Newsroom chemistry - how important is it?

My first stop was toxic. Executive editor was having cancer treatment and the publisher was trying to nudge them out. The managing editor was a nice enough guy but had no clue on how to manage people. A few of the other editors were belligerent.

Stop 2, everyone got along for the most part. We never went out and drank, but we had camaraderie. We had minor tension on occasion but worked through it. It took me until after leaving there to realize how important a good environment was ... I should have stayed there much longer.

 

Our chain has two offices and there are really two offices: one filled with people who want to work; the other filled with people just getting through the week to collect a check.
I work in the office with the people who enjoy the work. If not for one editor - who bragged about being done 18 hours ahead of deadline, then not showing up the morning the paper was due only to have a mispelling in the headline "possilbe" and not including a story that happened overnight when someone robbed a local convenience store - it'd be a perfect newsroom.

 

Chemistry makes a HUGE difference.

A couple of months ago, my company started making some major changes (layoffs, reducing offices) and the office we were based out of consisted of me, my receptionist (who was let go), one full-time reporter and an ads clerk who came in once or twice a week. As the layoffs loomed, and after they happened, the place was miserable. I had nothing in common with my reporter from a personality standpoint so we couldn't even wallow in our misery together and it made every day there like agony.

Fast forward a couple months and, like Rhody said, our chain is divided into two offices and I'm lucky enough to be with Rhody in the good one. The past couple of weeks have been the first time I've legit cared about the product I've put out since around October and it's made for two solid papers so far.

The difference in chemistry is undeniable and it's so much fun that I don't even notice when I've been there for eight hours anymore.

The job still isn't perfect and I wonder how long I can keep doing this before I have to try something else but the chemistry slowed down what had been a desperate job search to take anything that would pay my bills (I would have worked at Taco Bell) and, for a little while at least, made me happy I stuck it out.

 

So basically you hated to be in the office where only two people worked out of? That's not a chemistry issue, unless your new office is just as devoid of people.

 

Yes, chemistry does make a huge difference. I always enjoyed going into the office -- until the last six months when the managing editor had brought in his shills who reported to him on who said what. One routinely went back there on a daily basis to badmouth myself and others who didn't agree with him.
I think the best office I ever worked in was at a weekly in Richlands, Va. It wasn't unusual for newsies to go hang out with ad people, and vice-versa. If it weren't for the fact that it was time to move up to a daily paper, I could have stayed there 40 years. That's how much fun the atmosphere was there.

 

Thank,s everyone. It took me reading some of your posts to realize how good I had it when I first began, and in most (if not all, to one degree or another) of the stops I've had the privilege to work in over the last two decades.

It's a different dynamic here. I'm wondering what I've stepped into. I made a pretty big move to relocate here ... and it's early, but first impressions are strong. I don't think any first impression has been quite as jaw-dropping as what I've experienced in the new place.

 

Been at places with good and bad chemistry. I've learned that it's a job. I'm paid to do what I do and go home. I can block out the chemistry stuff. I'm working to put meat and potatoes on my table.

 

You really need more vegetables, Drip.

 

Yes, I agree.

 

First stop was a small daily, and there was so much turnover that it was hard to develop much chemistry, and we were so busy that we didn't have a lot of fun. Didn't stay there long.

Second stop was a mid-major with a fun atmosphere where we enjoyed working together for the most part. And we had a large group that went out and had beers after work on the weekends. A few folks I didn't care for, but it was a pretty great group, and the writers were almost totally receptive to questions and suggestions.

Third stop was a major metro where the atmosphere was very stuffy and silent as a library, and the writers were offended if you called to question anything, even a messed-up quote. The response was always "That's what he said," even if it didn't make any sense at all. Had a few guys who would go out and do things with after work, but I never really clicked there, and the management was difficult to deal with.

Took the opportunity to go back to Stop 2 as soon as I could. We don't have as many post-work drinks anymore as we used to as we get older and have families, but I still enjoy working with almost everyone. Makes a huge difference.

 

I hate to say it, but the place where I worked where everyone in the newsroom seemed to hate each other was the most productive of any of the places where I worked.

 

Newsroom chemistry OK here, I guess.

Nobody yells.

The folks who are currently off the clock are out celebrating a co-worker's promotion.

The folks who are currently on the clock are working in mostly silence with a laugh sprinkled in.