge of the modern media landscape and industry and can write features and news, drive cultural conversations, and speak with an authoritative and unique perspective on arts and entertainment coverage. Chron is also seeking someone who has experience designing features and is excited by the freedom and responsibility that comes with establishing a new coverage area and helping shape the site's future. Candidates should have experience working with a roster of talented writers and collaborators. In addition to overseeing the arts, entertainment, and culture coverage, duties will include working with other writers and editors of Chron and helping shape how culture stories that overlap with other sections are developed and executed.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Excellent news judgement and feature writing skills
• Excellent reporting, researching, and interviewing skills
• Strong copy-editing skills and knowledge of AP Style
• Familiarity with the needs of the Houston and Texas audience
• Familiarity with national digital media landscape
• Familiarity with content management systems
• Finding unique angles on A&E coverage, crafting original franchises that draw in national readers
• Quickly covering newsworthy moments as they happen to capitalize on social and search traffic
• Juggling responsibilities, including reporting, writing, editing topic pages and posting on social media
• Balancing daily, weekly, and longer-lead deadlines, working off hours when necessary

Describe the most challenging aspect of this position:

• Redeveloping a dormant coverage area for Chron, finding new stories and unique ideas
• Crafting features, franchises, and projects that are exciting to readers inside and outside of Texas
• Covering a wide variety of different media, from film and tv to books, concerts, museums and more

What type of decisions does this position refer to others for approval?

• Long-term editorial strategy and priorities
• Development of long form features, franchises, and projects

Measures of success for this position include:

• Overall traffic performance in aims of meeting daily and monthly goals
• Increasing daily, monthly, and yearly output of culture articles through writing and editing
• Creating editorial calendar, marking specific events to strategize events coverage
• Meeting deadlines and keeping pace with publishing schedule while improving work quality
• Mentions, links, shares, and pickups of stories from prominent third-party publications
• Reader shares and other engagement with stories on social media platforms
• Overall increase of unique in-DMA visitors and loyal in-DMA visitors

Experience, qualifications, technical requirements, education:

• Bachelor's degree in Journalism, Communications or English
• A minimum of eight years of experience in reporting and editing, including five years in sports
• Preferred knowledge of Houston's teams and players, personalities, and popular culture
• Preferred experience using Chartbeat, Google Analytics, Looker or other analytics tools
• Preferred experience working in a CMS and publishing to digital platforms

As part of its continued efforts to maintain a safe workplace for employees, Hearst Newspapers requires that all employees who receive a written offer of employment be fully vaccinated (as defined by the CDC) against the coronavirus by the first day of employment as a condition of employment, to the extent permitted by applicable law. Hearst Newspapers will consider requests for reasonable accommodations on an individual basis in accordance with applicable legal requirements.