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**It Happens

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Moderator1, May 23, 2012.

  1. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    http://jimromenesko.com/2012/05/23/shits-happens-in-downsized-newsrooms/


    sorry, not having enough people working there doesn't cut it as an excuse in my book. Not for this one. "We f-ed up," is about all you can really say
     
  2. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    I disagree. Overworked editors leads to fatigue. If you blame the editors, then the publisher and owners deserve blame as well. I blame the CEO.
     
  3. I Should Coco

    I Should Coco Well-Known Member

    Agreed ... you have to at least read the heds and cutlines, and make sure the stories end.

    But this sounds insane:

    Not much copy editing can get done at that pace.
     
  4. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Whether it's insane or not, you can't say that you don't have enough people to do the job properly.

    Hell, when people call now to point out a mistake, they invariably say, "Don't you people have proofreaders?"

    I have to bite my lip to keep from saying, "Proofreaders? I wish. We barely have editors!"
     
  5. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Agree. Publicly, it's we f-ed up. Everyone in every line of work is overworked but they don't want to hear your excuses.

    Privately, especially if the publisher/CEO/bigwig says something, is where you unload.
     
  6. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    I disagree.

    There are still readers who care what is in the paper. They deserve the best product possible. If readers call and ask about the proofreaders, then I'm not biting my lip. They deserve to know the truth about their community institution.

    And when management doesn't care about the quality of the product in the name of the almight profit margin, then don't get upset when mistakes happen.


    And that editor's e-mail response was ridiculous. He defends them by saying they didn't layoff any copy editors in one graf, then admits in the next sentence that they've piled up a lot more work on them. It doesn't take a high-priced (although this is JRC, so perhaps not) member of management to figure out that quality is going to suffer if you pile more work on top of already overworked employees.
     
  7. SixToe

    SixToe Well-Known Member

    This.

    Just tell callers "We are understaffed and overworked and we f'ed up."
     
  8. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]

    ... and if the CEO is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our media institutions in general?

    I put it to you, Stitch -- isn't this an indictment of our entire American society?

    Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America! Gentlemen!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  9. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    Do any of you care when your order is fucked up at McDonald's? I don't. It just pisses me off. Couldn't care less whether someone didn't show up for their shift, whether it was someone new working, etc.

    Like many, I can be high-minded about what we do. I think it's very important.

    But the bottom line is that we put out a product for public consumption. We are McDonald's to our readers. They don't care about our problems. They never will.

    I tell my people that all the time. No one wants to hear a bunch of excuses when something of that magnitude is screwed up -- and I say that as someone who accidentally included the same word in a story a few years ago. I was on an unexpected early deadline, my technology failed on-site and our desk didn't read it as they normally would as a result.

    In-house, it was understood that it was a perfect storm of bullshit, though ultimately, the responsibility for typing the word was mine.

    But as far as the public is concerned, you just apologize and take your lumps.

    The public understands that more than a bunch of excuses they don't care about ... whether the excuses carry weight behind closed doors or not.
     
  10. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    So that is going to make them feel better?

    If you bought a new car and it was a piece of crap and you called the head of Kia to complain and they said that they severely cut back on the quality control on the production line so that the likelihood of turning out lemons was just a lot higher, you'd thank them and happily drag the car to the garage?
     
  11. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    Do more shit with less.
     
  12. UNCGrad

    UNCGrad Well-Known Member

    As Johnny Sain used to tell a young Jim Bouton, the world doesn't want to hear about labor pains. It only wants to see the baby.
     
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