Sports Reporter

The Naples Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Network, is seeking a reporter to join our sports team and create impactful stories in Collier County and the rest of Southwest Florida, covering a strong high school sports scene, professional golf and other topics of interest.

This position requires someone who thinks digital first and will focus on the USA TODAY Florida Sports Network’s audience, engagement and revenue goals.

Multimedia skills including the ability to produce and edit video and engage audience on social media, especially Facebook, Instagram and X, is a must.

The candidate must be comfortable analyzing and interpreting metrics to help make coverage decisions and use SEO techniques to drive audience through Google and search engines.

The reporter must build sources, break news, create top-shelf enterprise and tell compelling stories for our digital audience and to fulfill our Sunday Project Blue Print goals.

This role will focus on making high school sports, especially football, a mandatory experience for local and statewide fans, both on and off platform. The reporter will play a leading role in strategy development and identifying innovative techniques on the beat, such as rankings, athlete and team of the week polls, player lists and all-area teams.

The writer will work with the USA TODAY Network Florida team to grow coverage throughout the state, including with polls, recruiting and trending stories. The writer must also be adaptable to handle other duties assigned by an editor as well as adjust to initiatives and strategies and implement them as they are introduced by management.

• Be the source of sports information in Collier County and the greater Southwest Florida area.
• Report and write compelling stories that serve our existing audience and attract new consumers.
• Timely budgeting is a must for digital and print planning;
  Presto packages must be created as soon as a story is assigned or conceived by the writer with slugs, budget lines and Presto IDs added to the Herald‑Tribune story budget.
• Passionate about getting the information to the audience first, using all platforms to connect with the audience, including video and social media.
• Adapt, adjust and suggest best practices to help the company achieve audience, engagement and revenue goals.
• Meet all deadlines assigned by editors and planners, understanding that digital and print have different deadlines for content.
• Self‑starter with the ability to develop relationships through in‑person interaction, phone calls, text messaging and social media.
• Understand the collaborative nature of journalism and be willing and eager to work with others to benefit our regional and statewide coverage and its audience.

• Create storytelling that accurately informs, entertains and engages specific audiences and platforms through the use of metrics.
• Work toward becoming the community’s leading voice of expertise in high school sports.
• Connect with the community through storytelling and outreach (social media, on camera, forums, community leadership, etc.) and provide thoughtful analysis of complex issues.
• Work with editor and content strategist to evaluate what’s working and what isn’t and develop ongoing plans to satisfy audience needs.
• Collaborate to provide appropriate elements for stories (i.e., photos, videos and graphics).
• Capture basic photos and video as needed.
• Promote personal brand, the brands of colleagues and the institutional brand.
• Provide great customer service, helping readers find answers and solutions.

• A valid driver’s license, reliable transportation and the minimum liability insurance required by state law.
• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in communications, journalism or a related field preferred or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Previous reporting experience preferred; even better if you’ve covered sports.
• Proficiency on social media platforms including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok.
• Experience shooting and editing photos and video on a mobile device.
• Strong communication skills, news judgment and headline‑writing ability.
• Ability to multitask…