More cutbacks to come at Tampa Bay Times - UPDATE / CONFIRMATION

Agreed. The cheaper the better these days, unfortunately. I was hired in as a young pup at a salary that after a few years was far below the work I was doing in comparison to other staffers. I was fortunate enough that I had a boss who fought like hell to fix that and it was time when the bosses still cared about quality work. Those days are gone at most places.

 

Pretty much. I work as a contractor with a major media organization that pays its full-timers quite a bit more than I'm getting, even though I have more journalism experience than at least 95 per cent of them. Supposedly there's a new corporate policy that says contractors are out the door after one year so they don't have to pay us any more than we already receive. And even if there wasn't a full-time hiring freeze, a permanent job is not in the cards for me because I don't have a bachelor's degree - which is another recent bullshit corporate policy. :-\

 

There used to be a time when you could get away with out the degree. That, like the twist, is gone forever. One of the best newspaper men I've ever met did not have a college degree and was highly regarded and rewarded in this business.

 

Just throwing this out there for discussion: How many of you "experience over youth" people Tweet and/or do live chats during games, can do video standups, know how to shoot and edit video beyond just recording a press conference, know how to use Storify and have Instagram (and other assorted sharing sites as they've been developed) accounts that you update regularly? All of these things are pretty started for kids starting in the business, and they're just the realities for being a beat writer these days.

 

I know and can do all of that stuff and more.

 

You act like you need a Mensa membership to use Storify. You can learn how to use it in 15 minutes, if you have any knowledge of the Internet.

 

What would even be complicated about Storify?

 

I still fail to see the monetary value to a newspaper of reporters' use of social media. When your employee uses Instagram, it makes money, not you. Video, sure, but those skills also aren't beyond the range of anyone with the ability to become a reporter in the first place.

 

I would agree except I would say video is also useless for the most part. Maybe if you get lucky and capture some moment nobody else has (a reporter out here shot the last 10 seconds of a high school basketball game and it happened to end on an 80-foot shot), but video interviews and reporter monologues and such are worthless.

Also of note, digital revenues at newspapers have actually dropped in real dollars since 2007.

It's all for shit, the social media push.

 

The social media fad, which is what it is, is great as long as the information is correct. Too often, our great communicators covering an event are giving out inaccurate information.

 

Agreed. I never watch videos online (unless it's a cute puppy or someone crashing dramatically on their bicycle). I can't imagine how many people watch standard news videos because a) they are surfing the Internet at work or b) those videos are boring as shit.

I think there is value in some social media, to build a following for the brand and the writer. But there is no monetary value in it.

 

Ditto. Experience and talent can easily take the place of a degree in this business.