Yahoo Sports "in chaos"

Two friends who work there says the Big Lead post was an understatement of how bad things have gotten with Dave Morgan no longer hands on in sports.

They have a really gifted, hard-working team of writers but it sounds like a toxic environment - unhappy writers, a guy in charge of the department who doesn't know much about sports, squabbling between the Rivals.com guys and the new regime. They pay well - very well for writers - but the two guys I know there say the bickering and general dissent are at alltime highs.

Anyone else hear anything? I always thought it would be a cool place to work. Not now. I have one more source than TBL did and they're reliable ones.

In case you missed it:

http://thebiglead.com/index.php/2010/08/03/chaos-at-yahoo-sports/

 

I've heard the same things from my insider BUT man, do they have some great go-to guys on that site. It has become my Number 1 book mark. They have more scoops per writer than any national site, I'd guess.

It does, however, sound like a dreadful place. While the ESPN model of bringing everyone (except some writers) under one roof has caused a lot of flak, it sure helps the communication flow to have everyone in Bristol. I don't know what the reason is -- housing prices in LA? -- but Yahoo apparently lets everyone live wherever they'd like. (Just found this out from an old colleague, whose editor coworker is going to Yahoo but doesn't have to move there).

Can you imagine the problems associated with EDITORS living all over the place? I'm all for doing things non-traditionally -- the old newspaper model certainly has flaws, as we're experiencing -- but that's just downright asinine.

 

I wonder what the editing structure is like --- how many assigning editors are there, for example?

 

Curious why you say this. Today's technology certainly negates almost all previous disadvantages of having editors scattered nationally.

 

Aside from Esquire and Sports Illustrated in the 1960s - and even then people were bitching about Tex Maule - is there any magazine/newspaper/website that hasn't had the majority of people bitching about the work environment? Anytime there are writers and editors, there are going to be conflicts. I suppose it could be chaos at Yahoo! Not sure how that chaos would be any different than what's been at every other publication - print or online - that's ever existed.

 

Technology, schmechnology, Jersey guy. We're not robots -- there is some actual upside to human interaction with co-workers, to staff content meetings, to yelling across the room when you need a quick answer on something, to going over a story with a writer while sitting next to him or her.

I don't know the people at Yahoo or even the new guy my former coworker told me was heading there but it takes an awfully disciplined editor to do that kind of job from the living room.

Editors out there, how many times have you needed an answer, called them and gotten voicemail? If you work in an office together, that doesn't happen. They're sitting right next to you.

I didn't start this post and don't know a lot about this specific situation but I could certainly see where the term "chaos" comes in.

 

Fixed.

 

Does a core group of Yahoo editors always gather in L.A.?

If so, that tells me that the editors working in other locations aren't as vital --- or at least couldn't work in scattered locations without the help of the editors in L.A. doing a little extra.

 

My experience as well.

I don't think there's any reason for everyone to be gathered in an office.

 

The "real newsroom" worked because --- although writers were scattered everywhere --- the editors were all in one place.

 

I bet 98.7% of the regular posters on this board would trade whatever job they are in now for a gig at Yahoo sports, chaos and all.