Public Media for Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta
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Careers and Opportunities

KYUK’s mission is to serve the rural Alaska and Alaska Native population of our region and respond to issues that affect the people of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Our mission is to educate, stimulate and inform as well as provide cultural enrichment, entertainment, and opportunity for public access and language maintenance for cultural survival.

KYUK News Director

KYUK Public Media in Bethel, Alaska is looking for a News Director to lead its nationally award-winning newsroom.

The News Director is the leader, manager, and chief editor of the KYUK newsroom, overseeing news staff, story output, and journalistic standards.

Reporters across Alaska have often said that the stories from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta are the most complicated and compelling in the state. We agree. And KYUK is looking for a News Director who is excited to lead the coverage of this widespread and challenging region.

Core job responsibilities:

  • Assigns, develops, and edits stories, while cultivating reporters’ story ideas
  • Manages and develops the skills of the News Department staff
  • Sets and maintains editorial standards
  • Reports news stories as needed
  • Hosts newscast on rotational basis with other News Department staff
  • Collaborate with KYUK Department Directors to create content that serves the region
  • Collaborate with News Directors and reporters across Alaska to cover regional stories with statewide significance
  • Plan and manage coverage for special events like local government candidates’ forum and sled dog races

About you:

You’ve led a newsroom in the past, or you’re ready to take on the challenge of leading one now. You’ve worked in a newsroom meeting daily deadlines, while also developing longer-term reporting projects. You enjoy developing reporters’ skills and story ideas. You cultivate and maintain high journalistic ethics. You build long-term relationships with sources from different backgrounds. You are excited to work in Bethel and cover the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

About KYUK:

KYUK serves Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, a region home to 56 Alaska Native tribes. It spans an area about the size of Illinois. KYUK is an NPR-member public radio station, broadcasting in English and Yup’ik. KYUK is the nation’s oldest Native-owned media organization, serving approximately 22,000 predominately Yup’ik listeners across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The region is not connected by roads and is only accessible by plane or ship.

About the KYUK Newsroom:

KYUK is the only source for daily, local news for Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, making it the primary news source for the region.

KYUK airs three daily, local newscasts in English and Yup’ik.

KYUK’s news pillars include local politics, subsistence hunting and fishing, climate change, criminal justice, health care, natural resources, education, tribal issues, Yup’ik culture, and sled dog racing.

KYUK’s newsroom consists of one News Director/Editor, one part-time Editor, two News Reporters, and one Website Copy Editor. We collaborate with colleagues in our Multimedia Department and Radio Programming Department. We partner with the Alaska Public Radio Network, sharing news content and collegial support with public stations across the state. We also collaborate with the state’s largest newspaper, the Anchorage Daily News.

KYUK stories air regularly on the statewide, daily news programs, and frequently on NPR and National Native News, among other outlets.

KYUK has a decorated history. In the last three years KYUK was awarded a National Edward R. Murrow Award, a National Associated Press Award, four Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards and thirty Press Club Awards, including Best Comprehensive Coverage of the COVID-19 Pandemic out of all media outlets in Alaska.

To learn more about working at KYUK, read this Transom essay by former KYUK News Director Anna Rose MacArthur. Read this essay by former KYUK News Reporter Greg Kim, who is now working as a staff reporter at The Seattle Times.

The job averages 40 hours per week with some evening and weekend work. KYUK recognizes that we are humans and not journalism machines. If you work 45 hours one week, you should expect to work 35 hours the next week.

This position requires living in Bethel. KYUK allows directors to decide how and when they and their staff can work from home and from the office.

This position reports to the General Manager.

Salary and Benefits:

Salary range: $65,000- $76,000 annually

The News Director position is a salaried, exempt position with health care benefits, paid sick leave, and paid vacation leave. KYUK provides a 5% of salary contribution to the 403(b) retirement contributions to all employees participating in the program. KYUK observes 16 work holidays throughout the year, including the Summer Solstice, which is a high holiday in subarctic Alaska.

To Apply:

Send resume, cover letter, three references, and three work samples that you reported or edited to KYUK General Manager Shane Iverson (he/him) at shane@kyuk.org.

The position is open until filled.