Digital News Editor - Barbados Today

JOB SPECIFICATION & DESCRIPTION

JOB TITLE: Digital News Editor

COMPANY : Barbados Today Inc.

REPORTS TO: Executive Chairman or his Nominee

JOB PURPOSE: The Digital News Editor is part of the editorial leadership team, responsible for managing the newsroom and driving the strategic growth and success of the company’s digital news portfolio. This role oversees the day-to-day digital news operation, including editorial planning, production, and the timely distribution of multimedia news content across the website, app, e-paper, and social media platforms. You will ensure that the newsroom operates with speed, accuracy, and editorial excellence in a fast-paced, evolving, digital-first environment.

Education and Required Skills

• A minimum of 5 years of experience in journalism, with a focus on digital news production and editorial management.

  Proven track record of leading and managing a news team in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.

• Strong editorial judgment and decision-making skills, with a deep understanding of news values and journalistic ethics.
• Exceptional writing, editing, and storytelling skills, with a keen eye for detail and accuracy.
• Strong understanding of digital and social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as their respective audience demographics.
• Experience with content management systems, SEO best practices, and web analytics tools, such as Google Analytics.
• Ability to develop and manage budgets, editorial plans, and content calendars.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with diverse teams and stakeholders.
• Strong problem-solving and critical thinking skills, with the ability to adapt and respond to rapidly changing news developments and industry trends.
• Flexibility to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as needed.
• Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines in a fast-paced, constantly evolving environment.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead daily news planning across all platforms (web, e-paper, and social), assigning and guiding written, video, and visual content aligned with KPIs, including traffic and channel growth.
• Write, edit, and publish content to the website and social media channels, ensuring accuracy, clarity, and editorial excellence.
• Monitor and manage the homepage curation and “Today’s News” sections, ensuring timely updates throughout the day.
• Ensure content is optimised for each platform with strong headlines, captions, tags, visuals, and links.
• Ensure timely delivery of news content across all platforms.
• Work with the social media team to adapt stories for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X/X, TikTok, WhatsApp, and other channels.
• Work with multimedia journalists and the production team on the development of audio and video news packages and special series.
• Work closely with the production and creative teams to produce compelling visual and multimedia assets for web and social distribution.
• Ensure proper integration of multimedia elements (images, videos, audio, embeds) in published stories.
• Collaborate with the analytics team to monitor traffic and strategies/pivot accordingly to meet set content performance and audience growth goals.
• Fact-check all content to ensure correctness and accuracy, adhering to the company's ethical and legal guidelines and standards.
• Maintain a consistent voice and tone across all news products and channels, ensuring adherence to house style and the highest journalistic and production quality standards.
• Provide new and existing team members with regular coaching, feedback, and support to improve performance and quality.
• Regularly review and analyse content performance to inform content planning, platform strategy, and workflow improvements.
• Lead or participate in editorial meetings, using audience insights to inform editorial coverage, format decisions, and content prioritisation.
• Prepare and present quarterly editorial calendars and reports aligned with business objectives and department KPIs.
• Create and present quarterly budgets for the assigned section, maintaining expenses within allocated budget limits.
• Collaborate on the development and execution of editorial strategies that align with the company’s vision and business goals.
• Represent the company at community events and public engagements.
• Maintain proficiency and knowledge in the latest digital and social media technologies and best practices (i.e., new tools, algorithm changes, platform enhancements, etc.).
• Provide backup to the editorial leadership team as required.
• Perform any other related duties assigned by Management within the scope of the role.

CONFIDENTIALITY:You will be exposed to confidential and sensitive information, and therefore, you will be required to handle and keep such information in the strictest confidence. A breach of this rule will result in disciplinary action being taken against you.

STANDARDS:You will be required to maintain a high standard of conduct in the company. This will extend to your interaction with all levels of staff in the company.

CUSTOMER SERVICE:To assist in maintaining the standards set by The Barbados Today Inc.

N.B. This document is a high-level overview of your duties and responsibilities; it cannot detail all of the related tasks that you will be expected to perform.