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Community Impact Newspaper

Community Impact Newspaper reviews

Don't work here - Editor Community Impact Newspaper Employee Review

2.0

10 May 2019

Editor

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

My colleagues are the best part of this job. As editor, I also get a lot more control over the content I want to publish and write about. I really enjoed the week of onboarding.

Cons

Do not, do not, DO NOT believe CI when they say they have good work-life balance. I work between 50-70 hours a week. I reguarly work one to three 12 hour days. I also work weekends. Other editors also work 50+ hour a week. Graphic designers work even more. Reporters are hourly, and the company HATES overtime. Actively discourages it. More or less threatens to fire people if they work overtime because he or she is fiscally irresponsible or has poor time-management skills. Find me an hourly employee at CI that doesn't work off the clock, and I will be shocked. When this issue of employees working off the clock was brought up to upper management earlier in 2019, they responded with the company value of "integrity" saying that reporters must accurately report their time, and it's the editor's responsibility to make sure to balance the reporter's workload to 40 hours. There was no admission that the problem may be the culture of despising OT, which causes editorial to be afraid of asking for it. Plus, please tell me how in 40 hours editorial can do quality work of 1-3 public meetings to attend, 2-5 internal meetings to attend, 1-3 several article deadlines to write every day, networking, social media all the while working in an office that is between 20-60 mins away from the local market the editor/reporter covers. Not to mention technology issues and learning new software. Not to mention that a new employee needs time to learn CI-style and processes. Based on the new reporters that have come back from onboarding, barely anything from that week stuck, which has shocked me. The company also prides itself on being innovative. What that means is they change software every few months. HR software and production software (aka InDesign/InCopy) has been switched out in the past four months. HR software took roughly 2 months to employees to understand and learn. I lost count of how many meetings my boss/GM went to so she could learn the software. The production software, meanwhile, has been an utter failure. While editorial and graphic designers complain amongst themselves, communicating this information to upper management means verbal reprimand from upper management that we need to trust in our HQ and "be the example" to other offices.

Community Impact Newspaper Response

First, thank you for your passionate thoughts, although this feedback would've been more appropriate going through one of our company's internal communication channels—or directly with your manager or even upper management. We have an open-door policy and encourage continuous communication and problem-solving. We have always improved overtime and even worked in early 2019 to provide our direct managers with more control to streamline overtime approvals as soon as it's requested. Like any news outlet, we do keep an eye on overtime but we never deny overtime that is requested or incurred. Moreover, we are working hard to maintain legally-bound worker rights as it applies to non-exempt (hourly) and exempt (salaried) employees. We work hard to protect our employees as well as our company in this process. We ask our exempt employees to work efficiently within a reasonable timeframe—typically during normal weekday business hours unless the employee is covering an evening meeting. If the workload becomes too much to handle in the allotted time, we need employees to seek guidance from their managers about how to manage time more reasonably. Because it can be done: we will help you manage your time and show you what truly is important to work on/cover and what is not. As we grow, the company hopes everyone can appreciate the new technology we are adopting, but it will take time and collaboration to integrate the new processes associated with these new technologies. We see this investment in ourselves and our people as extremely positive especially against the backdrop of the newspaper industry as a whole. Above all, it is the mission of Community Impact "to build communities of informed citizens....through the collaboration of a passionate team." The journalism we do is important and as a news-gathering organization, we have to work odd hours and weekends occasionally. It's a thankless profession at times, but we are an organization that embraces it and strives to accomplish as close to a work-life balance as possible in the journalism industry. We believe most of our staff achieve this balance.

Explore other reviews about Community Impact Newspaper

5.0

9 Feb 2026

Sales assistant

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

Motivating and supportive environment. Good work life balance. They truly care about all of their employees

Cons

Honestly no cons. Management was awesome and welcoming.

Community Impact Newspaper Response

1mo

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. We’re so glad to hear that you felt supported and motivated during your time on the team. Creating an environment where people feel valued, balanced, and connected to their work is incredibly important to us. We appreciate the impact you made while you were here and wish you continued success moving forward. Please contact us at hr@communityimpact if there's anything we can help you with in the future.

1.0

24 Feb 2026

Staff writer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

The pay was halfway decent for the industry, and some of my co-workers were truly good writers who deserve way better.

Cons

I’ve been in journalism for a decade now, and this gig straight up ran me out of my life’s passion into another career. Intense micromanagement from the people above you that will make you think you’re the problem no matter the situation. I will echo what others have said as well, if you ever speak up about something, you immediately become a target and will likely be on the chopping block. As far as actual news coverage, it’s nothing like your typical reporting gig. They will hammer home “CI Style” which includes things 99.9% of other publications don’t do, so you really don’t have any creative freedom. You’ll spend much of your time driving through your community begging sources to talk to you, because nobody has heard of Community Impact and nobody takes them seriously as a real news outlet. If you actually want to report on something other than a new owner at a coffee shop, go literally anywhere else.

Community Impact Newspaper Response

1mo

Thank you for sharing your experience and for the time you spent with us. We’re genuinely sorry to hear that your role led you to feel this discouraged about your work and your passion for journalism, that’s never the outcome we want for anyone on our team. At Community Impact, we aim to provide clear editorial standards and structure to support consistency and quality across our publications. At the same time, we recognize that individual experiences can vary, and it’s important that team members feel supported, heard, and able to grow within that framework. We take feedback about management practices and workplace culture seriously, including concerns around communication and how feedback is received. Creating an environment where employees feel comfortable speaking up is something we continually work to strengthen. We appreciate you sharing your perspective and wish you the best in your continued career. Feel free to contact us at hr@communityimpact.com if you'd like to talk further.

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Community Impact Newspaper

Don't work here - Editor Community Impact Newspaper Employee Review

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