BIG CHANGES- Small, local paper

You're a stringer, not staff. It's very nice that you care about the overall product, but they obviously don't wanna hear it. The good news is that no matter how fucked up things get, they can never take away what you learn. I think going featurey is a mistake on local sports from the paper's standpoint, but it can work in your favor as an individual. Not that 600-word features are anything special, but my first full-time job involved pumping out three of those a night off phone interviews while either covering a game or (much more often) taking games over the phone and writing a couple roundups. Not awards material, but it made me very, very fast, and also capable of having some fun with the language in a limit that prevented me from getting myself into too much trouble. Meanwhile, I kept on the lookout for things that I could legitimately sell to them as something longer, although granted the people I was working for seem more reasonable than what you describe (this was also several decades ago). Try it their way for awhile. That's how I looked at it some years ago when Gannett bought my paper and the changes were driving people crazy: This is a challenge, to see if I can be a Gannettoid. To quote the great Bum Phillips on Don Shula and perhaps other coaches, too: "He can take his'n and beat your'n and take your'n and beat his'n." Be one of those guys who can get it done no matter what hand you're dealt. Doesn't have to be permanent.