Sports reporter, Bristol, VA

Foster allowing his staff to compete in the under 40k category was good for that paper in terms of APSE. I have no doubt that his people are doing good work, but it's much easier to get recognized when you don't have to compete in the 40k-100k category. You can't compare results now vs. previous results due to different levels of competition.

 

Isn't Bristol's circ under 40?

 

Yes and has been for years. But Bristol still choose to compete in the 40-100 because it was seen as a better barometer of good work. As I said, I am not doubting that the staff did great work and is deserving of the awards it won. However, you can't say the work is better now that it was previously just due to awards won.

 

It also used to be more than 40, and was in the high 30s when Foster took over. But the decision was made to abandon certain areas and circulation dropped by several thousand.

And since the sports department suddenly had to cover fewer things (including dropping its Virginia Tech coverage and its Virginia Tech writer ((which I won't get into, because that's a whole other ball of wax))), it stands to reason the staff could do a better job covering fewer things.

 

It'd be interesting to know how many papers are competing in divisions above where they should be in terms of their actual circulation? Does anybody know?

Is there a large percentage of them, especially now, when papers are seeking out every barometer of success they can find in an effort to sell/save themselves?

Probably not.

At least this paper is, apparently, doing good work, and doing a good job by concentrating on covering less overall. There are plenty of papers that are, well, just covering less...and not doing a good job of it, either.

 

The last paper I worked for (30K) competed against the big boys in the state and did very well. If I'm not mistaken, we beat out Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile for best sports section a couple years ago. Then again, that was only in one of about 238 different state competitions.

 

Yes.

 

I'm sure there are many great people in Bristol. I've worked with a few of them. But having left Media General and its endless supply of moronic managers (this thread is a prime example of the leadership skills exhibited), I have no problem referring to outgoing employees as escapees.

And, I don't care if it's an addiction or if he thinks he's innocent. The guy got busted with kiddie porn. How do you work for that guy? How do you run a sports section that is heavy on local, prep sports with that guy in charge?

Foster is a good investigative reporter? He hired a guy who got fired twice (once, at least, for allegedly viewing porn at work). I'm not impressed with his investigative work.

 

Clearly, you and I have something in common. I can't wait for him to threaten to sue me -- again.

 

A few other things. I worked in Bristol for 10 months and I enjoyed most of my time there. There are some very capable and talented people there, and I like to think we did good work when I was there. I even think the paper has improved -- based on my limited viewing of it -- since Foster took over.

But the seemingly endless turnover gives reason for pause. You've got a guy who recently was found guilty for viewing kiddie porn. He's the sports editor. You have another writer who was fired a year or so ago, and a lot of people disagreed with it (and based on what I heard, which of course might not be the whole truth, it's easy to disagree with it). You've got one less person -- at least -- on staff than 7-8 years ago (Bristol always had the most understaffed sports staff in the Tri-Cities area, at least when I was there), and you've got a circulation that is almost 22 percent lower than where it was 7-8 years ago (and yes, I realize the last two things mentioned can be clearly traced to the economy and newspapers' general fight in the ever-changing world of media).

You need a job? They got an opening. But there should be more than enough red flags to indicate that this might not be the ideal place for everybody.

 

Everybody is assuming that because the guy was convicted of downloading child pornography that he was looking at "kiddie porn." But what if he wasn't? I have a couple of countervailing thoughts that lead me to at least tread cautiously when discussing this man's fate.

One, most every porn site I've ever seen has some sort of disclaimer that says, "all models are over age 18." But what if they're not? What if an unscrupulous website operator was passing off 15 and 16 year-olds as over 18? Is the person who downloaded images of those "models" liable for prosecution under child porn laws? I'm thinking a zealous prosecutor might say yes, that it is up to the consumer to verify that he is in fact looking at images of legally of-age models. Which is ridiculous, but that's the kind of climate we live in today.

Two, let's say I'm surfing the net and I stop at some porn site, something run-of-the-mill ("Girls Gone Crazy," or some such). I click on a few images and I start to think, "you know, these girls look awfully young. I might better back out of this." I get out of that site, but the record that I was on that particular website and downloaded those images is there on my hard drive, and it turns out that the girls (or guys) in those images were, in fact, underage. Are you still liable for prosecution for downloading child pornography, even though it was not your intent to view, "kiddie porn?" Again, I'm thinking yes, given the mood of prosecutors and the general public.

I don't want to minimize the very real problem of child pornography, but I also think there are a few gray areas in this situation, and I'm thinking that maybe we should be a little less eager to label someone a pervert until we know more of the facts in this case.

 

Albert77, I'm all for giving someone the benefit of the doubt, but the evidence in this case seems clear-cut and disgusting. A story in the Helena paper referenced earlier in this thread detailed much of the case. This doesn't seem to be an issue of gray areas.

Here's the link:

http://www.helenair.com/news/local/article_e637bcd4-a28c-11de-b9b2-001cc4c002e0.html?mode=story

A few of the story's key points: