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For news organizations, this was the most important set of Apple announcements in years

Joshua Benton

June 8, 2015

The company’s job listing, published Friday and noted by 9to5Mac Monday, lists a number of specific requirements. Apple wants people with five-plus years of journalism experience, for instance, who have “great instincts for breaking news” but are “equally able to recognize original, compelling stories unlikely to be identified by algorithms.” It sounds as if there will be a fair amount of digging and curating — which makes sense since, as 9to5Mac notes, Apple has also brought layers of editorial judgment to its other content categories “to put the focus back on quality content versus popularity and download stats alone.”

Apple News editor role mentions creating email newsletters – did we know they were doing that too? https://t.co/I6PhZ3SXhe

— Alastair Coote (@_alastair) June 15, 2015

In iBooks, for instance, Apple has worked closely with publishers and self-published authors to feature certain ebooks. Since this job listing notes that editors will “surface content from a range of high-quality publishers, from the largest to the smallest, across multiple categories” and “drive relationships with some of the world’s leading newsrooms,” it seems likely that they will also work directly with publishers to highlight certain stories. Publishers will use the yet-to-be-unveiled Apple News Format Apple could work together to optimize their content for Apple News app, as Facebook has done with a select group of publishers for Instant Articles.

Apple looking for a news editor, not a news algorithm. pic.twitter.com/uroAXLGiOw

— John Paczkowski (@JohnPaczkowski) June 15, 2015

Longform lovers rejoice: Editors are supposed to ensure that “enterprise journalism is rewarded with high visibility.”

The job listing also mentions breaking news twice: Editors should “have great instincts for breaking news” and ensure “that important breaking news stories are surfaced quickly.” Could Apple News be a competitor with publisher apps on push notifications?

Sooo does there come a point where Apple and FB and whoever just make news in-house instead of curating? Probably? https://t.co/FXgLDFaS5D

— Brian Barrett (@brbarrett) June 15, 2015

Finally, the job sounds fun. The past couple of years have seen Apple make some big-name hires from areas outside the technology industry — Angela Ahrendts from Burberry, the industrial designer Marc Newson — and while the Apple News editors probably won’t be household names, it’ll be interesting to see who Apple will steal away from major outlets.