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Digital Editorial Assistant

Publication or Company  Pew Research Center
Industry  Non-profit
Job Duration Full Time
Job Location Washington, DC
Job Requirements Department Overview
The Digital Editorial Assistant is a position within the Pew Research Center’s core department. The Pew Research Center’s core department includes the executive management team, administrative/ operations and publishing/outreach staff, which provide editorial and research oversight, operational support and policy guidance to the center as a whole. The department includes human resources, finance and accounting, communications, digital strategy and information technology, office operations, as well as liaising with outside legal counsel and supporting the Pew Research Center board of directors. In addition, core staff create new Pew Research Center publications, maintain the Pew Research Center’s website (PewResearch.org), oversee Center-wide research projects, carry out short-term research projects, and help to incubate new long-term projects. The department supports approximately 130 employees.


Position Summary
The Digital Editorial Assistant is a member of the Pew Research Center’s Digital Editorial Team responsible for copyediting and aggregating content for the organization’s data journalism blog, Fact Tank. This position is responsible for copyediting, proofing and fact-checking all blog post content, including text, graphics, multimedia content, as well as writing accurate and compelling headlines and captions. The Digital Editorial Assistant will also play a key role every morning in identifying and aggregating data in the news for the Fact Tank blog. The position requires good news judgment and ability to assess primary sources of newsworthy data for Fact Tank coverage under deadline. Familiarity with data, statistics, polling and research is preferred and a clear understanding of how to present data accurately is essential. The Digital Editorial Assistant helps ensure that all published content meets the highest standards for clarity, accuracy, style, grammar, punctuation, spelling and appropriateness, as well as helping to manage the flow and tracking of Fact Tank blog posts. This position reports to the Senior Digital Editor.

Primary Responsibilities
Copy Editing (50%)
• Copy edits, reads and number-checks blog posts and other editorial content to ensure data is presented in an accurate and consistent manner.
• Ensures headlines and text and optimized for online search.
• Assumes primary copy editing responsibility for daily and weekly electronic newsletters.
• Ensures that editorial content follows AP and Pew Research Center styles.
• Occasionally provides other editing and writing services, as needed.


News Aggregation (50%)
• Begins day with an early morning search through new data releases in the fields of polling, social science research, government data, think tanks and other reputable sources and aggregates appropriate content for Fact Tank blog. Ensures that daily data aggregation is delivered to the digital editorial team on time.
• Helps conceive blog post ideas and thinks creatively about how to execute them.
• Helps coordinate the editorial copy flow through production.

Education/Training/Experience
• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in English, Journalism, Communications or related field.
• Demonstrated experience working with data in a professional setting and meeting daily deadlines.
• Demonstrated familiarity with AP style and search engine optimization.
• Background in news, preferably demonstrated experience working with data.
• Demonstrated experience using social media, particularly Twitter as information source and dissemination tool.
• Experience with WordPress, html and content management systems a plus.

Knowledge and Skill Requirements
• Top-notch copy editing, proofreading and writing skills.
• Well organized and extremely detail oriented.
• Ability to work in fast-paced, deadline-driven, team-oriented environment.
• Ability to work independently and calmly under deadline pressure while demonstrating excellent editorial judgment.
• Familiarity with Pew Research Center’s work.


FLSA Status: Non-exempt
About Our Company Organization Overview
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Pew Research Center’s work is carried out by a core administrative and publishing unit and seven research projects that study U.S. politics and policy views; media and journalism; internet and technology; religion and public life; Hispanic trends; global attitudes and U.S. social and demographic trends.