by Nina Misuraca Ignaczak November 22, 2024

Planet Detroit seeks a smart and kind Editor to elevate our award-winning newsroom and support our growth as a digital media organization centered on climate, equity, health and environmental journalism in Metro Detroit and Michigan.

This role is critical to producing impactful stories that amplify community voices, hold power accountable and spotlight solutions to help readers navigate their lives and take action towards securing a healthy environment.

The Editor will lead daily editorial operations, balancing short-term production with long-term projects. They’ll help manage a team of reporters and freelancers, focusing on improving the quality of our journalism and growing our audience.

The ideal candidate is an experienced editor comfortable with all that goes into working in startup nonprofit journalism. That includes a willingness to get their hands dirty and tackle all tasks – large and small – necessary to fulfill our mission and sustain our growth.

Crucially, we seek a journalist who values and enjoys building a supportive, collaborative and kind workplace culture that amplifies the newsroom’s impact and humanity. The ideal candidate understands that success is a team effort, thrives on empowering others and checks their ego at the door. We’re looking for someone who listens actively, fosters inclusivity and celebrates the team’s successes.

The position reports to the Executive Editor.

Responsibilities:

  • Co-develops and executes editorial strategies with the Executive Editor to advance Planet Detroit’s mission.
  • Maintains high journalism standards, focusing on accuracy, fairness and impact.
  • Oversees daily operations, editing articles and producing two weekly newsletters.
  • Writes dailies and republishes content as needed to ensure a strong publishing schedule.
  • Builds and publishes posts optimized for SEO, with quality cutlines and sourced or commissioned photos in WordPress Newspack CMS.
  • Tracks story performance in GA4 and on social and optimizes as needed.
  • Delivers web and audience reports and insights at weekly staff editorial meetings.
  • Innovates to improve production workflows.
  • Guides and mentors reporters, freelance contributors, and Planet Detroit’s Neighborhood Reporting Lab participants.
  • Experiments and tests new content formats and packaging to reach new audiences.

Past Experience

  • 5+ years of journalism experience, with at least 2 years in editing.
  • Proven editorial team management and collaborative work style.

Required Qualifications

  • Commitment to Planet Detroit’s mission “to produce quality climate, equity, health, and environment journalism in the public interest that centers grassroots voices, holds power accountable, spotlights solutions, and serves the community.”
  • Ability to execute both structural and line editing with aplomb.
  • A “get it done” mentality.
  • Sound news judgment and creative and entrepreneurial thinking.
  • Values kindness and has a track record of cultivating supportive and productive relationships with colleagues, sources and partners.
  • Excellent organizational skills and ability to switch between tasks as needed while staying calm.
  • Strong SEO, newsletter, social media strategy and content management skills.

Planet Detroit celebrates diversity and is committed to building teams and partnerships that represent a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and skills. We strongly encourage you to apply if you are from a marginalized group. Some candidates may see a long list of job requirements and feel discouraged because they don’t match every single bullet point. We encourage you to apply if you are passionate about our mission and can lend your skills to support our journalism.

Location: Detroit, MI (Hybrid). Michigan residents only, with weekly travel to Detroit.

Salary and Benefits: $75,000 – $85,000 with medical, dental, and vision coverage (75% premium, 50% dependents), PTO, sick leave, and 12 paid holidays plus paid shutdown between Christmas Eve and Jan. 2.

About Planet Detroit: Planet Detroit is a nonprofit, award-winning digital newsroom covering climate, equity, health, and environmental issues in Metro Detroit. Founded in 2019, we produce impactful journalism that centers grassroots voices, holds power accountable, spotlights solutions, and serves the community. Over the past two years, our growth in fundraising and diversification of revenue streams have enabled us to expand our team by hiring a second full-time reporter and bringing on an executive director in 2024.

To Apply: Submit your resume, cover letter, and three work samples by Jan 1, 2025.