Executive Editor

Executive Editor

New Bedford Light, New Bedford, Massachusetts

● Date Posted: May 19, 2024
● Industry: Nonprofit news site
● Job Status: Full-time; highly competitive salary and benefits
● Website: newbedfordlight.org

The new Executive Editor of the New Bedford Light will take the helm of one of the country’s most successful nonprofit news startups. The Light seeks a leader of exceptional talent: a journalist who prizes investigative and explanatory stories that have a profound impact on people’s lives; who excels at creating new ways to engage our diverse community; who relishes the chance to collaborate with an eager and future-oriented staff.

Are you accomplished, inventive and committed to bringing The Light’s newsroom fearlessly forward? Are you ready for one of the most rewarding jobs in transformative local journalism?

The Light is all-digital and free (no paywall). We are multimedia, frequently employing video (including drone), podcasts, data visualization, and graphical flourishes that enhance and extend deep-dive stories on complex issues. We do not publish clickbait and we do not take traditional newspaper advertising. We are funded by a growing community of generous readers, philanthropists, foundations and sponsors who embrace our nonprofit business model and our adherence to the standards of independent, nonpartisan journalism.

Originally spurred by New Bedford residents concerned about the deterioration of the local for-profit paper and a dearth of meaningful local news, The Light published its first story in June 2021 with a pro bono editor, pro bono publisher and two freelance reporters. In just three years, the editorial staff has grown to 13, and the business and development staff to four. We have raised $4.2 million to date from over 1,500 donors, and our 2024 budget is $1.92 million. Visitors to our website have doubled in the past year to an average 60,000 a month, and social reach is well over 100,000 monthly. We have 13,000 newsletter subscribers. Our average reader engagement per article is 2 mins 30 seconds, compared to 50 seconds for other local digital news outlets.

COMMUNITY
New Bedford is an historic coastal city of 101,000 people, 60 miles due south of Boston. It is the economic and cultural hub of the South Coast region, sitting at a crossroads beset by socioeconomic challenges and opportunities as well. It is the most lucrative commercial fishing port in North America and a growing center for the offshore wind industry. And soon, New Bedford will have a commuter rail link to Boston.

The city has been a true melting pot since the 18th and 19th centuries, a dazzling seaside gem that back then was the wealthiest city in the world because of its whaling industry dominance. Today, it has among the largest Portuguese and Cape Verdean communities in the United States, and a burgeoning Latino population that now exceeds 23 percent of New Bedford’s residents.

New Bedford has a proud cultural history – Melville set “Moby-Dick” here, Frederick Douglass escaped to freedom and learned to preach here. The city now teems with artists and entrepreneurs who reflect an exceedingly rich ethnic diversity and wide range of backgrounds and viewpoints.

IMPACT
The Light’s much anticipated debut in the midst of the pandemic was chronicled by The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and other news organizations. By any measure, we are exceeding expectations. Day in and day out, we fight to get public information into the hands of the public, bringing a new transparency to city government and law enforcement.

Our editorial content reflects the city’s unique profile, with full-time reporters focused on the commercial fishing industry, the offshore wind industry, immigration, and climate change. Other full-time beats include education, housing, municipal government and criminal justice. The local issues are legion. The Light covers them all with a sharp watchdog eye and high-impact enterprise reporting.

Our nine-month investigation with ProPublica revealed foreign private equity’s intrusion into the nation’s groundfish industry, prompting a federal antitrust inquiry. Last summer, our reporting on the bankruptcy of the largest groundfish company on the East Coast was cited by three federal lawmakers as they moved to hold private equity owners accountable for millions in unpaid debt to New Bedford area businesses.

The Light also celebrates the area’s vibrant arts and culture through profiles, verbatim
interviews, and “Community Voices” essays, letters, videos and comments from community members. Our “New Bedford Light Art Club” has helped artists from around the region sell their work commission-free.

While The Light is strongly rooted in New Bedford, our enterprise journalism resonates through regional, state, national, and even international media outlets. In addition to ProPublica, we have co-published with The Marshall Project and El Pais, the world’s largest Spanish-language publication. Because the city is home to the nation’s highest-grossing fishing port and a staging ground for commercial offshore wind, we are at the forefront of reporting on the intricacies and challenges of the “green” economy. Industry publications frequently link to our stories and draw readers from around the world.

The new Executive Editor will extend and elevate our reputation for journalistic excellence, demonstrating broad scope and a singular passion for ground-up reporting. The editor will work closely with the Chief Executive Officer to increase funding and audience, and spearhead new initiatives including community journalism education and potential partnerships with other media organizations.

Dramatic change is afoot in the New Bedford area. The advent of a commuter rail line to Boston, a critical shortage of residential housing, and the rapidly changing climate will demand intense scrutiny, analysis and fact-based reporting. As the issues centered in the city reflect and spread to the wider region, our journalism will become ever more essential.

The new Executive Editor will be a dynamic force in shaping The Light’s future.

QUALIFICATIONS
● A strong record of producing high-impact enterprise journalism, including investigative, explanatory and narrative-style stories that take on the toughest local issues with deep reporting and vivid storytelling.
● A passion for community journalism that connects with a highly diverse population and captures the whole of our complex city, particularly underserved or marginalized groups.
● The leadership skills to inspire, coach and direct a team of reporters, editors and multimedia journalists of varying levels of experience.
● A proven ability to instill a spirit of collaboration, creativity and adventure, in a newsroom mindful of the importance of a work-life balance.
● An entrepreneurial instinct for experimentation and risk-taking, always looking for new ways to engage readers through cutting-edge content presentation and inventive outreach
techniques.
● Impeccable integrity, devotion to the highest standards of journalistic independence,
transparency and ethics.
● Demonstrated ability to work closely with the business side of the operation, including development, fundraising, audience, strategic planning and potential new partnerships.

COMPENSATION
The salary range is $125,000 to $150,000, commensurate with experience. This is a good faith estimate of what we expect to pay for this position. The final salary figure will be finalized through conversations that account for a candidate's experience and accomplishments.

The benefits package includes health care, dental and vision coverage, as well as a company match to our 401(k) program.

TO APPLY
The deadline for applications is June 16, 2024. Please email a cover letter that addresses your qualifications and a resume to CEO Lean Camara at jobs@newbedfordlight.org.

The Light is committed to fostering a culture committed to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, both in our coverage and in our hiring. We encourage applications from journalists who come from groups that have been historically underrepresented in news organizations.