Culture Editor, Chron Jobs

Culture Editor
Chron is seeking an experienced culture editor to cover the movements and evolutions of Houston. Beyond arts and entertainment coverage, what are the things that make locals tick and fuel their conversations? The culture editor will oversee staff writers and work with freelancers to craft pieces that offer an authoritative and unique perspective on what it means to be a Texan in the Bayou City. The ideal candidate has in-depth knowledge of Houston, inside and outside the loop, and can write and edit news and features that drive cultural conversations. They also have experience conceptualizing features and projects, and they’re excited by the freedom and responsibility that comes with shaping our culture coverage as the site grows. Candidates should have experience working with a roster of talented writers and collaborators. In addition to profiling the city’s biggest people, events, and moments, duties include working with Chron writers and editors to shape how culture stories that overlap with other sections are developed and executed.
Primary Responsibilities:

• Excellent news judgement and feature writing skills
• Excellent reporting, researching, and interviewing skills
• Familiarity with content management systems
• Familiarity with the needs of the Houston and Texas audience
• Strong copy-editing skills and knowledge of AP Style
• Familiarity with national digital media landscape

Competencies/Critical Skills:

• Finding unique stories and angles about what it means to be a Texan in Houston
• Quickly covering newsworthy moments as they happen to capitalize on social and search traffic
• Juggling responsibilities, including reporting, writing, editing topic pages and posting on social media
• Balancing daily, weekly, and longer-lead deadlines, working off hours when necessary

Describe the most challenging aspect of this position:

• Covering a wide variety of different people, events, moments and more important to Houston
• Crafting features, franchises, and projects that are exciting to readers inside and outside of Texas
• Developing a new coverage area for Chron, conceptualizing new stories and unique ideas

What type of decisions does this position refer to others for approval?

• Long-term editorial strategy and priorities
• Development of long form features, franchises, and projects

Measures of success for this position include:

• Mentions, links, shares, and pickups of stories from prominent third-party publications
• Increasing daily, monthly, and yearly output of culture articles through writing and editing
• Reader shares and other engagement with stories on social media platforms
• Overall traffic performance in aims of meeting daily and monthly goals
• Creating editorial calendar, marking specific events to strategize events coverage
• Meeting deadlines and keeping pace with publishing schedule while improving work quality
• Overall increase of unique in-DMA visitors and loyal in-DMA visitors

Experience, qualifications, technical requirements, education:

• Experience using Chartbeat, Google Analytics, Looker, or other analytics tools (preferred)
• Bachelor’s degree in journalism, communications or English
• Knowledge of Houston’s teams and players, personalities, and popular culture (preferred)
• At least three years experience in reporting and editing
• Experience working in a CMS and publishing to digital platforms (preferred)

About the Houston Chronicle:
The Houston Chronicle serves Houston’s 2.3 million residents — as well as all of Texas — with content and marketing solutions across two of Houston’s largest websites, HoustonChronicle.com and Chron.com, along with our newspaper and magazine brands. The content and innovative business solutions we provide invite readers to join conversations about communities we’ve been helping prosper for more than 120 years.
About Hearst Newspapers:
With 2,500 employees across the nation, HNP encompasses a network of 24 daily and 52 weekly publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union, several top digital-only news and lifestyle sites, marketing services businesses, and entertainment businesses such as King Features Syndicate.
At HNP, we are investing in new and innovative ways to tell stories – growing newsrooms, diversifying tools, evolving platforms – to support the millions of people who trust us each month to help them make decisions, take action and be inspired.
Be a part of something bigger – your headline awaits.