Changes at The Oklahoman?

First sentence is absolutely true. As for the second sentence, my educated guess is that many of the hires are recent college graduates or people with a little experience who really need the work. The pay is more than minimum wage, but not by that much -- $30K a year is what I've heard, which probably doesn't go far in Austin these days. How much actual editing is going on is anyone's guess. I'd be surprised if there are dedicated copy editors who are able to concentrate exclusively on the word side and writing headlines/cutlines.

I don't mean to give the impression that all editing/design hubs are this way. The ones I'm most familiar with are the Gannett hubs in Asbury Park, N.J., and Nashville and the Cox hub in South Florida. They pay respectably and have a lot of experienced designers and editors who do good work. Hard to say how long those hubs will be around (for example, Cox supposedly already is shifting some of its desk work to GateHouse, and jobs are being cut).

 

I have yet to hear a designer say they enjoy it. Especially since they can barely afford room and board - let alone being able to enjoy Austin.

 

Yeah, that's an excellent way to put it.

 

I see this stuff every day, too. From experienced editors.
Assembly line all the way. The sell-out on design bugs me.

 

In the world of smaller daily newspapers, the Moline Dispatch/Rock Island Argus shut down its printing press earlier this year. All its editions (along with the handful of other Midwestern daily newspapers in its family-owned chain) are now printed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa ... which, off the top of my head, is about 100 miles from the Quad-Cities. I believe deadlines are now 10 p.m. ... when I worked there about a decade ago, we had until 12:30 for the early edition, and updated pages by 1:30 for the main edition.

 

It bugs me, too. A lot. It wasn't the way I was trained. Having stated that, when I'm up against the clock and busting my ass design is the first thing to suffer. Don't like it, but don't want to have a heart attack, either.

 

Remember when newspapers truly cared about quality? Layout had to be just right. Stories impeccably edited and re-written in many cases. When newspapers mattered? Now it is ALL about the CEO and publisher maintaining their lavish lifestyles while nothing else matters. The product? LOL. It matters NOT AT ALL. The writing? Who cares? Just get it done. Respect in the community? None. Man, newspapers have officially thrown in the towel. Hate to break it to the Gannetters and all the consultants who brought this on: Guess what? When you get your way and everything is online only? Your Websites will mean nothing in your communities, especially in sports. Nobody's going to read your news stories or advertise for your news stories online and your sports pages will be read with the same interest as somebody reading a fanboy website's page. And your CEOs will be moving on cause they'll have bled all they can from newspapers, since those Websites aren't going to make a dime.

I mean think about this thread: The Oklahoman newspaper will be produced in Austin Texas and printed in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I'd just love to hear what the deadine times are. ... Oh, but the Website will be just awesome. Wait til you see that Website!