Cursing in the newsroom

Depending on how long I can try to cool off, there's going to be some cussing in the KG house. I'm on a warpath now. Y'all can have my sweet card (but I'd like it back when it's over please).

 

What if you're bumping uglies in the library at 2 a.m.? Then can you curse at them.

 

Um. Wow.

 

I know we've gone into that crap on past threads.

Election night? Try that shit for pretty much EVERY high school football Friday Night.

Much as I respect many of the news reporters I have met and worked with, some of them just don't get what we put up with regarding deadlines in sports and never will.

 

Pimpin' ain't easy whether you're writing sports or news.

Cover a 7 p.m. meeting that goes into executive session at 7:30 and comes out at 9:15 to take a bunch of action you were there to write about and then try to sort out whether they violated FOIA laws when, guess what, your deadline is 9:30.

Try getting a story in by the 11:30 1A deadline while standing outside the scene of a double-homicide at 10:50 with a bunch of TV folks waiting for the sheriff, chief, pio anyone to stop chatting up the female deputy coroner and give you their statement.

Try sitting at your desk at 11 p.m. after a 14-hour day calling people, anyone, who will double-confirm a hot news item you found about hours earlier but can't run without a second source and you can't go home because your competition may have it.

 

The bulk of news reporters aren't on those types of beats, though.

A lot of them are working secondary government beats in small towns where if they don't get it by 8 p.m., they can forget about it, since the top pol goes to bed by 8:30 so he can work the fields/run the mechanic shop in the AM.

At the top of the fray, yes, news reporters suffer the late deadlines, too. But not all of them, and not as often.

 

Maybe all the news reporters you know. That's a pretty sweeping generality. I've worked at tiny papers and at 100,000 (hardly top of the fray) and I've never had an 8 p.m. deadline. Night meetings always get in the next day - that's why they call it news.

 

In sports, every night is election night so cursing should be permitted.

 

I believe I set a personal record last night.

 

I broke it today!

 

Well, yes, when you cover three meetings a month, sure. And I've been a news reporter at a 15k, I know how it works.

When a high schools guy is covering four games each week during basketball season, he's seeing a lot more deadline time than a news reporter would be.

 

At least one night meeting a week for me. And let me tell you, the toughest deadline for me is making sure I have all my stuff done by 5:30 p.m. a couple of times a week so I can pick up little Write-brained from pre-school. If you don't think that's deadline pressure, you haven't met Mrs. Write-brained.