University of Kentucky beat, Louisville, KY

So the consensus is that this job is a lot better than the one asking for someone to do Indiana U. coverage in Bloomington?

;D

 

March 31 ABC figures:

COURIER-JOURNAL, LOUISVILLE (JEFFERSON CO.) SUN DLY 271,920
COURIER-JOURNAL, LOUISVILLE (JEFFERSON CO.) AVG M (M-F) DLY 217,814

HERALD-LEADER, LEXINGTON (FAYETTE CO.) SUN DLY 141,019
HERALD-LEADER, LEXINGTON (FAYETTE CO.) AVG M (M-F) DLY 114,135

 

Dream on dude. Most of the C-J's positions (and they've been plenty) in the last year or so have been a mirage with lower than expected pay. I know a few people who applied within Gannett and were told a) they were looking locally (to avoid travel costs for interviews) and b) wanted to hire young (which also means cheap). Remember, Gannett is constantly reinventing the wheel when it comes to beat coverage and journalistic style. Stick around for a few months, and the approach will change again. Like the weather, you never know what you'll get with Gannett except for an over-managed news institution.

 

The vagaries of Gannett are probably the only drawback to this job but should not be underestimated.

Yeah, if Jerry Tipton is so good, why isn't he at the New York Times?

LOL.

 

Slam Gannett all you want. I've been with GCI since 1998, and I have very few organizational complaints. The problems I have with my paper/chain are the same ones you all have. I think the Gannett influence is overrated and overdramatized.

As for not flying interviews in, well, that ain't the case in Louisville. They've got money.

 

Clearly, Southern, not everyone realizes that everyone has their reasons for where they are. Some people have wives in good jobs. Some don't want to move their kids. Some don't want to spend their entire lives hopping from job to job to job to job. Some people just love covering colleges in college towns that throw a ton of resources and manpower into the beat - places like Lexington, Lincoln, Ann Arbor, South Bend and Tuscaloosa may not seem like the "pinnacle" of a career. However, cover one of those schools on a Saturday or, in UK's case, an SEC basketball night, and see how each of those papers just sends an army to cover them. It would be fun to be a part of.

 

Boy, how I wish I were a bit older and had more than just three years of experience at a weekly newspaper.

It probably wouldn't be the best idea, however, considering that I was born on UK's campus, grew up a die-hard UK fan, have lived 20 miles from Lexington for the past 15 years, graduated from UK and have been working at a paper 20 miles from campus since I got out.

I will definitely second the notion that Snoopy is WAY off.

 

It was a joke, Abe. I thought the "LOL" made it pretty obvious that I wasn't being serious, but oh well.

 

I know. "Not everyone realizes" was supposed to mean that you and I get it, but not everyone else. That's why I addressed you.

 

Anyone who's covered any sort of serious beat knows that it can be a tremendous grind, especially at the higher levels. When you're 23, the travel, the hoopla, all that is very enchanting, and it should be. But it all wears on you after a while, and that's not even talking about the stress it puts on families, marriages, etc. And competition can be its own grind. There's a burnout point in many of these jobs. If you're covering Ohio State or Penn State football for a paper 100 miles from the campus, you can do it for a long time and do a lot of the work via teleconference and things such as that. But if you're in the belly of the beast at a place like Kentucky and a beat like basketball, it can wear you down pretty fast. That's probably why these so-called "dream beats" do have turnover.

 

Hey, you're wrong. I talked to an inside source who has tons of credibility. All I said was correct.

 

I know for a fact they flew in someone for another opening they had not too long ago.

It was a low-profile gig. So you're saying they'll spend money on a low-profile search and NOT on a UK hire? Really?