Originally posted Wednesday, December 11, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
About a week ago, the CBS-owned Atlanta station WUPA-TV posted two job openings for multi-media journalists on its main website.
But the CW affiliate doesn't have a traditional news operation. It offers some Atlanta Falcons coverage, an entertainment show "Take 3," and a community service "Focus Atlanta" telecast.
According to both job descriptions, the station is seeking journalists "who fights for the lead story, brings ideas to the table daily, cultivates sources, owns social media and is passionate about local news. Candidates must have strong, creative storytelling skills and an energetic delivery."
It seeks at least four years experience doing multi-media stories. And the skills are all typical of a broadcast journalist in 2019 such as “develop and executive enterprise content n a consistent basis,” “cover breaking news with a sense of urgency,” “pitch vetted stories reflective of the community” and “shoot, write and edit packages for daily newscasts.”
One position is part time with no benefits. The other is full time with benefits.
Local CBS general manager Tom Canedo punted a question about the positions to a Los Angeles-based CBS publicist named Mike Nelson. Nelson declined to comment.
There appear to be no other job openings for anchors, editors and producers on the website so it’s doubtful they are building a full-fledged local news operation.
The CBS affiliate in Atlanta is not owned by CBS itself. Meredith owns the CBS affiliate in town WGCL-TV (CBS46) and they have their own robust news operation.
Steve Doerr, news director at CBS46, said he has no idea what WUPA-TV is up to.
The CW website does link to CBS46 news here.
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