Beware, Trentonian offering jobs that don't exist

Your view of Aaron and this situation is skewed. Aaron was not 1) some desperate, out-of-work editor who needed a job to pay his bills and support his family or 2) a fresh-out-of-college and/or from-the-other-side-of-the-world journalist who didn't have any idea what life is like at Jelenic's personal morning newspaper. Aaron worked in Trenton and heard all of the popular JRC/Trentonian stories. His ex mates at the Times of Trenton and at least one ex Trentonian employee warned him of just how awful that place is. Despite all of his warnings and personal knowledge of JRC's and the Trentonian's history, he left an excellent job at the Camden Courier. He was already employed, and at a far superior and decent publication, so why should we be glad that's he's employed? He was already employed.

This is not a person who needs or deserves an online pity party. I don't wish him bad luck, but I won't be sending him well wishes or prayers for getting into a mess that he created himself and a mess that, if what has been already posted here is accurate, he is making worse. Telling Jelenic-abused employees to step it up and turn off the volume on the TV doesn't exactly help fill out his Mr. Nice Guy portfolio that you claim he carries around.

"It's a job" also for all of the terrible JRC managers and VIPs, including Jelenic, yet we criticize those people and you even participate yourself. Aaron is no different. I respect your opinion on Aaron, but he willingly joined a hateful company, just as did all of Jelenic's other managers. I am sure there are family and friends that would insist that Jelenic, Beck, Clifton, DeRienzo etc. are "nice" people. Aaron is fair game for criticism here.

 

We know about Aaron's past. We also can see the road that he's on.; He'll get no sympathy here because he went into the situation knowing it was fucked up. But I say give him a chance to implement his style and program, then judge. It's not fair to do anything less.

 

To return to the Nazi-army analogy, time will tell (very shortly) whether Bracy is Sgt. Schultz (clueless doofus), Col. Klink (blustering bungler), or Gen. Burkhalter (brutal and arrogant).

They're all taking their orders from Himmler (Matty D.) and Der Fuhrer himself.

And soon enough, they all stand in front of the firing squad.

 

Who fucking cares if he's a nice guy? You know how many nice guys were in the list of 25 or whatever?

He's obviously overmatched and has no business trying to play SE and he desperately needs someone to do the things he can't do.

 

It's hard to execute a vision for the section if every move is being second-guessed by the CEO. The guy probably doesn't need additional input from us.

 

I doubt he's coming here for tips on how to run the section. Why bother, since he undoubtedly gets a screeching phone call every morning at 9:15 from Uncle Bob with detailed instructions on what to do, anyway.

 

Word was that he wasn't being given enough opportunities to write at Camden as he was on the copy desk. If that's true, I think he'll last a while at the Trentonian as long as he can do three things: 1) assign himself to write several stories a week, 2) stay on management's "good side" (not get them mad at him), and 3) not let whatever criticism leveled at him get to him.

Agreed that we have to give him a chance. I'm just curious is the stories we're being told about the happenings there are first-hand or second-hand accounts.

 

They're first-hand.

There is zero chance this guy will be any good.

The problem that Jelenic and Bonfield/Murray keep making is thinking that writers can be SEs of the Trentonian. They're wrong.

 

Give him a chance. More importantly, if you were in his situation, would you do the same thing to keep a job?

 

I'm not sure how I should answer that question.

Let's say that if I were in that position I would make sure that I had the skills needed to do the job, not take out an ad to find someone to do the things I can't do.

The problem with the whole JRC setup is that you need someone to filter out the bullshit. Lots of CEOs are demanding assholes but most places have some highly paid publisher or editor who deflects a certain amount of the bullshit.

At JRC, everyone is so scared shitless of Jelenic it comes straight down from CEO to the desk. That's a ridiculous situation.

It's not Jelenic that calls the sports editor at 9:15 a.m., it's the editor or the publisher or a JRC flunkie who calls the sports editor.

Though he was reviled by many of the old sports guys, Sandy Schwartz deflected a lot of the Jelenic bullshit. That's why Jelenic went out of his way to find a total sycophant for his next publisher(s). It's why Barbati is gone, too.

 

How long do we have to give him? I don't understand why a couple of people are trying to protect Aaron from criticism. There is nothing wrong with a JRC manager being a topic of discussion here. If he does something good in his new position, then please post it on here. That should be a strong enough comeback in his defense instead of pleading with people to drop the subject.

Again, if the comments about him are accurate, did he give his new employees a fair chance? How long did he give those Jelenic-abused employees before he told them to step it up? Why does he deserve a longer chance than they got?

If the "style and program" he is going to "implement" is based on eliminating sound on TV and telling employees he hasn't had a "chance" to get to know to step it up, Aaron deserves criticism. If you learn of positive changes he brings about, I would be interested in hearing them and will offer praise if I agree.

In my opinion, Aaron already had a chance. He had the chance to be a smart person and not agree to take a job for a hateful company at a hateful newspaper where managers are forced to abuse employees. Those who don't, perhaps like the couple that PHINJ mentioned, don't last. Aaron had a chance to stay employed in Camden and avoid all of this.

 

Perhaps these changes may be whats needed at the rag. I haven't seen much imporvement in the paper since he took over but I want to see better writing, editing, style and clarity. You can't make a tug boat into an ocean liner.
I'm anxiously watching over the next few weeks to see what happens. A big test for him will be the paper's coverage of the Final Four. That may be an opportunity for him to make the section shine.