Writing at a daily vs. writing at a weekly

To lump all weekly papers in with the same stereotypes is wrong. You have to look at the weekly paper's product, most notably, its Web site.

If it's a strong Web site that pushes for breaking news or game coverage to be up instantly, guess what, you're dealing with the same deadlines you would at a daily.

I know I've have experiences in both kinds of shops... I don't notice a "slower pace" or feeling "lazy" at the weekly, compared to the daily. I'm still busting my ass doing gamers from time to time or breaking news to go on the Web in addition to my stories for the print product. Those stories for the print edition are mostly feature and enterprise stories that some dailies may not have the space or luxury to do.

Again, it's all relative. Make sure you study the product you would be working for and get a sense on what they do.

 

Point taken. It really does depend on the particular product. You can get good (or bad) experience working for either. I didn't mean to suggest those who work at weeklies are lazy, because that hasn't been my experience. You can have some deadline pressure in weeklies, although it's nothing compared to dailies. What matters most is the drive, dedication (and talent) of the individual because you can work at a shitty pub and do good things.

 

I certainly push for my paper to get breaking news on the Web ASAP, plus develop stories more thoroughly for the print product.

I know I've written stories that I've gotten up on our Web site that day. I've done that often enough with news stories, gamers, etc. that I'm fairly confident I could make a daily newspaper's deadlines, given specific reporting responsibilities and none of the myriad other duties a ME for a small paper has to deal with.