Jason Quick opens up about leaving the Blazers' beat

Elliotte, to me, he seems like a guy who went into this business with a naive impression that everything was going to be hunky dory. The next thing he knew, bam, it wasn't. Beat guys see and experience a lot of shit they wish they didn't have to. Thirteen years ago, he was young and dumb. If he stays in journalism another 13 years ago, he'll have another revelation about this business and the people in it. It's called maturing.
I sense a case of burn out with him. I sense a case of disillusionment. I also sense a guy who might be at the crossroads of whether he wants to continue in journalism. When that happens, you have to step back, take a break an reevaluate things. I think he's beginning that process and will continue to do with his new beat. I wish him the best.

 

I feel like a whole generation of newspaper journalists Quick's age (between, say, 35-45) has been sort of trapped by the economic realities of newspapers. And by that I mostly mean that Quick was probably accomplished enough to get a shot at being a columnist or having a boutique position like the one he asked for. In another era, or at another paper, that probably happens. 13 years is too long to be on a beat, frankly. For employee and employer.

Obviously what's killing newspaper has 99 percent to do with advertising's collapse, so don't flip out about what I'm about to say, but a reason a lot of newspapers are "blah" is because there was less and less upward movement. Even if you were good, there is often a hacky old columnist above you who will never leave so the alternative isn't to wait forever, it's to leave the paper entirely. There are very few papers like the KC Star who decided to give a shot to young guys like Mellinger and Babb, and that only happened because Posnanski and Whitlock left.

To be honest, getting to another paper or a national platform is probably what Quick should've done (or tried) a few years ago. I don't know if he's good enough to be the Oregonian's lead columnist. That's something I don't follow closely enough to say. But it does seem like he's too good to keep grinding away on the Blazer beat forever, especially if he's weary about it. the problem might be that Portland is a great city to live in. Maybe he had friends and a good house and a relationship he didn't want to leave. That's one of journalism's great frustrations. To get to the mountaintop, often your personal life is the first casualty. And if you'd prefer to be a healthy, reasonable person with stable relationships, you might not make it to the mountaintop. It's a frustrating reality, especially when there might be someone squatting above you, blocking your ascent.

I honestly don't feel like this interview was quite as damning as people here think. He aired some frustrations, but he certainly isn't naive or a fanboy.

 

It would have bothered me as a first person column. As an interview, it's interesting. Don't we all want to know what the reporter "really thinks"?

And, while I'm sure his bosses aren't thrilled with him, that's b.s. too. Newspapers are in the business of finding out what people know/think. They shouldn't be so afraid of letting people know what goes on behind the scenes in their own business.

 

No. Not even a little bit.

 

I read that and have absolutely no problem with it.

I probably wouldn't have done it myself, but everybody's situation is different.

I don't know Jason but he seems like a thoughtful, interesting person -- the kind we need more, not less of in this business.

 

I'd bet that if many others among us had gone through the same or a similar interview, our responses and the results would have been much the same.

It's a little naïve-sounding in a couple places, but that's just the disillusionment/wishing talking after a lot of years and realizations. But I, too, didn't think this was really damning. Not if you're honest, true and realistic.

I also think just moving onto a new beat after 13 years on the Blazers may reinvigorate him a bit. That's way too long to be on one beat, unless it's specifically what you want and you're happy there.

 

When I was covering colleges I had a radio show and I was friends with the co-host, who traveled with the football and basketball teams and we had gone out drinking many a time and talked shop and bitched and whined about our jobs.

There was an incident at football practice where an out-of-town columnist came in to do a story and the PR staff wouldn't let him into the practice field, even for the last five minutes, which is when they opened it up for everybody else.

The columnist went nuts on the PR guy and it became a bit of a story. CNN/SI and ESPN.com both had stories on it.

Anyway, we're on the radio next morning and my co-host said, "That couldn't have surprised you, you've told me what a pain in the butt their PR staff is."

I said, "I've definitely never said that." (Colossal lie...) and then I scribbled STFU on a piece of paper and held it up.

He regrouped and said, "Maybe I'm thinking of someone else..." I said, "You are..."

Fortunately, this was just a few minutes after 6 am and nobody who mattered was listening.

The Quick interview read like him sitting with the Blazers guy and complaining over drinks. It's a conversation we've all had with colleagues or co-workers, but it is not for public consumption.

Quick's answers are all incredibly honest, but consenting to an interview like that was not the smartest thing for Quick to do.

 

I have no problem with any of it either. But it's not our opinion that matters, if it pisses off his SE or the ME or a publisher, it could very easily cost him his job.

 

This.
It should come as no surprise if he's get in trouble with his bosses.

 

Certainly, it read like something done by someone who wants to make sure he's not on the Blazers beat anymore. Bosses should want to change it up now more than ever, for both Quick's and their coverage's good.

 

I'll predict that the issues he raises will recur in some form throughout his career. Those are the occupational hazards. If they still bother you after the naivete has worn off, it's going to be an unhappy tenure in the business.

 

It's already changed up. But he also ripped the Oregon beat in the process.

I think and hope most of us would have kept most of those feelings out of the puvlic realm. There is no reason to lie but also no reason to divulge everything.