Position: Managing editor, Austin Weekly News

Status: Full-time exempt

Reports to: Editor in chief

Location: Oak Park, Illinois, and West Side of Chicago

Job Summary:

GCM, parent company of Austin Weekly News, is an award-winning nonprofit news organization that has served the West Side of Chicago for nearly four decades. We are a recognized leader in local news. We are committed to news that matters most with our readers.

We are at an exciting point in our history, and will be expanding our reach deeper into the West Side and reimagining what news can look like in and how it will be delivered to that community.

We’re looking for a managing editor for AWN who will help us set this plan and navigate us through this expansion. 

We’re looking for a creative, courageous managing editor who has high standards and ethics and who is committed to producing authentic, representative news, features and other content for its audience. 

You must be a strategic thinker who will lead the day-to-day planning and execution of stories, images and content for our print and digital publications, as well as for our social media channels. You will be a key driver behind the innovations that will come as part of a redesign of AWN and its operations.

The successful candidate will have a passion for local news innovation in print and digital formats, excellent news judgment, and the ability to focus on the most important, exciting and delightful stories in the community. You should have a love of Chicago and a drive to help create an inclusive and effective workplace culture. You also will be the face of AWN in the community, and will be responsible for attending meetings and events, as well as forging strategic partnerships within the West Side community. You should have a track record of doing this, and leading collaboratively and empathetically through change.

Reporting, writing, content creation, managing freelancers and crafting editorial plans are all part of the role. We publish daily online and weekly in print.

GCM is an equal opportunity employer:

GCM is committed to creating an equitable, diverse and inclusive workplace. We strongly encourage applications from women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people and people of different levels of physical ability. We encourage you to apply and make your case if you have skills or talents that don't quite match our description, yet you feel may still be able to perform the duties as described.

Key Responsibilities:

• Reporting, writing and editing: 

  • The ideal candidate should have a bachelor’s degree in journalism or related field or equivalent experience. We’re looking for someone with expertise in writing and editing news and feature stories, who exhibits exemplary editorial judgment with a commitment to accuracy, fairness, and integrity in reporting. You should have experience developing and refining content strategy, and identifying opportunities to improve content and better engage our audience. As a writer and editor, you should have excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills, and be able to use SEO best practices and tools to inform content strategy decisions, yet understand that serving your audience is a newsroom’s chief responsibility. You should have exceptional skills at prioritizing assignments and meeting deadlines. You must be able to produce accurate, error-free content that conforms to AP Style guidelines and upholds SPJ’s Code of Ethics.

• Managing

  • We’re looking for someone with experience managing a day-to-day team of in-house writers and freelancers,someone who has the ability to inspire, motivate and mentor them to produce essential and trusted daily news. You should have some experience recruiting and managing freelance writers, as well as experience managing editorial calendars. The ideal candidate must have the ability to meet deadlines and to keep projects on track and on time. You should have strong problem-solving skills and the ability to manage short -, mid-, long-term and evergreen stories in our publication mix. 

• Newsroom leadership

  • You should embrace and manage growth and change, and understand the changing media landscape while having the ability develop strategies to address market and consumer change. Our ideal candidate should have experience networking with key stakeholders on the beat in person and virtually, particularly those on the West Side. You should also be able to work collaboratively with cross-functional newsrooms teams, as well as with our partners.

Bonus points:

• In-depth knowledge of Chicago’s news scene with an understanding of social-justice, race, income and economics as it applies on the West Side.

Skills and Expectations for Teamwork GCM:

• Be able to work in a way that fits with our mission and vision to connect citizens through community journalism rooted deep in our neighborhoods, based in facts, and reflective of voices not always heard

• Be able to work with software and other tools critical to the job, including social media platforms, Google Analytics, MS Office products (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.) and virtual conferencing tools, such as Teams, Webex, Zoom.

• Create a collegial, collaborative newsroom culture and atmosphere

• Offer and receive constructive feedback to help the team produce its best work

• Celebrate our wins and learning moments

• Take on an experimental mindset and demonstrate flexibility to iterate on our work, systems, and processes 

• Be willing and able to ask for help when needed

• Demonstrate an ability to learn and grow in the role

About GCM:

Growing Community Media NFP (GCM) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, independent news organization that produces four local publications online and in print across seven communities on the West Side of Chicago and in its west suburbs. GCM was founded in 2019 after it acquired established media outlets Austin Weekly News (1986), Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest (1980), Forest Park Review (1918) and Riverside Brookfield Landmark (1985) and transitioned them to a nonprofit model. Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, and suburban Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park, North Riverside, Riverside and Brookfield are at once contiguous and very distinct communities. Each publication reports deeply from within its own community, at a granular level unavailable elsewhere in the local media landscape. GCM’s dedicated newsroom staff produces insightful hyperlocal coverage of each of our seven communities 52 weeks per year. GCM’s mission is to connect citizens through community journalism rooted deep in our neighborhoods, based in facts, and reflective of voices not always heard.

Compensation: $67,000 to $72,000, commensurate with experience. Please note that we do not pay relocation fees.

What we have to offer:

• A comprehensive benefits package that includes generous leave time, health/dental/vision coverage and 401K

• A flexible schedule.

• Support for professional development and journalism or applicable affinity-group conventions.

• An opportunity to work with an industry leader and part of an esteemed brand.

• A unique opportunity to lead a local news outlet through a major transformation at a time when there is a national emphasis on creating truly local news that is trusted, essential and sustainable.

To apply: 

Please send a resume, and a maximum of six (total) writing and editing samples. Please also send a thoughtful response to these questions. Plan for no more than two pages to answer them all.:

1. Why is community news important? Describe your commitment to it.

2. What does “local news” mean for the West Side?

3. What does innovation in community news mean to you?

Please send all of the materials in a single PDF format by Oct. 25 to: erika@growingcommunitymedia.org with “Managing Editor” in the subject line.