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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Anybody want to work just 32 hours per week?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Inky_Wretch, Jan 13, 2009.

  1. Doctor Seuss

    Doctor Seuss New Member

    They have over 30 in sports? Do you mean counting both the NWA bureau and Little Rock office, or just the staff in Little Rock? The edition up in NWA is kind of a different animal, so lumping it in with the staff in Little Rock doesn't seem quite fair.
     
  2. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    I've discovered a good rule of thumb for dailies is one newsroom worker for every 1,000 circulation. The DOG's huge Sunday-only sales skew the numbers a bit, but still they are pretty well-staffed considering their daily circ.
     
  3. pseudo

    pseudo Well-Known Member

    Fuuuudge. Hometown kid played for the Travs last year, and Traub was damn solid on that beat.

    Not that quality seems to matter any more ...
     
  4. Slash

    Slash Member

    Just to clarify.

    Pete covered the Arkansas Twisters and high schools. Up until last year, he covered the DII schools that play in the Gulf South Conf. He’s covered a lot of beats in his time there.

    Todd covered Arkansas State and the AA Arkansas Travelers.

    The ADG will continue to cover those things, but the remaining writers will be stretched. I know all of those guys and have worked with them. My heart goes out to them.
     
  5. football17

    football17 New Member

    What sucks is, from what I hear, two sports writers at the ADG's Northwest bureau have been talking about moving back to their home states recently. A supervisor had to know that. With that in mind, why not let those two guys go and keep Rob Keys, who is possibly the best writer the ADG had based in Northwest Arkansas after Scott Cain left the business.

    If they picked a salary and cut the folks above it, then why were Bob Holt and Tom Murphy (who hasn't been there long) not cut, but Keys was?

    And in LR, why were Todd and Pete cut but not Tim Cooper or Robert Yates.. they all seem to have the same seniorty of many, many years. None of those four should've been cut in my opinion, I'm just trying to understand the logic...
     
  6. arkansastraveler

    arkansastraveler New Member

    Most of us are, but it's futile...
     
  7. So Rich Polikoff was spared?
     
  8. stix

    stix Well-Known Member

    Fuck, I think Americans work too much already, even at 40 hours per week.

    I mean, we have to do it and it's come to be accepted, but think about how much time you spend wishing that time was over when you're at work? It's a damn depressing thought.

    If I had the option, I'd rather just make a bargain with God to total up how many years all the hours of work came to, eliminate those years from the end of my life and give me a money tree in my backyard so I could live without working. If I had to die at 60 rather than 80, so be it.
     
  9. ArkansasGuy

    ArkansasGuy New Member

    http://lanceturner.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/walter-hussmans-brave-words-in-the-wake-of-democrat-gazette-layoffs/

    Thanks for being so brave, Mr. Hussman. You are an inspiration to newspaper employees around the nation. ::)

    Also was Werner Trieschman canned yesterday too? He was one of the Democrat's main feature writers. Yet it kept Jennifer Christman, who does a pop-culture focused column?
     
  10. satchmo

    satchmo Member

    Everyone's life sucks, but let's put something in perspective here:
    There are 25 full-time sports staff at the Democrat-Gazette, which covers a state with 75 counties, 305 school districts, five NCAA Division I colleges, seven NCAA Division II schools, two Class AA Minor League baseball teams, an AF2 football team — and now four full-time reporters covering sports from the state's capital. Last week there were 8.
    I've got friends there, a lot fewer as of Monday. Don't start pissing on their graves or the fresh ones without a body in them yet.
     
  11. ArkansasGuy

    ArkansasGuy New Member

    JayFarrar's point stands and is solidified with the numbers you posted. The Democrat staff was biting off more than it could chew already, let alone after whacking three of their longest-tenured reporters and losing another to the bar exam.
    BTW, did Wally go to the Final Four this year? Seems wasteful for him to go there on the paper's dime when no local teams were in Detroit when the paper is laying people off.
     
  12. littlehurt98

    littlehurt98 Member

    Yes he did go to the final four. I remember him calling in to one of the state wide radio shows and reporting 'live' from the final four. I'm guessing it was on the paper's dime.
     
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