Audience and content editor

We are looking for an experienced journalist to join our newsdesk team - producing the Worcester News, Malvern Gazette/Ledbury Reporter and Evesham/Cotswold Journal.

Our audience and content editors (ACEs) are at the heart of our newsroom - driving our journalists to produce the best local news content for both our digital and print readers.

If you are passionate about print journalism and digital audience engagement and have a good eye for a compelling story, this could be the role for you.

As one of our audience and content editors, you will play a pivotal role in curating and shaping content for our print publications as well as our rapidly growing digital audience.

The role will see you work closely with our reporters, designers, and editorial teams to ensure our print editions meet the highest editorial standards, whilst also helping to grow our websites, delivering high-quality digital stories that people want to read and ensuring we are the go-to place for local news.

A key part of this role is mentoring and helping our reporting team to produce quality journalism that appeals to the widest audience possible.

Applicants must be qualified senior journalists (NCTJ). This role is based in our Worcester office and involves working some rota weekends.

Key Responsibilities

• To play a key role in the training of reporters
• Run the news list, ensuring a steady flow of copy and pictures, and a good content mix for all platforms we publish on, including social media
• Monitor stories being filed by reporters, making sure they are presented to the highest standard 
• Run daily reporter meetings to give direction and guidance to reporters regarding their stories
• Organise our print, digital and social media schedules
• Continue to grow our huge number of loyal readers by analysing what they read and when
• Understand our social and web audience and how it differs from our print audience
• Look after the website homepage, using analytics to decide what should go where
• Help devise a content strategy to drive page views and digital subscriptions
• Lead the digital subscriptions strategy in conjunction with the editor
• Play a part in sending out daily newsletters to drive digital subscriptions
• To organise news coverage and manage a team of reporters, including running the daily news diary to ensure news coverage seven days a week
• Monitor and use audience analytics, mainly Parsely and other new tools, as required
• Be familiar with digital tools and techniques, from sending out breaking news alerts to posting in certain Facebook groups to boost the reach of articles
• Be available to work weekends, evenings, public holidays and any other shift if necessary
• Have a sound and up-to-date knowledge of media law
• Liaise with and support other departments, including advertising, newspaper sales and marketing and any others with content and projects when necessary
• Understand and abide by the IPSO Code of Practice. 

Skills, Knowledgeand Expertise

• A background in local print journalism and editorial management.
• Excellent editing, proofreading, and content curation skills.
• A deep understanding of audience engagement strategies for print media.
• Proficiency in layout planning and collaboration with design teams.
• The ability to work in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Strong leadership and communication skills.
• Local knowledge of Worcestershire is preferable

About Newsquest Media Group

We are a media company with a difference. We are committed to bringing a voice to your region by investing in a passionate team of journalists who proudly serve their communities by sharing authoritative news that readers trust. Our sales teams provide local businesses with highly responsive digital advertising and marketing solutions.

We are one of the largest regional news publishers in the UK and have a portfolio of more than 250+ local news brands and magazines online and in print. With an online audience of 41 million users a month and 7 million readers a week in print, our content is read by a substantial proportion of the UK population.

In addition to our local news brands, we own a number of digital pure play and specialist media businesses such as s1jobs and s1homes, Exchange & Mart, and Newsquest Specialist Media. We also own LOCALiQ, an award-winning digital marketing agency that specialises in driving more leads, increasing online growth and generating return on marketing investment on behalf of thousands of UK SMBs.