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NASCAR writer Ed Hinton leaves Orlando Sentinel

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by ondeadline, Jan 2, 2008.

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  1. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale.
     
  2. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member


    Nah. Journos didn't do it -- suits did.

    So call it "lying to the people on the front lines."
     
  3. FreddiePatek

    FreddiePatek Active Member

    Given that all three papers probably were contributing to his salary, I'd assume (perhaps badly) that Chicago said it was no longer going to contribute and that left Orlando holding the bag, having to cover the expense of sending a writer around the nation, which it decided it couldn't do.

    NASCAR is local for Orlando, so I don't understand that part of it. I would assume (again, probably badly) that Hoppes was going to do his best to cover as much as possible, but it wasn't going to be like years past.

    With scads of money available in the cyberworld, I would think Hinton's byline will appear shortly with one of the big boys.
     
  4. fishwrapper

    fishwrapper Active Member

    These are all wrong. With the change in ownership, the newsrooms don't even have an operating budget for 2008.
    All these suspicions, assumptions, calculations are off base.
    This is like watching a bunch of guys pissing on their own shoes.
     
  5. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    This might make some sense if he was covering 40 races a year and crisscrossing the country. Or covering F1, which races in Singapore one week and Madrid the next.

    But he wasn't. He covered maybe 25 races, and I don't think he crossed the Mississippi more than once. We used AP almost one-third of the time because Hinton wasn't there.

    I suppose you can replace his weekly notes column with local stuff . . . but the space for race coverage? That's pretty constant, although I guess you could replace 20 inches of Hinton with 10 inches of AP. Ugh.
     
  6. wickedwritah

    wickedwritah Guest

    I can't figure out your point here, fish.

    Are you saying that money had nothing to do with this?

    Just because they don't have a budget prepared doesn't mean they aren't looking at slicing somewhere, to save cash for the sake of saving cash.
     
  7. FreddiePatek

    FreddiePatek Active Member

    Certainly, I'd like to hear more of which you speak, fish. I'm intrigued by what you're saying about the budget. Sounds odd.
     
  8. fishwrapper

    fishwrapper Active Member

    First off, Ed didn't cover all the races for Tribune.
    Jim Peltz -- Shav Glick before him -- and Ed shared the schedule. Don't get me wrong. Ed did the bulk, mostly all the races east of the Mississippi. And there was some give and take.

    Now. There are no operating budgets for the newsrooms for the Sam Zell papers. I don't know how to stess this anymore. You can't save from a budget you don't have. You can't have a strategy when one hasn't been given.

    Now, when Ed lands real softly here in the next few weeks, you'll understand.
     
  9. wickedwritah

    wickedwritah Guest

    I am sure they have an idea of where they would like to cut, though. The deal has been in the works for nearly a year ... it's not like they haven't had a chance to check out books and send down a general guideline informally to publishers ("we'd like a 5 percent cut").

    Not saying this has happened, mind you.

    I get the impression Hinton is a bit of a rough guy to deal with. If you are saying that is playing a role here, I wouldn't be surprised. I also wouldn't be surprised if he were to enhance his worth on the open market.
     
  10. fishwrapper

    fishwrapper Active Member

    "We'd like to cut 5% and we'll start with Ed Hinton covering a popular, advertising-driven sport"?
    Come on. Even Tribune wasn't that dumb.
     
  11. jgmacg

    jgmacg Guest

    A page and a half before anyone floats the suggestion that Mr. Hinton is headed for ESPN? Shameful.
     
  12. wickedwritah

    wickedwritah Guest

    I didn't say they were. I threw it out there as an option. The one thing we can agree on is that we won't know the full story for a while.
     
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