English Editor

Middle East Broadcasting Networks; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

MBN in Washington, DC area seeks an English Editor to shape English-language reporting from DC and international correspondents, adapting Arabic-origin reporting for English audiences, and upholding editorial standards.

The role requires native-level English, fluent Arabic, strong editing and transliteration knowledge, and ability to collaborate across desks while applying cultural literacy and newsroom judgment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Journalism, English, Translation, or related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 5+ years of professional editing experience in journalism or international news environments.
• Native-level English editing and writing with strong grammar and style.
• Professional fluency in Arabic with ability to interpret nuance and framing.
• Experience editing bilingual or translated content for English audiences while preserving voice.
• Strong grounding in English-language journalism standards and editorial structure.
• Experience across multiple formats including websites, newsletters, podcasts, social media, and multimedia.
• Attention to detail in transliteration, accuracy, and source verification.

Responsibilities

• Edits English-language reporting from DC and international correspondents, sharpening clarity, tone, and platform fit.
• Writes and edits English headlines, subheads, social captions, and newsletter lines.
• Maintains a consistent English-language editorial voice across all products.
• Collaborates with correspondents, producers, and editors across the newsroom in English and Arabic as needed.
• Adapts Arabic-origin reporting for English-language audiences without diluting original intent.
• Identifies cultural references and framing that require recontextualization for English audiences.
• Acts as final check on English-language content for accuracy, tone, and editorial standards.
• Owns and maintains the English language style guide for the newsroom.
• Uses AI and machine-translation tools to accelerate workflows, applying judgment to correct mistranslations and tone.

Skills

English editing

Arabic proficiency

Editorial judgment

Fact-checking

Transliteration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Journalism/English/Translation

Tools

AI Translation Tools

Job description

English Editor

About The Role

MBN reports and writes in both English and Arabic, with much of its original sourcing and reporting now coming out of Washington, DC. The English Editor sits at the center of that operation, shaping work filed in English by MBN’s DC and international correspondents and, when needed, adapting Arabic-origin reporting for English-language audiences. The role calls for someone who understands that Arabic and English are not parallel systems — they carry different sentence logic, rhetorical rhythms, cultural registers, and audience expectations. Whether a story originates in English or in Arabic, the editor makes it land with the same force and authority. That requires more than language skills. It requires cultural literacy in both directions: an instinct for how English-speaking readers receive and trust, and an understanding of how Arabic-speaking journalists think and frame.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Edits English-language reporting filed by MBN’s Washington, DC and international correspondents — sharpening clarity, accuracy, tone, structure, and platform fit, and ensuring each piece meets MBN’s editorial standards.
• Writes and edits English headlines, subheads, social captions, and newsletter subject lines, recognizing that each platform has its own copy conventions and audience behaviors. Ensures English-language discoverability across search, social, and newsletters reflects the quality of the underlying journalism.
• Maintains a consistent editorial voice across all English-language products — newsletters, website, podcast scripts, and social content.
• Collaborates closely with correspondents, producers, and editors across the newsroom — in DC and abroad — on story development, framing, and editorial decisions, working in both English and Arabic as needed.
• Adapts Arabic-origin reporting and commentary for English-language and Western audiences — preserving the argument, sourcing, and editorial intent of the original while applying the structure, rhythm, and register English-language journalism demands. Exercises independent editorial judgment on when a piece requires added context, background, or explanation that an Arabic-speaking reader would not need but an English-speaking audience requires to receive the story with full force — without diluting the original or distancing the reader from the source.
• Identifies cultural references, idiomatic constructions, and framing conventions in Arabic-origin material that require recontextualization for English-language audiences, and makes those adjustments without losing the authenticity of the source or the voice of the journalist who filed it.
• Serves as the final editorial check on all English-language content before publication — for accuracy, tone, legal exposure, and consistency with MBN’s editorial standards. This includes verifying that sources, places, and institutions are rendered correctly in English, particularly proper nouns that transliterate differently across Arabic dialects and regions.
• Owns and maintains MBN’s English-language style guide — covering tone and voice across platforms, conventions for spelling Arabic names and places, transliteration standards, and usage rules tailored to a newsroom publishing for both English- and Arabic-speaking audiences.
• Uses AI and machine-translation tools to accelerate preliminary translation, transcription, and drafting workflows, treating their output as a starting point rather than a finished product.
• Applies editorial judgment to AI- and machine-translation output — identifying mistranslations, flattened nuance, hallucinated facts, awkward phrasing, and tone errors, and rewriting where the technology falls short.

Other Duties

Perform additional job-related duties and take on new responsibilities as needed based on organizational requirements and circumstances.

Qualifications and Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, English, Communications, Translation, Middle Eastern Studies, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 5+ years of professional editing experience in journalism, digital media, publishing, or international news environments.
• Native-level or near-native English-language editing and writing skills with exceptional command of grammar, syntax, tone, and journalistic style.
• Professional fluency in Arabic, with the ability to accurately interpret nuance, framing, cultural references, and editorial intent in Arabic-language journalism.
• Demonstrated experience editing and adapting bilingual or translated content for English-language audiences while preserving the meaning and voice of the original.
• Strong grounding in English-language journalism standards and editorial structure.
• Experience editing content across multiple formats and platforms, including websites, newsletters, podcast scripts, social media, and multimedia products.
• Strong attention to detail, particularly in fact-checking, transliteration consistency, source verification, and copy accuracy.
• Knowledge of Arabic transliteration standards and experience ensuring consistency in the spelling of Arabic names, locations, organizations, and institutions in English.
• Strong editorial judgment and understanding of legal, ethical, and reputational considerations in international journalism.
• Ability to work efficiently under tight deadlines in a fast-paced, digital-first newsroom environment.
• Experience covering Middle East affairs, international news, or cross-cultural reporting is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with AI-assisted editing and machine-translation tools, and sound judgment about when to rely on them and when to override them.

MBN is an equal opportunity employer committed to workforce diversity.