There's the Door...

I am old enough to know that loyalty doesn't go a long way in this business and that an editor can stick the ice pick in your back in a moment's notice. I am old enough to see the decline of circulations as a continuing trend and the rise of other forms of media. I am old enough to not be disillusioned by an editor when he says he can see me sticking around a paper for a while, when someone right down the way is being let go. I try to put myself in a situation where my writing and contributions to the paper are not overlooked. If you are asking me to out myself, I am not doing that on this thread, or anywhere for that matter.

 

Are you trying to be a dick? Seriously.
Two years without a raise is ridiculous. Reading about veterans being let go for cheaper labor sounds pathetic.
Then, to see what some journalists are making for an entry-level salary, $10 an hour with a college degree (and student loans to show for it) is insane.
I'm fortunate enough to be in a decent position, but the field we're in showcases bad business sense.

 

Sounds to me like you're willing to be happy in the biz just for happiness' sake. It's so great to be a young journalist. Then you'll be kicked in the teeth one time, and then again, and then about eight more times by the time you're 30 or so.

Come back after you've been kicked around for a few years. Let's see who your journalism gods are then.

Mine are these: Mike Royko, David Burgin, David Halberstam, in that order. Look them up.

 

It's easy to sit back and say we should change the product, but another to come up with some practical answers. And frankly, it's insulting to insinuate that the decline in quality is the fault of the writer or designer when their time and resources are being steadily drained. I spent my last year in the biz evaluating and changing our section to try to make life easier for our staff while keeping the quality of the product respectable, and believe me, if management isn't committed to actually turning out a good product, it's like an ant trying to stop a train, or whatever similar analogy you want to make.

I used to be able to spend a week (the 60-hour variety) to design and edit a special section (usually about 16 pages). Then it got down to 4 days, then it was basically 2.5 days and we were told, "We absolutely cannot have OT on this". So tell me: How would you change the product to put out something of equal or better quality while having 1/3 as much time as you used to?

We used to have four people on desk, plus an agate guy, for a prep football Friday. It turned into 3, with no agate guy. Our one prep writer is told he can have no stringers, despite the fact that we cover 17 local high schools. So tell me: How would you change the product to still provide the same quality coverage while having 40 percent less manpower on desk and being able to send only one, maybe two, writers out as opposed to five?

Change the product? Sure. Let's see: I might have time to try to think up ways to revolutionize our product in the 5 minutes between the time I wrapped up that night's edition and the time I started working on that weekend's college gameday preview wrap. My last year in the biz, I worked double-digit-hour days at least 3 nights a week, often 4. I could've just coasted along, put in 40 hours, and slapped together some half decent piece of crap and management won't have been able to tell or cared whether it's good. But that's not what I got into this business to do. So I busted ass and put together products that I was at least satisfied with. I shed blood, sweat, and tears and pretty much gave the paper everything I could offer up. But whereas before, if I put in that much effort, I would go home and think, "We did a damn good job," now I was just thinking "We did what we could with what we had." The frustration came not from a crappy final product (b/c we busted ass to make sure it wasn't crappy), but rather what that product COULD'VE been and SHOULD'VE been, had management not tried to squeeze blood from a stone. Did management know that we were putting in all those extra hours to put out the product? Sure. Did management care? Not unless we actually put those hours down on the timecard. Then all hell breaks loose. I left because I got the sense that no matter how much harder I tried, no matter how dedicated I am, it wasn't going to make the people running the paper any more committed to a good product. Their goal was different from mine.

 

Awesome post, captzulu. Simply awesome. And I left for the same reasons, too.

Fuh Real, this is what you should work with. These stories are real.

 

Gets my vote for post of the year.

 

It always has been more profitable to put out a second-class newspaper than a first-class newspaper. But now these bozos are trying to extend that to third- and fourth-class quality.

Thanks to Dan Rydell for holding the original poster's feet to the fire. Has a whiff of someone who believes he is God's gift to the industry and that everyone should get out of his way. Plenty of people here have paid their dues, honored the job and been kicked in the teeth. By jerks who see you as a line item on a budget from their annoying cost center.

 

When I read a mind-blowing post, I am not afraid to be a man and admit it. You humbled me right there.

A while ago I worked at a weekly newspaper that had coverage of 8 schools. The sports desk was so small that Calista Flockhart's ass couldn't perch on top. It was me and an editor. It happened several times during the span of my time there that I had 8 games in a day to get in-between. I know the pain of covering a bunch of schools and trying to get each equal coverage. In the end, it may have been a lost cause, but the times that I put a section out and read my articles, I got a sense of accomplishment. That's why I am in the business.

 

Fuh Real, I'll echo what Joe Williams said, and take note:

I paid my dues. He paid his dues. Those of us with real and long experience in this business have paid our dues for many, many years.

Don't preach to us. Ever again. Better you should have a little respect, a lot of respect, for those of us who have come before you.

We're pretty fucking smart, ya know.

 

My original post was directed at those people who are complaining about the industry and those who are saying they are going to quit. I respect those who come before me and I know those journalists who have blazed the trail before me. I am sick of the people talking about they are "going to quit," or "I should quit," or whatever variation there is of the phrase. Sack up and actually do it. You guys have already done it and you are happy outside of the journalism world. More power to you. Why should the people who keep saying that they are going to quit, not just quit and get it over with. Leave a spot for the next person who wants their position.

 

And I think that explains his post, perfectly.

 

What, is this "Logan's Run" or something? People are well within their rights to rail a little (or a lot) about the decline and fall of the business they once cherished (no matter how rarely it cherished them back). It's not as if they're bending Fuh Real's ear from the next cubicle. He's logging in here voluntarily, then griping about the thrashing and anger that is a part of what many feel is this industry's death.

Feel free to disagree with that prognosis, but you're asking for heartache and anguish if you think the best solution is to shut up, take whatever the bosses are doling out and blame yourself for the business' shrinkage.

Guess it's hard to be patient, though, when good positions (livelihoods) are being eliminated faster than grumblers and gripers are creating vacancies. But see, that's kind of the point...