EDITORIAL DIRECTOR


Job Description

Job Title: Editorial Director and NN Senior Reporter

Job Location: Monrovia, Liberia

Reports to: Executive Director, New Narratives

Job Purpose: To ensure successful delivery of programs, through providing operational and technical leadership to project, and manage key partnerships.

Principal Accountabilities:

Responsibilities can be defined in the following categories:

  1. Editorial – the Editorial Director will work with the Executive Director to encourage reporting “fellows” to:
    1. research story ideas,
    1. prepare strong pitches
    1. commission stories
    1. report and write
    1. Edit.
  2. Editorial Director will:
    1. mentor new reporters to reach NN standards
    1. Coordinate radio/TV live events ensuring panelists come from the leading government, company, CSO and activists and represent geographic and gender diversity.
    1. Lead creation of workshop agenda including choosing and coordinating facilitators
    1. Lead Workshops when the Executive Director is absent
  • Partnerships – Editorial Director will be NN’s contact point in Liberia with donors and potential donors, community organizations government and activists. He/she will keep in regular contact with them to ensure NN knows about themes, issues, developments, policy changes and opportunities in thematic areas that our grants cover. He/she will also keep in close contact with media partners to ensure a strong partnership where feedback, engagement are encouraged and trust is built.
  • Monitoring and Evaluation – Editorial Director will support Monitoring and Evaluation efforts that are led by the Administration Director. He/she will help design M&E, ensure quizzes and surveys are undertaken, contribute to analysis of data and reassessments of the project based on the results.
  • In his/her Senior Reporter role, Editorial Director will contribute a minimum of one in-depth report on subject to be determined in agreement with the ED every three months.
  • Logistics – Editorial Director will support the AD, Project Manager, Financial officer and ED in ensuring compliance with financial procedures.

 Jobholder Entry Requirements – the essential knowledge, skills and behaviours required

Knowledge (Education & Related Experience):

· Substantial work experience gained in the journalism and media sector

· Educated to at least Bachelor’s level or above, or significant experience of leadership within in a relevant field (journalism, media.)

· Extensive experience with project management within complex project delivery in low resource setting

· Excellent knowledge of current issues and best practice in journalism, media, media business and technology and media development

· Experience in developing and adapting program guidance tools and other resource materials

· Experience in training junior journalists and imparting high standards of fact-checking, data-gathering as well as legal issues and conflict sensitivity

· Analytical thinking and ability to plan strategically from organisational perspective.

· Excellent leadership and networking skills.

· Ability to build strong working relationships with colleagues, partners and work collaboratively as a member of cross-functional teams.

· Proven ability to initiate, innovate and translate ideas into effective action plans.

· Excellent communication and influencing skills with ability to represent the organisation externally.

· Excellent oral and writing skills

· Able to travel for up to 12-16 weeks a year

Core behaviours:

· Change and improvement – Consistently strives to achieve high standards of performance; comes up with new ideas to improve performance in own/related job/s.

· Communicating and influencing – Listens to information and instructions effectively. Communicates confidently and effectively with colleagues and partners

· Decision making – Gathers relevant information and uses effective reasoning to make timely decisions. Consults with others in team to improve performance.

· Planning and organisation – Prioritises activities and develops plans to achieve them, monitoring own progress. Analyses and organises routine data on a regular basis.

· Delivery and implementation – Gets things done, can be relied upon to do what they say they will and is committed to achieving good quality work to agreed standards.

· Team working – Participates with other team members and contributes constructively, is a valued member of the team. Knows about other parts of the organisation and contributes positively to a global team.

Key Relationships

Internal · Liberia Administration Director · Executive Director · Liberia Program Manager

External · Donor staff in Liberia · partner organisations and other development agencies and networks working in Liberia · government and other stake holders

QUALIFICATIONS WE’RE LOOKING FOR

  • 10+ years experience in leading newsmedia in Liberia
  • 3+ years in editorial leadership 
  • Strong relationships and knowledge of Liberian newsmedia
  • Ability to work on a multicultural team and maintain effective (remote) communication with colleagues
  • Ability to handle multiple tasks efficiently
  • Proficient with Internet resources and programs such as Dropbox, Google Docs, Adobe Audition, Premier Pro
  • Strong skills and experience with production tools such as video and audio recording and broadcasting equipment
  • Experience training and mentoring younger journalists

New Narratives is an EEO/AAP/OFCCP employer. Every qualified applicant will be considered for employment. New Narratives does not discriminate based on race, gender, gender identity or orientation, genetic information, age, national origin, marital status, disability status, political ideology, military or protected veteran status, or any other characteristics protected by applicable law.

ABOUT NEW NARRATIVES

New Narratives’ mission is to drive an increase in the quality of journalism so that citizens have the information they need to play their role in democracy, drive change and keep leaders accountable. We recognize the fundamental challenge to quality journalism in Global South settings is a broken business model. For this reason every New Narratives project supports the growth of independent revenue and a supportive media ecosystem. We create a virtuous cycle where media partners set a higher standard for quality reporting leading to larger audiences and more revenue. In turn, rival media lift their standards in order to compete. The media market is more healthy and the quality of journalism lifts across the board.

OUR COMMITMENT TO FOSTERING A CULTURE OF BELONGING

We are an organization of dynamic, mission-driven individuals who are passionate about our core values and about supporting positive change in the world. We pride ourselves on our commitment to innovation and flexibility. We believe that diverse teams are strong teams and work to support an ethic of belonging, dignity, and justice for all people. Our current team includes a mix of genders, parents and non-parents, and people of multiple races, nationalities, ages, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic backgrounds. We are an EEO employer and encourage candidates of all races, genders, ages, orientations, ethnicities, and national origins to apply, and welcome those with alternative backgrounds and experiences.

TO APPLY:

Please send a cover letter and CV to contact-AT-newnarratives.org by end of day July 19, 2022 – U.S. East Coast time.