no-person sports staff

small daily paper i know is breaking new ground in staff management. we've all heard of the 1-man sports staff (i was one), but how about the no-person sports staff? sports editor is leaving to go back to school and the publisher apparently thinks they can just spread the sports coverage around to others in the office, some of whom know absolutely nothing about sports.

 

That will end well.

 

Wow.

I knew things could get this bad. Just didn't think it'd be this soon.

 

Give it about 3 months. They'll be looking for a sports guy right about then.

 

It depends.

We've got a newsroom full of news reporters who would LOVE to write sports.

 

This is a place where I'd think the next sports person is going to have significant leverage when it comes to salary. Instead of having one or two sports people bitching to the editor about the need for more staff you'll have a newsroom full of people, not to mention plenty of parents complaining about it as well.

 

A local paper once had a news reporter take a phoner on a track meet when the sports guy was out. He wrote about the "hurtles" and "throwing" the pole vault.
I'm sure this will work just as well.

 

I worked a a weekly once where, when I was on vacation, the editor, who knew little about sports (not my current boss) ran a story from the journalism instructor at the high school on some local baseball games that included the line, "Johnny Zilch led off the fifth inning with a homer, which would have been worth more with anyone on base."

How long before readers get sick of "Podunk lost by 20, but tried really hard!"

 

A neighboring tiny daily the next county over pretty much shuts down sports in June and July because it's a one-man shop and that's the only time he can take vacation.

 

When I joined a small-town daily years ago as a one-man sports staff, they had gone without a sports guy for almost four months. The readers were threatening to cancel their subscriptions left and right.

My first week on the job, people were coming up to me incredulous, like "They finally hired someone?"

 

We try this when our one sports reporter is on one of his eight weeks vacation (he's been here 20-plus years).

And some of the stuff that comes back from the newside is beyond ridiculously bad.

 

But now they have you on the news side Pete.