Job available at Ft. Myers News Press

The News-Press (Fort Myers, Fla.) anticipates a vacancy for a K-12 education reporter. This beat primarily covers the 78,000-student Lee County School District, which has a $1.5 billion budget and is among the nation’s 50 largest school systems. It also includes the region’s private and charter schools, and involves monitoring and localizing state/national issues as needed. The beat generates a lot of front page stories and enterprise projects; we just need someone to find them, report them and write them with flair.

We are seeking an experienced, yet versatile, education reporter who can navigate through public records, bureaucracy and mounds of data to break news on a daily basis, both online and in print. The beat leans toward hard news, but good classroom features and profiles certainly are encouraged. In addition to producing strong stories for print, the K-12 writer will establish a blog, drive readers to news-press.com and our education Web page, take photos/videos when appropriate and identify some type of medium to interact with readers (online chats, Facebook/MySpace, panel discussions, etc.).

The News-Press is a 125-year-old, Gannett-owned daily newspaper with a weekday circulation of 84,016 and Sunday circulation of 105,230. We take pride in protecting the First Amendment and holding our leaders accountable, but also encourage innovation and the type of storytelling that keeps the community talking. Southwest Florida is a highly competitive news market, with three daily newspapers and four TV stations fighting tooth and nail for readers/viewers. We are on top, and need an aggressive journalist to help keep us there.

You can e-mail your cover letter, resume and clips to Senior Managing Editor Cindy McCurry-Ross at cmcross@gannett.com or mail them to:
Cindy McCurry-Ross
Senior Managing Editor
The News-Press
2442 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Fort Myers, FL 33901