Cowboys reporter out here spiking footballs of her own.

There's definitely a fine line between sacrificing to get where you want to go, and diving head-first into that pool so that's all that matters, sacrificing family, friends and happiness to chase something that may not be attainable. When I look back on my newspaper days, I am shocked about what I gave up for a business that (even I knew at the time) was never going to love me back. And I'm even more shocked that my family and friends continued to stand by me as I put them in the back seat 95 percent of the time.

This reporter is young and has a lot to learn, and she seems to be sorely in need of family, friends, co-workers, mentors, and even a guidance counselor to provide her some advice about how to conduct herself. To throw out these attention-begging "fuck you" posts about some fictional high school guidance counselor is ridiculous. From the limited work I've seen from her, she has a ton of improvement to do, and it would be a much-better use of her time to get better at her job than to lob grenades at some figure from her past.

If she's like this when she's at some fringe TV network that seems to hire for looks more than talent and experience, then what would she be like if she got hired at a big-time network for a marquee job?

 

cough, cough, Gannett, cough, cough ...
Where supervisors tell us we need to take 2 days off during the week but continually text and email us on said days ... and consider 12-15-hour days "the cost of doing business"

 

When I first was separated from the Herald, I went back to Wilmington to see high school friends for a few days. One asked, "why don't you see if you can get a job with the News-Journal?" I responded simply "Gannett paper." There was immediate silence, and muttered, "ohs." This, mind you, was from people not in the business. Such is the reputation of that fine chain.

 

For sure. My last gig was at a Gannett shop. I’m a lot happier now drawing Social Security and doing freelance work.

 

Depends on the situation. Skill set and not being a prick can play a role. In the awful layoffs of 2009-10, I could do TV, web writing and also print. Could cover a murder scene at 1 pm and do live shots from a college basketball game at 6.

My editor told me after we shed 30 percent of the company the only reason I wasn’t on the list was because I could play all the instruments.

 

Tons of friends went to Brockport. Nothing against it. Just noting that's probably where I would have ended up had I stayed in NYS. Or some private Ohio school like Baldwin-Wallace, Muskingum or Marietta, my three safety schools.

 

When I worked for Lean Dean in night cops they thought nothing of rousting me out of bed during the week for a fire (totally fine because I understood that was part of the gig) and then on late Sunday nights because “well the weekend reporter left and we feel bad calling her because she’s old.”

 

Part of what I loved about newspapers was that feeling "This news has to be covered because it's important, the community needs to know and we're the people to do it." That is a good feeling. However, as pointed out, it also empowers employers to take advantage of employees who take pride in their job and will work long hours to do it right.

 

I remember thinking once newspapers realized they could ignore "must cover events" and the world would keep spinning and profits rolling in, the industry was doomed. We stopped covering some things, put less of an effort into some things - as a reporter it made you wonder why the hell YOU made such an effort to do a good job.

 

But, to be fair, most of that investigative or featurey stuff - at least in the small town pubs - doesn't draw eyeballs. We could do - and have done - some really good stuff that took weeks to put together, and its pageviews were obliterated by "top 15 football juniors" that somebody slapped together in a day.
Put enough of those together and pretty soon corporate is convinced we aren't doing enough recruiting stories

 

Muskingum! The Fighting Muskies, Agnes Moorhead and John Glenn!
Where did you go?

 

rtse-

I've seen a UFC listicle blow away the most carefully crafted enterprise stuff, w/r/t clicks.