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How to hire a news director

News director hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring news directors in the United States:

  • In the United States, the median cost per hire a news director is $1,633.
  • It takes between 36 and 42 days to fill the average role in the US.
  • Human Resources use 15% of their expenses on recruitment on average.
  • On average, it takes around 12 weeks for a new news director to become settled and show total productivity levels at work.

How to hire a news director, step by step

To hire a news director, you need to identify the specific skills and experience you want in a candidate, allocate a budget for the position, and advertise the job opening to attract potential candidates. To hire a news director, you should follow these steps:

Here's a step-by-step news director hiring guide:

  • Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
  • Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
  • Step 3: Make a budget
  • Step 4: Write a news director job description
  • Step 5: Post your job
  • Step 6: Interview candidates
  • Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new news director
  • Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist
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  1. Identify your hiring needs

    Before you start hiring a news director, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

    Determine employee vs contractor status
    Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

    You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a news director to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a news director that fits the bill.

    This list shows salaries for various types of news directors.

    Type of News DirectorDescriptionHourly rate
    News DirectorProducers and directors create motion pictures, television shows, live theater, commercials, and other performing arts productions. They interpret a writer’s script to entertain or inform an audience.$17-43
    Program SupervisorA program supervisor is a professional who coordinates and monitors the scheduling and technical performance of company programs. Program supervisors aid in negotiating contracts and are responsible for any contractual changes... Show more$17-25
    Director Of After School ProgramA director of after school programs oversees and directs childcare centers in communities. They take the lead in setting goals and guidelines, conducting research and analyses to identify the students' interests and needs, developing programs that provide recreational activities and academic support, supervising the recruitment and training of employees, and monitoring the daily operations to ensure everything runs smoothly and efficiently... Show more$14-38
  2. Create an ideal candidate profile

    Common skills:
    • News Content
    • News Coverage
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Television Station
    • News Operation
    • Radio Station
    • Community Events
    • Editorial Content
    • ABC
    • FM
    • Local News Stories
    • News Program
    • News Gathering
    Check all skills
    Responsibilities:
    • Contribute freelance stories to: NPR, AP, UPI, CBS, NBC, and ABC radio networks.
    • Implement newsroom social media strategy targeting Facebook, twitter and push alerts.
    • Secure merchandise, tickets and trips for on-air giveaways
    • Provide on-line content for the station's website and Facebook page.
    • Direct various film styles from comedy and drama fiction to documen- taries.
    • Skil in following FCC guidelines and protecting station in all other legal aspects.
    More news director duties
  3. Make a budget

    Including a salary range in your news director job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A news director salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

    For example, the average salary for a news director in Nebraska may be lower than in New York, and an entry-level news director usually earns less than a senior-level news director. Additionally, a news director with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

    Average news director salary

    $57,534yearly

    $27.66 hourly rate

    Entry-level news director salary
    $36,000 yearly salary
    Updated January 23, 2026

    Average news director salary by state

    RankStateAvg. salaryHourly rate
    1New York$100,853$48
    2California$74,366$36
    3District of Columbia$67,413$32
    4Washington$65,485$31
    5Nevada$61,869$30
    6Georgia$59,020$28
    7Alaska$58,739$28
    8Michigan$54,796$26
    9Texas$54,621$26
    10Florida$52,619$25
    11Utah$50,483$24
    12Tennessee$49,292$24
    13Virginia$47,103$23
    14Indiana$47,095$23
    15Colorado$46,632$22
    16Hawaii$45,627$22
    17Iowa$43,220$21
    18Nebraska$42,711$21

    Average news director salary by company

    RankCompanyAverage salaryHourly rateJob openings
    1The Washington Post$103,520$49.77
    2Fox News$79,309$38.13
    3Sinclair Broadcast Group$77,834$37.4298
    4Nexstar Media Group$69,236$33.29102
    5The E.W. Scripps Company$66,441$31.9411
    6Gray Television$63,473$30.5297
    7Paramount$59,127$28.4315
    8WMSN FOX 47 News, Madison$58,806$28.2753
    9Outside In$58,537$28.14
    10Townsquare Media$58,151$27.961
    11Syracuse University$57,733$27.762
    12KERA$56,812$27.31
    13TEGNA$56,121$26.9818
    14ViacomCBS$55,153$26.52
    15Sdsu Foundation$54,013$25.97
    16University of Nebraska System$51,859$24.93
    17Livingston$49,262$23.68
    18VICE$49,245$23.68
    19BuzzFeed$48,330$23.24
    20Corporation for Public Broadcasting$46,210$22.22
  4. Writing a news director job description

    A job description for a news director role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a news director job description:

    News director job description example

    The News Director leads and supervises all aspects of news, weather, sports and Corporate content initiatives. We are in the Evansville Indiana DMA which serves Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois. News content M-Sun for WEHT ABC 25 and provide news for WTVW CW 7 (Mission Broadcasting). Combined M-F is 9.5 hours per day. Weekends cover EN and LN. Leads all news efforts on all content platforms.

    • Manages all aspects of the News Department (Production staff is separate) • Plans and manages staffing, training, and performance evaluations for the News Department. • Makes decisions regarding hiring, evaluation, promotion and termination of employees. • Develops news coverage strategy for the station and its website. • Critiques newscasts daily to correct errors, improve coverage and provide mentoring feedback to news staff. • Assigns projects to staff and verifies that deadlines are being met. • Ensures achievement of viewer rating goals. • Determines programming and evaluation of equipment needs to produce quality programming. • Responds to coverage questions. • Works with other senior station leaders to establish and reach station goals. • Performs other duties as assigned.

    + We have won many Indiana Broadcasters Assoication "Spectrum" awards and several Emmy's by various talent.
    + Most experienced News team. "Most Watched - Most Trusted"

    + CW Affiliate of the Year

    + Many community partnerships and involvement

    Requirements & Skills:

    • Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and work-related experience. • Fluency in English. • Excellent communication skills, both oral and written. • Minimum five years' experience in news programming production, with at least two years' experience in a leadership role. (More or less depending on market size.) • Experience guiding, directing and motivating subordinates, including setting performance standards and monitoring performance. • Experience establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them. • Ability to identify the developmental needs of others and to coach, mentor or otherwise help others to improve their knowledge or skills. • Experience preparing and maintaining departmental budgets. • Proficiency with computers, telephones, copiers, scanners, fax machines and other office equipment. • Ability to meet deadlines, prioritize assignments and handle multiple tasks simultaneously. • Ability to effectively listen to fully understand employee needs and communicate with a team to shape a solution.
  5. Post your job

    There are various strategies that you can use to find the right news director for your business:

    • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
    • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
    • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
    • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.
    Post your job online:
    • Post your news director job on Zippia to find and recruit news director candidates who meet your exact specifications.
    • Use field-specific websites.
    • Post a job on free websites.
  6. Interview candidates

    To successfully recruit news directors, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

    It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

    The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

  7. Send a job offer and onboard your new news director

    Once you have selected a candidate for the news director position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

    It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

    Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new news director. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

  8. Go through the hiring process checklist

    • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
    • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
    • Define job responsibilities and requirements
    • Establish budget and timeline
    • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
    • Write job description
    • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
    • Promote the job internally
    • Process applications through applicant tracking system
    • Review resumes and cover letters
    • Shortlist candidates for screening
    • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
    • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
    • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
    • Conduct background checks on top candidates
    • Check references of top candidates
    • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
    • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
    • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
    • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
    • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
    • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)
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How much does it cost to hire a news director?

Before you start to hire news directors, it pays to consider both the one-off costs like recruitment, job promotion, and onboarding, as well as the ongoing costs of an employee's salary and benefits. While most companies that hire news directors pay close attention to the initial cost of hiring, ongoing costs are much more significant in the long run.

You can expect to pay around $57,534 per year for a news director, as this is the median yearly salary nationally. This can vary depending on what state or city you're hiring in. If you're hiring for contract work or on a per-project basis, hourly rates for news directors in the US typically range between $17 and $43 an hour.

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