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Wanted: TV, Print or Online Reporter With Five Years’ Experience Whose Beat Will Be to Cover Just One Person (Though the Person Is a Superstar)

Jul 25, 2014  •  Post A Comment

We’ve run into a most peculiar help-wanted ad: a solicitation for a reporting position where the beat is covering a single person who is a superstar.

The opportunity is for “Sports Reporter — LeBron James Beat.” The place is Cleveland, Ohio.

We found this in a report by ABC News. The ad itself is on the website of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, which owns cleveland.com, publishes the Sun News and represents Cleveland’s newspaper The Plain Dealer.

Here are some of the particulars from the ad itself:

“You’ll be the expert on LeBron James and what he means to Northeast Ohio, working from home, the road, coffee shops and our Cleveland office, analyzing and reporting on James’ personal sports statistics, his mentoring of younger players and his relationship with his coaches as well as his non-basketball forays in business, entertainment and other enterprises. We are looking for someone who can react to breaking news quickly and with skill, and who is resourceful in finding information about a sports star who often is inaccessible.

“Most of your time will be spent interviewing and interacting with sources; monitoring social media streams for breaking news; creating videos of yourself, players, and coaches to post; writing blog posts; and creating in-depth stories.”

As for some of the qualifications for the winning candidate, the ad says,

  • Five or more years of reporting experience at a daily newspaper, television station or online news agency, with a proven ability in reporting and writing; a background covering professional basketball [and] business is preferred
  • Proven experience building, maintaining and engaging an active audience through blogging, social media and online comments
  • Demonstrated experience breaking news in a beat environment in real time across multiple platforms

LeBron James-thumb-440x212-12984.bmpLeBron James as he used to look when he played
for the Cleveland Cavaliers the first time around

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