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Breaking points

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Stitch, Apr 26, 2011.

  1. Brad Guire

    Brad Guire Member

    By the way, I wouldn't say one breaking point has led me to a hard job search outside of journalism. It's all the little things, like pay freezes, benefit cuts, bad hours and off days of having to turn my phone off that keep piling up.
     
  2. flexmaster33

    flexmaster33 Well-Known Member

    An non job-related matter had me looking at relocating and possibly getting out of the biz about a year ago...I spent the better part of a year looking at jobs across the country -- both newspaper sports gigs, along with SID and PR (in sports) gigs. Got plenty of interviews for papers, but couldn't seem to crack any interest with the SID/PR side. For those that have, what was the key??? I know the jobs are quite a bit different, but still share a basic skill set. Seemed the pay and workload and most SID spots was on par or perhaps worse than what I deal with in my newspaper job. PR seemed the way to go, but almost like selling your soul to take one of those gigs. :)
     
  3. Shaggy

    Shaggy Guest

    I missed my wife's birthday six years in a row because of the NCAA Tournament. Not a huge deal but an annual reminder of shit.

    The worst was the first year of our marriage, my wife lives 2,000 miles from her family, and she stayed where we lived for the holidays. Well, I worked desk Christmas Eve and Christmas night while my wife stayed home alone, horribly depressed. I felt terrible. I stayed in newspapers for 2 more years but I knew at that point that it wasn't a long-term career for me. I'm too into my family and refuse to marry my job, which doesn't fit with a newspaper career in sports.
     
  4. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    I saw something on Yahoo a while back that listed various median salaries for various profession. Now I did not investigate how they gathered their data (urban vs. rural; entry-level vs. experienced, etc.), but I could not help but notice this:

    The listed salary for a city sanitation worker was higher than what anyone on our current sports staff (at a decent daily newspaper) is earning.

    All I could muster was: "Dear God, has it really come to THIS? I spend my days researching and writing information, painstaking hours editing and designing the best damn newspaper I possibly can. And make less than the guy who comes along after me to chuck it in the hopper?"
     
  5. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    Seriously, several breaking points for me. Not necessarily any one thing.

    Health issues have gotten more and more severe this past year.

    Scheduling issues. Working on a small staff that HAS to put out a product on deadline 365 days a year doesn't leave as much flexibility as I would like. I've had to cancel vacations because an area team advanced too far in the playoffs or we couldn't have more than one person away at a given time, etc.

    A wise old mentor told me I shouldn't lose sight of the reasons I got into the business in the first place. I was always willing to pay my dues, do the "grunt" work and gain experience wherever I could. But after almost 20 years I find myself doing the same things, not making progress and spending far too great a percentage of my time on things I truthfully don't care about. High schools and little league are fine and an important part of a community paper, but that is NOT why I got a media degree.

    The bottom line is that I've found I was enjoying the job less and less. One former sports editor told me that "80 percent of any job is crud; you just have to enjoy the other 20 percent the best you can." The enjoyable parts have gotten less and less, to the point where the other sacrifices just aren't worth it to me.
     
  6. Fran Curci

    Fran Curci Well-Known Member

    No one noticed the anti-Semitic thread in SoCal Dude's comments? Let's see, if a Jewish sports editor sends you to write about people representing a Jewish organization, it must be because he is Jewish? What if a black sports editor sent you to cover a event featuring many black athletes? Would you see that as "no coincidence?" Basically, you thought the assignment was dumb so you attribute that to the Jewish connection? Nice attitude.
     
  7. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    I tried turning my phone off, but got called out on it. Didn't think I had a duty to keep my personal cell phone on during my off days.
     
  8. SoCalDude

    SoCalDude Active Member

    Figured this was coming.
    You weren't there, you don't know the guy, yet you throw the anti-Semitic card at me.
    You didn't get a work schedule in which you, and everybody else on the staff, were "assigned" (not requested, assigned) to attend his son's bris. You didn't live for 5 years with a boss pushing his religious beliefs on you and the readers in the way he ran the department.
    The point of my post was that he had no news judgment and he sent me to do a worthless feature based on his religious convictions and even the subject of the feature knew it wasn't a worthwhile feature.
    Oh yeah, you don't know me, either, so back off.
    What's next, is the "anti-nut job" faction coming after me?
     
  9. I'd be curious to find out how those who made the jump into the world of SIDs did so. I moved back to my hometown about two years ago, for no other reason than I wanted to be closer to friends and family. But I've thought the SID route would be ideal, especially at one of the area schools, which has an unbelievable athletic program.

    I've become fringe acquaintances with the SID at said school through some freelance writing I've done. Really nice guy, and he does a nice job with coverage and disseminating information, but given the high profiles of some of the teams at his school, I think more could be done. I've thought about approaching him with some ideas, but I've never known exactly what I'd say ... "Umm, you do a nice job. Can I have it?"

    That doesn't seem right. :)

    Truthfully, at the school, I think they could really jazz up their athletics website and attract a huge throng of readers, while at the same time helping aspiring young writers on campus get a taste of the business.
     
  10. Bamadog

    Bamadog Well-Known Member

    I got the question about my take on non-traditional sports during a phone interview. I asked them if they considered cow chip throwing or watermelon seed spitting as a non-traditional sport. They hung up.
     
  11. micropolitan guy

    micropolitan guy Well-Known Member

    An accumulation over 30 years of too many nights, too many weekends, too many missed holidays, too many missed family functions, too much of seeing my son for only 30 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes at night, or covering other kid's baseball/basketball/soccer games instead of watching his ... it's only been three months at my new job but I've gone home from work in a good mood every single day.

    I enjoyed the newspaper biz, but I don't miss it at all.
     
  12. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    "I've been thinking about making the move from being a reporter to being a SID. I really respect the job you do. Would you mind giving me some advice so I can follow a similar career path?"

    Or you can call the police and say you saw the SID driving a van with tinted windows and offering children lollipops and 50-cent pieces to come help him look for his "missing puppy" and then apply for his job when he's forced to resign after his arrest.



    It's your choice... :D
     
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