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Palm Beach Post Cuts

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Lollygaggers, Mar 6, 2008.

  1. MMatt60

    MMatt60 Member

    Leo: That statement is completely and wildly overblown.

    To say that half the staff will be "relegated to obits and Web updates" is totally false.

    The recent shake-up was almost no shake-up at all. Will there be more changes? Sure.

    But in truth, the Palm Beach Post newsroom is one of the most traditional in America. And I mean that in a good way.

    Is there another mid-size paper doing the kind of investigative news reporting of the Post? The kind of sports enterprise? Not a chance.

    Who was the last prominent journalist to leave? Of course there has been some turnover. There also has been some hiring in the teeth of a brutal downturn.
     
  2. Leo Mazzone

    Leo Mazzone Member

    I'm not arguing the PB Post isn't a fine newspaper. But there is some crazy shit going on. Some people are not sure where they'll fit in. And I think to call my statement "completely and wildly overblown" is hyperbole if not altogether inaccurate.

    And again, this is the news side.
     
  3. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    However they screw with it will be a tragedy. It's like hearing that the gorgeous, straight-A girl in your class that you always lusted after got knocked up by the meth-dealing biker -- a desecration.
     
  4. NightOwl

    NightOwl Guest

    Nice-enough paper, though not a great place to work.

    Very stifling, unless you sit in one of the offices. Stepford Wives kind of place. Take your pill, then smile and go to work.

    Pretty resistant to doing bold and dynamic display. Or anything bold or edgy at all. They tend to like you to do things the way they've been done for the past, oh, 50 years or so. I guess that's the Palm Beach thing.

    The suits ran out the only dynamic editor we had, so there you go. (I'm no longer there also, so I'll take a chance on saying that.)

    Nice-enough paper, though. And sorta boring, if you ask me. Nothing ever really pops on the section fronts, and that's a reflection on the suits there. Try to do something fun, and it gets lost in the news meeting. They just won't pull the trigger on that kind of thinking.

    So they dumb it down. You get bland, committee-speak section fronts there, and pretty much the same format every day. And they like that, I guess...........

    As for me, I thought I was living in the 60s.

    Welcome to Palm Beach!
     
  5. MMatt60

    MMatt60 Member

    I know who you mean when you refer to "the suits" running someone off. I won't get into a critique of this person's work and certainly won't out him/her except to say that it was a very unsuccessful hire and the wrong person in the wrong job. This person didn't come ready to play nine innings every day (or even seven). And nobody was asking him/her to even do that much.

    I agree that front-page layout is surprisingly routine. Designers don't have that much pull in the newsroom. On the other hand, photo editors have a lot of influence.

    The entire newsroom staff is doing about 30 Web feeds per day (total), and many of those are updates of updates. The writers probably should be doing more feeds, however.

    (Yes, I have good information about the newsroom; my fiancee is one of those people providing Web updates as well as in-depth news stories.)

    So when you say "half the staff will be doing obits and Web updates," yes, that is indeed wildly misleading.

    The recent big, bold, not-so-dramatic move was creating a news-side enterprise team, which includes a draftee from sports. That's nice, but hardly mind-bending.

    The Post did lose key people from the Web team. One was denied a promotion and chose to leave. Nothing unusual about that.

    What is unusual is that the Post was still hiring for the sports-writing staff as recently as October and added several people to the Web team in 2008.

    Not saying the place is perfect. But there is no reason to issue declarations of doom. Thank goodness.
     
  6. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    I'll take a guess and say that since there are a bunch of former Miami Herald people on staff, it may go back to the old philosophy there of not hiring pure design types who would be just as happy designing ads, but of hiring journalists so the content always comes first. It looks a lot like the Herald used to, right down to the Bodoni bold. Which is not to say PB copied the Herald -- my recollection is that PB was in that font family going way back.

    But I think they've done both. It is a clean, elegant look. I think the message it sends to readers is the same as The New York Times and Washington Post says to theirs: We're so confident this product has value that we're not going to stand on our heads to get you to look.

    A guy I used to work for used to say about the Boston Globe, "It's hard work getting it that simple." I think of Clapton's line about knowing what not to play that makes the difference.
     
  7. MMatt60

    MMatt60 Member

    No doubt, Frank, the top editors are more word-oriented than design-driven. Nothing wrong with that. The design could use a little more energy, but they haven't found the right designers to do that consistently. I think the big dogs are willing to take some chances.
     
  8. SF_Express

    SF_Express Active Member

    That's not my experience, but whatever.

    Very photographer friendly place, and it's warranted in most cases. They have/had great photographers.
     
  9. Herbert Anchovy

    Herbert Anchovy Active Member

    I didn't see that either.

    Lunched at a four-star restaurant on the interview. Felt like a moron for ordering a burger.
     
  10. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    I never thought much of NightOwl's criticism of the Post.

    Until this.
     
  11. Herbert Anchovy

    Herbert Anchovy Active Member

    Oh, don't be so coy, Simon. Clench your teeth and let the insult fly.
     
  12. MMatt60

    MMatt60 Member

    Maybe this is a more positive way to look at things:

    If the Palm Beach Post isn't a good place to work, what IS a good place to work? In newspapers, I mean.
     
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