Copy editor, New Jersey

Of all the shit that goes on in Sports, the amount of news that the news staff misses is incredible... and their feet are never held to any fire. The staff only responds to fire and police calls and accidents and missed a big one the other day. There was an early morning fire in Trenton in which three people were rescued by a neighbor, no reporter ever found out about it and not a mention the next day. I guess no one even called the fire dept to see if there was any activity that morning. The real talent from the news staff is looking at the Trenton Times, finding the stories we missed and regurgitating them two days late. There were misspelling's on front pages a few weeks ago, Eagles Draft pick Kolb, spelled Holb, and misspelling of superintendent Rodney Lofton, spelled James Lofton. Oh then the best, DYFS spelled DFYS. Anybody fired for those? How come "The Whiz" DiRenzio didn't get a little toasted for those? I guess because no one cares what news does, misses or misspells? Any errors by them should be brought to attention as well.....

 

To all those that have had enough and are about to leave the building... good luck to all... We'll see you at the next going away bash at a local tavern...witnessing some of the crap that the Sports crew had to swallow I applaud y'all for staying this long. I wonder how long it will take before someone yells or repremands an intern. Will management show their true colors in front of one? If you can't get experienced employees, get free ones, train them, and loose them and retrain new ones a few months later. Pad Mr. Murray's bonus a little more. For those who stayed, the worst is yet to come. The new desk set up I hear will enable big brother to see who's working and who's not. Who's looking at other web sites etc... you're in prime time firing zone crosshairs. Everything you look at on your new computer is going to be watched. So look lightly, and keep looking for better opportunities, we all will need them sooner or later.

 

So then three and a half minutes later you're back here posting again.

Give it up flyboy. We all know it's you. There's nothing wrong with cleaning as part of a job. Lots of decent people have to do cleaning, including sometimes toilets, to earn money. But since you run into the bathroom every five minutes to wash your hands thanks to what you personally said was obsessive-compulsive behavior, it probably makes more sense for you to keep the lav tidy.

 

Welcome to third grade.

 

Proofs are made TO CATCH mistakes. For some unexplainable reason, many sports departments view screwed up proofs as a sign of incompetence. That mentality needs to end.

 

And your buddy, friend, is failing as a third-grade teacher. Or should I say has FAILED.

 

Boots, I wasn't a failure as SE and I wasn't given the boot. I got myself out of the sports department and moved on to three bigger papers since.

Since you lack reading comprehension and retention skills, once again here are the things that I would do differently:

1. Make deadline every night, instead of never.
2. Work longer shifts and take on the workload of two or three editors, since the staff is so shorthanded.
3. Actually (gasp) edit the section -- put together a good-looking section with a good back page instead of haphazard, ugly pages with a nonsense story leading it.
4. Try to build office morale or at least a sense of camaraderie (gallows humor works best).
5. Spell Reggie Murray's name correctly.

 

Actually, this illustrates how little you know about circulation and advertising Frank. I know we're all trying to attract more upscale readers, more professionals, more women, right? But when the circulation drops every reporting period for 99 percent of the papers in the country, none of the advertisers give a shit about how we spin it or how posh our demographics have become.

The Trentonian is the ultimate example of this. David B. Bonfield (not Jelenic) is the man who ruined the paper, with the help of Chuck Pukanecz, by trying to make the paper "respectable." Bottom line is the paper is as dry and straight as can be now, other than the Page 6 girl and BackTalk, but it's lost half its circulation in 12 years and ad revenues have never increased for a single year.

As for Raffaele? How can you not notice that his paper is nothing but crime and ads? Believe me, he's not hurting for money, circulation is surging and he's his own boss. He's running a weekly radio program and has a full sales staff although he still does almost all the editorial himself. Not bad for a business that started as a part-time job done in his basement. What more could you want, really?