Senior Editor, Forum

Title: Senior Editor Forum

Schedule Format - Location: San Francisco, Hybrid

Pay Information: $112,000 - $140,000 Annually

Position Summary

A Senior Editor leads a team of journalists to report and produce news and feature content that informs and connects with our audience in a timely fashion. They encourage team members to shine, fostering creative approaches to telling the daily, weekly and monthly news, while not overlooking trends and unusual content that make our coverage and region unique in the nation. 

A senior editor works in collaboration with other KQED editors and journalists to provide coverage of significant issues, assigning and editing daily news, in-depth features and projects, and helping to direct reporters and interns in producing stories for multiple KQED programs, KQED’s digital platforms and NPR.
Senior editors at KQED are expected to manage teams of reporters and producers and journalists, on both content and journalistic issues, but also personnel and management issues. 

The editor is responsible for scheduling, assigning, and coordinating their own reporting staff as well as communicating and coordinating coverage with other editors and journalists in the newsroom.
KQED is focused on recruiting and retaining a diverse group of talented journalists and media makers, who reflect and represent the communities we serve. The journalist in this senior editor role will help to create an inclusive culture and ensure that journalists from marginalized communities are able to inject their unique perspectives into the ideas and the workflow of KQED’s journalism. 


Senior Editor, Forum

This role supervises strategic planning, expansion and growth, editorial planning and program production on one hour of KQED’s flagship public affairs program, Forum. Forum is one of the country’s most listened-to local talk radio shows, and reaches more than 300,000 listeners on average every month. A Senior Editor will be responsible for driving editorial excellence, pushing digital innovation, and inspiring a team of journalists to produce high quality, deeply engaging, news and talk content on a daily basis.

The senior editor manages and mentors a staff of producers and engagement producers, supervises their day-to-day work, and supports their professional growth. The Senior Editor will also work closely with and manage an experienced host, building a collaborative editorial leadership team that will define a high-level vision for the show. This role will include editorial leadership such as making day-to-day editorial decisions, leading team meetings, long term editorial planning, developing and executing coverage plans, and coordination with the newsroom and other talk programming. The Senior Editor will also be responsible for refining production processes, providing consistent feedback and performance management for hosts and production team, synthesizing internal audience data and other metrics to enhance show performance and working cross functionally to elevate and amplify the on-air product. 

This senior editor is a dynamic, highly experienced leader with a vision for new and enterprising ways to grow engagement and programming, drive live conversation on radio, and grow Forum’s presence on digital platforms. This vital team leader will also work to help Forum best serve its existing audience while also expanding its reach and seeking to serve a younger and more diverse audience. The Senior Editor is a key member of KQED’s senior editorial leadership team.

 

KQED envisions a public media organization with a culture that centers on human dignity, equity, and belonging. This will enable us to better serve and reflect the Bay Area through diverse and inclusive storytelling. 

We value the contributions of marginalized people in society — including Black, Indigenous, and all people of color,  people with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ people — and we believe that these communities must be centered in the work we do, and we strongly encourage members of these communities to apply.

KQED Code of Ethics  https://www.kqed.org/about/code-ethics

The mission that drives us:

KQED provide citizens of Northern California with a community-supported alternative to commercial media.   We provide citizens with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions; convene community dialogue; bring the arts to everyone and engage audiences to share their stories. We help students and teachers thrive in 21st-century classrooms, and take people of all ages on journeys of exploration- exposing them to new people, places and ideas.

Essential Functions:

• Edits, assigns and oversees daily, weekly, monthly and longer-term show planning.
• Is responsive to team needs and follows through on issues pertaining to employment
• Manages team members, including professional development, job performance and regular check-ins.
• Coordinates closely with other news leaders on coverage including other hour of Forum.
• Coordinates social engagement outreach efforts to support episode engagement and audience development.
• Fills in for other editors and show producers as appropriate.
• Represents KQED internally and externally.
• Performs other essential duties as required.

Knowledge/Experience Required: 

• Seven years minimum experience,  broadcast journalism preferred but online/digital, podcast, etc acceptable. 
• Strong command of sound editing and radio production techniques. 
• Excellent reporting and editing skills. 
• Excellent news judgment. 
• Strong people and time management skills.
• Thorough command of journalistic principles, ethics and standards. 
• Ability to work inclusively with a diverse staff
• Proven collaborator with the ability to work across departments and with partner organizations
• Ability to stay organized and prioritize tasks when working on multiple projects at once
• Adherence to media laws; understanding of media licensing agreements