Associate Producer, Social and Shortform (Residency, Fall 2026)

About LMN
Lemon Media Network is the independent media company founded by veteran journalist Don Lemon, built on the conviction that journalism should be done without fear or favor and that a free press is the bedrock of democracy. Through The Don Lemon Show and a growing roster of correspondents and verticals, LMN delivers daily breaking news, political analysis, and cultural commentary to a community of more than 10 million followers across platforms.

We launched in 2024 and have grown fast: a twice-daily live show, a daily newsletter, a fast-growing paid membership community, and a national tour. In April 2026, The Don Lemon Show swept the 30th annual Webby Awards in its category, winning both the Webby and the People's Voice Award for Best Video Podcast Host. Earlier this year the show took home four NAACP Image Awards, including Outstanding News and Information. We're a small, independent team building something that didn't exist two years ago.

The Job
We're looking for Associate Producer Residents to run Don Lemon's social media, and learn how a daily show gets made while they do it.

We have run social through outside partners since we launched. We're bringing it in house. These are the seats that do the work. The accounts, the clipping, the packaging, the rapid response, the posting.

This is a social strategy job and a production job at the same time. You are monitoring the news all day so Don can be first on a story with a script already in his hand. You are watching everything around it too, and translating that into something worth posting. Our audience did not grow up on TikTok. The audience we don't have yet did.

You are also a steward of how Don looks and sounds on these platforms, and the person in the room thinking about the show through a social lens. You'll be in show meetings arguing for stories. You'll write interview notes for Don. You'll also be running the chat and the phone lines during the shows, cutting shortform, and heading out with Don to shoot man-on-the-street segments.

You report to our Senior Producer for social, franchises, and longform, who is building this operation from scratch. You will be building it with him.

The job is in New York and it's in person. This work is learned standing next to the people doing it.

The Term
This is a term role. Residents join in September and run through the end of the year. We intend to convert residents who perform into permanent Associate Producers at the start of 2027. That is the point of the residency. It is not a guarantee, and you will hear where you stand well before December.

We need residents here for the full term. If you have travel already on your calendar, tell us during the interview process so we can plan around it.

Sample Responsibilities
The list below is representative, not exhaustive. Because LMN is a small, fast-moving team, the Associate Producer will take on a range of work as the news cycle and the company evolve.

Run Don's accounts day to day across every platform we post on. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, and whatever comes next. Cut it, write it, package it, post it

Drive rapid response. You know before anyone tells you which stories we have to answer this hour. Get the script written, get Don to camera, get it out while people are still looking

Write direct-to-camera scripts for Don to deliver on social, in his voice, at the speed a story requires

Edit shortform daily, from the live show, from field footage, from raw studio interviews

Know what is working and who it is working for. The formats each platform is pushing, what other hosts are doing with them, and what is holding attention that week beyond the news

Hold the line on Don's voice across every account. How we caption, how we cut, how a post of ours feels

Pitch new concepts, series, and franchises for social, then produce them. Find creators worth Don's time and pitch the collaboration

Contribute in editorial calls: what we should cover, what we're missing, what's going to travel

Write interview notes, scripts, and prep materials for Don

Shoot in the field with Don, from iPhone setups with a gimbal and mics through to the camera package as we build it out

Run the live show from the back end: the chat, member interaction, YouTube polls, and the phone lines when we open them

Design thumbnails and graphics, keep the cross-platform calendar running clean, and watch the numbers on what you post

What We're Looking For

One to three years in production, media, social, or on a creator's team. Recent graduates of journalism or media programs with real hands-on work should apply

You live on these platforms and you can prove it. You know what a good TikTok is and why, and you can say what makes it good

Culturally fluent and current. You can tell us what young people are paying attention to and why it matters to a news audience that isn't young

Comfortable in Premiere, Resolve, CapCut, or similar. You should be able to turn a clip around fast and clean

Sharp writing in AP style, fast, and comfortable being edited. You will be writing in someone else's voice all day

Strong news instincts and real curiosity about politics, culture, and where the audience is going

Comfort with live. Things break during live shows and we want someone who gets calmer rather than louder

An eye for design, or the appetite to develop one quickly

Organized enough to hold five things at once, and sharp enough to catch a typo before a million people do

Willing to work nights and weekends when a story demands it

Ideas. We want people who show up with a series concept nobody asked for

Nice to Have

You have grown an account, yours or someone else's, and can show what you did

Familiar with social scheduling tools like Sprout, Later, or Buffer

Camera and audio experience, including field shoots

Thumbnail and graphics work in Canva, Photoshop, or Figma

Fluent with AI tools in a real production workflow

Compensation
$27 per hour, for the term of the residency. This rate is fixed and not negotiable.

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