Investigations Editor

Job Description

Job Description

WABE is Atlanta’s choice for NPR, PBS, and local news and storytelling. We inform, inspire, reflect, and empower greater Atlanta to drive community belonging and stoke civic participation. WABE is a non-profit, public media service broadcasting and streaming via WABE90.1FM, WABE TV, WABE.org, and numerous podcasts and digital offerings. For more information on the broadcast service, programming and opportunities, please visit

Investigations Editor

WABE is looking to hire an investigations editor to join its 21-person news team. The editor will lead enterprise projects with our beat reporters, morning and evening shows and digital team. The position will also have the opportunity to pursue reporting projects as well.

The editor will work in a multimedia setting, overseeing projects for radio, digital and social media in concert with the managing editor, deputy managing editor and senior editor of digital.

The ideal candidate will have investigative editing and/or investigative reporting experience.

The position will not directly manage staff but there is potential for growth in that area in the future. The investigations editor will be apart of the senior editor and producer group. This position requires collaboration and is very involved with everybody in the newsroom.

Strong organizational skills, ability to meet deadlines and handling many long-term projects with multiple people will be essential.

We would like the investigations editor to have or be able to develop a high level of knowledge in education and/or housing beats. These will be the areas of focus for their reporting projects. It will also lead investigative reporting with our journalists in politics, health, environment, business, criminal justice, immigration and Southside beats.

The investigations editor will be apart of a weekend editor rotation and may be required to fill in for other editorial positions.

Accountabilities:

• Story development: works with reporters to develop investigative story ideas from tips, data, documents, or leads; assesses newsworthiness, feasibility, and risk before greenlighting a project; sets reporting plans and timelines for multi-week or multi-month investigations.
• Reporting guidance: directs use of public records requests (FOIA/state laws), data analysis, document review, and source cultivation; advises reporters on interview strategy, especially for sensitive interviews; helps reporters build and organize evidence files.
• Editing and structure: line-edits and structurally edits long-form investigative pieces, ensuring the narrative supports the central finding; works with reporters through multiple drafts; edits for accuracy, fairness, and clarity across print, digital, and audio formats.
• Legal and standards review: coordinates with legal counsel on defamation, privacy, and records-access risk; ensures pre-publication review process is followed; manages "right of reply" outreach to subjects of investigations; upholds source protection and verification standards.
• Collaboration and resourcing: coordinates with visual team, audio producers, and photo/video staff on multi-platform packages; manages cross-newsroom or cross-station collaborations; allocates reporter time and data budgets in association with managing editor.
• Standards and mentorship: trains reporters in investigative methods (records requests, data tools, source development); enforces ethical standards around anonymous sourcing and documentation; conducts post-mortems on published investigations.
• Impact tracking: monitors and documents real-world impact of investigations (policy changes, legal action, public response) for grant reporting or awards submissions — especially relevant for nonprofit/public media newsrooms reliant on foundation funding.
• Other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications 

• We’re looking for a strong editor who believes in the importance of news media, has a strong work ethic, a high level of journalistic integrity and an understanding of audio storytelling; someone who is reliable, trustworthy, receptive to feedback and willing to grow and adapt.
• The investigations editor will brainstorm, design, edit and help produce award-winning level investigative reports that have impact in our community.
• Knowledge of AP style and audio editing techniques desired.
• A desired 10+ years of experience in journalism with at least 5+years focused on investigative journalism

About WABE

WABE 90.1fm is one of the most listened to stations in the Atlanta metro area, a top 15 public media station U.S. market. WABE reporters regularly file for National Public Radio’s newscasts and shows. We continue to expand our coverage of the metro area as we work hard to tell stories from underrepresented and underreported parts of Atlanta.

Wabe.org and our social media accounts are continually growing and are regularly winning awards for innovation, creativity and news content.

WABE continues to see strong financial support from our community, board of directors and foundations, among others. The organization is 100% community funded and is expanding at a strong, sustainable pace to continue to deliver on multiple objectives in content as well as other departments.

This position is based in Atlanta. WABE’s newsroom is a flexible, hybrid work environment.

What we believe in

Collaboration

We care about working with outside organizations to produce content that is richer and more substantial than we could possibly do on our own.

• Our collaboration with American Public Media helped us become one of the first public radio stations in the country to develop and implement a source diversity tracker.
• Our collaboration with National Public Radio led to NPR first-ever Pulitzer Prize for audio for the podcast No Compromise.

Internally, we collaborate both formally and informally, with occasional series and stories being created from ad hoc brainstorming sessions.

• Collaboration among our team members has led to powerful reporting, including the multi-part, award-winning series on data centers and the impact of climate change.
• We work with other departments in our organization like events and marketing to show case the newsroom’s work.

Diversity

• We want a diverse group of voices in the newsroom speaking up to make sure we are
• covering the right things at the right time and to add to the richness and accuracy of our stories.
• We believe in stretching our boundaries to tell stories that traditional media can often miss.
• We care about hearing from a variety of people in our reporting.
• We care about issuing feedback to management when problems and opportunities arise.

Development

• It is important to newsroom leadership that everyone on the team learns and grows.
• We aim to play to each person’s strengths while we work together to improve areas that need more development.
• Newsroom leadership encourages cross training that will allow some positions to learn about other jobs within the team, including potential opportunities to report, host, produce and edit.
• We encourage staff to participate in fellowships, grants and training opportunities outside of WABE with prior approval from newsroom leadership.

Wellness

• Our newsroom leaders believe journalists deliver more impactful and powerful stories when they are in a good place physically, emotionally and mentally.
• Our newsroom is currently a hybrid of in-person and remote working with flexibility to do both for most positions.
• Our newsroom provides a free membership to metro Atlanta YMCAs and flexibility in scheduling in coordination with direct supervisors.
• See more in the benefits section for company time off and sick leave policy.

The team

• Journalists with WABE’s multiple award-winning news team have a variety of experiences. Some are new to the Atlanta area. Others have been here for years. Some are newer to journalism or public media, while others are more seasoned.
• WABE, with the creation of WABE Studios, is growing its video and TV unit as well as its podcast division. Opportunities will exist to expand newsroom content on these platforms in consultation with leadership.

Work Environment & Physical Demands:

The physical demands and work environment described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Individuals may need to sit or stand as needed. May require walking primarily on a level surface for periodic periods during the day. Reaching above shoulder height, below the waist or lifting as required (up to 5 lbs.), filing documents or store materials throughout the workday. Proper lifting techniques required. Ambient room temperatures, lighting and traditional office equipment as found in a typical office environment. Candidates must be willing to work in a hybrid environment but provide their own transportation to the station. Occasional evening and weekend work may be required to support departmental events or during high-volume periods (membership campaigns).

WABE is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status.