Seattle Times seeking temporary associate sports producer

Working cheap is part of paying your dues, right?

 

Possibly. Of course, after a few years, you won't get the payoff for your dues-paying, because they'll hire the next great hope who works cheap.

 

Because they keep ODing on heroin or eating a shotgun? It is Seattle music after all.

 

I've been through he hiring process on both sides. 90% of the older applicants can't hang.

I can teach a newbie how to be a good reporter with time. I can't teach an old dog how to manage social media and how to navigate our content management system. I've tried several times. It's a disaster.

Does the money play a part? Sure. But for me, the other stuff is a significant obstacle.

 

Employee A says get off his lawn!

 

And by old you mean over 30-35, right? There are plenty of journalists over that age that can handle social media just fine. It has already been around a decade and most 45 and under grew up around computers, video games, electronics, etc. Let's face it. It all comes down to perception, cheap labor and the unwillingness of "old" management to train over even think about spending time or money on stuff that matters.

 

Well, there ya have it.

Supremely glad to be out of this business.

 

Wrong. By old, I meant older than 50-60. Almost every person within that age range that we currently employ or have hired in the past entirely doesn't care about social media or doesn't care enough and is unwilling to get our CMS down.

People can bitch and whine about it being about money and age, but it's also about skills and willingness to adapt.

 

Actual photo of the last temp they hired at the Times:

 

1. Age Discrimination, which we older people already know about. Plain and simple, it's prejudice

2. In the past years, I have heard about digital first, social media, and whatever the next big flavor of the month is. What portion of revenue of newspaper groups come from social media and digital media?

 

If you think digital first and social media are flavors of the month, good luck.

 

At our shop, 40 percent of revenue comes from our digital product. That's a healthy chunk of change.