Temporary Video Producer III, Planet Money

OVERVIEW

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Application Instructions or Deadline: 

Application Deadline: Wednesday, September 30th at 12pm ET.

Materials to Submit:

• A cover letter detailing your creative approach to explanatory journalism on video, your vision for adapting audio reporting to social platforms, and how you foster collaborative learning environments for colleagues new to video production.
• Links to three short-form videos you conceived, shot, or edited that best illustrate your storytelling technique, editorial judgment, and technical execution. Please provide brief contextual notes on your specific role in each project within your cover letter.

Intro to Position

We’re looking for an experienced video maker to help us transition into a new era of video at Planet Money. The role is part creator, part strategist, part trainer.

Maybe you are a creator ready to join a team. Maybe you are a visual journalist who likes to build systems and start things. Maybe you’ve managed social channels and want to apply that to public media journalism. Maybe something else we haven’t thought of. In any case, here’s the job. 

First, you’ll work with the existing podcast/audio teams at Planet Money and The Indicator to pilot different types of social video or different processes for making them. Then together we will assess what works, what’s worth doing, and what’s not, and you’ll help us update our social video strategy and build sustainable workflows based on what we learn. By the end of your assignment, we hope to have a few new ways to represent our audio journalism on new platforms that our existing staff can sustainably carry on. 

A big part of the job will be helping our audio producers become comfortable creating more video on their own. You’ll help the audio team learn new video tools, analyze metrics and make smart choices about what to adapt to video and what not to. 

There’s wide latitude for experimentation, and an excellent team of creative, smart, fun journalists to collaborate with, including our existing video team. You’ll have lots of support and material to work with, and you’ll be a full part of the Planet Money and Indicator teams, with all the access to the podcast and reporting processes you need to make this work, including collaborating with our existing video colleagues. 

This is a temporary role with a specific mission: help a talented podcast team get a sustainable social video operation up and running and set them up to carry it forward after the assignment ends. There may also be some opportunities to pilot longer-form video, but our first priority is getting short-form systems working well. 

A little background may help you decide if this role is right for you:

Planet Money is like a little economics-themed media outlet within NPR. We explain how economics works and how it affects everyone’s life. We use stories to make the explanations memorable. We do this across media: two podcasts, Planet Money and The Indicator; regular segments on Morning Edition and All Things Considered; two newsletters; a nationally distributed weekend broadcast radio hour with How I Built This; a bestselling book; a board game; and, of course, video.

We’re extremely proud of our video presence, which has gone through several eras, beginning with our T-shirt project in 2013, to a series of live-action shorts in 2019, to a runaway TikTok channel starting in 2020. Now we’re ready to experiment more broadly with how Planet Money and The Indicator show up on video, and how we can do it more consistently and more frequently.

We are not replacing or ending our current short video approach. We couldn’t be more proud of that work! 

Our goal is to build on the excellent social videos our video team is already making. We love what we’re making there, and it works! We want to add more frequent videos that are more closely connected to the reporting we’re doing on the podcast and newsletters. To do that, we need more members of our team participating (maybe on camera and maybe in editing, that’s for you to help us answer). We want to find more opportunities to capture video and new processes that make all of that possible in intelligent, thoughtful and creative ways. Then we will know how to invest in our expanded video future. 

That’s where this role comes in. If you think you can help us build it, please apply.

 

This is a union-represented role covered under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement with: SAG-AFTRA. 

This is an NPR editorial role covered under the terms of the NPR Ethics Handbook. All editorial staff are bound by this guidance. Editorial staff is defined as staff members who play a role in shaping the journalistic or creative direction of NPR's content, including events.    

Responsibilities

• Work with Planet Money leadership, video creators and NPR visual and social teams to refine and implement Planet Money’s video strategy, gathering and using audience and performance data to inform decisions. 
• Lead experimentation with different forms of video journalism, assess results and help determine which approaches Planet Money should focus on. 
• Collaborate with Planet Money and The Indicator editors, producers and hosts to conceive, produce, shoot, edit and publish video for NPR’s platforms and social media.
• Train and coach some of our audio producers in video production and visual storytelling, video tools and interpreting performance metrics.
• Develop short-form social video and other visual projects that extend Planet Money and The Indicator’s journalism to new and existing audiences.
• Write and edit social video posts, captions, stories and other supporting copy and contribute to community engagement alongside other members of the team.
• Coordinate production, publication and assessment of programming for visual platforms in collaboration with NPR’s visual and social teams.
• Establish sustainable video production workflows that the podcast teams can continue on their own. 
• Maintain NPR editorial and ethical guidelines in all production.

The above duties and responsibilities are not an exhaustive list of required responsibilities, duties and skills. Other duties may be assigned, and this job description can be modified at any time.

Minimum Qualifications 

• At least four years of experience regularly making videos regularly in a journalistic, explanatory or comparable editorial setting. Please send us samples. 
• At least two years of experience managing or creating video for social and digital platforms, with demonstrated experience using audience and performance data to inform editorial or creative decisions. 

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of and interest in the topics Planet Money and The Indicator cover
• Experience managing social media channels for a news or media organization, publisher or other editorial brand.
• Experience helping journalists or other content creators develop video production and visual storytelling skills.

Required Skills/Competencies

• Mastery of Adobe Creative Cloud programs related to video, photo and design. (Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere).
• Advanced skill and experience with video podcasting tools such as Riverside, Descript and comparable platforms. 
• Strong knowledge of YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and other relevant social media platforms, including experience using platform analytics and data for audience growth. 
• Strong visual storytelling skills and editorial judgment across short-form and social video.
• Ability to contribute to and execute a comprehensive, cross-platform video and social strategy.
• Ability to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously and work effectively under tight deadlines.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, including the ability to coach colleagues with varying levels of video experience.
• Strong understanding of copyright, journalistic ethics and editorial standards.
• Demonstrated commitment to increasing audience diversity.
• Proven ability to communicate clearly and to consistently work well with others and as part of a team, demonstrating at all times respect for the diverse constituencies at NPR and within the public radio system.
• Must be able to lift video equipment weighing up to 30 pounds.
• Ability and willingness to work varied shifts as needed.

Education Requirements

• While we value formal education, especially if you’ve studied the topic areas we cover, we do not believe that any specific degree is needed to perform this job successfully. 

Work Location & Requirements

• Hybrid Permitted: This is a hybrid permitted role. The employee will be required to be in the office at the New York City location at least 3 days a week. The employee must also reside in the New York City area. 

Job Type

• This is a temporary (6-month) full-time position.

Compensation

Hourly Rate: The U.S.-based anticipated hourly rate for this opportunity is $56.26 per hour. The range displayed reflects the maximum hourly rate NPR expects to provide for new hires for the position across all US locations.

NPR Benefits: NPR provides comprehensive benefits for employees and dependents. Regular, full-time employees scheduled to work 30 hours or more per week are eligible to enroll in NPR’s benefits options. Benefits include access to health and wellness, paid time off, and financial well-being. Plan options include medical, dental, vision, life/ accidental death and dismemberment, long-term disability, short-term disability, and voluntary retirement savings to all eligible NPR employees. 

Does this sound like you? If so, we want to hear from you.

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