The 9th Street Journal, Duke’s student-written local news site for the Durham community, is seeking a professional editor who can inspire and teach our students about local journalism.
The job involves three skills – editing, teaching and mentoring. You’ll work with some of the best students in the nation. Some are new to journalism and still learning what a nut graph is. Others have a couple of years of experience and are ready to examine public records and dig deep. All of them share a strong interest in reporting and writing, and a curiosity about how things work.
You’ll help them conceive and shape stories about Durham, its government and the diverse people who live here. The stories will be a mix of news and features, some traditional, some not. In the past three years, we’ve published scoops on a death at the county jail and a botched murder investigation; we’ve run enterprise stories about the shoddy conditions in a public housing project and the debate over police use-of-force. We’ve also written a wide range of features on the people and places that make Durham quirky – an overpass that keeps shaving the roof off of trucks and a bulletin board that told the tale of the COVID lockdown. One of our goals is to encourage our students to venture off-campus and engage in the fast-growing and fast-changing community.
Working with the students is the best part of this job. You’ll advise them in their reporting, help them get organized and do a line edit.You also will oversee a student photographer and harness other students’ interest to expand the site’s use of social media, multimedia and data visualizations.
Depending on your interest and our needs, you could also teach courses for the DeWitt Wallace Center on topics such as Newswriting and Reporting, one of the core classes in Duke’s journalism program. The editor will also work closely with the professor teaching our Advanced Reporting Class, whose students will also contribute stories to the site.
You’ll work in the Duke Reporters’ Lab, aka The 9th Street newsroom, in the Sanford building on Duke’s campus. It’s an in-person job that follows the academic calendar. It starts in late August and concludes in early May. (There might be other work that could be added in the summer if you’re interested.)
There is some flexibility on hours. It could be 30-40 hours per week depending opportunities for teaching in the classroom.
If you’re interested, please contact Bill Adair, Co-Editor of 9th Street and the Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy – bill.adair@duke.edu
If you’re ready to apply, below are the Duke application links.
Internal Duke candidates:
9TH STREET MANAGING EDITOR – DEWITT WALLACE CTR FOR MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY, SANFORD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY (143729)
https://performancemanager4.successfactors.com/sf/jobreq?jobId=143729&company=dukeuniverP1
External candidates:
9TH STREET MANAGING EDITOR – DEWITT WALLACE CTR FOR MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY, SANFORD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY (143729)
https://career4.successfactors.com/sfcareer/jobreqcareer?jobId=143729&company=dukeuniverP1