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New York Times makes a hire

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Moderator1, Aug 9, 2008.

  1. GBNF

    GBNF Well-Known Member

    Who says readers demand that kind of coverage these days?
    What if readers, by and large, are satisfied with a solid recap of a day's events, a good feature and breaking news?
    I find it hard to believe that a Kent Babb in Kansas City or a Teddy Kider in New Orleans or a Jonathan Abrams in L.A. and now New York is that far behind any beat writer.
    Shit, I'll take Babb over almost anyone in the business, and same with Eli Saslow in Washington. Young don't mean bad, it just means young sometimes.
     
  2. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    Way to boil it down, Dan. I rambled on and you summed it up!

    BTW, all those folks GBNF mentions, and plenty more, probably are terrific. Good people should advance in their careers and sooner rather than later, and this industry often doesn't allow that. I'm just reacting to the New York Freaking Times, which in my view doesn't need to be in the business of crowning journalists with only a few years of daily, professional experience. As good as those folks might be now, I'll bet they will be better after a few more years -- and I'll bet most of them would agree, once they get there.
     
  3. Andy _ Kent

    Andy _ Kent Member

    Joe,

    Just sent you a PM and wanted to see if you got it.
     
  4. VJ

    VJ Member

    I'm not really sure what gets accomplished by trashing one of the few fortunate people in this job climate who has actually improved his career in his recent months.
     
  5. Mediator

    Mediator Member

    First of all, it's mostly trashing the Times. I have to ask, when was the last time they hired someone over the age of 30? I can't remember...
     
  6. GBNF

    GBNF Well-Known Member

    I don't think they're actually trashing Abrams, I think it's more the frustration of a rather unaccomplished writer ascending to the pinnacle of the profession so quickly.

    And I can understand that.

    But if the kid has talent — and he does, a lot of it — and he works hard, I'm all for it.
     
  7. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    And I'm not critical of Abrams, I'm sure he's great, thought that shot at the LA Times was kind of cheap. A. It's not like it was the paper "it used to be" when he got there and B. He wouldn't have gotten to the NYT without them giving him a shot.
     
  8. I think the people worst off in many ways are those in my age group - early-to-mid 30s, who are too old to get hired by big papers, but entered the business when the system was still set up where you had to work your way up.

    Nothing against this Abrams cat whatsoever. But if a lot of us had known this was the way the business was headed, we would have handled our careers much differently starting off. I think that's where a lot of the frustration comes from - we feel like the rug was pulled out from underneath us by the youth movement.

    Personally, I know at the age of 31 that I'll likely never get out of my college town. I have a gig that a lot of you guys would kill for, but I want to work in a big city with a big city salary. So I'm going to do it in another profession instead. Which wasn't Plan A by any means.
     
  9. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    the reality of this business is a mother fucker, isn't it, waylon?

    i'm coming to grips with reality myself, and it's a bit depressing.
     
  10. MMatt60

    MMatt60 Member

    Last hire over age 30? Sandy Keenan
     
  11. MMatt60

    MMatt60 Member

    Keenan reference was to Mediator's question (above).

    Howard Beck probably was over 30 when hired, if barely.

    Karen Crouse is/was over 30.
     
  12. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Let's be fair here: There are a lot of reasons to be frustrated in this business. The "youth movement" -- which basically consists of a few dozen so-called "stud" writers rising faster than they might have in the past, in very limited markets -- is hardly one of them.

    Yes, I know that so many layoffs are centered around older, more experienced (read: higher-salaried) employees. Yes, they've worked their way up and the rug's being pulled out from under them. I'm not discounting that at all. That seems to be a legit gripe, to me.

    But frustration because of people like Abrams or Saslow or Jeff Passan? Sorry, dude. Those kids hold three jobs. Three. They're not the ones keeping multitudes of 30-somethings from a "big city job with a big city salary." Rather, it's the fact that those "big city jobs" are slashing the hell out of their staffs and there's little for which to work upward.

    I empathize with the frustration, I do. But the kids aren't the ones making these decisions -- and 20-somethings like me have a lot to be frustrated about, too. Nobody's getting ahead here.
     
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