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Community sports editor, Lawrence KS

Discussion in 'Journalism Jobs' started by wickedwritah, Jun 9, 2006.

  1. I keep telling people, if your paper and parents are screaming for youth coverage, give it to them. Find out if little 12-year old Jenny from the softball team is two-timing Johnny. See if she knows anybody who uses meth. If they want big time coverage, give it to them.
     
  2. PEteacher

    PEteacher Member

    OH MY GOD
     
  3. dixiehack

    dixiehack Well-Known Member

    Oh shit. I thought at first you made that up.
     
  4. PEteacher

    PEteacher Member

    Just noticed they staffed a photog there too. And the photos conveniently contain this link: Buy a print of this photo.
     
  5. Look, this publication is what it is — a weekly supplement devoted to youth league sports. There are stories, and there are pictures, so, duh, somebody has to write them and shoot them.

    The ad pretty much says as much. It's not trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes and make a prospective candidate think he/she is going to go to Lawrence and write about KU basketball or anything. In fact, from what I've heard, this person rarely interacts with the rest of the sports department and is responsible for his/her own thing.

    Will it be everyone's cup of tea? No way. Is it a great job to launch someone into bigger and better things? Probably not.

    Is it a decent paycheck in a fun college town? Based on what I know about the folks in Lawrence, probably. Which beats sitting on your butt eating bon bons and wondering how you're going to pay your electric bill.
     
  6. wickedwritah

    wickedwritah Guest

    I would bet reprints make this supplement pay for itself (or come damn near close to it). Six photos for Mary Jane's family, another four for John Doe's folks ... that adds up.
     
  7. udubwazzu

    udubwazzu New Member

    Why not just hire some high school kid to do this? I find it difficult to believe that any college grad wants to carry a scorebook to a kids' baseball or softball game...unless he drives a white van with shag carpet and lurks outside middle schools (color of van may vary).
     
  8. I Like HD

    I Like HD Member

    I think we can all agree this a LAME job at a good paper.
     
  9. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    I think the best way to handle something like this, if your powers that be are married to the idea, is have it be a big-ass photo magazine. Don't even worry about a lot of text, just have oodles upon oodles of action shots and reader-submitted shots to fill space (all of which can be purchased for a small fee, of course). Parents would rather see a photo of Susie Softball or Jimmy Jumping Jacks Champion than they would a story anyway, because you can't see a kid's face in a story.

    Scary thought: That random story I picked out earlier? The LEAD story that week.
     
  10. Jimmy Jumping Jacks Champion?
     
  11. SoCalScribe

    SoCalScribe Member

    Wow. I am not trashing the writer at all, who tried to make things interesting, but my goodness, that's the furthest thing from news. If the parents of the kids playing wouldn't take the time to write a story like that and e-mail it to the other team parents, why should a metro daily devote 15 inches to it?
     
  12. HandsomeHarley

    HandsomeHarley Well-Known Member

    If this pays halfway decent, they'll probably have their pick of the litter.

    Lawrence is widely considered a prime place to live in the central states.
     
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