'Black Wednesday' in Tampa

Well, of course, the other advice, though, is to not have her looking over her shoulder every time she writes something.

 

Agreed, and that is what I told her in the comments in agreeing with another poster that she shouldn't be afraid to write what she thinks in fear of what the reaction might be. I just added that she needs to remember to choose her words wisely and re-read before hitting enter so as to ensure that her message is received and not glossed over or lost.

 

Good evening, all.

I just registered for this site after reading through most of the comments re the Tampa situation. Just wanted to express my sadness about what happened there and what's happening everywhere else. I spent twenty years in newspapers, first in upstate New York, then UPI in the 1980's and then at USA Today during the 90's. I witnessed a lot of bad shit during the dark days of UPI, but I have to admit it was more isolated then. UPI was like the Bad News Bears at that point and there was a hint of black comedy surrounding the layoffs. Not so now, needless to say. This is more like Sherman's March.

I'm out of journalism these days, though still a photographer. I posted a fairly long entry on my site about the Tampa situation, and, unlike a certain someone, tried to think it through for more than ten seconds. For anyone who's interested:

http://www.mattmendelsohn.net/matt-mendelsohns-dark-slide/2008/7/7/a-bridge-too-far.html

I really want to find some entry way that leads towards compassion for Ms. DaSilva, but it's very hard. A comprehensive review of her other blog posts, like the one where she expresses outrage that Roll Call had the nerve to ask her to stop blogging, leads me to believe that she's far from the naive, young screw-up her defenders are making her out to be. She clearly wants to be a blogger, not a journalist, and doesn't seem to understand the difference between the two.

Anyway, again, my thoughts are with you all.

Matt Mendelsohn
Arlington, VA

 

Matt,

Good stuff on your blog. I'd love to see that AOL video but even with the password you provided it still wouldn't allow me to view it.

 

I'm laughing my ass off at what these managing editor "newsie" types are going to find out when they butt into sports and take away sports departments for "breaking news" beats, daily shifts etc.
If all reporters are gonna be clumped together ... guess what? Your sports reporters who are used to working 60, 70 hours and getting paid for 40 will now be working 40.

Have fun scheduling coverage of games, you editors of newspapers that have college or pro teams.
Good luck having 4-5 people cover the beats because your new 40 hour a week sports guy/gal will be going to be getting regular time off just like your news reporters.
You folks are smarter than me.
You tell me a scenario in which papers are not going to be up a creek if they take away sports editors and put all sports reporters on breaking news shifts, etc. You tell me how they are going to have the bodies to cover anything besides breaking news.

 

This Matt M. (no, not me, the poster above in this string) is a heck of a good writer.

 

Or looking around the newsroom and eavesdropping all the times she isn't writing something (which seems to be quite often).

Or reporting on internal meetings. I'm sure the Times folks have enjoyed the heads-up.

Or pontificating on a profession she knows little to nothing about, obviously. Or timing such thots on the eve of layoffs.

Or complaining about working an 11-hour day and hating feature writing.

Or applauding plans as stale as my roommates Saltine's.

Or bragging about "hits" on her stupid blog, which also includes such intriguing subjects as "guys, like I'm heading to the pool ... "

Or posting her none-too-impressive pic atop the words "lovely and talented." or did she spell it "luvly and tallented?"

Taking up for this girl is ridiculous.

She has passion and spunk. Big deal. We all had that. Some of us still do despite the hardships most of us have faced in double-digit years in this business.

I cannot imagine "reporting" on an internal staff meeting. Better yet, I cannot imagine the desire to.

 

>>This Matt M. (no, not me, the poster above in this string) is a heck of a good writer.<<

MMatt60: Thanks. I come from a family of writers (my brother Daniel writes for The New Yorker occasionally and the New York Review of Books regularly) and though I am trapped in the world of wedding photography these days, I try and write as much as I can. Photographers don't generally get kudos for their writing ability, so I try and do what i can for the team.

Andy Kent: I tried the link to that AOL layoff video and it worked for me. The password is aollover (double "l"). For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, last year the entire AOL Paris office was laid off. On their final day, the whole office made a video that is striking because it's a) very clever and b) not very bitter. I particularly like the "for rent" sign at the very end. Try this link instead:

http://www.alleyinsider.com/2007/10/aol_twx_how_to (again, password is "aollover")

Anyway, I'm glad I found this place and I look forward to reading more. Most of my time during my UPI days was spent shooting sports (favorite moment: witnessing a perfect game pitched against the Dodgers by Dennis Martinez) and I like staying in touch with all my reporter friends.

Sorry for the non-sanctioned quoting. I'll figure your board out soon enough!

Matt

 

... and then there's that.

I think I'll steer clear of those roundhouse punches because I can't really refute any of that, other than to say her first entry since the original one that stirred up all of this fire was a little better thought out.

 

I got no problem about someone reporting on internal meetings. If we could report on an internal meeting at Wal Mart or Chevron or whatever, we sure as hell would.

 

More details on the "reorganization" ...

http://poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?id=13461

 

I like a robust newspaper.