Problems at Patch.com

Even from that post, I don't really think they were asking them to make cold calls. It sounds like they wanted the person to function like the editor of a local paper would, which I don't think is out of line. When I was a local editor, I was attending things like chamber of commerce meetings and handing out swag at local high school's career day. I had done similar things at a smaller newspaper I worked at before. At both places, I didn't get the impression that I was to be selling ads, but if someone did express interest, to forward their name along to the advertising department.

 

And this story was based on a complaint from ONE unidentified person who claimed to be a Patch editor. There is plenty to criticize about the way Patch did its business. It's amazing that people were so eager to do so that they would reach for crap like that.

 

Yep.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_LQ4_MhDu4&feature=kp

 

Good for Patch, although I am sorry to see that the company is almost completely void of racial diversity -- if the executive staff is any indication. http://www.patch.com/about/. But I do wish them well in their quest to prove that local online news has a profitable future.

 

Chairman of the Board bio:

Rode that job right to the top, he did.

 

I was a Patch editor from 2010-2012 and was never forced to sell advertising. To attribute anything close to reality in that steaming pile of fertilizer Henry Blodget calls journalism is a huge mistake. Did we hand out mugs and shirts? Yes. Did we schedule open reader meet-and-greets with the ad rep? Yes. Did the Patchmobile visit my town? Yes. Did we have a table at the local street fair? Yes again. Did the ad rep ever once order me to sell, or write a story in an effort to make a sale? NO and NO. Did he specifically avoid the appearance of a conflict with editorial because he knew it would harm the brand, and still managed to make our town the second-best selling for ads in our cluster, and the second-most read? YES and YES. There was much about the Patch strategy I disagreed with, but the relationship between sales and editorial wasn't one of them. Great people, professional, doing great work under impossible circumstances. I will always despise my journo brethren who knew better but had no problem in openly criticizing Patch with no basis in fact other than anonymous ax-grinding from pseudo-sources. Begging your pardon, but you can all go t' hell.

 

The Patchmobile!

 

Patch.com is hiring NYC-based copy editors who seem to handle content from across the country.
http://www.mediabistro.com/joblistings/jobview.asp?joid=169118

 

Just keep in mind that this is a company that fired 90 percent of its work force in January.

 

Fixed, you know, for added optimism.

 

I heard such great things about this company, including from the above quoted poster.

 

This is Patch, not The Tennessean.