Sports Reporter - Punxsutawney (Pa.) Spirit

Salary: $20,000 to $25,000

Description: WANTED IMMEDIATELY! – A reporter who can translate his or her enthusiasm for sports to the printed word. The Punxsutawney Spirit, located in the Weather Capital of the World, is looking for a sports reporter who can bring life to the sports pages of our weekly product, Jefferson County Neighbors, with both copy and design. You’ll be covering all kinds of sports – from high school football, wrestling, basketball and the like to summer Little League and softball – for a community that thrives upon its student athletes. Excellent writing and editing skills a must. Experience with Adobe inDesign and photography a definite plus. This is a great chance to take total control of your very own sports section. Send resume, samples of your work (copy and design) and references to Mary Jude Troupe, publisher, The Punxsutawney Spirit, P.O. Box. 444, Punxsutawney, Pa. 15767. E-mail to publisher @punxsutawneyspirit.com.

 

I've heard living in that town is like experiencing the same day over and over again.

 

They've boosted the salary! It wasn't long ago that they offered $18k, and you liked it.

 

If you see your shadow, it's six more weeks of poverty

 

"for a community that thrives upon its student athletes."

Zombies!

 

Years ago, (late '90s), American Journalism Review did a story on small town papers and featured the Punxsutawny Spirit. The thing that stuck with me was the publisher told AJR that reporters made $300 a week.

But when AJR asked the reporters, a couple of them said they made less. When AJR asked the publisher about the discrepancy, the publisher mumbled something about their duties and experience. In other words, AJR caught the publisher in a lie.

EDIT: Found the link:

http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3245

 

Always a good sign when the job posting is riddled with grammatical errors. As someone who is less than a year into this business I have to say the lack of professionalism and basic quality control out of people I am supposed to want to work for is frustrating. I saw more professionalism and commitment at my college paper than I have at some of the places I applied to during my search. :-\

 

There's some great foreshadowing in that story from 1999, particularly when it talks about CNHI and the way these companies were taking such a big risk.

"These new companies start out deeply in debt, with rigorous payment schedules based on expectations of steady profits. In the event of an economic downturn, these debt-laden companies have few options beyond cutting costs--which in some cases they've already done with a vengeance."

What was cutting with a vengeance in this business in 1999? I'm only five years removed from college so I have no clue what things were like back then.

 

Papers were still cutting back then, only they weren't blaming the Internets for killing their business. They were just cutting because their profit margins went from 27 percent to 26 percent.

 

Meet the new boss...