Sports Editor, Fayetteville, NC

Sxy, given the fallout from the DMN bloodletting, it shouldn't come as a huge surprise.

And, while the nightlife in Fayetteville is the pits, Fayetteville's paper is not.

 

Leave the DMN for some place smaller? Sure, why not?
--Dennis will have freedom like he hasn't known in sometime.
--He'll be where people value his input.
--He'll be in a place that hasn't had three staff reductions since 9/11.
--He'll get to do things he never could have done in Dallas.
--And I'm guessing, just guessing, he'll be a much happier dude.

He leaves with a chunk of cash because I believe he's been in Dallas almost 10 years and I'm betting he still gets a bump.

What's wrong with all that?

 

Again - no personal offense to anyone or even the Fayetteville paper or Brian Tolley.

Just saying, when I saw Fayette-nam landed a DMN staffer, I was shocked.

Was merely looking at in the fact that if you've ever worked for a small(er) paper, you realize there are quite a few obstacles -- ones that don't exist when you get used to have "almost" unlimited resources at a place like DMN.

And, the whole salary issue.
Good luck to Dennis.

 

As a current employee of a "do whatever it takes to make this a great product" independent family-owned small(er) paper, and a future employee of one that I feel has a lot of the same ideals, I can tell you that these "obstacles" you speak of are only there if you chose for them to be.

Never let resources get in the way of a good idea.

I've lived by that motto for a while now and done just fine with it. Dennis will have the opportunity, along with myself and a large group of eager people, to take the resources we have and do great things with them. Sure Dallas has more "people" but you really can't use that as a crutch anywhere. If you do, you're doomed for failure.

We won't fall into that trap, and we will succeed.

 

Easy on the Kool-aid. You'll get a headache if you guzzle it like that.

(jk)

 

Mmmm kool-aid.

 

wow. three new sports-related big shots at the FO. my offer of a ride from the airport in exchange for employment still stands.

 

you're hired

 

And unlike their predecessor, he and BP will provide leadership in that department. Combined with their talented staff, good things will probably come out of all of it.

 

There are some papers with thin staffs that manage to do cool things. They win awards, especially for design. You can have fun there and get some good clips. The problem is that if you live there, they are just not very good newspapers if you are depending on them to be your source for news. I worked on one of them years ago, and the people there had a high opinion of themselves. One night I heard some of them mocking a nearby paper and I said we're prettier, but if I were stranded on an island and could have either their paper or ours wash up in a bottle every morning, I'd pick them because they run more news. And they couldn't say anything in retort to that.

Resources are an inescapable factor. You blow out one thing and you cut corners somewhere else, and somewhere someone's gonna think you've made the wrong choice.

I'm not saying this about Fayetteville specifically. I haven't seen the paper in a long time and I recall it as being good for its size. But if you truly care about putting out a paper that doesn't just impress contest judges but is of use to the people who live in the community, lack of resources is going to be a constant source of frustration. Because you can pretty it up and use gimmicks to make a good first impression, but people who read it every day aren't fooled by that stuff for long.

 

You'd be amazed that the new hole Fayetteville gives it's sports section, Frank. It's pretty amazing the space they get, especially on Sunday.

 

You're creeping me out ...