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Should a Sports Editor write or manage?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by gormless, Apr 17, 2009.

  1. Fredrick

    Fredrick Well-Known Member

    I wouldn't say all of my posts have been about that. Probably a majority of them include some whack at management.
    As far as the self fulfilling prophecy, just because I bitch on here and express my feeling that clueless management individuals have helped the demise of newspapers doesn't mean I am a bad employee. I work a lot, donate free overtime and do a good job. I save my bitching mostly for this board which I guess angers many.
     
  2. HejiraHenry

    HejiraHenry Well-Known Member

    Too tired to answer.
     
  3. shotglass

    shotglass Guest

    And I had an answer, but thought better of it.
     
  4. GlenQuagmire

    GlenQuagmire Active Member

    The best SE I ever worked for could do everything and was more than willing to do so.

    Write. Edit. Manage. Design. Delegate.

    Problem was that I've also worked for the Big Game SEs who were willing to help on certain beats - only when it was a big-time story. Otherwise he left the overworked beat writer alone.

    Also worked for SEs who could do everything but delegate. Struggled to develop young talent because no one could produce layouts or big stories like him so he'd always step in and redo it his way instead of working with them to improve their individual skills.

    Also worked for SEs who were unable to consistently provide staff schedules because they were too busy helping on already covered beats because they wanted to do it.

    Personally, I'll take a SE who can manage, do layout and delegate with a column and project from time to time. If I ever got back into management, I'd do more writing than layout because it's my strength.
     
  5. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    Give that man a cigar. Great post.
     
  6. I'll never tell

    I'll never tell Active Member

    A sports editor should do whatever needs to be done. Period. It's his or her name on the section.

    But that being said, if Mr. or Mrs. Sports Editor wants to go to some random high school baseball game because if he or she spends one more day in the office with a desker Mr. Sports Editor will kill said desker ... then he or she should be allowed to do that, as well.

    Gotta go. The baseball game is about to start.
     
  7. bob

    bob Member

    my SE can't do either.
     
  8. Den1983

    Den1983 Active Member

    This is pretty much the bottom line. You do what you have to do in order to put out a successful section on a consistent basis.

    I write and manage, but that's because that's what the position calls for. I recently turned down an opportunity where I would have strictly just managed and led, because it was a bigger paper with greater resources. Every situation is different and you adjust accordingly.
     
  9. crusoes

    crusoes Active Member

    I'm the sports editor at my paper, and I write features, cover prep sports, do Webcasts, run the department, manage the section and make sure the team is functioning well.

    And it is a team. Without the two guys I've had working for me for four years now, a lot less would be done. We have each other's back. They know what I want, and I try to use their strengths to make the section as good as it can be.

    I do care about the guys who work for me. I try to make sure they are happy and doing things they want to do. They're here because they want to be here, and I do my best to keep them here. I yell when it's necessary, which is almost never, and I thank them for their hard work at least once a week.

    I feel sorry for people who come on here and go on about how much they hate the business. It's plenty screwed up right now, for sure, but at my advanced age (51) what I do is try to worry about what I can do and let the rest go. It sure beats being miserable all the time.
     
  10. Fredrick

    Fredrick Well-Known Member

    I disagree. A lot of people are getting fucked nowadays and see good colleagues getting screwed and still do a good job. It's only natural to bitch about the way many shops are being run nowadays. You can have a bad attitude and still do good work. You give me no raise in 2 years (freeze) and a furlough (which was total bullshit) and shit on me like they do, yes I'll have a bad attitude but still do a good job.
     
  11. Tarheel316

    Tarheel316 Well-Known Member

    I'm the SE at a 10K daily and we have a staff of two. I write, edit copy, do layout and take photos. In other words, whatever needs to be done.
     
  12. SEeditor

    SEeditor Member

    I've seen it all with SE's. Some would manage and some would write. Like it's been said, it depends on the size of the paper. At my first stop in Virginia many years ago we only had a staff of two. When I became Sports Editor for the second time -- first time was just for a few months before taking another job -- the guy who worked with me and I shared the load.

    There was a little cherry-picking, but not so much. When I started I got the out-of-town football games and the lesser sports in the fall, wrestling in the winter and baseball in the spring. When I took over, I took the football team in the fall, but gladly gave the other guy boys basketball, which was probably our best sport at the time, the winter. We split things in the spring. We also had to do layout. I typically did it four or five nights a week and he got the other two -- usually my days off.

    It was a good working deal. Ironically, we both left the paper at around the same time 18 months later. Just coincidental. Only difference is he went back for a short second stint while I moved out of state forever.
     
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