Making the move from semi-weekly to a daily

How long do you think someone would need to work at semi-weekly paper before making the move to a mid-size daily newspaper. I have worked under both unbrellas, but recently accepted an offer at a semi-weekly Tribune newspaper to gain more experience in design, photography and editing. My ultimate goal is to reach a major daily but of course I realize it takes time.At 24, I feel like I'm a relative baby in the field of journalism. Any thoughts on the issue would be appreciated.

 

I don't think there's some magic number of how long you'd need to stay at a semi-weekly before you'll be attractive to larger papers. How much talent you have and the quality of your clips are likekly to be bigger factors.

If it helps you any to get a sense, I spent 20 months at a small twice-weekly before jumping to a 25,000 circulation daily. When I got hired at the twice-a-week, I only planned on spending nine months to a year there, but was enjoying the work I was doing so put off the move for a bit. The biggest thing editors were worried about when I made that jump was how well I'd handle a daily deadline. That's a question that still makes me laugh to think about because I had a harder time filing, on time, the massive amounts of copy I was expected to produce at the small paper than I ever have had making a daily deadline.

 

You're hired (at any of the Singleton-owned papers) right now!

 

YES. Dean Singleton hires you. Congratulations.
Now, in a couple months, you can re-interview for your job, and if you're lucky you can take that $25-30% paycut. Good luck.

 

My first job out of school was at a twice-weekly paper.

My goal was to either be at a daily or quit the business all together in two years. (I knew going in pay was horrible at the start/weekly papers and I had no intentions of staying there)

Twenty-five months later I was at a daily.

The rest is history.

Set a goal, work toward it and NETWORK! Meet as many sources, contacts and fellow writers as you can.

 

No, I actually got the new job in the 24th month, worked the 25th month while finishing a freelance gig and arranging the move and apartment in the new city.