Sports Writer -- The Murray Ledger & Times (Murray, Ky.)

Wow. Come work for us and be sure to buy a new laptop and camera before you get here. What a fucking joke. Fuck this place. It is fucking amazing the fucking bullshit newspapers will try to pull these days.

Fuck this business and all the fuckers in it. Did I mention to fuck this job? Well, if I didn't, then fuck this place.

 

Allllllll righty then! Guessing buying your own notebooks wouldn't be in the wheelhouse, either?

 

As someone who runs his own one-man show, I use my own laptop and camera that I've bought for myself. Sure it cost some dough, but over the past year, they've helped immensely in making my job that much easier. We all know this industry is changing so why not be prepared for things. Yea, it sucks, but at least I'm prepared. And if I don't last too much longer in this business, I've got a damn nice camera and laptop for quite some time.

 

Great, can you buy a scanner next? And a copier, please.

 

I get the sentiment, but really - who on here really don't have a working laptop? As SE at a 2-person shop last year, I always used my own laptop. The company did supply me one, but it was maybe a 13" screen and my eyes work much better with my 21" screen.

I had a PC at the office to use, as well as a company car to travel to events and a wifi hotspot. I was perfectly fine using my own laptop.

With so many shops cutting jobs, it's amazing how often this board skewers those actually hiring.

 

And I get your point, too. But, geez, small markets don't pay much. What's next? Health insurance already is on the ropes. Furloughs, frozen wages, expanded workloads, etc., etc. Compensation covers less and less, so job seekers must bear that in mind.

 

Small markets don't pay as much, but "may" be the more secure spot for the next several years. Just as everyone else, I'm completely baffled at to what this industry eventually becomes.

 

You shouldn't be baffled. This isn't new. The Old Guard has secured their own demise by adhering to unnecessary restraints as opposed to adapting. It's gotten to the point now where it's like:


#irony

The only thing that can save newspapers is newspapers. There is very little mystery to it. Here, read: http://www.powerk.net/blog/2015/5/11/attention-local-media

And spare me the obvious "qualified voice" refutations. The Internet is the ultimate meritocracy. The more newspapers insist on hiring people unwilling to take risks in their writing or--and perhaps more accurately--the more newspapers insist on restraining the talented writers they have, the further behind they fall until they will become just another cliche like dinosaurs or dodo birds or Brady Quinn. I understand that it's hard for such a large mechanism to make such a sharp pivot, but this direction hasn't exactly been a secret. When newspapers do finally sputter and die (and they will; the only variable is time), they'll have no one but themselves to blame.

 

Some decent generalizations in that piece, but very little to work with. Only at the end did I realize I was looking at a blog seemingly about UK Athletics. A blog I've never heard of - and I've covered UK athletics on and off for the last four years. I know most everybody who is remotely important/readable.

 

It hasn't been around very long and the posts are infrequent--and about UK sports probably half the time. The piece wasn't meant to be groundbreaking, as stated in the end. It's more about changing the behavior, not just the thinking of traditional media. Adhering to the traditional ways is tantamount to giving up. Loosen up and have some fun with covering sports--that type of thing.

 

Back from a mini-vacay. Glad to see there has been some...diatribe about the job. I'll indulge.

I have contacted several of the resumes that have landed in my inbox and been upfront about the position. It's small town. Quaint. The cost of living is low, but it's the same type of city that pays Captain D's managers the same as sports reporters. Having worked in these conditions for nearly three years, it's been a great test of willpower and down-right creativity to get done what we do. And I have a paycheck every two weeks. That's nice. Stable. Sufficient.

It's not ideal, but it's full-time work. I guarantee it. Two high schools. Division I and Division II sports. Long-form journalism, if you so choose. (I did choose that, and hope to continue to.) My publisher asked me to find some people to work here, and I'm trying to do that to the best of my ability. Most of the people who are applying have their own equipment anyway, or are taking their graduation money and arming themselves with a shiny camera and new digs.

I don't control the finances here. I've been told I'm worth more somewhere else. So be it. Maybe I am. But I can't get down here. My head stays up for the community and the readers. My fingers stay busy on a keyboard.

But personally, I'm not trying to "pull" anything.

 

I'll give you credit, at least your honest. Still, no thanks.