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Next up - Columbia (S.C.) State

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Moderator1, Jan 11, 2010.

  1. SCEditor

    SCEditor Active Member

    Leaving them with one prep person? Is that correct?
     
  2. Fredrick

    Fredrick Well-Known Member

    That's pretty crazy. You must be a talented reporter/writer. It'd be tough for some just to remember all the email addresses to send those stories to. Wow.
     
  3. Leo Mazzone

    Leo Mazzone Member

    Zero.
     
  4. alex.riley21

    alex.riley21 Member

    yea, the preps would be basically at zero because wiseman was the preps editor. they have one writer on staff strictly for preps. sad days in columbia...
     
  5. FreddiePatek

    FreddiePatek Active Member

    The State has burned the final volume of its once-encyclopeadic institutional knowledge:

    Bob Gillespie has taken a buyout.

    His decision likely saved The State's lone remaining prep writer, who would have been kicked to the curb on a seniority basis had no one accepted the buyout.

    No Clemson writer, one prep writer and no writer on staff with a byline that predates 2002. Bravo, McClatchy.
     
  6. cyclingwriter

    cyclingwriter Active Member

    I was on an assignment a few years ago with Bob, and was completely impressed with his ability and his humor. He is a class act.
     
  7. SportsGuyBCK

    SportsGuyBCK Active Member

    Jeez ... Jimmy Mac's gone, now Bob? And only kids there now? Who's left to change the diapers?
     
  8. Tarheel316

    Tarheel316 Well-Known Member

    Oh wow. Can't believe they'd want Bob to go. Bob is a living legend down there and a super nice guy. Hate to hear he took a buyout.
     
  9. 1HPGrad

    1HPGrad Member

    I was a StateGrad very briefly before becoming a 1HPGrad.
    Bob is good company. All those guys were. Spear, Coach, Fobes, Ernie T, Mac. That was quite the crew.
     
  10. mb

    mb Active Member

    The ruination is complete. I don't even know what to say.
     
  11. DCaraviello

    DCaraviello Member

    I still struggle to comprehend the utter, complete gutting of some of these publications. The AJC. NASCAR Scene. And now The State, the paper I read every morning in college, competed against for 11 years, and have (had, actually) more friends than I can count. I think of some of the incredibly talented writers who have come through that paper -- Ken Tysiac, Jon Solomon, Kent Babb, Patrick Obley, Kamon Simpson, Steve Argeris, Michael Smith and David Newton, just to name a few -- and I feel a deep, personal pain to see what's become of it.

    The State -- the publication that touts itself as "South Carolina's newspaper" -- without a beat writer covering one of the only two major college football programs in the state? Are you kidding me? No disrepect to the News, but it's not The State. The News was always addled with budgetary restrictions and minute story holes and ridiculous Gannett policies that hampered its ability to attract and retain the kind of writers and produce the kind of opinion pieces, enterprise projects, and in-depth coverage that The State was always known for. There have always been some very capable people at the News, but that paper has been financially handcuffed for an eternity. It didn't often produce the kind of writers who went on to The Charlotte Observer, The Birmingham News, the Kansas City Star and ESPN. The State did that with regularity.

    God, there were days I cursed The State and its armada of people, most of whom were very able at tracking down a good story and telling it with ease. A decade ago it was a monster, with plenty of scoops and national writing awards to back it up. It brought in one stud beat writer after another, as their predecessors went off to bigger things. It owned sports in South Carolina, and I say that as someone who worked at two competing papers. It was a journalistic giant within a small, pie-shaped state.

    And Jesus, look at it now. The State without Bob Gillespie? Unthinkable. The State without a Clemson writer, willing to take coverage from another paper it used to dominate? Unbelievable. No prep editor for the paper that gave a million USC students their first shot by allowing them to string high school football games? All I can do is sit here and feel sad.

    Best of luck to Bob, always a calm voice in the din. Best of luck to Wiseman, a former co-worker and one of many who have been treated unfairly by this industry. Best of luck to Strelow, who followed me in Spartanburg. I hurt for all of you guys. Someone earlier mentioned The State's glory days, the days of G and Coach and Newt and Pro and Cole and Jimmy Mac, when it covered everything and covered it well, and it was truly South Carolina's paper of record. That's the publication I want to remember. Because I don't know when, or if, I'll look at the current one again.
     
  12. FreddiePatek

    FreddiePatek Active Member

    Ditto on ALL OF THIS.

    Also, I was mistaken earlier ... there is someone on staff who predates 2002. Neil White came back to the sports department after some newsroom juggling in 2008. He's a David Newton contemporary, if I have my State eras in order.
     
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