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Sports Editor, Stillwater, OK

Discussion in 'Journalism Jobs' started by Drip, Apr 28, 2009.

  1. Fredrick

    Fredrick Well-Known Member

    I don't know about that. I know nothing about Stillwater, but in many places that are woefully understaffed, the managing editor, front office types expect you to get all the breaking news first ... just because. A staff of three? Sounds to me like those covering the home games definitely come back to the office to lay out pages.
    Good luck to whomever has the energy in this climate to tackle this job.
     
  2. 2underpar

    2underpar Active Member

    not knowing anything about stillwater, etc. i just thought it was a small staff to be a hometown paper in the Big 12. regardless of staff size, if I'm the SE there I'm expecting to get more than my share of the breaking news.
     
  3. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    Sure, if you're someone who hustles, you can get your share of stuff. Just might not have all that much space to run it. I've seen some college town papers (much smaller schools than big 12) that really do major blowouts for home football and basketball games. I wonder if Stillwater has that luxury.
     
  4. dargan

    dargan Active Member

    Unlike most places in Oklahoma, Stillwater's a nice town. Back in college I went on a trip up there with my Aggie friends for a football game and found the atmosphere extremely friendly and overwhelmingly docile, almost to a creepy, Twilight Zone level.

    Really nice people, from what I experienced, but I've heard others have Okie State horror stories.
     
  5. Precious Roy

    Precious Roy Active Member

    Lived south of Stillwater for almost a year, and the town is a nice place to be. Had the job opened when I was in the area, I likely would have jumped at the shot.
    This is a CNHI paper though, so those applying should be aware of that fact.
    But in this economic climate, we all need jobs.
     
  6. PBOWKER

    PBOWKER Member

    OK, I can't hold my silence on this one, even though some others must.

    The former SE at the Stillwater NewsPress resigned with having no job (he quit in early March). The former ME was run out. The former news editor got a job at OSU before he was run out. Paper went without an ME for six months.

    One of the sportswriters on staff right now (who has covered OSU basketball and football) was basically promised the job long ago, and now there's a national job ad? Shameful.

    Need to know more? Feel free to PM me or, for those of you know, email me directly.

    I agreed to take over the ME job in late February, and could only take two weeks of it before I quit for an extreme level of micromanagement unseen anyplace else that I've worked. I was criticized for running OSU-related sports stories on the front page (that tells you exactly how many Cowboy stories you'll actually get on A1). Mark2010, on the good days you're looking at a 2 1/2 page section, not 4 or 5 pages, and often sports does not get a section front (Sunday, yes). The paper's circulation, in a growing Big 12 community, has free-falled to about 8,000 circulation. Reporters are forced to write business stories on businesses that buy ads in the paper.

    This is a paper that really does have some talented people in the newsroom and the sportsroom, and they are truly under-appreciated. It's too bad.

    It is a 3-person staff, including SE, and they must share the layout duties 7 days per week, to say nothing of the online stuff they'll have to provide. The two staffers would be hourly, and the SE exempt, so expect those 60-hour weeks. And don't forget the 5-day furloughs CNHI threw on these staffers in the second quarter. This could be a great job in a Big 12 community, but ...

    Sorry ... consider the hounds released.
     
  7. KUjhawk02

    KUjhawk02 Member

    Yikes ... but very insightful. To use a NASCAR term (something I'm embarrassed to be doing) ... the caution flag is out.
     
  8. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    When I said 4-5 pages, I was thinking of a Sunday. Is that right? Or did you mean 2 or 2 1/2 on a Sunday?!?!
     
  9. NQLBLQ

    NQLBLQ Member

    It's too bad I'm now happily employed. three months ago I would have LOVED this job.

    Heck, I still would, I just like making more money.
     
  10. PBOWKER

    PBOWKER Member

    Oh, sure, with Sunday because sports is its own section, the final press run of the night, you'd get 4-6 pages, maybe. Probably two people at the football stadium, one person back at the office designing pages, taking prep calls, etc.

    STaff is really pushed. They have to use AP photos sometimes because the one staff photog has to be someplace else.
     
  11. Rockbottom

    Rockbottom Well-Known Member

    Mr. Bowker confirms what I suspected. Just for kicks, I would love to know OSU's perspective of how lousy their hometown paper covers their athletic programs.

    And 8K in Stillwater? Even in these circulation-challenged times, that is ABYSMAL.

    RB
     
  12. Precious Roy

    Precious Roy Active Member

    A source from up there has relayed that the horror stories being told here are just the tip of what is a frozen diarrhea iceberg ready to take down the Titanic that is your sports journalism career.
    Stay away.
     
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