Sports Writer Texarkana, TX

Not a big fan of Texarkana, and sorry to hear that Johnny Green (Sports Editor) is retiring soon. He's good people.

 

Were you honestly unaware of the condition of our industry when you decided to join this field of lunatics? I graduated less than a year ago from an SEC school and while the low wages are pitiful, I knew it was an utter waste of time to complain about it. You don't go through presumably four years of schooling, requiring buckets of cash, if you don't know what you're getting in to. In the words of 99 percent of athletes to ever step up to a podium in post game: "It is, what is it."

 

The pay was bad 10 years ago, but it's reaching new levels of pathetic. I got an offer from a Texas paper about this same size, about the same rate. The publisher was up front and very nice during the phone interview, and told me frankly that the previous SE had to work a side job to make ends meet.

It is too bad that this industry has become a hobby, instead of a profession. It's getting hard to turn my eyes away from PR jobs that pay twice as much with a routine work week.

 

Texarkana used to be an old folks' home in sports and may still be. The only place where they had a sports editor and a sports director in the print biz. I once thought that was a negative, but not as much these days.

I used to run into Louie Avery at Cowboys games and generally at anything their teams were involved in in the Metroplex. Hope he's doing well.

 

Yeah, I thought about that. Times have changed a lot since I was in university 20-something years ago. But, it is what it is and no one is forced to go into or stay in the field. If money is what one craves, they have every right to go do something else.

We've had tons of discussions on these boards with young people getting into the business. As long as they understand the pros and cons of it, it's their life and their choice.

I honestly felt that I would pay my dues for a few years and move on to bigger and better beats and places. But, hey, I know colleagues older than I doing the same sort of grunt work. Sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn't.

 

More and more, this is becoming the truth of the matter.

I've finally begun looking in earnest at other job possibilities, and I'm realizing more than ever that there are very few professions that are paying worse than journalism.

Most pay more, and even things that pay only the same are usually jobs that nonetheless include more regular hours, less travel, way less stress, and no heartache. In short, they appear to be easier jobs for either the same or more money.

Despite my love and passion for this industry and my desire to continue in it -- mostly because I believe that I have much to offer and that I'd still like to contribute and accomplish -- these other options are becoming more and more appealing.

 

such as?

 

I wasn't aware that PR jobs were so plentiful. I wasn't aware there were many jobs out there period.
I also wasn't aware the newspaper industry ever paid well.
Guess i'm behind the times.

 

The industry has always been on the lower end, but 5-10 years ago you could count on at least a cost of living pay raise and usually a meager bit more every year or two. Now, not only are many of us dealing with furloughs, but also seeing our staffing cut while expectations for web coverage drives up the workload.

And yes, there are plenty of PR jobs...many more opportunities in that realm than you'll find on here. The challenge is making the leap from this side of the media industry to the other, but all the people I know who have done it have zero regrets.

 

where are you getting this info?

 

Someone please point me in the right direction of "PR" jobs because I refuse to keep working for 20-25k for the rest of my life....I love sports, but I like a roof over my head a tiny bit more....

 

What exactly is a "statistical profile," and how does one write it?