Sending non-reporters to play reporter

Please. Gag me with a spoon on the "journalistic integrity." It's such a non-issue. It is: a. A good use of resources, and, b: Gives people a fresh outlook on what the others do. I'm also sure Munster didn't plan ahead and thus had no one available to work the desk that day when they sent the design editor or the copy editor elsewhere. (Yeah, right).

At one stop of mine, a couple of very big-name guys I know would willingly shift over to part-time desk work once baseball and NFL seasons ended (200K paper). It allowed one slot guy to get free for a winter and realize his dream of covering a college basketball beat one season, and another guy who was stuck on the desk eventually moved to a baseball beat thanks to getting some writing shots, and he does a good job now with it from what I've seen.

It's good for everyone. If you're a writer and are above pulling an occasional rim shift reading copy, or have problems with a copy editor getting a writing shot now and then, may some sports editor banish you to a desk for a year. Then see how you feel.

 

Bingo.

If he wasn't getting paid, then this is just good old amateur hour.