ASE Presentation, Seattle Times

There was some question as to if this one would even be posted. Looks like it hit AWSM yesterday. As for JJobs, not yet...

Mark McTyre is headed to msnbc.com to be a senior editor for sports, according to sportsdesigner.com.

 

*cough*promotefisch*cough*

 

Is this going to be part of the glad-to-be-in-Seattle area salary discount?

 

Any updates on this one?

 

Let's see, they have Fisch and Boudet there already. Anyone think they'll be hiring in-house?

 

Having a departmental assistant editor in charge of presentation is fodder for bean counters who say newspapers are bloated. A paperwide presentation editor? Sure.

 

Isn't this just a fancy new way of saying "lead designer?" I've seen college newspapers adopt this trend, too. Which is pretty funny.

 

So many factors go into determining those roles, and it varies by paper.

At some places, "ASE/Presentation" is interchangable with "lead designer" for sure.

At other places, they are two different positions entirely. The ASE assumes a role of planning and assigning editor, assigning photos, setting up graphics, tracking down stringers, monitoring the budget, laying out what visuals will run in the next week, meeting and working with writers and editors on special sections and projects, and editing individual designers (usually, there's managerial stuff like scheduling thrown in too). In that role, the ASE might go weeks without designing a page. Meanwhile, the lead designer is working on 4-5 covers a week, with a focus on Sunday.

Again, every paper is unique. Circ size, section size, deadlines, pagination systems and 50 or so other factors go into the equation. Some papers don't need someone in an ASE role. Some don't need a lead designer. But quite a few operate with both. That's not saying some staffs aren't bloated in part because of those positions, but there are plenty that are not, and which make the ASE and lead designer absolutely central and integral to their sections, suffering major blows to content in their absences.

 

Yeah, this isn't a lead designer position. It's a management job and will involve being the night editor several times a week.

 

ASE/Design jobs are becoming obsolete? :-X

 

Called it.

 

No kidding. Hadn't seen it anywhere. Good for him if that's true.