Star-Telegram update

I don't think we're going to see it happen much any more.

 

It never should have happened.

 

How much would you pay for instant credibility in your market?
There were many fine folks at the S-T before Galloway, but he made people in both FW and Dallas take notice of the paper for the first time in years.

 

Cutting? Why, the Star-Telegram is hiring:


http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1029031

Company: DFW.com (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Position: Wanted: Freelance entertainment and
lifestyle writers
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Job Status: Freelance
Salary: Not Specified
Ad Expires: April 10, 2009
Job ID: 1029031


Description:
Are you an expert in food, fashion or the local entertainment scene? Do you live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and hang out at the coolest places alongside the hippest people?

DFW.com, a Web site and weekly print magazine that covers entertainment, nightlife, dining and style in the Mextroplex, is looking for talented freelancers who can share their passion and personality with our readers. We want writers with original ideas who can offer a unique take on familiar topics and who can guide readers to the best-kept secrets of the city.

Our ideal freelancers know the Dallas-Fort Worth market intimiately and are comfortable writing for and about the 18-to-35-year-olds who eat out, set trends, make a difference and have fun. We are particularly seeking out specialists in dining, fashion and environmental topics (our publication aims not just to tell readers how to spend their disposable income, but also how to make an impact on the world). If you are boring, unreliable or impossible to get along with, please do not apply.

Interested? Please e-mail three of your sharpest stories ideas and three of your best writing samples to Christopher Kelly, Entertainment Editor, cmkelly@dfw.com. No phone calls please.

 

Wasn't Mike Lupica pulling down something like 500K about 10 years ago?

 

Not buying it, kleeda. How much did the profits rise solely because of Galloway?

 

"Impact on the world"? Huh? What, you buy a bunch of Al Gore-endorsed crap for your condo, and you've made an impact on the world???!!!

I can't WAIT to read about that.

 

Make an impact on the world - save journalism.

 

LOL!!

 

Certainly I don't think it's worth paying that much for someone out of market. But the FWST was buying someone who had a history at a competing paper. There was precedent for that in D/FW, when the Morning News got Blackie Sherrod to jump from the Times-Herald when the war was heating up between the two Dallas papers. It's not so much the columnist's work, but the attention it brings when he leaves the competition for your paper. That's why they paid so much. I'm not saying I agree with it because I think the publicity is short-lived and I don't think we can point to a case where the addition/subtraction of a columnist has measurably helped or hurt circulation in any market. But that's why they did it.

 

Who's left at the DMN in terms of columnist(s) these days? Please have him or her, or them, turn off the lights and turn down the thermostat when they leave.

 

Which is why I'm baffled by the Denver Post's hiring of those ex-RMNers. How much will profits rise -- or possibly, will losses decrease -- because Littwin, Krieger and others (don't mean to pick on the names I know, just don't know the others) switched sides?

Ditto any notions that still might exist in Chicago about Mariotti joining the Tribune. They'd have to be kidding at this point.

As for a short-lived boost to reputation, then you'd think a nice fat signing bonus ($100K) would entice a notable name to switch, at which point you pay him maybe a 20% raise on his old salary. Where else is someone going to get that?