Fox Sports cuts web writing staff

I haven't read much on the Players' Tribune, but Etan Thomas does a podcast with athlete interviews that is pretty good.

 

Ha, I actually had to Google that. It would probably make for a good episode. He talked to Keyon Dooling not too long ago about being sexually abused as a child. Both guys were very impressive tackling the subject.

 

Quoting the Awful Announcing...

"...Shannon Sharpe weighing in on the Conor McGregor fight. That’s perfect. We own Shannon all across all platforms and Shannon is weighing in on what was the big story of the week. That’s what we want to do more of.”

This strategy feels very 2011 to me.

 

How can you write a company memo like that and not even mention that a shitload of loyal employees just lost their jobs? Seems like any person with a soul would have mentioned that at least in passing.

FOX defies logic. Think about it: that company makes movies for millions and millions of dollars, and they think they can't afford some 25-yr-olds who are making a grand total of $23K?! (And that's what some of those who were laid off were making, too -- not enough to live off of...)

 

Sadly: I'm not exaggerating about the $23K, either. One of my college colleagues worked for FOX in sports. Made less than minimum wage for waiters in that metro area -- hell, less than they advertise for job openings at Burger King. ... If you love sports writing, even if you're obsessed with it, please get out of this profession now. Get a day job and freelance on occasion at nights or on the weekends. There will be more and more of those jobs available as time goes on...

 

I'm trying to figure out why anyone would give a shit what a former football player thinks of a future fight.

 

Stewart Mandel out:



Bruce Feldman will stay on, but mainly as a sideline reporter.

 

I'm excited to read Clay Travis explaining how this is because of the network's politics.

One thing that was interesting was Mandel saying they knew this was coming since January. Well before the Travis-Whitlock ESPN crowing fully fired up.

 

Isn't this the third time over the years that FoxSports.com has axed its writing staff?

 

That FS1 story in Awful Announcing lays it all out. They did indeed know it was coming.

 

That's actually good advice. The freelance gigs covering events are going to be out there as time goes on. Once we go all online, there will be very few fulltimers so the companies don't have to pay benefits. Best bet if you are hooked on being a sports journalist, get into another profession and cover some games on the side. Of course hard news is going to be nonexistent. There's going to be nobody around to cover the scandals. I'd say America in 20 years is going to be void of a watchdog in sports and in politics. Writers are going to be paid part time wages and nobody will be covering the government and scandals in athletics. Nobody.