Next in Line ... Milwaukee

You are absolutely right, fleaflicker.

This happens, usually extending back over some time, so that it can be almost unnoticeable and people might not even realize it is going on, unless one starts thinking about and tracking it. And by then, the pattern has been set, and it is probably too late to do much about it.

It does happen, although, at larger shops, it may be the middle managers beneath the sports editor who actually engage in this more than he or she does, thus determining the pecking order of the staff, no matter what subordinates may try to do to prevent it, or to improve/change their status or visibility in a more positive way.

 

Good insight from both of you. Both papers I was laid off from were small town dailies with 4-5 person sports teams so it's obviously hard for me to relate to a sports desk as big as Milwaukee's or any other major market. It sounds like it may in fact happen more than I thought.

 

Do you really believe that? Do you really think corporate types put one iota of thought into the quality or lack thereof of an individual section thousands of miles away when they're cutting budget in the home office? They don't give a FUCK.

Go tell it to Hal McCoy, and all of the other quality people laid off in this business. Were their SEs not doing enough covering for them?

Aim your slings and arrows at the corporate assholes who are responsible for these decisions, I can get behind that. The vast majority of the time, SEs had nothing to do with layoffs and are part of the collateral damage inflicted by them.

 

I don't argue your point about the corporate types, Bubbler. But some of those sports editors were responsible for putting together layoff lists, and they made sure their buddies were protected. Not all of them are blameless.

 

I'm just saying that I know of a few papers where sports so drives the traffic, in print and on Web, that the editors in their glass offices know better than to shred that department too much. They might not like it, but my hunch is that percentage-wise, sports staffs have done better across the nation in job survival than reporting and editing staffs overall.

No, the corporate types don't give a damn about quality or which department gets whacked worst. But top editors know that, in many places, that if they want to last as long as possible in their own overpaid jobs, they better not hit sports too hard. Any SE who doesn't anticipate that by leading his staff to great work isn't doing his job.

Believe me, Bubs, I've aimed plenty of slings and arrows and artillery heavier than that at the corporate assholes. But I know SEs can influence things by the quality of their work and they often influence these things in who they protect and pump up, vs. those they hang out to dry or dangle out on disposable beats.

 

What if a particular sports editor had a talent for "gilding the lilly" if you will, of loading his staff beyond reasonable size in this economy? I know a few who had the gift. Sorry, Joe, your argument is hollow to me.

 

All is not calm.

 

Gee, I wonder when something bad might start happening at the paper.

 

Let's hope that this is as bad as it gets.