Equity Lab Editor - Local News

The Sacramento Bee is seeking an innovative, dynamic editor to lead our newsroom’s Equity Lab and shape our coverage of diverse communities. This editor will work with an ambitious team of community-funded journalists to provide essential news and information about equity issues in local neighborhoods, schools and communities.

The Bee’s Equity Lab is committed to building trust and relationships in communities of color and giving voice to Sacramento residents who too often have been overlooked and unrecognized. The lab’s editor will help reporters find new ways to elevate diverse stories and to highlight the achievements, cultures and concerns of underserved communities. 

The Equity Lab is focused on delivering both accountability journalism that holds people and institutions responsible for fair practices and representative journalism that reflects the everyday lives and challenges in communities that have not been adequately represented in traditional media. The ideal candidate for this leadership position will be skilled at editing enterprise stories and crafting strategies for connecting with readers through newsletters, listening sessions, social media and events. 

The editor will not only develop and communicate the vision for the Equity Lab, but will also be hands-on, working closely with reporters to shape their journalism. The editor should have strong editing skills and be grounded in journalism ethics.

This role requires an understanding of varied storytelling techniques and an eagerness to learn in a changing news environment. You will work collaboratively with other editors at The Sacramento Bee. Interpersonal skills and the ability to partner with editors, reporters, visual journalists and community members are essential.

This editor must also be responsive to audience wants and needs. The Equity Lab editor should understand how to interpret audience data to help drive decisions and how to write headlines that draw in new readers and build loyalty with our subscribers. This editor also will be involved in communicating directly with the audience on all of The Bee’s platforms and in public events.

If this is you, please apply.

Requirements:

• At least two years of supervisory experience

• The proven ability to lead, inspire, and convey knowledge to others and to work effectively with a wide range of colleagues.

• Strong editing skills, both for long-form stories and quick-turn stories written on deadline

• The ability to connect with and understand diverse audiences

• Excellent news judgment and a demonstrated ability to “see the story” that is going to matter to readers and to anticipate reader interests before they exist.

• A focus on ensuring that our content and our staff represent the fullness of our community and state and the diversity of the people who live here. 

• An understanding of news analytics and metrics on reader habits

• Impeccable journalistic ethics

• Comfort with a job that will be demanding, fast-paced, constantly evolving and outcome-oriented.

• A focus not just on the written word, but also on how stories are told through photos, videos and audio