AOL is hiring

[derwood]

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=144334

 

[gingerbread]

Just to give you a sense of where AOL is going:

Newspapers have started using AOL original copy the way they once used AP.

And AOL FanHouse just became the first digital only media to be credentialed by Wimbledon. If you've ever dealt with the folks at Wimbledon, you know this is more difficult than organizing tea with the queen. It's a big, big deal, and should open doors for other digital media. (Kudos to Greg Couch, former Chicago Sun Times columnist, for making this happen.)

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Just to give you a sense of where AOL is going:

Newspapers have started using AOL original copy the way they once used AP.

And AOL FanHouse just became the first digital only media to be credentialed by Wimbledon. If you've ever dealt with the folks at Wimbledon, you know this is more difficult than organizing tea with the queen. It's a big, big deal, and should open doors for other digital media. (Kudos to Greg Couch, former Chicago Sun Times columnist, for making this happen.)

I remember hearing a story about Dan Wetzel being denied a credential for some event because he wasn't print or broadcast, but this was several years ago. I want to say it was for The Masters, but I'm not positive.

I always thought it was interesting that CBS Sportsline, Fox Sports and ESPN.com and SI.com never had any trouble getting their writers credentialed, but AOL, Yahoo, Rivals and some other sites have had a much tougher battle.

 

[Moderator1]

CBS (TV), Fox (TV), SI (big magazine) are tied into other media to some degree. AOL is not. Nor are the others. They are, as Gingerbread noted, digital-only. So many events/organizations/whatever that are doing their best to pretend online-only doesn't exist use that as a crutch when making credential determinations.

Those walls are slowly crumbling.

I'm a FanHouse guy but when Dan Wetzel can't get a credential? C'mon. That's just an event or organization being obstinate because they can. Anyone really want to argue that he isn't one of the nation's best sports writers?

 

[Ace]

I read that story and felt good. Read the comments and felt bad.

So why would readers be upset that AOL is spending money to hire journalists? Not like it's going to cost them anything. UGH!

 

[sportsguydave]

Moddy:

Are you hearing any rumblings at your shop about how this prospective hiring boom might affect FanHouse, if at all?

 

[HanSenSE]

I read that story and felt good. Read the comments and felt bad.

So why would readers be upset that AOL is spending money to hire journalists? Not like it's going to cost them anything. UGH!

In the get what you pay for dept. ... Bleacher Report?

 

[wicked]

Here's what I didn't read: Where is AOL getting the money for this?

I applaud the ambition. But will the ad revenue really be there to support such a push long-term? I doubt anyone else really knows.

 

[OrthogonalWaterfowl]

I don't think AOL is short on cash, wicked, just on future revenue. The company's at a point where it needs a new business plan if it wants to be around in 5-10 years, and it would seem that its plan is to double down on digital content. I don't think it's a bad plan, if they can pull it off.

I have to assume they believe there's going to be ad revenue in some form to support this, or else they wouldn't be doing it. I don't know the exact economics of it, though.

 

[Brian]

Here's what I didn't read: Where is AOL getting the money for this?

Perhaps they should merge with another media company to raise cash.

/Ducks

 

[SoCalDude]

Maybe they should start a print edition. That's where the real money is.

 

[Lugnuts]

I happened to catch the end of an interview on CNN with Steve Case and the guy who's currently in charge. The interviewer (Ali Velshi??) actually did a good job of drilling down and trying to get them to answer the question of how AOL expects to survive now.

My ears perked up when the answer was "content."

 

[expendable]

Sounds promising. I hope they pull this off, because if they're successful it will lead to copycats.

 

[steveu]

Here's what I didn't read: Where is AOL getting the money for this?

Perhaps they should merge with another media company to raise cash.

/Ducks

Jerry Levin and **** Parsons will be coming after you tonight...

 

[terrier]

Has anybody heard of or applied for a job as a Patch editor-reporter? I see these jobs advertised for towns in Rhode Island (three on Aquidneck Island, which includes Newport) and a bunch in Massachusetts. I was actually contacted by an AOL person from New York through my Monster resume (and she talked about nearly as much money as I was making at a 100,000-circ daily before my job got hacked), but because I live more than 20 miles away from the island, it got no further.
I've applied for Rhode Island Patch editor and a couple of Mass. Jobs and heard nothing, but I keep seeing these jobs come up again and again. Saw them again, and I'm applying for the third or fourth time.
Patch is also in California and a couple of other states. Any tales?

 

[PaperDoll]

Has anybody heard of or applied for a job as a Patch editor-reporter? I see these jobs advertised for towns in Rhode Island (three on Aquidneck Island, which includes Newport) and a bunch in Massachusetts. I was actually contacted by an AOL person from New York through my Monster resume (and she talked about nearly as much money as I was making at a 100,000-circ daily before my job got hacked), but because I live more than 20 miles away from the island, it got no further.
I've applied for Rhode Island Patch editor and a couple of Mass. Jobs and heard nothing, but I keep seeing these jobs come up again and again. Saw them again, and I'm applying for the third or fourth time.
Patch is also in California and a couple of other states. Any tales?

Several of my now-former colleagues work for Patch.com, most as town editors. They give you a laptop, Blackberry and, I think, a police scanner, maybe a digital camera too. But you're constantly on call.

The pay is probably $40K tops -- a buddy who just got hired is being paid $35K with a bonus that could get up to $41K -- and you work 24-7/365 as of now. There are plans to add more regional editors and night editors and various other people to back up the editors in each town, but right now it's pretty much all on you.

You get a couple of months to ramp up the site, which means going around to all the politicians and businesses and other community leaders and introducing yourself. After that, the site is supposed to change frequently. I'm not sure if there's a set rule for that... but from what I've heard, I wouldn't be surprised. There seem to be a lot of "guidelines" that turn into mandates after you're hired. You have to be at all the major meetings, with stringers -- which you have to find, hire, and, I think, even deal with invoices for -- for the fluffier stuff... like sports. You also have to edit all that copy and post it online, along with your own photos.

Basically, it's a one-man shop with constant deadlines.

 

[HejiraHenry]

Had some friends go through boom-and-bust with AOL back in the day, so I'll watch this with great caution.

 

[Football_Bat]

What the hell? I haven't paid attention one to AOL since the spring of 2001.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

For some people, this will be a very good thing. But that's a minority (No offense, Gingerbread). For most, it will be not-quite-middle-class income with limited (to be optimistic) benefits.
I took a pay cut in my current job from sports journalism in 2007, a significant one. And one thing I've learned in the following three years is that I'd have to take a much worse cut to go back.

 

[MileHigh]

Well, I like the talk of *anyone* hiring than no one. And if Fanhouse is going to hire and expand, with the rest of AOL, sign me up.