Competition

Having a big-time competitor is pressure-filled and can be a pain in the ass -- and is also by far one of the most fun things about this business.

I positively guarantee you that the people at the Orange County Register missed the Times when the Times pulled way back on OC.

Now, of course, they have their own problems to worry about.

 

Competition made every single day on a beat exciting in one way or another. Then again, it also made you live your beat 24/7.

 

I don't think everyone gets complacent in a non-competitive situation. The problem is usually:

1.) Top management above the newsroom will want to spend less on the newsroom because there's less incentive to spend more.

2.) Top newsroom managers get an inflated sense of their competence and the competence of their favorite people under them. Without a competitor who will deliver a good ass-kicking once in a while, the bottom line blurs and things become a lot more subjective. First, how we say it (writing, presentation) becomes the measuring stick rather than what we say, because getting beat on a story isn't a problem. Then, it isn't long before how we say it becomes secondary to who's saying it: We think highly of this writer (or designer, or headline writer, or assignment editor), thus it must be good. And what it actually says starts to come in third behind 1.) Whose idea/work it was and 2.) Whether it reads/looks nice. In the absence of an objective measurement like who's ahead/accurate on the news, subjectives matter more in evaluating personnel and story play.

 

Frank, your second point is excellent. I'd like to add that in a non competitive market there is a tendancy to run a story into the ground. I'm big on getting different angles on a story or subject but sometimes, it becomes overkill.

 

Amen. And Amen.

And frankly I don't know many of us who are really all that excited about living their jobs when their jobs could disappear tomorrow.

 

I dunno Zag, I think I disagree about that last point. If you KNOW you're on borrowed time, then doing your best seems like a good coping mechanism, thinking you're wringing the most out of the experience and giving the most. A journalistic bucket list

 

Yes, I can agree with that -- but I have to be honest with you, I'm a lot less inclined to love "chasing the story" when it is interrupting my personal life than I was five years ago when it felt like it was (a) appreciated and (b) going to lead somewhere, be it better assignments, a little bump in pay, etc., etc.

Now, christ, breaking news at night is the devil because there isn't any space to run it and that's frustrating.