Times Georgian Sports Reporter,

Per http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=778417:

Location: Carrollton, Georgia
Job Status: Full-time
Salary: $20,000 to $25,000

Description:
The Times-Georgian, a daily in West Georgia, is seeking a full-time sports reporter. Our paper covers eight local high schools and the Division II University of West Georgia. Candidates should have a journalism background, with a degree in journalism or a related field, and must demonstrate good writing and reporting skills. Applicants should be able to write a variety of sports articles, including game stories and sports features. All candidates must have pagination and page design experience. Carrollton is 45 minutes west of Atlanta. The Times-Georgian offers medical and dental insurance plans, paid mileage, paid vacation and a competitive 401(k) plan. The Times- Georgian is a member of Paxton Media Group, LLC. Send resume and writing samples to Corey Cusick, P.O. Box 460, Carrollton, GA 30117, or e-mail corey@times- georgian.com. No phone calls please.

 

Can anybody name another profession that "requires" degrees and pays as little as journalism? I'm being honest, I'm curious.

 

Teaching?

 

I think if you start in a very small school in a very local area, teaching is comparable.

 

Certainly not in my state, which ranks 49/50th in education on a yearly basis. In our area, first-year teachers make $35K-45K. My wife has been teaching for 10 years and makes $12K more a year than I do and I've been working in journalism for 15 years.

 

TV journalists aren't exactly rolling in dough either.
One reason why journalists are paid like shit is because you don't need a license to practice the craft. Nearly anyone can do it. They may not do it well, but you don't have to be a specialist.

 

Newspapers offer beginners not only low pay but the added bonus of spending an indefinite time in some isolated, small town.
And many papers -- particularly small ones -- throw in the additional benefit of giving the newbies regular unpaid overtime.
Why? Many of us love this kind of work and we care about what we do. So Joe Prep Writer has worked 40 hours this week by the time kickoff rolls around on Friday night, he isn't going to say to heck with it. He covers the game, then comes in on Saturday morning to write the follow.

 

Anyone actually know anything about the job?

 

Didn't know it was time to get my oil change again .... I do that everytime this job becomes available .... or is it time to rotate tires?

 

Since someone asked, here's a semblance of the lay of the land ...
This is a two-person shop, meaning whoever gets this job will share the page building duties, probably flying solo at least one night a week. The ad mentions UWG, but preps are the primary focus. You may or may not travel with West Georgia football -- maybe to Valdosta but the team's other road games mostly likely will be covered some other way. Atlanta is an hour away, so the pro stuff and Georgia Tech are all wire copy. That's the job, which really isn't atypical for a paper this size. It's Paxton Media Group. Others on here can speak with more current knowledge than I as to what that means. My experience with them was that they were tight with money, though they weren't quite to the spawn of satan level that other chains employ. Note for the record that that was more than 10 years ago.

The local sports scene isn't bad. They historically have good high school football there. Four of the six schools in Carroll County have won state championships, but none of them has done so since the late 1990s. Track is really big in Carrollton, which is the host city for the GHSA's cross country championships. Carrollton High School recently used bond money to do a $10 million remodeling of its stadium, which included field turf and, IIRC, a 10-lane track that would allow it to host national-level events.

As for life in Carrollton ... it's a legitimate college town. There are plenty of things to do. A thriving arts community, pretty strong local recreation scene and a not-too-bad night scene. And if you find the time and money to go to big-time stuff, like I said Atlanta is an hour away.

Feel free to PM me with other questions.

 

i don't see the paper often, but I always thought they didn't do enough with West Georgia, which used to have pretty good men's hoops when Ed Murphy was coach. I think they got hammered by the NCAA recently, too.

 

Sounds like a good place to be. Why is this job open so much?