Associate Editor, Current Affairs

Role & responsibilities

Take the day's biggest story and give Telugu viewers the background nobody else gave them. One day you might explain what a governor can and cannot do when a bill is stuck. The next, you show what a visa rule in the US changes for a family in Guntur. Later that week, you review a junior colleague's script and send it back with the provision they missed.

1. Read the day the way you used to: scan the morning's news and pick the stories that need explaining, not only reporting

2. Connect static to current: add the history, the constitutional provision, or the map that makes today's headline make sense

3. Move across three beats: governance and administration, general news explainers, and international affairs, as the news demands

4. Explain how the system works: show who decides and under what power when a collector, a commission, a governor, or a ministry is in the news

5. Explain the world: say what a war, a summit, or a visa rule abroad changes for India and for Telugu families

6. Script and present: write and deliver 90-120 second Telugu videos, with support from our video team

7. Stay balanced and sourced: give both sides as a good Mains answer would, and file a source list with every script

8. Lead the juniors: review Junior Associate Editors' scripts and plan the week's explainers

Preferred candidate profile

1. You still read the newspaper every morning, even though the exam is behind you

2. You can connect today's headline to the chapter it belongs to

3. Friends and family already ask you to explain what is going on

4. You can give both sides of an issue without telling people what to think

5. You have explained topics to other aspirants, in a study group, a class, or online

6. You want your preparation to reach people, not sit in your notes

What you need

1. Prelims: you have cleared the UPSC or state Group 1 Prelims at least once. If you went further, to Mains or the interview, even better

2. Telugu: fluent spoken and written Telugu. This is essential, wherever you studied

3. A regular, full-time degree in any subject, from a college anywhere in India

4. English reading: enough to read reports and source documents

You don't need a journalism degree, newsroom experience, camera experience, or a social media following. Your years of preparation count as experience here.

This role is not for you if

1. You plan to write the exam again next year

2. You have a political loyalty you can't set aside on camera

3. You want to write the way an exam answer reads. Here you write for someone listening on a phone

4. You want to plan stories and hand off the work. You research, write, and present your own

5. You don't want to appear on camera

What success looks like

1. A viewer finishes your video and finally understands a story they had only seen in headlines

2. People look forward to your next explainer

3. People forward it to family because it answered a real question

4. Every fact holds up when someone checks it

5. The juniors you review get better month by month

What you get

1. Training from day one: a structured first month in scripting, camera delivery, and source verification

2. Editorial cover: a senior editor signs off on your early scripts and on sensitive stories

3. Tools: in-house research and scripting tools that carry part of the load

4. A use for what you know: the syllabus you studied is the work you do here

5. A clear path: Associate Editors move to Editor on accuracy, consistency, and the ability to edit others, typically within 6-12 months

How to apply: Send three things to [email removed]

1. A short note on your preparation: the exams you wrote, the stage you reached, your optional subject, and your Prelims roll number and year

2. A 90-120 second Telugu video explaining one topic you would once have written a Mains answer on, for someone who has never heard of it (phone recording is fine)

3. Your sources for the video

Shortlisted applicants do a paid one-month trial with real topics and deadlines before any offer.