Senior Editor, Public Health and Safety

About Chicago Public Media

Home to WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Public Media is the largest local non-profit news organization in the country. WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times serve more than 2 million people weekly across broadcast, print, and digital platforms. As a mission-driven organization, we aspire to become the essential and most trusted news source that Chicago turns to each day for understanding the people, events, and ideas that shape our community.

WBEZ is home to local and national news programming as well as a growing portfolio of popular podcasts. WBEZ serves the community with fact-based, objective news and information, and its award-winning journalists ask tough questions, dig deep for answers and expose truths that spark change and foster understanding. WBEZ is supported by 77,000 members, hundreds of corporate sponsors and major donors.  In 2024, Chicago Public Media won 33 national and local awards including from the National Headliner Awards, National Association for Black Journalists, Public Media Journalists Association, Radio Television Digital News Association, Chicago Headline Club, Chicago Journalists Association, Media for a Just Society, and the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. 

Chicago Sun-Times is Chicago’s oldest continuously published daily newspaper serving Chicago and is known for its hard-hitting investigative reporting, in-depth political coverage, timely behind-the-scenes sports analysis, and insightful entertainment and cultural coverage. Chicago Sun-Times is the winner of eight Pulitzer Prizes and countless other awards.  In recent years, the Sun-Times has focused on a digital transformation to deliver its news and content to a growing digital audience. Most recently, the Sun-Times dropped the paywall on suntimes.com to expand access to its journalism, and shifted to a community-funded digital membership program supported by voluntary member donations. 

Chicago Public Media believes independent journalism is essential to a well-functioning democracy and access to fact-based, objective news and information is a right of every citizen. We serve the public interest by creating diverse, compelling content that informs, inspires, and enriches. We connect diverse audiences and help them make a difference in the community, the region and the world.  And, we employ 300+ staff who want to belong to an organization that inspires, supports, and challenges them to do their best work.

For more information, please see the Chicago Public Media Annual Report.

The Opportunity

The Senior Editor, Public Health and Safety, guides and leads a staff of reporters and an editor, public health and safety, to produce a wide range of enterprising, audience-focused coverage across digital, audio, print and social media platforms. This editor sets the priorities and standards for the public health and safety desk and also works with the news desk to collaboratively execute the strategy in breaking news and daily coverage. Aside from assigning and editing, this editor also will make staffing and spending decisions for the desk, develop staff members to meet their professional goals, the goals of the newsroom and of Chicago Public Media, actively shape coverage across the newsroom and help build and engage our audiences, connecting with communities throughout Chicago. The editor guides the department’s members to accomplish our editorial mission and our key goals of helping our audience know and understand Chicago, feel more in control and stay relevant.

General Responsibilities

• Lead and guide a staff in producing informative, enlightening and impactful news and distinctive, must-read enterprise stories and investigations that maintain our leadership position in informing and serving our diverse communities; providing original, insightful coverage on public health and safety and how these matters affect our communities; and providing people with the information they need to understand Chicago better, make the most of our region and participate in their communities.
• Help ensure that we have a compelling mix of digital, audio and print stories to serve our different audiences on our many products and platforms.
• Plan, produce and promote news stories, short- and long-term enterprise and investigations that shine a light on public health and safety, extending beyond coverage of official actions, wrongdoing and corruption to ensure a better-informed and more engaged citizenry.
• Help reporters dig beyond the official story to explore the complexities of violence, policing, incarceration and public safety to help empower readers to better understand the causes of crime so they can take steps to make their communities safer and hold public officials accountable for not only wrongdoing but also for falling short in helping to ensure the public’s safety.
• Coach reporters in producing impactful coverage about public health, separating fact from fiction and examining inequities, complexities and solutions that could help improve the health of our communities. Help reporters find and produce reports on health that break and explain important stories, in the process showing how health issues are core to matters of equity and safety, though not limiting our health coverage solely to stories related to safety. 
• Help reporters find stories and voices from Chicago’s diverse communities and examine the underlying causes of crime and illness as well as what’s being done and what more could be done to improve public health and safety in Chicago through stories that engage and resonate with readers, rather than speak at them.

Management Responsibilities

• Set the goals, strategy and plans to achieve the growing ambitions for our coverage of public health and safety and help build community engagement, audience loyalty and membership.
• Plan and guide original, impactful and enterprising news stories, short- and long-term investigations and other enterprise reporting, helping to elevate storytelling across platforms  and mediums to produce compelling stories online, on air, in print, on social media, in newsletters and anywhere else.
• Manage a team that includes another editor and reporters with a wide range of experience, developing and inspiring journalists at all levels while creating a collaborative, supportive work environment to help a diverse range of employees succeed.
• Collaborate with the other editors and other stakeholders in the newsroom, including the audience, audio news production and visuals teams.
• Build collaboration and communication in the newsroom, across the organization and with any other news organizations with whom we might partner, including actively communicating about coverage in advance through newsroom systems and meetings and soliciting feedback early and often to make the most of all of our work.
• Help team members develop their talents, get appropriate training, set goals for growth and achieve their ambitions.
• Help improve our overall editorial excellence, workplace culture and impact. 
• Promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Represent our newsroom and organization, building our reputation in our communities and our industry.
• Work collaboratively in a union environment.

Skills & Experience

• A record of excellence in guiding and editing news and enterprise work of distinction, experience leading and inspiring a diverse mix of journalists, a collaborative bent and a belief in the mission and power of public media.
• A proven ability to help conceive a wide range of top-quality short- and long-term reporting and to guide and edit that work under deadline pressure across platforms while maintaining the highest standards of journalistic ethics and excellence.
• Audio editing experience is preferred, but candidates eager to learn and develop audio editing skills are welcome to apply. 
• Familiarity with Chicago is a plus.

Compensation

The expected pay range for this position is $101-800 to $120,800 per ANNUM.

Chicago Public Media provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of what the organization reasonably expects to pay for a position.  The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal equity, geographical location, and external market pay for comparable jobs.

Working at Chicago Public Media

At Chicago Public Media, we care deeply about our employees as we know attracting, developing, and growing talent is key to our success and enhancing our impact.  

Our culture is one where collaboration, diversity of ideas, and innovation are encouraged.  We value colleagues who will enhance our culture by bringing new ideas, divergent experiences, and talents to our dynamic workplace.

At Chicago Public Media we believe dedication to a great workplace includes supporting our employees and their families. As a result, we provide a broad and generous benefits package for employees at hire and in the years to come.

Our benefits include a competitive salary and benefits package which includes medical, dental, vision, vacation, holidays, life insurance, disability coverage, retirement savings, and a commuter benefits plan.

Chicago Public Media is an Equal Opportunity Employer and we actively seek and welcome people from all backgrounds, orientations, and life experiences to join our team.

The essential functions described above are not all-inclusive and are not intended to create any contractual or other legal commitment. Chicago Public Media may change the content or format of this job at any time in its sole and exclusive discretion without notice.