Managing Editor

The Michigan Land Use Institute, one of America’s largest and most effective state-based environmental research and advocacy organizations, is seeking an experienced, skilled, and creative managing editor.

The position is a marvelous opportunity for a proven professional to work in one of the country’s most accomplished environmental communications shops and deploy the tools of journalism and publishing to influence the public policy debate.

The managing editor works on a day-to-day basis with the entire 14-member Institute staff, four of whom are experienced environmental journalists. He or she serves as the intersection between our policy and communications staff and the Institute’s art production and Web staff. He or she works as part of a team of writers, designers, and policy specialists to develop and edit articles, publications, and other media materials that advance the Institute’s policy goals.

The Institute’s approach is to join fearless reporting and powerful graphic art and design with grassroots organizing, incisive research, and policy analysis. The result is an outstanding record of public policy achievements that have helped communities curb sprawl, invest in public transportation, safeguard farmland, protect natural resources, and improve the quality of life in the Great Lakes region.

The managing editor is central to the preparation and publication of ground-breaking articles, commentary, fact sheets, and reports for our Web site and magazine and for syndication to the mass print, broadcast, and Internet media.

The successful candidate must possess a passion for quality journalism and the environment and an ability to sweat the details. We are looking for a top-flight professional with superior skills to bring our publications from concept to final product smoothly, on time, and always with an eye to clarity and quality.

The successful candidate also must be an excellent writer and have the marketing savvy to participate with other members of the staff to increase visitors to the Institute’s Web site and readers for our magazine and reports.

And that’s not all. In keeping with our reputation for setting ever- higher standards of innovation and excellence, the managing editor must have a firm grasp of the latest computer and publications technology. She or he also will be asked to participate in expanding our communications program so that we have the capacity to produce radio and video programs, as well as books.

The Institute has built one of the nation’s best environmental journalism and advocacy organizations by recruiting first-rate writers and editors and turning them loose to do great things. We reward achievement, prize collegiality, and respect individuality. Flexible hours, competitive wages and benefits, lunch time swims in the porcelain-blue waters of Crystal Lake (optional), a stunning landscape of dunes and forests, and a restorative small town pace also make the Institute a premier place to work. For those with more metropolitan leanings, another option is to work in the Institute’s new Traverse City office located in a renovated Victorian building a few minutes from Lake Michigan’s Grand Traverse Bay.

Salary is negotiable and commensurate with experience and skills. The Institute offers its staff excellent health benefits and a retirement plan. If this position interests you, please send a cover letter, resume, and writing and editing samples via mail or email to:

Keith Schneider

Program Director

Michigan Land Use Institute

PO Box 500

Beulah, MI 49617

When applying, please say you saw this announcement on Green Dream Jobs.

PROFESSIONAL REQUIREMENTS

*Minimum three years experience as an editor, preferably for a newspaper, magazine, or Web site.

*Excellent writing skills, particularly news reporting, feature writing, and commentary.

*Strong planning, organizing, and project management skills.

*Familiarity with and commitment to environmental and land use issues.

*Commitment to service in the public interest.

*Proven capacity to develop and successfully edit magazines, reports, and other publications.

*Strong interpersonal skills to build positive and lasting relationships with writers and readers.

*Ability to work effectively in a collaborative atmosphere.

*Ability to work calmly and efficiently under deadline.

*Willingness to take on all aspects of a project, from planning to proofing.

*Solid knowledge of and familiarity with Internet and email communications.

*Firm understanding of desktop and Web publishing.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES

EDITORIAL PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

*Develop concept with writers and Institute policy staff — story, structure, goals.

*Develop concept with art and production staff — color, look, photo subjects, graphics, page count, page setup, paper stock, etc.

*Schedule and manage editorial process.

*Work with writers and policy staff to develop distribution and promotion strategy.

*Work with program director, Web coordinator, and art director on organizing and presenting editorial content on the Institute’s Web site.

EDITORIAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT

*Oversee project’s progress and ensure that deadlines are met.

*Work with art director on scheduling, budgets, production details, vendors, distribution plan.

*Work with writers and other staff on promotion, including creating mini pieces, i.e. news releases.

*Work with writers and other staff on repackaging publications for other media — the Web, powerpoint, radio, and television.

*Oversee copyediting and page proofing and perform such tasks as needed.

PROJECT EDITING and REWRITING

*Guide writers through the various stages of conceptualizing the piece, structuring it well, and ensuring the accuracy and strength of the writing.

*Rewrite as necessary to achieve the punchy, active, incisive voice the Institute always seeks to achieve.

*Write headlines, subheads, captions, pull quotes, sidebars.

*Trim to fit text, heads, and sections into available space.

*Manage the draft exchanges and sign-offs by writers, policy staff, and Institute leadership.

*Work with copyeditor to move final draft to layout, the Web, electronic distribution channels, informational displays, multimedia presentations, and other media.

*Take on copyediting, proofing, and copy-moving responsibilities as needed.

NEWS EDITING/REWRITING

*Work with program director and policy staff on news releases, opinion pieces, and other published work.

*Work with policy staff on strategy and message.

*Work with copy editor to set up heads, links, resources, addendums, etc.

*Work with copy editor to move final text to web, fax, displays, etc., as well as perform such tasks as needed.

DESIGN
*Work with art director, writer, and policy staff on project development.

*Work with art director to draft, adjust, finalize, and fine tune layout.

*Work with art director to prospect for paper stock, inks, vendors, and photographs.

DISTRIBUTION
*Work with support staff to accomplish mailings (procuring supplies, communicating with service bureau, etc.) and mass fax/email distribution.

*Work with policy and support staff to implement distribution and promotion plans.

*Oversee management of the Institute’s media and outreach lists.

MULTIMEDIA
Help create and produce with writers, policy staff, development staff, and Institute leadership:

*Displays

*Presentations (slide shows, overheads, powerpoint)

*Video

*Audio

*Internet interactive

The Michigan Land Use Institute is an equal opportunity employer, considering candidates without regard to gender, race, sexual preference, religion, or political affiliation.