Lead sports desk, NE Mississippi Daily Journal (footnote added)

We need to fill a lead sports desk job at the NE Mississippi Daily Journal ASAP. Our lead desker is leaving Oct. 6 for a teaching gig after 2 1/2 years of good service and it's a crucial time of year.

No beginners, nobody who "really wants to write." This is night deadline page design and production 5x with a high level of performance demanded. I started in that gig in 2001 and have been the Journal's SE since 2006, but your mileage may vary.

The Journal is a locally owned 35K daily with a new press (!) coming on line in October. We'll be making a transition from Quark to InDesign early in 2013. The new person will be a full partner with me in a "clean sheet" rethinking of how we do things and what we put in the paper. Our primary focus is local and regional coverage, which may be why we have grown circulation in a couple categories in the part year.

Salary talk will start in the $35k range, which goes farther in NE Mississippi than in a lot of places.

We're certainly eager to talk to anyone who's been thrown out of work lately or who finds themselves shuffled into a meat-grinder "design center" job.

I'm moving as fast as I possibly can on this while still making a good decision.

Questions? E-mail me at john.pitts@journalinc.com

 

Re: Lead sports desk, NE Mississippi Daily Journal

Any room for dinosaurs? If so, I'll send my resumé.

 

Re: Lead sports desk, NE Mississippi Daily Journal

Yeah, did I mention we need someone to fly the new Journal helicopter?

 

Re: Lead sports desk, NE Mississippi Daily Journal

And the first e-mail I get is from someone with no discernible desk skills. Sigh.

 

Re: Lead sports desk, NE Mississippi Daily Journal

What's the news hole like on a typical Wednesday? Sunday? How large is the staff?

 

Re: Lead sports desk, NE Mississippi Daily Journal

Good questions. The full-time sports staff is seven (me, four writers, two deskers) with an excellent group of stringers and weekly writers who contribute regularly. The daily page load is something like this. Monday, 4-5; Tuesday, 4-5; Wednesday, 6; Thursday, 4-6; Friday, 6-8; Saturday 6 plus 12/16-page GameDay tab; Sunday 6-10. I typically do two night desk shifts (Sunday/Monday or Monday/Tuesday).

 

Re: Lead sports desk, NE Mississippi Daily Journal

Wow, that is excellent!! Staffwise and spacewise. Looks like ownership/management is making a commitment to quality work.

Do you staff any Mississippi State University events?

 

Re: Lead sports desk, NE Mississippi Daily Journal

Yes, we have beat writers assigned to both Mississippi State and Ole Miss, plus two guys whose primary focus is preps. We use stringers mainly on two local community colleges.

 

Re: Lead sports desk, NE Mississippi Daily Journal

Wow. All you need is a hockey team and you'll have all the tools to be great.

 

Re: Lead sports desk, NE Mississippi Daily Journal

They tried that here. Didn't take.

There is, once in a blue moon, some college club hockey on the local sheet.

 

Re: Lead sports desk, NE Mississippi Daily Journal

Does this job come with a jetpack?
Who gets the arena league football gig?
Seriously, john pitts is good people and runs a good shop. my lede designer would go there in a heartbeat if not for family stuff.

 

Re: Lead sports desk, NE Mississippi Daily Journal

Thanks for the kind words. As Dalton said, "Opinions vary."
No jetpack, but I do think we have a spare hazmat suit laying around.
I'm in charge of killing the arena football teams. I'm 3 for 3. Frankly, though, all were ruled suicides.