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Sports reporter, Lenoir News-Topic (Lenoir, N.C.)

Discussion in 'Journalism Jobs' started by drew22, May 25, 2012.

  1. drew22

    drew22 New Member

    I'm moving on from this position after 2+ years, so if anyone has questions, feel free to message me.

    In general, I can tell you that the person who gets it will be the only full-time member of the sports desk. Page layout is now done off-site in Kentucky, so the job is writing-heavy. A good first gig for someone out of school -- like I was when I took it -- as long as you don't mind the small town, low pay, etc. And the folks in the office here are good people.

    The ad, from Journalism Jobs:

    ------

    Company: Lenoir News-Topic
    Position: Seeking sports reporter
    Location: Lenoir, North Carolina
    Job Status: Full-time
    Salary: $20,000 to $25,000
    Ad Expires: June 29, 2012
    Job ID: 1052549
    Website: http://www.newstopic.net

    Description: Daily newspaper in western North Carolina seeks sports reporter to handle coverage and help with coordination of sports section. Applicants must have good knowledge of all sports with a primary focus on preps coverage of three high schools, Appalachian State University and Lenoir-Rhyne College as well as American Legion Baseball. Interested applicants should be familiar with InDesign, InCopy, Adobe Photoshop and have ability to shoot photos. A four-year degree is preferred. Send resumes/inquiries to Nathan Key, News-Topic Editor, at PO Box 1100, Lenoir, NC 28645, or by e-mail to nathankey@newstopic.net.
     
  2. ondeadline

    ondeadline Well-Known Member

    Warning: Paxton.
     
  3. UNCGrad

    UNCGrad Well-Known Member

    When I was with Paxton, Lenoir was one of the best small papers in the the area, and especially in Paxton. Of course, the sports staff then had a roster of at least three. Don't know enough about it anymore to harbor an opinion, but it sounds like the downsizing there is no different than other similar-sized Paxton papers in NC (Forest City, Sanford, Henderson).
     
  4. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    Alls I needs to know.
     
  5. Mystery Meat II

    Mystery Meat II Well-Known Member

    Interest in being the SE at Lenoir? Nevermore.

    Lenoir is a nice little town, but not so nice as to withstand low 20s for Paxton.
     
  6. JordanA

    JordanA Member

    I guess I'll be the noob here and ask: What is Paxton and why is it so bad?
     
  7. TGO157

    TGO157 Active Member

    You made the brave jump into snark-infested waters.
     
  8. drew22

    drew22 New Member

    Well, there is no SE position here anymore, so ... I guess I just backed up your point?
     
  9. sportsjunkie25

    sportsjunkie25 New Member

    Unfortunately, nobody answered your question. I'm curious myself.
     
  10. Tarheel316

    Tarheel316 Well-Known Member

    Low pay, piddling resources, unreasonable deadlines. You'd almost have to had to work for a Paxton paper (which I did at one time) to understand. Their suits are Marshall Morton bad.
     
  11. SportsGuyBCK

    SportsGuyBCK Active Member

    Actually the deadlines at Lenoir weren't that bad -- helps having the press on site -- but I expect that to change in the near future with the move to the combined layout (I won't use the word "editing" because very little of that takes place there) center ...
     
  12. SportsGuyBCK

    SportsGuyBCK Active Member

    Since nobody answered the newbies' question, here goes (and everyone feel free to jump in with additional info):

    "Paxton" refers to Paxton Media Group, a privately-held company that owns 32 newspapers and one TV station. CEO is David Paxton, the great-grandson of the founder.

    Paxton earned its rep in the newspaper industry for a bunch of ham-handed moves, most of them occuring in the last 7-8 years. Probably the most famous incident came when, on the day the company took over the Durham Herald-Sun (which Paxton reportedly overpaid big-time, to the tune of $124 million), it fired a quarter of the paper's staff (and they've had at least two other rounds of layoffs since then). Layoffs have also taken place since then at all of the Paxton papers, and they pretty much operate bare-bones staffs at all the dailies and weeklies.
     
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