'Black Wednesday' in Tampa

All right, so I too broke down and went ahead and posted a comment on her site. I decided to tone it down in hopes that she can actually learn something from it instead of viewing it as just another angry "old-timer" trying to put her in her place.

Of course, my comment has been "awaiting moderation" for around 5 minutes or so, something I wish this young lady had done with her own post to begin with, so just in case for some reason it never makes it up there, here is what I wrote (FYI, the link I am referring to was to the Wall Street Journal article in June about the WaPo's hyperlocal experiment with Loudon):


Jessica,

I hope by now you have taken the initiative to click on the link provided by Garey G. Ris and to go back and find the entry made by the McClatchy rep Wendell Barnhouse referred to so that you can see for yourself just how unoriginal and pointless your hero's rhetoric actually was. If not, then you need to post haste.

I don't think I can simplify this anymore than by reminding you that with a smaller staff and one that is increasingly devoid of experienced journalists with invaluable contacts, sources and knowledge, the notion that your news organization can improve its local or "hyperlocal" coverage is beyond ridiculous.

In no way am I trying to bring down your enthusiasm or insult your naivete, although your decision to type in the words "Amen," and "You go, girl," at a time when good people were being tossed to the street greatly disturbed me. I have read your explanation about how you were applauding Miss Coats for her "revisionist" plan and not for handing out pink slips, but nonetheless, you can now see how important it is to choose your words wisely and read and re-read before hitting enter.

This is a very trying and emotional time in our industry, so the tone of some of the responses you have gotten on this blog, while over-the-top in many instances, should not come as a surprise. Is there a light at the end of this long and dark tunnel? I sure hope so, and this is coming from a veteran journalist who did embrace the advent of multi-media, blogging, podcasts and vodcasts before they became as en vogue as they are now. But we still have a long way to go, and the short-sightedness of so many of the higher-ups, including your hero, is doing more to push us further away from that light.

And with that I will end this entry.

 

Dadgum it Write, why do you have to bring such logic to the table now?

Of course that's plausible, but being that there are other "mid-level reporters/writers" who have been under-performing for quite some time and who have been moved countless times in the hopes that they would not bother anybody and perhaps improve but to no avail, yet did not find themselves in the cross-hairs, still makes this decision a bad and unfair one.

Again, Scott was prodded by management to make the move to Tallahassee because they wanted someone out there they could trust to own the FSU beat and produce quality stuff, which he did. At the time he was doing a bang-up job on the Rays beat and the Lightning beat, and had there been any inkling that he was putting himself in peril by heading west, I'm sure Scott would have stayed put and made do with the Rays and Bolts.

So in my mind, no matter what kind of spin the Trib tries to put on this move, they are severely in the wrong.

 

Exactly.

It's probably not a promotion for Elliott. He, perhaps, might even look at it as a demotion. But it isn't necessarily intended as such. It's a job, in an economic climate in which there are fewer of those to be had.

And when higher-status people start bumping down -- especially if it happens without a corresponding title change/official demotion -- and taking over responsibilities of lower beats, or people, who then move lower down, or out, as the case may be, that's when statements are being made, when pecking orders, and people's places in them, are being established.

It can happen without people really even realizing it, and is more common, and insidious, in lean times.

Sometimes -- and this is the real blind-side -- people may even appear to move upward, at least in terms of responsibility. But again, if it occurs without an official promotion/title change/raise, or some such corresponding evidence that your capacity is different, then this is key. It could also be a red flag in times of economic trouble.

It occurs, sometimes without people even thinking about it, because they're happy to be in the job, or on the beat, or at the paper.

It might have happened to Carter, without his realizing it, when he was moved to Tallahassee to cover FSU.

I'm not saying it did, just suggesting it as a possibility. It's the kind of thing that does happen, sometimes, in large companies. I imagine this is especially so in tough times.

 

OK, I'm a two-hour drive away from the team I cover.

I can't imagine covering FSU from Tampa. What's he going to do, fly back and forth twice a week?

 

Her desk will be an interesting place to be on Monday... can you get a frost warning in July in Tampa?

 

Forget a frost warning. I'm wondering if the scenario from "The Day After Tomorrow" could actually happen on Monday.

 

I don't know. Do you think they'll want to piss off the editor's new pet?

 

She's off to the pool to drink beer in honor of America, as her blog says.

What she should be doing is fetching them for all her colleagues at the Tribune.

 

She's an intern. She should be working.

 

Egad...No kidding. That link is even worse than the blog item of hers we read yesterday. I cannot believe this is somebody who got hired, and currently works, at a major newspaper.

I think I'm gonna be sick(er).

 

Maybe she had a 4.0 GPA at some "prestigious" school.