National Desk Editor

Job Description

SUMMARY

The National Desk Editor works with fellow US-based desk editors, bureau chiefs, and staff writers to help shape a robust body of U.S. news and features coverage for our daily digital output as well as our print magazine. As a key hub in a unified editorial content engine, the role is pivotal in producing content that demonstrates the Monitor’s unique and undivided approach to journalistic excellence.

This includes briefs for the app as well as print-first franchises and enterprise stories.

The National Desk Editor approaches daily editing of U.S. news and features with curiosity and open-mindedness and a willingness to set aside personal bias or prevailing consensus. The editor reviews and selects pitches based on rigorous journalistic principles, and treats all points of view with diligent inquiry and respect. The incumbent prizes original reporting and builds stories that promote calm over fear and insight over assumption.

A Monitor journalist depicts the subject of the story fairly and without embellishment, and eschews advocacy. The Monitor equips the reader to reach his or her own well-reasoned conclusions.

The National Desk Editor strives to uphold the Christian Science Monitor’s founding mission “to spread undivided the Science that operates unspent,” and its object “to injure no man but to bless all mankind.” That includes hewing to our five operational guidelines:

• Bring a healing, purifying thought to many homes. We counteract cynicism about news and humanity by upholding a higher standard of both.
• Get above the fray. Because we’re owned by a church, we’re free from corporate and political interests.
• Cover the day’s vital global news. We provide a trustworthy and concise compilation for our thoughtful, busy readers.
• Investigate ideals and endeavors, not just events. We keep abreast of the times by recognizing key currents of thought and their impact.
• Be clean, family-friendly, and non-sensational. We are “a newspaper for the home.”

The National Desk Editor is responsible for coordinating and editing coverage of issues across the spectrum, including politics, government, and social and cultural issues. The incumbent works with both staff writers and freelancers to ensure coverage appropriate to the website, app, newsletters, and the print edition. The Desk Editor also works with writers to ensure smooth travel, proper security arrangements, and compliance with the Monitor Ethics Policy.

This includes not taking any public position on any political or public-issue campaign, including through social media posts, participation in protests, or donations to political candidates or issues.

The National Desk Editor is an original and enterprising thinker. The incumbent knows that peoples and nations are more than politics; has a keen eye for news and feature stories that capture through rich description and variety of voices how societies govern, educate, and articulate their values and creativity; and knows that different types of stories require different approaches to editing and narration.

Writing grows out of reading. The National Desk Editor is a voracious and deep reader who draws from a diversity of sources to stoke curiosity, sharpen ideas, and spot stories not yet told.

The National Desk Editor embraces our newsroom’s three culture pillars:

• We’re scrappy. We seek creative solutions. We’re hungry and nimble. We experiment and streamline.
• We’re rigorous. We embrace others challenging our ideas and our writing. We strive for editorial excellence, and we help each other continually improve. We know that feedback is a gift.
• We have unwavering fidelity to our mission. We make our founding mission the basis for every decision and initiative.

Editorial capabilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Practices editorial rigor resulting in strong story angles and incisive, energetic writing.
• Embraces a culture of feedback.
• Excels at forging trust in order to bring out the best reporting and writing in correspondents.
• Understands, respects, and consistently applies Monitor style and language sensitivities.
• Engages collaboratively with…