1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Making a move downward....but is this SMART?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by printdust, Nov 7, 2007.

  1. printdust

    printdust New Member

    Going from a daily (20,000) which is going to hell to a stable weekly in a podunk town?
     
  2. Barsuk

    Barsuk Active Member

    That all depends on your future aspirations, I think. If your goal is to make a living working at a newspaper, and not much beyond that, I think the move would be fine. If your goal is to move up to a major beat/paper in the future, I wouldn't recommend it.

    But that's a pretty general analysis of a rather vague description of the situation.
     
  3. awriter

    awriter Active Member

    That's tough to say, without more info. Is the daily about to go under or lay off people? Do you fear you're about to be fired? Is the boss (or bosses) abusive? You need to expand a little more on "what going to hell" means in this case.

    On the surface, going from a 20K daily to a weekly isn't a good career move, but there is something to be said for preserving what's left of your sanity.
     
  4. Hank_Scorpio

    Hank_Scorpio Active Member

    In most cases, it probably isn't advisable to make that step downward (especially if the goal is a bigger beat like college football/basketball or a pro beat).

    That said, if the daily paper has a horrible reputation and you can get better variety of stories at the weekly, it can be a better way to move up the ladder.

    Just don't stay too long at the weekly. Get the good stories there, move to a better daily then the one you're currently at, which could lead to a better beat.
     
  5. printdust

    printdust New Member

    I've PMed at this point to clarify some things.
     
  6. wickedwritah

    wickedwritah Guest

    As long as you're not TX writer, who threw his co-workers under the bus.
     
  7. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    Bust your ass at the weekly and go from there. I had a great 4-year run at a weekly before getting back into a daily.
     
  8. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    I've actually had a guy who came in for a tryout who did what you're asking about. His most recent shop before mine was a 200,000-circ daily. Mine's a 40,000-circ weekly. It's not exactly in Podunk County, but it's also not the biggest game in town by any stretch.

    As someone who was sifting through applications, I was wondering why someone would go from a daily to a weekly, especially since my shop is usually a reporter's first gig out of school. It also turned out the guy was both older (with grown children, I might add) and had more experience in the business than I do.

    If you could PM me your reasons for pondering the move, I could be more specific about my thoughts.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page