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Sports desk editor -- Easton, Pa.

Discussion in 'Journalism Jobs' started by Igor in CT, Mar 15, 2007.

  1. That's a good point Frank. I guess a lot of papers feel that it is another way to sell the job. Or it just fills space in the ad. But you're right. Covering "bad preps" and making each gamer and feature interesting could, in the long run, actually make you an even better writer.
    But either way, it really shouldn't matter how good the teams are.
    This sounds like a good topic to start a new thread about.
     
  2. melock

    melock Well-Known Member

    How is that a good point? You can write good stories on shit preps? "Crap team 1 beat Crap 2 900-6, but the effort of Crap team 2 made it seem like 900-8." No doubt that will get you some good jobs.
     
  3. Monday Morning Sportswriter

    Monday Morning Sportswriter Well-Known Member

    It's a great point, Melock. Do you think you got the job you're in because of the caliber of teams you were covering beforehand? It's not the quality of the athletics; it's the quality of the writing/editing.
     
  4. Editude

    Editude Active Member

    Covered the alma mater's football team a year out of college, and it went 0-10. Interesting interviewing coaches I had played for a few years earlier when we were .500 at best, I got some good stories out of the mess and went on to a few decent places (although the alumni association fundraisers still keep tracking me down).
     
  5. shotglass

    shotglass Guest

    You can get some of the best stories out of games like that ... if you approach it right. But too many in our business spend two hours rolling their eyes at such a game and walk out without trying.

    As for Frank's point, I sort of agree. It is nice, though, for a prep writer to have bigger games and bigger venues at the end of their season. And that includes high school wrestling.
     
  6. melock

    melock Well-Known Member

    There you go. That's what I'm saying here. If you're going to cover a game you know is going to suck where's your motivation? I always say I'm a professional so I always do my best to make the best out of it no matter the quality of play. But the better the game the more likely you are to have an interesting story to tell instead of a story about a shit game that only mom and pop are going to read about sonny boy.

    My original argument is the prep stuff (which all you'd cover at the Express for the most part; there are some tiny DI schools) is pretty good in the coverage area with at least one good team in every sport both boys and girls. So you'd have that to look forward to if this were a writing position, which it isn't. So all of this banter is moot.
     
  7. boots

    boots New Member

    This is a good job. The paper has made changes. If you don't like the way the paper looks, perhaps you may be the one who can suggest changes.
    Bottom line is that the paper is sound. You will work and there are opportunities to move on.
     
  8. Monday Morning Sportswriter

    Monday Morning Sportswriter Well-Known Member

    I don't think you can suggest changes here. It's a Garcia redesign, and the from what I know, the folks in charge are pretty serious about keeping it the way it is.
     
  9. shotglass

    shotglass Guest

    Well, to that, I can only say this.

    We're their sister paper ... we had a Pegie Stark Adam redesign ... and we've been encouraged to make it work for OUR purposes. You have to have that kind of freedom.
     
  10. EStreetJoe

    EStreetJoe Well-Known Member

    It is a good paper, good ownership (Newhouse/Advance) and a great opportunity to get experience.
     
  11. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    It's natural to want to tweak the redesign, but the editor shouldn't let you. This is similar to a point made by Boom on the thread about suits -- either pleats and cuffs were part of the fashion designer's vision or they weren't, they aren't add-on equipment, and the whole look will fall apart if you tinker too much. I've seen this happen on newspapers. If management is unhappy with the redesign, they ought to have the originator do it to their satisfaction -- and then enforce the design stylebook. Letting people tinker means each department will tinker differently, and the result will be chaos. So you've spent a fortune on having an outside expert design your paper, and then you have people of far less artistic talent saying basically, "This is OK, Mr. Van Gogh, but I'm going to paint a little Coke can in this dead space you've left because I'm more of a Warhol fan." There is still plenty of room for you to express your artistry within the redesign, but messing with fonts and structure eventually destroys what your management paid for and approved. And they shouldn't let you.
     
  12. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    As for the good preps argument, another benefit is that if the sports are good, chances are the reader interest is higher. And the more successful they are, the more likely they'll play on the front at a bigger paper -- or the A1 if they win a state title.

    Conversely, if you cover a bunch of .500 or worse teams, you find that fewer people care.
     
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