BLOGS! Christie Blatchford speaks out...

Yep. I put those words in there for a reason.

And employers in a lot of industries would find out they get better production out of their people if the don't just pay lip service to their well-being. I don't blame anyone for getting out of this one.

 

Nailed it.

If media organizations were transitioning their staffs to multi-task because they knew that audio, video and Web formats were the way of the future, and print less so, that would be one thing. But they're piling all the new duties on, for no compensation in most cases, because they can, and the ol' carrot-and-stick approach to motivation is dominated entirely by the stick. If you want to stay employed, you now have to dance at double the speed to music that many customers might or might not want to hear. So many of the bosses are just guessing now.

This isn't leadership, this isn't management. This is just bossing around in what smells like panic. The suggestion that people necessarily bring lousy work ethics to their daily tasks is insulting, too. Some folks who "only" have to work on one story a day actually do work on that story all day long, rather than hitting the links after four hours. Shoving more work at them doesn't make that story any better.

 

Damn solid.

 

Mr Williams,

Twist this any way you please and if you feel insulted, go tell it to the Marines. I never said all people bring lousy work ethics to the table, but some clearly do. And for many the brevity of their daily typing is a point of pride, a matter for bragging rights and the fuel for their senses of entitlement. Woe is you, you have to get a sound file or put together a podcast. I don't know that doing any of these outside things brings more readers' eyeballs to your work, but on the off chance that it might, suck it up. You'd swear that the ones griping were working on the front lines and ducking bullets. Like I said, if it was freelance income that powered this stuff, a horde would be racing through their daily duties to get to the found money. Work was never so stressful that Christie Blatchford couldn't do her radio gig or write a book or what-have-you. This is doubly rich coming from Blatch--as a bigfoot, her tracks in the Globe newsroom are like Bob Lanier's. Her taking on the bullying of sportswriters by management is like Madonna adopting a African trophy child in an effort to stamp out hunger in the Third World. Or like Albom riffing on honesty.

Panic? It's guessing alright, but what's your alternative, status quo? Going old school? Your fedora is too tight.

YD&OHS, etc

 

Maybe I'm in the minority, but the last thing I want from a newspaper's Web site is poorly shot video and a fucking podcast. That crap adds nothing to my reading experience. I want more in-depth reporting than they can put in the ever-shrinking news hole. I want reasoned, measured analysis.

If I want to watch video, I'll watch the news on TV.

 

You're very fashionable, given the trends in this business: Blame the rank and file for the ills and woes. Yeah, the folks in the trenches don't work hard enough. That is what is wrong with the industry.

Here's hoping I didn't need the blue font. Oh, and using the freelance analogy blows your premise, because people kick it into another gear because it brings some compensation for the extra work. You're down on folks who don't think it is a fair business practice to unilaterally change the terms of a transaction -- go try it at your grocery store and see what happens.

And leave my fedora out of this, while you go s--- in your hat.

 

Mr Williams,

You can stay old school while they tear the old school down. You want to race to the defence of the hard-working little guy and slackers will use you as a human shield. You don't get it because you don't know the context--Blatchford is the last one who should complain about this, she's completely removed from it. I've worked with lots who got by with the bare minimum but worked harder a one-legged tap-dancer when it came time to make a bit of cake on the side. I'm in the Leonard Schecter school when it comes to the sportswriting whored (intentional). Press row complains that Bolt doesn't run through the finish line but any extra effort--hey, I'm on the clock.

Play the populist if you please. Misrepresent what I've written. And that dump I'll take in your hat and pull it over your ears.

YD&OHS, etc

 

Indeed. Blatchford has a finite number of words, but has recycled them in at least one book of drek, a bunch of recycled columns that were painful to read once.
But it was OK with her as long as she got paid.
I'm not big on blogs either, but the toothpaste ain't going back in the tube. You either march along or get marched over.

 

No I haven't...Shallow Cran.

 

Once again, someone confuses the blog content itself with the troglodyte comments at the bottom of the page.

What an utterly daft bit of work. Somebody should have alerted her to the difference. 98 percent of all sports blogs are terrible, but that doesn't excuse this sort of confusion this late in the game.

 

I think Joe Williams had a good point.
I just got through covering the "away" part of my NFL team's training camp, where I blogged, narrated video highlights, and tried to find time to write newspaper stories. As I said to someone: "I'll stand on my head and recite the Pledge of Allegiance into a camera if they want me to, but they need to show me they have some idea how to make money off of this."
I have seen no evidence that this is the case.

 

"I have seen no evidence that this is the case."

Of course not, because there is none.