Working with a regional design center

[bennyandthejets]

I can't defend the design center concept, but I'll certainly defend those who work at such centers. And admittedly, I'm not objective -- several friends and former co-workers (sports and news both) work at Gannett centers in Nashville and Asbury Park, N.J., and the Cox center in West Palm Beach. These are all talented people I'd hire in a heartbeat. I'm sure most of them, given their druthers, would work on a "traditional" desk (going the way of the dinosaurs) or would leave the business entirely (as we all know, much easier said than done). They're handling heavy workloads, deadlines that often are ridiculously early and "home" papers that too often treat the design centers as back-office operations.

I know for a fact that the Cox center has stuck to the traditional setup of rims/slots/designers up to this point -- and comparing the Palm Beach Post to its tronc competitor to the south (which eliminated a dedicated copy desk around 2010 or '11), the Post clearly is better-edited.

Lots of good people who go in there and do best they can every day. Lots. The problem is they were sold a bill of goods -- like we all have been in the profession -- and the end result for them has not been great. My comments are not generally about the people as individuals -- other than the upper guys who kiss ...well, ya know. It is discouraging to see people who were once on the frontline, fighting for the best product they could to go out the door, that have now been beaten down to the point where the operative word/measure... is out the door. Period.

 

[Riptide]

Lots of good people who go in there and do best they can every day. Lots. The problem is they were sold a bill of goods -- like we all have been in the profession -- and the end result for them has not been great. My comments are not generally about the people as individuals -- other than the upper guys who kiss ...well, ya know. It is discouraging to see people who were once on the frontline, fighting for the best product they could to go out the door, that have now been beaten down to the point where the operative word/measure... is out the door. Period.

 

[bennyandthejets]

Wow, self-portrait. So that's your contribution? You must already be in the Journalism Hall of Fame... or Shame.

 

[cisforkoke]

Wow, self-portrait. So that's your contribution? You must already be in the Journalism Hall of Fame... or Shame.

Trust me, that's the apex of his posting ability.

 

[Fredrick]

Wow, self-portrait. So that's your contribution? You must already be in the Journalism Hall of Fame... or Shame.

I like you benny cause you are not a buttkisser 9 to Fiver. I find it interesting that after many years of the buyouts and layoffs we're finally at a point there are more non traditional Journos in the business than Journos. Way more. So now we are at the point we're TOTALLY going for click bait. We're going for views, baby. Cmon, would everybody on here admit it's finally to the point we are all like the old NY Post. Going for the sensational so we can get the clicks. The one thing still bothers Fredrick though. Why don't the non Journos finally pull the plug on print?? Cmon, let's speed this up and immediately cut the print product to three days a week if we're not willing to eliminate it completely. Go for the Wednesday/Sunday sections and kill every other day for gosh sakes. Again, the pride is gone. The Journalism majors are gone, kicked out the door. We're left with the butt kissers to the nontraditional Webbie beancounters. So just do it for gosh sakes. You've sold the buildings; you've cut the pages to nothing; you've gotten rid of copy editors and designers and cut the writing staffs to bare bones. So for gawd sakes show some balls and KILL THE PRINT EDITION please! You tell 'em Benny!

 

[bennyandthejets]

I like you benny cause you are not a buttkisser 9 to Fiver. I find it interesting that after many years of the buyouts and layoffs we're finally at a point there are more non traditional Journos in the business than Journos. Way more. So now we are at the point we're TOTALLY going for click bait. We're going for views, baby. Cmon, would everybody on here admit it's finally to the point we are all like the old NY Post. Going for the sensational so we can get the clicks. The one thing still bothers Fredrick though. Why don't the non Journos finally pull the plug on print?? Cmon, let's speed this up and immediately cut the print product to three days a week if we're not willing to eliminate it completely. Go for the Wednesday/Sunday sections and kill every other day for gosh sakes. Again, the pride is gone. The Journalism majors are gone, kicked out the door. We're left with the butt kissers to the nontraditional Webbie beancounters. So just do it for gosh sakes. You've sold the buildings; you've cut the pages to nothing; you've gotten rid of copy editors and designers and cut the writing staffs to bare bones. So for gawd sakes show some balls and KILL THE PRINT EDITION please! You tell 'em Benny!

Thank you Fredrick... I mean no ill will to anyone (though some thoroughly deserve it)....9 to 5 is/was for suits... I am old school... u got readers expecting A, B and C (from having read your publication for years) and you go from providing all to B and A... to A... then to less than A when the cuts hit... has a certain dishonesty to it in MHO. Get some balls, pick a day...run a head that says WE WANT YA MONEY BUT WE CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT...subhead: Pleaasssssee don't stop buying our rag. Signed: Publisher Joe, I-got-mine-so-screw-you-guys.

Amazing how many people are in decision-making positions who don't know what a pica is, how to edit a story, how to coach a reporter or that there are important things that readers want and need to know other than dogs need shots, don't eat raw burgers, IHOP be closed on Friday or we're haivng a special 12-page section of canned copy on the life cycle of turtles.

Could someone please turn the heat down... I'm editing a story on air conditioning repairmen who double as Chippindale dancers and that might get Riptide riled up.

 

[bennyandthejets]

Observed more than a few of these in a long life....

 

[Fredrick]

Observed more than a few of these in a long life.... View attachment 2280

You know, a lot of professions suck but Journalism should be ashamed of itself. All the superstar columnists and writers forced out either by layoff or buyout. And the ones who have survived (thus far) are the buttkissers. I'm not saying all writers are buttkissers; I'm talking about the people who run the sections and make life heck on the talented writers and columnists. Great photo there.

 

[jr/shotglass]

A couple of points. Rip, I hope none of this stings too much, but I'm one of those people who watched my paper turn to the dark side, and I've seen the result. Although I have refused to pick up the paper since they turned my old football tab into a pre-fab shadow of its former self last August.

1. Yes, I'm sure there are plenty of "good people" at design hubs. But the concept is flawed for any aspect of journalism other than keeping the corner offices financially content and fooling themselves into thinking they're keeping the genre alive. And man, they sure can fool themselves into thinking that.

2. INSTITUTIONAL KNOWLEDGE. That's what we're talking about when we talk about what has been lost. My old shop had a Sunday edition last fall where three of the four prep football pages either had the scoreline somehow transposed or the school nicknames transposed -- because the people putting those newspapers together have no idea about the area. (I know this because of people screaming on Facebook, not because I picked up the paper.)

I mean, these were iconic schools for the circ area. But those designers just don't know that. And in the same vein, they don't have that feel when Game A is a lot more important than Game B -- or that wrestling, or lacrosse, or rodeo, or sprint-car racing is a huge thing in that area, because it means next to nothing where they are.

These newspapers, in other words, become tone-deaf because the design hub is not led by the hand by the originating site, which either has no real editors there or ineffectual positions.

3. Totally a gut feeling, but I stand solidly behind it -- pride in the product is exponentially less important to people who are producing a newspaper 200 miles away from where people are reading it. They don't have to look those people in the eye each day.

4. Fredrick, I agree with you in wondering sometimes why they don't totally pull the plug on print. But then I remember two things. One, they're still trying to justify the pressroom. Two, I've yet to see a business model where an online-only enterprise actually turns a profit. Print still pays the freight, even as it gets worse and worse because of ideas such as design hubs.

I do believe the next step is for a Sunday-only print operation, sort of like the old Grit. Whether it goes away completely soon after that, I'm not smart enough to know.

5. And finally, 9-to-5 may be for "suits," but you emerge from it a whole lot saner these days.

 

[Riptide]

Yes, the industry is in the shirtter. It's all been said before. And I agree with most of it.

But don't shirt on everyone else in the pipeline. Those design center jobs are tough, too.

 

[jr/shotglass]

OK. Just so they don't spend a second of the day thinking they're "saving" print journalism. They're in it for their own survival, that and their families. Which is admirable in itself, even if it was done while stepping over the backs of others. But it's not about journalism.

 

[cisforkoke]

I mean, these were iconic schools for the circ area. But those designers just don't know that. And in the same vein, they don't have that feel when Game A is a lot more important than Game B -- or that wrestling, or lacrosse, or rodeo, or sprint-car racing is a huge thing in that area, because it means next to nothing where they are.

I get the feeling Riptide is in the "I don't give a f**k" (to use his intelligent phrasing) camp on this one.