California Local News Fellowship, Editing - School of Journalism

Position overview

Salary range: The UC academic salary scales set the minimum pay determined by step  the following table for the current salary scale for this position: https://(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below). Fellow salaries will start at $80,000. All fellows will receive benefits from the University of California.

Percent time: Full-time

Anticipated start: September 2026

Position duration: The fellowship will start September 1, 2026 and will run for one year, ending on August 31, 2027.

Central to the story of the decline of local news is the dramatic reduction in the number of reporters working in communities across the country. There is an equally concerning, yet less visible, decline in the number of editors working in newsrooms. Editors are a vital and critical resource, as they set the editorial scope and direction of a newsroom, guide the work of reporters, provide training and mentoring and ensure accuracy and accountability.

Editors also play an essential role in shaping the next generation of journalists; early-career journalists benefit enormously from strong editors who provide on-the-job training, helping reporters to learn the ropes, get to know their beats, become more discerning about what makes a good or important story, and find their voice, among many other things.

Unfortunately, most newsrooms have had to cut their editing ranks just as severely as their reporting ranks, leaving newsrooms under-resourced to carry out their critical mission. To help address this gap, the California Local News Fellowship program is launching a pilot, one-year editing fellowship program in 2026. In partnership with the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, we will support five early- to mid-career reporters or producers to move into editing roles.

We will provide intensive skill-building training and mentoring before and during their newsroom terms, in the craft of editing but also the art of managing people. Historically, reporters have moved into editing roles with little to no training in either; we seek to provide a strong foundation for the fellows, setting them up to succeed as editors and managers and to dramatically increase the capacity of newsrooms to produce more reporting for their communities.

The Editing fellowship is open to digital, print, audio, photo and multimedia journalists. We’re looking for candidates with relevant experience as much as formal education. We welcome applications from graduates of two-year, four-year and graduate-level journalism programs, as well as people who have not attended journalism education programs but have a high school diploma or GED.

Editing fellows will be expected to have at least five years of journalism experience and a strong desire to move into a newsroom leadership position. Criteria for newsrooms to host an editing reporting fellow will include evaluation of the newsroom's proposed role for the editor and ability to support their growth and learning.

The fellowship program partners with newsrooms throughout the state that are seeking to meet their communities' information needs with original local news coverage. We prioritize news organizations operating in underserved communities, including for-profit, nonprofit, public media, and community and media outlets. Once newsrooms and fellows are selected into the program, they are paired through a matching process that seeks to meet the needs of individual newsrooms and interests of fellows.

Newsrooms and fellows are selected through an equitable and transparent process, with input from the fellowship program staff and fellowship advisory board, which represents journalism education and newsroom leaders from around the state.

Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States at the time of hire. Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

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Basic qualifications (required at time of application)

High school diploma or GED (or equivalent international degree)

Additional qualifications (required at time of start)

Professional journalism experience may not exceed six months of full-time editing experience by the start of the program.

Applicants must meet one of the following criteria to be considered:

• High school diploma or GED (or equivalent international degree) plus at least 8 years newsroom experience, OR
• Two-year associate's degree (or equivalent international degree) plus at least 7 years of newsroom experience, OR
• BA or MA (or equivalent international degree) plus at least 5 years newsroom experience.

Preferred qualifications

Ideal candidates will have experience working in local news, either professionally or through a journalism education program, and will submit clips that illustrate a variety of reporting genres and skills. In certain cases, when matching fellows with newsrooms, the ability to…