Major change in our newsroom. But how did THIS happen?

Gannett paper?

 

You bet.
Took both guys all of an afternoon to give me a call about possible openings. Told them I was disappointed not to hear from them within 10 minutes of the news.

 

And the past. I've seen u-desks created, dismantled, created, dismantled and now being created again over the last 20 years.

 

The thing that people learn about u-desks is that they aren't universal.
Different shifts, different deadlines, different everything.
And what usually happens is that it goes back to the way it was, with people who specialize doing the different sections.
Having a hardcore knowledge of sports can be helpful, but it isn't always a requirement, especially if the job is mostly layout and someone else writes the headlines and cutlines.

 

This argument again? Jeez.

Look over at the cops desk. Hard news: Murder, scandal, major car wreck. Second day: A look at the victims, the suspects and the law. Takeout: Enterprise stories on what went wrong: how did the suspect get a gun? Why was he out of jail? Why wasn't the road paved or widened? How many other similar deaths have there been? Features: Stories on survivors and other positive news that happens, like the dogs that save families in fires.

I've been doing this for years and have written plenty of sports pieces when called upon. Sure, not every news guy can make the transition but it's just as true the other way around - many sports reporters need their hand held all the way to the courthouse.

And I can't believe anyone's bitching about the free pizza on election nights. Usually I'm working my ass off on election night and come back to find that the sports desk has wolfed down the pizza. And how many sports guys who cover college sports don't eat from the AD's buffet? Pretty much every one I've ever met eats the school's food.

I go to a lot of dinner meetings and I don't touch the stuff unless my paper pays for it.

I can't believe this argument keeps coming up. It's completely bogus.

 

At my old shop, a features person wrote a "NFL gamer" that they played on the then-released Madden 2007.

A monkey typing with it's tail while throwing fecal matter would have filed a better story.

 

I would expect nothing less than someone who would write a gamer about a video game they played ...

 

And most reporters need to have their hands held whenever they even sniff a story worthy of enterprise. I've seen it.

Of course they do. Ty brought up a very interesting point. Still, I say a sportswriter can acclimate quicker to newsside than the other way around.

Two different arguments. Are you saying sportswriters shouldn't be eating the free pizza specifically bought for the newsies? Agreed. Are you saying sportswriters are selling their souls by eating a buffet at Timbucktu Stadium's press box? Different issue all together.

 

Yeah, I gots to disagree with you on this, TP.

Like I said, I've been asked to write a lot of sports stories. We had a huge story in this state a few years ago involving the third or fourth arrest of a high profile football player from one of the big colleges. Took all of two days for me to get it because the golden boy beat guy didn't want to ruin his routine of one story a day and didn't want to keep pissing off his sources. Couldn't find his way around a courthouse either. I covered this fucking thing for a year, often writing it for the sports section.

Same deal with a big time NCAA issue here. Sports asked me to cover it, which I did for the next few months, because I covered the initial story. "Oh, since you already started it, can you stay on it?"

I've found that sports departments don't respond to news well because everyone has their pre-programmed routine - preview, gamer, feature, preview, gamer, football tab, etc. - if something breaks, no one really wants to break from that routine.

And Wicked used trades as an example of "news" that sports writers cover ... yeah, there are no trades in college or high school.

And no, I haven't written many gamers, but I can't remember when I ever needed a sports guy to write a murder story for me.

I love the sports department, but you guys always set me off when you start hammering on news ...

 

I don't care if the sports department eats the pizza. My point was they get the benefit of the pizza as well, sometimes more than the rest of us ..

And no, sportswriters shouldn't be eating the food at the football games. Go by a restaurant or get a cheeseburger beforehand, like I do, and keep your dignity.

As for enterprise, you basically need good examples of enterprise to get hired in news at a worthwhile newspaper these days. I don't usually see a lot of great enterprise coming out of sports, especially from the younger guys. I've been preaching that on here for six months now.

 

Total thread jack, but you're totally right. Last time I had to write about a player on my beat getting arrested, the coach was like, "You can't do that! We gave you free fajitas at the game! We had a pact!"

If I knew how to post in sarcastic blue, this is where I'd be using it.

 

Where do you draw the line? Fajitas are OK but nothing else? And if nothing else is OK, why are the fajitas?