Executive Editor, Sacramento Bee, and Regional Editor, California
McClatchy is seeking a creative, collaborative news leader to serve as executive editor of the Sacramento Bee and oversee the work of four additional McClatchy Media California newsrooms - in Modesto, Fresno, San Luis Obispo and Merced.
At the Sacramento Bee and across California, we pride ourselves on breaking stories first and producing impactful, accountability-driven journalism that serves our community. We have a thriving Capital Bureau that serves readers and state workers alike, including tracking how events in Washington, D.C., are affecting our state.
Our journalism focuses on our local communities, and in that role we have the ability to spotlight problems, highlight solutions and truly make a difference -- all the reasons you got into journalism. And we are part of McClatchy Media Company, a digitally driven company focused on innovation, with newsrooms in 30 communities in the United States.
As Executive Editor in Sacramento, this leader will work with a talented team of journalists to reach a growing and increasingly diverse audience in northern California through accountability work, service journalism and breaking news that is first and best on issues most important to our local communities.
We’re looking for someone who not only loves a good story but who is also passionate about finding and developing top-level talent, aggressively experimenting with next-generation strategies and tools and focusing intentionally on local journalism that creates must-visit destinations for our communities.
As California Regional editor, this person will lead the continued transformation of our California newsrooms into high-impact, audience-focused digital news operations consistent with McClatchy’s longstanding mission of independent, essential local news that serves the public. This includes setting coverage and beat strategies that reflect each community’s growth, demographics and economic drivers.
We are looking specifically for a leader who is excited about the opportunity to seek out and embrace artificial intelligence and other automation to enhance and elevate our work, produce supplemental content and build efficiencies that free our journalists to focus on high-quality content production.
Empowering staff to learn and employ audience-focused approaches to journalism is key to success in this role, as is using and championing AI in ways that build trust in its capabilities.
The successful candidate will be a talented news editor who has a passion for audience-focused journalism and can ignite that passion in reporters, editors, and visual journalists. This person will be a thoughtful leader with experience in newsroom transformation, someone able to approach the role with fresh ideas on how to best serve audiences that are as diverse as the country overall.
We are looking for an accomplished business leader with strong communication skills who is eager to collaborate with and guide colleagues at all levels of the Sacramento Bee and in our markets across the state, as well as across the McClatchy enterprise.
Success will be measured by the distinctive journalism produced in Sacramento and California as well as audience and subscriber growth for that differentiated content. This requires a command of audience analytics and knowledge of the tactics that deliver results, as well as a desire to experiment, iterate, and adjust as the news environment dictates.
Change is a central feature of a digital newsroom, and this leader must be both confident and conscientious in guiding newsrooms to always keep the community’s interests at the heart of our journalism.
The anticipated base pay range for this position is between $250K and $280K per year. Individual base pay may vary within that range depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, department equity and relevant education.
MINIMUM REQUREMENTS:
- College degree or equivalent work experience
- A minimum of 5 years of journalism leadership, including experience overseeing complex, high-performance newsrooms.
WHAT YOU’LL BRING:
- Experience working collaboratively across a large organization.
- Experience working with news analytics to grow audience and increase subscriptions.
- Experience as a multi-platform storyteller, with passion for the written word as well as visual and audio journalism.
- Strong writing skills, excellent news judgment and a demonstrated ability to “see the story” that is going to matter to readers.
- Experience managing performance, including setting clear expectations, providing appropriate training and empowering staff members to do excellent work.
- A track record of innovation, flexibility and comfort managing change.
- Openness to harnessing artificial intelligence and automation to find efficiencies and elevate our journalism.
- Must have reliable transportation. Must have valid driver’s license and vehicle insurance required (at least minimum insurance required for the state in which the employee works).
WHAT WE’LL BRING:
As a journalist at McClatchy, you will join a supportive, flexible, collaborative team. McClatchy strives to be an employer of choice, and our benefits package is made with this goal in mind. With a focus on health, well-being, wealth and daily life, our package options include healthcare coverage for employees and their families, financial protection from expected and unexpected expenses, multiple no-cost wellness resources and even coverage for four-legged friends.
Our overall benefits package also includes a 401(k) with employer match, competitive paid time off and corporate holidays, and a variety of mental health benefits. With an excellent support team and with focus on your well-being as a top corporate strategy, McClatchy provides benefits to support you and your family in achieving your health and wellness goals. For more information on McClatchy's benefit plan, please visit McClatchyLivewell.com.
To apply, include a persuasive cover letter, your resume and four to six examples of the best work produced by your teams.
About the McClatchy Media Company
The McClatchy Media Company features a portfolio of vibrant and trusted news, lifestyle, entertainment brands and a robust retail distribution network. Our iconic local news brands such as the Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star and The Sacramento Bee, have collectively earned a total of 57 Pulitzer prizes and are complemented by popular lifestyle and entertainment brands such as Us Weekly and Woman’s World. Together, our brands reach more than 100 million unique visitors a month,The McClatchy Retail Network, our distribution and logistics arm, offers delivery to more than 56,000 retail locations weekly.
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Salary/Compensation: $250,000 - $280,000 per year
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