Atlanta Black Star has several immediate openings for Freelance Breaking News Writers. The ideal candidate will have a pulse on the major issues impacting the community, with a focus on criminal justice, social justice and human interest stories.
The ideal candidate will possess a natural curiosity and a burning desire to fill in gaps to tell highly engaging and compelling stories.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Pitch, formulate, create and test new content ideas
- Must be able to produce clean, thoroughly researched publish-ready copy with minimum supervision
- Coordinates with editors to develop stories that go beyond surface details, that accentuate unique enterprise angles, and have exclusive content
- Conduct interviews in person, by phone or via email
- Can juggle multiple stories and projects at once, demonstrates exceptional time-management skills by meeting all deadlines under extraordinary pressure
- Follow story from start to finish, expected to take ownership of stories
- Zealously develops a network of sources who provide tips, early access to information, and allow the reporter to break stories of significance
- Report breaking news, write quickly and precisely
- Scour national and international media for stories that resonate with ABS's audience
- Regularly plans, gathers, and pitches day-to-day stories or special project assignments
- Pay attention to content performance and digital trends on a daily basis to constantly adjust pitching strategy
- Utilize CMS tools, strategically select photos and videos to optimize all written content for maximum engagement, reader retention, and shareability