too picky?

There's a sense of entitlement because many larger papers ARE hiring kids straight out of college. They are cheaper. Bigger papers can also absorb an inexperienced hire easier than smaller operations.

Exactly. The young lady in the original post could probably get hired at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She has the right gender and apparently the right attitude. :

 

Anyone who makes a blanket statement about people who work in any aspect of this field are assholes. Everyone is not striving for the same job, nor should they be. This is something that only experience has taught me - that each of us are cut out for certain positions where we can excel, and a career should be an exercise in finding our niche.

We're all in this together, from the enterprise writer at the New York Times to the editor of the smallest weekly in America. It would be nice if everyone would remember that from time to time.

 

She might not get from a weekly to the DMN, but could she write for the Plain Dealer?

 

i started at a weekly and ended my journalism career at one of the 20 biggest newspapers in the country. my wife followed the same track.

anyone who thinks all weekly reporters are "there for a reason" is a judgmental idiot. it's like saying anyone at a 10K circulation daily is there for a reason. while many want to climb the ladder, plenty of journalists -- and people in any other profession -- are satisfied being the big fish in a tiny pond. you won't find many pulitzer winners at suburban weeklies but i guarantee you can find plenty of talented journalists at weekly papers.

if you look down on someone because of where they work, you need to take a serious look at yourself and wonder why you're so judgmental. life is not all about status and not everyone wants or needs to be at the biggest and best place to be happy.

 

A lot of hiring editors at dailies do have trouble wrapping their minds around hiring weekly writers or editors. That's why I always tried to emphasize the fact that I ran my weekly desk with daily deadlines, did stringer work for small dailies, etc.

 

I personally would never have considered working at a weekly, but I have the utmost respect for the folks there. I think it's a misconception that weekly reporters and editors don't have to worry about deadlines. If anything, they have to worry about deadlines even more, or they'd never have a crying shot at fitting in writing, editing, laying out pages, taking photos, writing captions, designing, planning, handling freelancers, etc., etc., etc. into a limited amount of time.

 

:'(  :'(  I'M AN ASSHOLE TOO!   :'(  :'(

 

Denis Leary would be proud.

 

I started at a weekly. Well, a twice-a-week paper.

I had no intention to work for a newspaper when I came out of college (broadcast major), but that was how I got my start. A daily wouldn't have given me the time of day.

Let me tell you one thing that weekly taught me that daily work didn't: We had no wire copy or wire photos. If I didn't fill the sports section, there was no sports section.

Try planning a daily section when you can't cop out and use wire.

 

No daily paper could survive without wire copy or should for that matter. AP/Knight Ridder and teh like produce stories that most local writers can't, mainly because the events are happening all over the country/world. But props for filling up your twice weekly with all local content. I'm sure that kept you plenty busy.

 

I've been at my weekly for almost two years now, and while weeks have come and gone where I've questioned my sanity, I enjoy it for the most part. I operate as my own entity more or less. If the section sucks, it's my fault and no one else's. If it's good, I get to take the lionshare of the credit. I believe it's helped me become a better all-around journalist. I'd never laid out a page or handled a camera before I started this gig. I'm light years ahead of where I was when I started, but that's not to say there's not still a lot to learn. But, in the end, I believe I've become more marketable (not that I'm angling for a way out). The control and freedom I have to put everything together is unparalleled. Plus, I essentially come and go as I please. That's a nice perk. Because I only cover three schools, I see the same people every week. That's enabled me to cultivate sources better. I don't know many prep writers, but I sometimes wonder how they know what's going on when they've got 20, or 30 or 40 schools to cover.

Someone posted that some people like being the big fish in the little pond, and that's fairly accurate. People know me, though, I'm mostly a ghost in town if I'm not covering something. People generally light up when I'm around. A few months ago, I was at this event, and all these kids in the crowd start saying, "That's Tim." My fiancee happend to be there with me, and she thought it was pretty cool how all these kids were gawking at me while I'm walking around taking pictures. That's not quite as prestigious as a Pulitzer, but it's nice gesture nonetheless. No one has threatened my life, so that's validation to me that people appreciate my efforts. However, it can come back to bite you in the ass when you have to write scathing and unflattering things, only to see the subject of said things within a day or two of said publishing. No fun at all, but a necessary evil of the business. Mariotti wouldn't last a week out here.

Did I expect to be here when I was in college? No. It took me more than a year after I graduated to find a job. I was turned down by two dozen papers in every corner of the country. Most times, I never got an actual rejection, just weeks of silence until I got the hint. I got one offer at a small afternoon daily, but it wasn't the right place for me. A chance e-mail to an old professor six months later led me to my current stop. I was a little wary, but I took it figuring I'd stay for a year and move on. Two years and counting ......

Do I have big dreams? Of course, but I also have realistic expectations. We all want to get to Sports Illustrated, but how many of us actually do? I know I'm not an effin stud, but I'd like to believe I do quality work and that people look forward to devoting 20-30 minutes each week to read my stuff. If uninformed people want to stigmatize me as crazy hack, so be it. But if the readers are satisfied week after week, I don't think there's much more to ask for.