Sports designer/copy editor, Greenville (S.C.) News

http://journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=669214

Sports page designer/copy editor: The Greenville (S.C.) News is seeking a sports page designer and copy editor to produce dynamic sports fronts and special packages. Daily experience required, along with superior word and visual skills. Contact Chris Weston, managing editor, at cweston@greenvillenews.com or at P.O. Box 1688, Greenville, S.C., with a resume, letter and examples of design work.

Circulation last listed at 85/115, and they're growing.

PM me for details.

 

I wish they had a writing job open because I'm a big Greenville fan.

 

Growing, as in number of subscriptions cancelled?

 

Yeah, I probably wouldn't be touting the growing circulation. I could be wrong, but I think in the 1990s and 1980s, Greenville was the largest paper in the state and had a circ between 120K and 150K. They used to kill -- and I mean kill -- everybody in sports coverage. You can still walk into some high school gyms and see banners that say 'Class AAAA State Champion' and have the Greenville News' logo on it. While they have improved in the last couple years (they put out a pretty good prep preview section last year), this paper isn't what it used to be 10-15 years ago. Everybody talks about what Gannett has done gutting newspapers. Greenville is a prime example.

 

Positives: Greenville is a pretty good city; Bart Wright, the SE, is a very good person and knows his stuff (he is a sports columnist, too); they pay pretty well; the main sports photographer (Boatwright) is one of the best in the state.

Negatives: Gannett, which means 6-8 stories on the front; Bart has very little say over the section -- his own admittance; you might receive phone calls late at night from a top editor making sure you bend to certain big members of the community and what sport they want centerpieced that day.

SC, I have to disagree with the prep section. It was huge, but it wasn't anything special. I'm pretty sure the photographer took all 1,203 pics in three days. That said, they have probably the best high school online section around. They update most of it Friday night, and its a great reference.

 

I'm not going to get all defensive here, but why not tout the growing circulation? How many papers, especially of this size with a free web site, can say they're growing? I wasn't aware, admittedly, of the paper's former life. I am aware, however, that they've grown -- a lot -- in the past two years. So take that for what you will.

MU has it fairly spot on with this paper. Goods and bads, the goods definitely come on the desk. As I said, PM for details.

 

I don't think they were ever quite that large. Don't forget, there was a PM daily, the Piedmont, until the papers merged in 1995. I think they were around 100K daily, max, after that merger.

Growing? Maybe over the past year, but I don't think we can consider it a growing paper yet because there hasn't been sustained growth and it is still not as big as it was.

I see this paper at least a few times a year. Typical Gannett paper of that size. It is professionally presented and edited for its size, but is limited by its resources.

 

If you love fan quotes, diversity and Moments of Life, you will love Greenville!

The following type of stories appear routinely in the G-ville News...

CLEMSON -- Sharmeeka Williams was sitting with her 3-year-old son, Quantez, when Charlie Whitehurst threw his first of four touchdowns.
"It was a great toss," said Williams, 29, a fan from Seneca.
Chieng Ming-Wong, a graduate student in mathematics at Clemson, agreed.
"He's a great quarterback," said Ming-Wong, 24.
The Tigers used Whitehurst's strong arm to rally for a 34-27 win over South Carolina Saturday at Clemson Memorial Stadium.

 

Real people, real news, baby

 

Not a bad example at all, but you could have at least found a real one; there are plenty to be found.

Like I said in a previous post, very few Gannett-isms find their way to the desk, though the EIC does like to meddle on occasion. ... But I've worked three places and the EIC has liked to meddle at each.

 

Mike,

I wasn't trying to knock your paper. I think the progress you've made has been outstanding. Perhaps one of the biggest factors to your paper's circulation dropping so much was the emergence of Spartanburg's paper as a pretty good product. They really beefed up what they did, and I think you lost the battle in Spartanburg County. But that's not your main area, so it's all good.

MU,

Yes, their high school section is good. Maybe what impressed me most about their preps section is they actually had one. Correct me if I'm wrong, but none of the big three (Charleston, Columbia and Greenville) produce a tab that features each school. The State used, too, and they maybe they will again in the future. The Post and Courier uses its weekly zoned editions for their prep section (If they do it the same way they did in the past). Nowadays, I get impressed when a big newspaper dedicates a tab to write a feature on each school in their region. Was the art outstanding? Probably not. But it served its purpose in the Greenville area -- getting all the schools in their coverage area featured.

And yes, they do have an outstanding online site. It could probably be presented better, but it does have a lot of great information on it.

 

While I appreciate the sentiment, I don't work there. I could see, reading back through, how you might get that impression, though.

I agree with you on their online stuff, lots of good stuff on there, and their LINK publication is being copied elsewhere (Virginian-Pilot just started one).