Are you in a full-blown, exception-free hiring freeze?

Curious. If someone quit his or her job in your department, regardless of his or her level of importance, title or talent, do you think your paper would hire someone to replace that person, or would you "make do" either by spreading the workload and/or making necessary promotions within?

 

Our sports department (20k circulation) is four guys: sports editor, ass't sports editor, and two sports reporters. At one point they were down to two guys (SE and ASE) for a few months while trying to bring in replacements, but they always intended to keep a four-man crew. Makes me wonder what it'll be like if the other reporter leaves before I do and we have to do the work of the fourth man.

 

No. Two people have left in the past four months and there has been no move to replace them.

 

maybe you should add a third choice: they refuse to tell me.

 

We've had two reporters retire from our newsroom. Community fixtures, really, and no move has been made to replace them.

We are 14K circulation and the news side is down to three reporters. One is out sick and has been for the last month. So in the last month we went from six reporters to three and there has been no talk of replacing them.

I know that the salary of these two long-term reporters could fund three entry level reporters and a part-time typist. It shouldn't shock me that no effort has been made to replace them, but it definitely disappoints me. Makes me wonder what happens if one of our sports writers gets tired of this business.

 

I said yes, as that's the situation we find ourselves in right now.

The net effect will be a mild cost savings, perhaps, but we still feel like we're in a position to fulfill our coverage commitments.