Sun-Sentinel Cracking down on long distance calls

This is pretty bad.

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2007/08/sunsentinel_cracking_down_on_c.php

 

It's not the worst idea in the world. We have long-distance activation codes here. It is just a nice way to keep people from using their work phones to call family members and friends all over the country, which folks at my old paper used to do.

 

I've never worked at a paper where you didn't have to have a code to call long distance. It's pretty standard.

 

If you have people on your staff that can't be trusted not to abuse their phone, then they shouldn't be on your staff.

Just how much does long distance cost these days anyway? Doesn't everyone have it free on their cell phones?

 

And I suspect the editorial department isn't the main target of the policy. I'd be surprised if reporters were limited in where they could call.

 

If folks are making personal LD calls from the office, this is a way to crack down on goldbricking, employee "theft" and unnecessary expenses all at once. Hooray!

Now let's hope the newspaper's bosses are similarly inspired to, oh, uncover a political scandal, expose dirty tricks by local auto-dealership service departments or spend an hour or two with a writer and designer or two on better ways to put together a centerpiece story.

Management's easier than leadership, which is why newspapers have so much of the former and little of the latter.

 

I agree that it's pretty much standard practice to have codes. A one-minute call to a loved one in the event of emergency is one thing. A four-hour ass breathing session with your long distance mistress or mister is something completely different.

One employee at my shop made long distance phone calls (and we're talking HOURS-long convos) to Las Vegas. The only way I could see doing that is if I were chasing a story and the person I needed to speak with was in Las Vegas and he/she gave me a shitload of information. Otherwise, I use my cell phone to make personal calls.

Hell, sometimes I'll use my cell phone to make WORK calls.

 

I remember doing a story on a former player from the local U who was kicking ass in NFL Europe (RIP). He was in Germany or something.

I remember having to dial some cell number that had like 17 digits in it. I was on the phone for an hour. I always wondered how much that cost.

 

So if they don't produce a series of hard-hitting exposes, they don't have the moral grounds to institute long-distance codes?

 

If you have people on your staff that can't be trusted not to rob banks, they shouldn't be on your staff either!

 

Relax, Meat. I wasn't questioning their right, or even their decision, to rein in their long-distance calls. Truly, I think it's a decent enough idea for the reasons I noted in my first paragraph. None of us has a right to run up improper charges on someone else's dime. Notice: No blue font.

I just added a jab because so much of most newspapers' time seems to be spent on bean counting, and so little dedicated to the craft. Wish I heard more about journalism and less about business (and yes, I know it's a business, blah blah blah).