Digital News Producer, Chron
Are you a fast, digitally savvy journalist who thrives at the intersection of breaking news and audience growth? Join Chron’s audience team and help shape how our stories reach and engage readers across Houston and Texas.
Job Description
Chron, a digital-first news publisher, is seeking a Digital News Producer to play a critical role on our audience team, helping drive daily coverage, optimize the site experience, and ensure our journalism reaches the widest possible audience. This is a hybrid role combining audience production and fast-turn news writing.
The ideal candidate has strong news judgment, understands what audiences are searching for and sharing in real time, and can quickly turn around clean, accurate and buzzy stories and video rooted in verification and light additional reporting.
This role is scheduled Sunday–Thursday and will serve as the lead audience producer on Sundays. This person will report to the Deputy Managing Editor of News & Sports, with a dotted line to Chron’s Audience Editor.
What will you do?
- Write 2–3 daily quick-turn stories, including breaking news and trending topics, with a focus on speed, accuracy, and strong headlines
- Shoot and edit timely, highly shareable video that connects with audiences off platform
- Serve as the lead audience producer on Sundays, helping guide coverage, distribution, and real-time decisions
- Package and distribute Chron content across social platforms to drive traffic, with a focus on emerging and secondary platforms such as Reddit and Nextdoor
- Track newsletter cadence and performance, identifying gaps, trends, and opportunities, and regularly sharing insights with the audience manager
What will it take to be successful?
- Minimum 2 years of experience in a digital newsroom as a digital content producer, reporter, or audience producer
- Strong news judgment, particularly regarding issues that Texans care about, and the ability to prioritize quickly in a fast-paced environment
- Proven ability to write clean, accurate, and engaging news stories on tight deadlines
- Experience with breaking news and/or trending content workflows
- Familiarity with content management systems and digital publishing tools
- Understanding of audience metrics and tools such as Google Trends, Google Analytics, or Marfeel
- Solid understanding of AP Style and journalistic standards
- Strong communication and collaboration skills across newsroom teams
- Interest in Houston and Texas news and an understanding of what resonates with local audiences
About Business Unit
Chron is a digital-first Texas newsroom based in Houston, covering the conversations, culture and everyday moments that shape life across the state—with the perspective of an independent culture publication and a voice that’s sharp, current and unmistakably Texan.
Since 2012, Chron has maintained an independent newsroom separate from the Houston Chronicle and provides free access to its coverage.
About Hearst Newspapers
With 2,500 employees across the nation, HNP represents a network of 24 daily and 52 weekly publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union, several top digital-only news and lifestyle sites, marketing services businesses, and entertainment businesses such as King Features Syndicate.
At HNP, we are investing in new and innovative ways to tell stories – growing newsrooms, diversifying tools, evolving platforms – to support the millions of people who trust us each month to help them make decisions, take action and be inspired.
Be a part of something bigger – Your Headline Awaits.
Recognizing the diverse needs of our candidates, if you are interested in applying for employment and need assistance or an accommodation to use our website or regarding the application process, please contact us by email at [email protected]. Please do not use this email address to inquire about the status of applications. We will only respond to inquiries concerning requests for a reasonable accommodation through this email address.
#LI-KR1 #LI-Hybrid
Skills Required
- At least 2 years of experience in a digital newsroom as a digital content producer, reporter, or audience producer
- Strong news judgment, especially regarding issues relevant to Texans
- Ability to prioritize quickly in a fast-paced environment
- Proven ability to write clean, accurate, engaging news stories under tight deadlines
- Experience with breaking news and/or trending content workflows
- Familiarity with content management systems and digital publishing tools
- Understanding of audience metrics and tools such as Google Trends, Google Analytics, or Marfeel
- Solid understanding of AP Style and journalistic standards
- Strong communication and collaboration skills across newsroom teams
- Interest in Houston and Texas news and understanding of what resonates with local audiences
Hearst Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Hearst and has not been reviewed or approved by Hearst.
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage is described as comprehensive, including medical plan choice, full in-network preventive coverage, dental and vision, telemedicine, prescription coverage, and fertility resources. Mental-health resources and other wellbeing services (e.g., therapy sessions, crisis support, virtual physical therapy, and chronic-condition programs) further strengthen the health offering.
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Retirement Support — Retirement support is positioned as meaningful through a 401(k) plan with company matching and Hearst covering plan administration fees. Performance bonuses are also noted as available in some roles, adding an additional rewards component beyond base pay.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-off benefits include paid holidays, paid sick days, and vacation time with a commonly cited annual range, alongside paid parental leave and family medical leave. A remote work program and flexibility signals are also included as part of the overall rewards experience.
Hearst Insights
What We Do
Hearst is a leading global, diversified media, information and services company with more than 360 businesses. Its major interests include ownership in cable television networks such as A&E, HISTORY, Lifetime and ESPN; global financial services leader Fitch Group; Hearst Health, a group of medical information and services businesses; transportation assets including CAMP Systems International, a major provider of software-as-a-service solutions for managing maintenance of jets and helicopters; 33 television stations such as WCVB-TV in Boston and KCRA-TV in Sacramento, California, which reach a combined 19 percent of U.S. viewers; newspapers such as the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle and Times Union (Albany, New York); more than 300 magazines around the world, including Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Men's Health and Car and Driver, and digital services businesses such as iCrossing and KUBRA; and investments in emerging digital entertainment companies such as Complex Networks.
