The Sylva Herald, a small newspaper located in the mountains of Western North Carolina, seeks an editor.
Duties include overseeing two reporters, writing several stories each week, filling the health/education/opinion/etc. pages with content, clerking obits and other announcements and press releases, and more.
The job doesn’t pay much and there’s no penthouse or revolving door, little in the way of benefits (we have health insurance), and we work in a building that was "modern" in 1974. We have all kinds of printing antiques, a 1960s water fountain and an indoor outhouse. We have roof access, ghosts and a lot of history. The atmosphere is laid back for the most part, punctuated by the crackling scanner and the passel of chickens outside our windows. You can feed them Doritos. They like Cool Ranch best, we think.
We work hard and fast Monday-Thursday and get out in the mountains when we can. We stopped working Fridays during COVID to save $$$$, so every weekend is a three-day weekend if you want it to be. Our publisher is laid back and never gets involved in editorial decisions unless you want him to be.
Sylva and Jackson County are wonderful places to live. The people are a treasure, the weather is great and traffic is rare. Western Carolina University is five miles down the road and offers a lot in terms of sports, art and live performances. Housing is an issue, like it is everywhere, but we might be able to help with that.
Our current editor loves this place and his job, but has to retire to take care of elderly parents and the family farm. Not to mention he is 64. He will stay in the area and help a new editor get successfully transitioned into the job. He desperately wants the paper and its new editor to succeed and thrive.
If your idea of writing news stories involves AI, please do not respond. Our editor would rather not retire than turn the paper over to someone who thinks AI newspaper writing is acceptable.
Please send a resume to dave@thesylvaherald.com and/or call me (please text first due to volume of scam calls) at 828-545-9099.
