News Assistant

Position description

The New York Times is seeking a news assistant to work in a floater role that will involve learning several different news assistant jobs throughout the newsroom. Floaters fill in on various jobs to cover other employees’ vacations, leaves and other types of time off, as well as filling in on night or weekend jobs that don’t have a regularly assigned news assistant.

The ideal candidate will be a quick learner who is versatile and able to rotate easily from one job to another. Organizational skills and a desire to learn new skills are critical to success in this role. Flexibility is also key as floaters do not have a set schedule; a floater’s schedule varies week to week and will include nights, weekends, and holidays. Schedule changes occur regularly and being cooperative with changes and quickly responsive to calls/emails from Newsroom Operations managers are required. 

Responsibilities:

• You will assist editors in producing various newsletters and other online content 

• You will handle layout of some parts of our print newspaper 

• Screen and sort mail, send out newspapers, answer telephone calls and manage other incoming information for the assigned department 

• Maintain department documents, including spreadsheets and various listservs that contain reliable information of reporter locations 

• You will use multiple proofreading and fact-checking skills along with various audience-related tasks, i.e. SEO and URL verification

• For publication in listings, review and confirm background facts for events submitted to The Times, seek out appropriate upcoming events, select events and edit content for space requirements

• Determine accuracy of data, correcting apparent errors as needed and calling attention to news developments the material may disclose

• Manage desk social media accounts at the direction of editors

• Write and/or reword caption information attached to incoming pictures or other material submitted by photographers so that editors can write captions for publication

• Gather, prepare and archive content, including, but not limited to, a wide variety of tables, listings, captions, summaries, photos, graphics and other content elements accurately and efficiently, repackaging, reformatting and appending assigned content as needed for immediate publication in any and all media

• Demonstrate support and understanding of our value of journalistic independence and a strong commitment to our mission to seek the truth and help people understand the world

• You may be called upon to help ensure the smooth administrative operation of the assigned desk by performing a variety of tasks under the supervision of desk editors and/or the operations manager, including:

• Helping to maintain varied departmental files and personnel and other office records including work and vacation schedules, timebanks, whereabouts lists and payroll records

• Assisting editors and operations managers with processing of freelance and staff payments

• Learning and utilizing evolving administrative tools and working with editors and operations managers to help create and apply newsroom policies on the assigned desk

 Basic Qualifications: 

• 2 plus years of professional experience

• Strong grammar and communication skills

• Familiarity with Google Workspace (Google Docs, Sheets, Forms, Slides)

• Strong organizational skills 

• Ability to multitask and prioritize to meet deadlines

• Ability to quickly learn and apply new skills 

Preferred Qualifications: 

• B.A or B.S degree

• A passion for learning about new tools and journalism formats

• Versatile skills in writing

The job will be based in New York and is represented by the NewsGuild of NY.

The annual base pay salary for this role is between $66,300.00 and $67,000.00.

Application instructions

Please be sure to indicate you saw this position on tendersglobal.net