Another one bites the dust

There's a more industry-directed goodbye column on his blog, papertigernomore.blogspot.com, as well as some thoughts on this whole process. It's good reading - Jim and I have talked about this process over the last few months, with both of us going through much of the same. I have to imagine he's both relieved and saddened to finally come to some sort of resolution.

At least the academic series in the spring ensured he'll have at least one more APSE coming his way.

 

He talked more about law school on the blog, which is linked.

 

Terrrrrrifffffic guy.... and I had to use the extra r's and f's.

I had the good fortune to help him and his paper out at a Bowl game... it was a great experience....

The way things are going, Jim, pay attention in the bankruptcy and commercial law class... bankruptcy filings are on the rise.

 

If Jim is happy, I'm happy for him. Newspapers should be sad about the loss of somone who brought all the right passions, skills and instincts, and honed them further in the business.

Have to say, though, that I hate to see law firms getting good people just because newspapers are running them out, when the schools and non-profits could use them. Do we really, really need more lawyers? Isn't the ratio of law students to actual law jobs about as out of whack as J-students to journalism jobs these days? Wills and trusts and pre-nups and adoption documents and even corporate mumbo-jumbo, I suppose that's all good and needed. But once you get into the suing of someone or the defending of someone being sued, it all seems like such a miserable pursuit.

 

This is like judging the journalism industry based on the National Enquirer and Fox News.

 

Oh, I admit, I'm not very rational when it comes to dislike/distrust of lawyers. Same as so many folks hate "the media," I guess. Knew one too many goofballs in undergrad who went to law school with no real goal beyond making a lot of coin.

No matter how badly this biz turns out for many of us, we at least can say we weren't driven chiefly by that motive.

 

Wow. Never saw this coming. And after reading this column, I'm sure nobody outside of a few bean-counters wanted to see this coming either.

Jim was THE first person to PM me when I entered the sandbox. He was always an insightful, helpful individual who freely gave of his time and helped me figure out which end of the crayon was up around these parts.

He even asked me if I wanted to send him my clips to proof. I thanked him for the offer and told him that part of my life ended when I became a flack.

And yes, this was a damn good farewell column. I'd like to have seen what Jim wrote about Chris Eggle. A home run, I'm sure.

Like the Strib not getting to read Jeff Shelman, the readers of the Ann Arbor News are the poorer for it now.

 

But the owners, shareholders and beancounters are temporarily richer for it.

 

Excellent column. Good luck, Mr. Carty.
And, agreed -- linking to past stories is not a high priority for most sites, but it should be.

 

Poorer but don't know it. Many still have a hard-on for the U-M series and will be glad to see him go. Nothing like shooting the messenger...
So who becomes the columnist/takeout guy?

 

Never met Jim but a little more than a year ago when I started posting him I recognized the name and sent him some random PM about getting some assignments from the AA News. Sure enough, the person he sent me too got me a gig covering some important high school football games. At the games I met another sportswriter who ended up comparing my article. He liked it and so did his boss and it led to my first "real" full time gig in which I made more than your average grocery clerk.

So Jim, if you are out there on this board still, and I'm sure you are, thanks for sending me down the right path. Good luck with law school.

 

Also, I wonder if Jim would be able to enlighten us about the future of Mlive and the Booth Newspapers in Michigan. I heard some rumors about all the papers going exclusively online. I know the folks at Mlive have been furiously hiring a lot of web producers with strong writing and multmedia background. But I hope that it was just that- a rumor, and nothing more.