Houston SE takes buyout

Sounds like his poker bankroll just increased.

Fred is one of the funniest people I've ever met. I don't know him that well, but he's always been very friendly and helpful to me.

 

Section (and the city) not my cup of tea, but that's quite the departure. With Hearst in trouble, I imagine they rearrange the deck chairs and carry on.

 

I've dealt with a good number of people in this biz over the last 20 years and Fred is one of the nicest and best.
Maybe he's joining a band or going on the pro poker circuit but whatever, I wish him well. He helped me in a lot of ways the past few years.
This has been a heck of a week for metro SEs leaving.

 

Freddy: We'll miss you at APSE and I'm sure your staff will miss you at the Chron. I'll look for you with a championship bracelet one day! Don't be a stranger to our yearly gatherings. If you're leaving the sports journalism world for good, we'll certainly miss you. Good, smart people leaving our business is never good. Jimmy Jenks, Larry Starks and you inside of 10 days. This is not a great time for our industry.

 

My take: Paper's actually improved a lot since it was redesigned -- still offers pro and college football daily sections -- but as always this sucks.

From the brazosport blog board: Looks like the Chron may have laid off the wrong person. Someone in features is suing for age discrimination. If even one person who sues wins a case, this could have a dramatic effect.

 

Probably not -- it will be settled out of court and no one will notice because they'll put a non-disclosure on it.
Certainly wouldn't be the first time it's happened.

 

Someone posted this before, but it's amazing how newspapers get away with so much bullshit cause there's nobody to report on it.
I wish internet companies like Yahoo went after newspapers the way newspapers go after big business, the NFL and the like.
Those would be some interesting stories worth reading.

 

It's because of the unwritten, unspoken agreement -- the same one that allows newspapers to hide behind no comment on one page and take other companies or governmental bodies to task on another for doing the same thing.

 

Hey Jerry, Inky, Patchs...thanks for the kind words. Your cut of my check is in the mail! I'm going to miss the hell out of everybody in this business. It gives me a lot of comfort to know that people still care about doing great journalism, and care enough to come here and chat about it. Rest assured, I do too. I hope you haven't seen the last of me in this business. (No, I have no idea what I am going to do yet). But I have a lot of free time, so don't be shocked to see me lurking around here a lot to get my journalism fix.

Fred Faour
Unemployed person

 

Oh good. Another deadbeat hanging around our house...