The NYT and The Athletic

See also misquotes of Wells, HG misattributed to Darwin, Charles:

Adapt or die.

 

I mind it but I don't. He comes off as a crabby old guy who regrets his decision to take the gig and, like many a writer, is upset they didn't like all of his story ideas. He also, as a crabby old guy, seems to recognize his prospects at landing at another big outlet are done and is trying to not give a damn. All of this said, we normalize the mental and verbal abuse that the higher ups in this industry dump on us way too much.

 

All understood.

But if he wants me to subscribe to his newsletter - the ostensible point of the post - he needed to cut that entire opening half.

One of Substack's real traps is how exposed you are without an editor.

 

My life needs an editor.

 

Every writer everywhere 60-and-over who starts his or her own Substack should call it

"OK Boomer"

 

Mine needs a good editor.

 

Why not? I think it's good information to weigh for anyone considering a job there. He has first-hand knowledge of the kinds of things I'd care about, particularly how well they treated him during his health problems. I can't put a value on how great my current boss has been during my ongoing cancer issues. It's part of the reason I'm not actively looking for a job. But if he were an asshole, that would make an immense impact.

 

I agree with this take. Just as an inside baseball thing, I found the information about subs/impressions pretty telling to how The Athletic operates. Certainly some sour grapes in the post, but good nuggets of info as well.

 

For me the most interesting complaint from Kravitz was how the metrics were constantly thrown in his face. I suppose it's the new normal, but I can see where it would accelerate the burnout process as much or more as the four editors who each want something different from you (as well as the relentless grind of journalism in general).

 

That was the most interesting part. As far as qualms with coverage, editors shuffling, health-related timelines - the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Those of us who have been burned before know the timeline and this early, emotions are pretty raw and we could even exaggerate things out of natural personal bias -- especially if we were to be putting it on public display as the debut post for our new Substack endeavor.

Not familiar with his work but certainly familiar with his name/city/paper and if he was willing to put the industry's top sportswriting entity on blast like that, he was probably a bit of a pain in the ass to work with, I'd guess. Feel like The Athletic was viewed as such an easy-peasy gig for the first couple years -- come get paid double and write a few features a month! -- and the realities of their situation probably changed by the time he arrived and it was no longer the scholarship kids kicking their feet up with the early retirees anymore.