The Athletic keeps growing .......

I just have a problem with their arrogance. That NY Times article where the tech bro owner said they'll just bleed newspapers to death is what started my animosity toward them. And the fact that so many people so easily jumped ship from the places that gave them their start for this enterprise? Yeah, something grubby about that. Do I know newspapers are struggling and this looked like an attractive golden parachute for reporters and editors? Sure. But there's just something about how undeserved all this has been in a way, and how quick everyone was to desert newspapers, which continue to be the backbone of real journalism in this country, that rubs me wrong. Also, get off my lawn.

 

I’d argue folks haven’t bailed out of the industry fast enough.

 

What's stopping you?

 

Newspapers have been bending over their reporters and fucking them without lube for a decade now. Don't blame the reporters for bailing.

 

As I said in a job post, loyalty doesn't pay the mortgage.

 

Since we are talking about loyalty here ...
Where is the loyalty of newspapers to their subscribers when most of the Gannett papers now have deadlines before 8 p.m. and if you want to read about how your baseball team last night you have to go on the web?
Where is the loyalty of newspapers to longtime writers who have busted their asses, try to curtail expenses for the sake of coverage by staying in shitty places and then get kicked out on their asses when layoffs happen?
Newspaper companies are arrogant, most of the executive editors now are arrogant and will kick anyone to the curb to save themselves first.
Are some of the hirings undeserved? Yes, but you can say that of some newspaper and magazine hirings. But there were also a lot of people who now work at The Athletic who didn't jump at the first offer and needed multiple offers before finally saying yes. That is not jumping ship quickly. That is doing what is good for the writer and for the writer's bottom line.
Are there some people who I wish The Athletic hired, but didn't? Yes. But make no mistake, everyone is looking for their own golden parachute and clean sheet of ice off the iceberg.
Because loyalty doesn't pay the mortgage, and for most newspaper companies and bosses it doesn't mean shit anymore.

 

Fuck. That. This industry demands so much unconditional loyalty and yet offers none in return. Go get yours and don't ever feel like you owe anyone an explanation for why you're getting it. Reddy, your homeboys at the Boston Sports Journal are gonna run out of money in 18 months, why would you blame any of them if they suddenly jumped ship to The Athletic like Joe McDonald did?

And if the newspapers have a problem with what that "tech bro owner" told the NYT about "bleeding newspapers to death", they should do something about it. Hire some talented veteran reporters, and pay them what they're worth, instead of just hiring 25-year-old trustafarians making 20k to aggregate dumb shit about whatever goofy thing Joel Embiid tweeted on a given day. Last I checked newspapers aren't nonprofits.

 

I've read a lot of Athletic stuff, and it's the same boring shit newspapers have done/do. After all, they only hire newspaper people. How imaginative. And, thanks for the BSJ financial update. I assume you have access to their books.

 

If these "talented, veteran reporters" were so great for newspapers' bottom lines, why did all the newspapers' bottom lines that they worked for sink like stones? They'll do the same for the Athletic, which is the ultimate money pit.

 

That’s a mean thing to say. I didn’t mean that one.

 

I will personally wash your car if BSJ is still a thing at the end of 2020