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Paul O back in the LANG fold

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by rpmmutant, Aug 22, 2008.

  1. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    You put in for credentials a year or more out for these things. At the time, Paul was going to go for LANG, like he did in 2006, 2004, 2002 and 2000. Then he got fired in March and LANG decided not to anyone (though the Singleton-owned Denver Post has seven people over there).

    But PaulO talked with USOC folks and he was able to keep the credential, mainly, I suspect, because so many places were turning theirs back. So accommodating him wasn't going to be a problem. Especially someone who has been to every Olympics except Calgary since Sarajevo.

    Then he started seeing who else was not going and lined up freelance stuff. Included in that was Riverside. I don't know how he eventually did stuff for LADN. But I'm sure he'll be writing about Big Bear's Ryan Hall in the marathon for the P-E and the Sun, more of the "hometown" paper for Big Bear, will use wires.

    And, yes, he paid his own way.
     
  2. Piotr Rasputin

    Piotr Rasputin New Member

    Considering the cost of the trip, the particular paper (and group of papers) he was covering for, and actuual play some of those papers gave his work - especially as it pertained to the World Cup - I always regarded it as quite "amazing" that Oberjuerge would go to all that effort and time to cover these major overseas events.

    I've paid my own way to events. But not a $10,000 tab to spend a month in a foreign country. That's dedication that should be lauded if print still had the importance it enjoyed five years ago. Now, considering he was just laid off, and the fact that many papers did not bother with this Olympics, it's even more "amazing."

    I did read his blog entry on the sad state of media at the Olympics, and I wonder if this sentence isn't more hopeful than reality:

    "Ultimately, this should matter to American readers. To American news consumers of all sorts."

    But it doesn't matter to them. Whether the Long Beach paper has a fawning one-on-one on Misty May, or if larger news outlets do the same, readers don't care. And based on the fact that the locals likely wouldn't be getting massive scoops even if they did shell out the money to go to the Games, I'm not sure readers should care.

    Then I realize that not sending people to the Olympics makes sense when layoffs are the order of the day. And I think, maybe not sending anyone to Beijing might save money to help another individual retain their job for a long enough time that they can leave newspapers on their own terms.

    And then I KNOW readers shouldn't care. It's depressing to us as journalists to see so few reporters there. We shouldn't make the mistake of thinking readers, who also have their own problems, should bellyache over ours.
     
  3. SoCalScribe

    SoCalScribe Member

    I will give Paul a lot of credit for still having the outright desire, at his age, to hustle for freelance assignments and to make sure he could get over there, even on his own dime. It shows passion, and it also speaks well of him that he's not too prideful to string for Riverside, etc.
     
  4. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    I guess I'll be the party pooper and say that as decorated as Paul Oberjuerge is, I don't see much difference between paying your own way--TO BEIJING!!!--and writing for free. We don't need to give the asshole beancounters any more brilliant "cost-cutting" ideas.
     
  5. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    There are more and more people willing to work for less (or no) pay these days. It doesn't bode well.

    Of course, I'm willing to be the CEO of some bullcrap widget manufacturer for $4.5 million less than the jackass being paid $5 million, but I still can't get that gig.
     
  6. WriteThinking

    WriteThinking Well-Known Member

    It's not a matter of more people being willing to work for less pay. It is a situation of employees being less valued, and yet, feeling forced, over a barrel, and not in the position of power that makes them accept/take work. Particularly if they may wish to stay in, or get back into, this business.

    What people want, or think, or might ordinarily be willing to do, doesn't matter that much when, regardless of any of that, they have to work.

    And people's level of prideful-ness also tends to go out the window, too, under such circumstances.
     
  7. Gold

    Gold Active Member

    Perhaps Paul O can get a book or something else out of this trip. He could do something as a co-writer or a ghost writer. There might be a good chance of that because there were fewer writers covering the event, and maybe a lot of the writers who were there were for papers which would frown upon freelance efforts.
     
  8. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    How many of the Olympic heroes could headline a book that you'd bother buying? Let's see, there's Phelps and probably Bolt and maybe Torres and ... er ...
     
  9. Piotr Rasputin

    Piotr Rasputin New Member

    If Landon Donovan were there, this would be a slam dunk.
     
  10. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    Yup. He's still in close contact with Landon. Has been since he was still living in Redlands.
     
  11. Birdscribe

    Birdscribe Active Member

    I thought Secore was ghosting that book. ;D

    Seriously, someone can correct me if I'm wrong and I know this was glossed over above already, but isn't the reason PaulO is in Beijing is that he was credentialed previously and it was rather necessary for him to go if he ever wanted to keep his name on the USOC's credential list?

    In otherwords, isn't it a use-it-or-lose-it situation for those folks not at a metro who already had credentials?
     
  12. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    PaulO responds to those here who suggested it cost him ~$10K to go to Beijing:

    http://www.oberjuerge.com/?p=401

     
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