Sports Editor, Martinsville, Va.

Sorry to interrupt the discussion, but my friend Bob wants to deliver a message:

 

That's pretty much what you're doomed to do here no matter how good you are or how hard you try.

 

It would really be cool if nobody applied for the job. Certainly, no one who participates on this board would. The stupid, lame ME would be enough to scare anyone off. When I interviewed there in 2004, I was at a non-daily. She questioned whether I would be able to "work the wires" and handle the load of being at a daily. Pissed me off so bad I took my name out of consideration the moment I got home. Hey, Ginny, I have been the SE at TWO daily papers since then. Take that!

 

She was the editor before. Is she now the ME or is she wearing two hats?

 

She's the EIC. There's also an ME, a GM and an absentee publisher. At full staff, they also have a News Editor. Just a little top-heavy for a 16K (and it IS 16K. They haven't been 20K in years). People are either moving out or buying the Roanoke paper.

 

This is just sad. No other words to describe it. I feel bad for the rest of the sports staff there.

 

They're rarely at full staff. It's defintely a 16-17K, maybe 18K on Sunday. The GM is a dope and the publisher is a cheap-ass bastard.

That's the biggest problem with the Bulletin. Va.Tech is 90 minutes away and five other ACC schools (Wake, NC State, UNC, Duke, Virigina) are within 90 minutes. If you don't get one of those teams in the paper the GM goes ape-shit, but don't you dare ask to cover them. The ACC hoops tourney is usually in Greensboro, 50 miles south of Martinsville, but no chance to cover that. Charlotte, Richmond and Britsol are all within 2-3 hours, but no way will they let you cover those races.

After a while any logical SE would get fed up with that and bounce. Some last longer than others, but not many more than a year or so.

 

Drew definitely knows the deal. He works (at a good paper) in the next town over. They kick the shit out of Martinsville.

 

Oh, the stories I could tell.

 

Martinsville did have a kid today at ACC Football Kickoff. Was definitely shocked after reading this thread.

 

And you get to cover local golfing legend Keith Decker. C'mon.

 

Umm, 99% sure that wasn't Martinsville.