Summer 2025

The Mississippi Free Press, a thriving, award-winning nonprofit digital newsroom with national impact run by the nonprofit Mississippi Journalism and Education Group, is seeking a full-time assistant editor to join our editorial team. This editor will help us continue to grow our mission to cover Mississippi in a deeply contextual, inclusive, investigative and solutions-based fashion that challenges the old ways of the state’s traditional media environment. Immediate hire.

Position Summary

MJEG and MFP are seeking an experienced Assistant Editor to join our diverse, cohesive and supportive team of journalism professionals. The women-founded Mississippi Free Press launched at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and immediately attracted widespread attention nationally and internationally for our mission-driven coverage of vital issues and stories.

The Assistant Editor will report to News Editor Ashton Pittman and work closely with other department editors to expand and enhance our editorial operations. The Assistant Editor will curate and edit opinion articles for our Voices section as well as assist the editorial team by copy editing news and features stories. The successful assistant will be detail-oriented, collaborative and passionate about fostering diversity in our stories in terms of viewpoints, life experiences, locations and backgrounds.

The Assistant Editor will report to the News Editor, Features Editor and Executive Editor, working closely with the editorial team, reporters and writers. The assistant editor will also work directly with opinion contributors, news and features freelance writers and more. This position requires excellent writing skills, editing skills, excellent communication and organizational skills, managing acumen and a commitment to editorial excellence. The ideal candidate must be willing and ready to learn, both independently and from team members, and dedicated to growing their skills.

The candidate should live in or be willing to soon relocate to Mississippi, and can work both from home and at the office in Jackson on a hybrid basis, including required in-office meetings and trainings. We will also have MFP events and related activities that we ask team members to participate in, such as our Solutions Circles.

We ask all MFP team members to embrace and seek learning experiences daily from each other, from people across Mississippi, by attending webinars and through traveling to trainings and journalism conferences.

Duties Include

Story Development: Collaborating with the rest of the editorial team throughout the story-development process, from pitch to publication, on news, features and opinion stories.
Content Editing: Editing opinion, news and feature stories for clarity, structure, factual accuracy, fairness and impact, with an understanding of the differences between news and opinion stories.
Copy Editing: Collaborating with other editors to provide first and final copy edits of news, opinion and features stories for grammar, spelling and AP style, while also balancing that with respecting and helping writers cultivate their unique voice. This includes copy edits on both longer form stories on quick-turnaround, breaking news stories. Please expect to complete a copy editing test during the hiring process.
Leading the Voices Section: Identifying, recruiting and working with a diverse array of opinion writers to develop op-eds, commentary, and analysis showcasing a variety of viewpoints and experiences. The assistant editor will take the lead on editorial decisions for opinion articles.
Fact-Checking: Helping verify facts, sources, citations and quotes.
Relationship-Building: Building, maintaining and growing relationships with contributors and freelancers and helping the team to cultivate new voices and perspectives.
Editorial Calendar: Helping the editorial team plan and coordinate the editorial calendar for news, opinion and features stories
Regular Meetings: Participating in weekly virtual editorial team meetings on Mondays where reporters and editors pitch, assign, discuss and plan stories; participating in monthly staff meetings at the office in Jackson; and participating in workshops in-person at the office in Jackson.
Special Projects: Collaborating with editorial team members on special projects, investigations, in-depth stories, multimedia projects and other initiatives as needed.

The Essentials

Strong experience in editing, journalistic reporting or related editorial work
Strong command of English, grammar and basic journalism conventions and AP Style
An understanding of the differences between news, features and opinion
Experience working with writers at different skill levels
The ability to edit stories while maintaining the author’s voice
Knowledge of basic journalistic ethics
A willingness to learn, admit weaknesses and recognize strengths
Excellent communication skills and ability to provide constructive feedback
A commitment to fostering diverse voices and viewpoints in the Voices section
A passion for the Mississippi Free Press’ journalistic mission and respect for the people of Mississippi and our diversity
The ability to work as part of a team and celebrate one another’s successes, fostering an encouraging environment free from inner-office competitiveness
Must live in Mississippi or be willing to relocate to Mississippi

The Nice-to-Haves

At least two years experience in journalism editing news, opinion and features
Experience directing and editing narrative writing/storytelling
Institutional knowledge and familiarity with Mississippi politics, culture, history and communities
Experience promoting journalism and other content on social media platforms
Knowledge of media law
Willingness to attend journalism conferences, webinars and other trainings
Knowledge of how to use GroupMe, Basecamp, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets and how to use WordPress to post and edit stories

Salary and Benefits

The salary range for the assistant editor begins at $48,000 and depends on experience in journalism and editing. The position has tremendous growth potential for promotion from within, which is very common for long-time MFP/JFP team members.
We offer 100% of the employee’s medical, vision and dental benefits through our group plan; family members may be covered through employee contributions.
This position’s PTO is based on hours worked per week up to a total of 24 days of PTO (full-time) and nine holidays for 33 total paid days off a year, which increases after three years of employment. That includes seven non-religious holidays and two floater days for staff members to use for either religious or non-religious days off due to their personal preferences and needs.

TO APPLY OR ASK QUESTIONS, PLEASE EMAIL:
News Editor Ashton Pittman at ashton@mississippifreepress.org.

Please include a cover letter, resumé, and three to six writing or editing samples that demonstrate your editorial skills and experience working in journalism as well as your range of experience and ability. Send as many quality samples as you like, as attachments and/or links.

If you have many of the requested skills and experiences, but not all of them, feel free to apply and tell us why you’re the right candidate for this position.

The Mississippi Journalism and Education Group does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information or veteran status in any area of its operations.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: From $48,000.00 per year

Benefits:

Dental insurance
Flexible schedule
Health insurance
Paid time off
Vision insurance

Schedule:

8 hour shift
Day shift
Monday to Friday

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Jackson, MS 39201

Mississippi Journalism and Education Group

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