Two cancelled subscriptions in one week because of me

Just do your job to the best of your ability. Don't take it personally.

You know you're not going to be all things to all people. Anyone with half a brain knows it. If you're doing your best, that should be good enough.

 

That, right there, is one sentence which should be placed, poster form, in every sports department in America. Just as a reminder.

 

I wasn't suggesting one make wholesale changes because of two people, and I'm guilty of the "Fuck 'em" rhetoric as well, so I didn't mean to come off as holier-than-thou.

But I do think its an attitude of "We know best ... ' that can be a problem in newsrooms. And I think its an attitude that contrasts with the complaints that the "higher-ups" are screwing everything up.

I think I saw a poll once that suggested journalists were ranked near the bottom in terms of respect. That's not the fault of bean-counters.
That's the fault of people like you and me who do the job and I think that's worth examining.

 

I think it's really the fault of blowhards on the radio/TV who do no actual newsgathering themselves but earn a good living by whipping people into a frenzy. We live in an angry society and directing one's anger at us is a reasonably safe way for them to vent. And they like to suggest, for instance, that a rejection of liberal bias is the cause of the newspaper industry's struggles, but then we see conservative newspapers faring no better than so-called liberal ones.

Market research, while flawed, is at least more scientific than angry calls. If a newspaper is going to be guided by anything other than its own common sense, research should be the thing. I don't believe it's head-in-the-sand to blow off most of the individual daily feedback. But it accomplishes nothing to be impolite about it.

I remember when the publisher David Lawrence was leaving Detroit to become publisher in Miami, the Freep published a cartoon of him sitting amid smoldering ruins, typing. The caption read: "Dear ----: Only a reader who truly cared about The Free Press would take the time and effort to send a letter bomb ..."

Newspapers can humor the kooks, but shouldn't be guided by them.

 

I agree with you on that count.

We must at least accept part of the blame for the way we're looked upon by the public.

 

"We must at least accept part of the blame for the way we're looked upon by the public."

The same public that thinks sports stars should be demonized if they don't sign an autograph for their kid? The same public who are convinced they know better than their doctors because they spent two minutes googling?

I'll pass on that blame.

 

You mean to tell me you don't know some smarmy columnists out there? And you don't know journalists who think they're smarter than everyone they cover?

That must be a really nice corner of the journalistic world.

 

Knowing a few jerks in a profession and accepting blame on behalf of the entire profession for its public image aren't remotely the same thing.

 

It sounds like you do a great job of covering youth sports. Hopefully management will listen to you and back you if they call you on it. I don't think I'd call the angry customers either. If they call you, fine. Talk to 'em. Good luck. You sound like you are running more than enough on youths.

 

That is good advice.

 

You will never satisfy everyone all of the time.

The sooner one comes to grips with this, the easier it will be to accept facts such as two subscriptions lost and move on.

 

You think the subscribers are dropping for economic reasons, and are just too proud to admit that's why they're cutting back?

Much easier to tell somebody in circulation that you're dropping the paper because sports didn't cover the unassisted triple play your 4-year-old made in tee ball than to tell somebody you can't afford your mortgage any longer, much less a newspaper subscription.