USA Today reporter, editor jobs - NFL, NBA, MLB, college, etc.

It has been said multiple times that USA Today approached him.

I don't think he was job-chasing in this instance.

 

I'm sorry, but this argument always gets on my nerves.

It is absolutely true that media companies are dogs and none of us should feel loyalty to them. I know this as well as anybody. But when people say "Do what is best for you," I wonder what they mean? Do they just mean do what is best for yourself this very second? To hell with your future, if it is best for you right this moment you should do it? Because if so, then kudos to this kid, because it seems that is exactly what he does every time.

Or could they mean do what is best for yourself for the rest of your career/life?

All indications were this kid was on the fast track to big things. He graduated college a couple years ago and has had 10 or 20 fantastic jobs since. Was moving up quickly.

This past move is a step back. I don't have any problem with that. But the way he did it, burning Gerry Ahern, Dave Morgan and Mary Byrnes at USA Today, was not smart. He has probably hamstrung himself from getting a better job for a few years at least. Probably longer for SE's with long memories who simply won't take the chance that after they hire him he will be 100 percent happy and won't quit during the first month. That's fine if he wants to stay the No. 3 writer on the Packers beat for a long, long time. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But if he has bigger career ambitions he has probably set them back.

I agree with do what is best for yourself; with make yourself happy. But I believe you should do it with some regard to your future. It's very hard to fix a damaged reputation.

 

In fairness, we don't know the exact motives behind his move back. For all we know, it could have been a mutual decision, that it just wasn't going to work out, with no hard feelings attached.

 

USA Today was/is pretty mad... Who cares? He did what he thought was best for him. It may bite him in the ass later, but it might not... He spends three years at the JS and this will be forgotten pretty quickly, maybe not by everybody, but by the majority of hiring editors.

There's a pretty long list of writers/editors who have moved around in the same way Dunne has. I worked with an editor who was hired, worked three weeks and bailed without telling anybody. Nobody knew where he was for a full week. It turned out to be for a pretty good reason, but he couldn't bring himself to tell the SE.

Dunne will be fine.

 

Who's to say three years from now that there will even be newspapers, or how often they will circulate?

And if an editor is concerned Dunne leaving quickly because he's unhappy, then maybe they should continue to work to keep him happy.

 

On a board of journalists, I am surprised this viewpoint is not more widely held.

 

He was there a couple weeks. If he was a bad hire (I doubt this...) they wouldn't know it after a few weeks, especially in the middle of the season.

 

Pure guess, but perhaps Dunne didn't want to become just another national guy who writes about the NFL in sea of national guys who write about the NFL. If money wasn't a factor, I'd much rather dominate the Packers beat than write general NFL stories or "story of the day" types of pieces for USA Today.

As long as he keeps doing what he's doing on the Packers beat, I don't think he'll have much of a problem getting hired if/when he decides to move on.

 

He's never going to dominate the Packers beat. As good as he is, he'll never be better than the third option at the JS...

To be fair, Greg Bedard held the same role and he's doing an amazing job covering the Pats for the Globe.

 

Bottom line is that the guy is free to do as he wishes. He decided USA Today wasn't for him. Who is anyone to criticize his decision? It's his life.

 

In that market, with that fanbase, I see no reason why three people can't dominate that beat. McGinn w/ the Xs and Os and scouting insight. Silverstein with the daily beat grind and Dunne as the feature wrtier and social media standout. Yeah, he'll never be top dog as long as McGinn and Silverstein are around, but (in my opinion) it's still better than being just another national NFL guy.