The Opinions Editor must be a news junkie familiar with local and national events and be able to craft thoughtful, insightful and original arguments about the world around us. This position also requires good writing, editing and fact-checking skills, as well as good communication with contributors about how best to write opinions articles and where to find good story ideas. The Opinions Editor is also responsible for the Distractions section of the newspaper.
A. Editorial Responsibilities
•gathering and generating story ideas relevant to students and the University, ensuring the opinions coverage is broad, remaining abreast of current events and issues on campus and notifying the editor-in-chief of events and issues when appropriate
•assigning all opinions articles and features, including coming prepared with a detailed list of the opinions section at weekly editorial meetings
•assigning photos and graphics for stories at the weekly staff meeting
•writing opinion articles on a regular basis, though ensuring volunteer submissions provide the bulk of the section
•ensuring that a minimum of 3 opinions articles are completed per week; ultimately aiming for 4-6 articles per week
•preparing and editing content for the distractions page(s)
•ensuring that all deadlines are met by volunteers and helping them with the writing process
•conducting a first edit on all stories for the section
•conducting three rounds of careful updates to the story file following copy editing
•drafting photo captions and headlines/sub headlines for the section
•drafting 250 words for social media posts, including pull quotes
•posting the weeks articles according to schedule on the Sheaf’s website using their own word press access
B. General Responsibilities
•participating in weekly editorial staff meetings
•maintaining regular office hours of 6-8 hours per week and clearly communicating these to the editor-in-chief and the ads & business manager
•upholding the reputation of the Sheaf Publishing Society while carrying out all activities
C. Recruitment and Training
•meeting with opinion writers as often as necessary to ensure that their skills are improving
•ensuring that opinions writing guides are available (and shared with the editor-in-chief and the ads & business manager)
•facilitating weekly section meetings
•recruiting volunteers to assist with the publication of the newspaper
•helping to train the following year’s opinions editor in March/April
Term: August 15, 2022 to April 15, 2023
Salary: $9,800
Apply with your resume to hiring@thesheaf.comby 4 pm Monday, March 28th, 2022
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