Buyouts claim a huge name: Jackie MacMullan out

[BYH]

Interesting, and sobering, stuff:

http://shots.bostonsportsmedia.com/2008/04/jackie-mack-taking-latest-globe-buyout/

Link fixed.

 

[Chi City 81]

Jeebus. ESPN?

 

[friend of a friend]

Crap

 

[DanOregon]

Yikes. Romenesko has a couple great links today, one about a guy deciding to stop subscribing to the Boulder paper, and another one about the perception=reality of the fading industry.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

It probably helps that Skwar is already at ESPN...

Obviously, this is big news. But Jackie Mac will be at ESPN making six figures within the week... The people these buyouts/layoffs really impact are the ones who don't have another job waiting for them when they leave.

 

[broadway joe]

Exactly. The Globe needs Jackie more than Jackie needs the Globe.

 

[henryhenry]

Exactly. The Globe needs Jackie more than Jackie needs the Globe.

you think people buy the globe to read jackie macmullen - please

she's a lovely person - very earnest and nice - and speaks well on tv and radio - and knows basketbal - and she's good at getting people to open up

but way over-rated as a writer - no sense of humor - no wit - no edge - rarely a strong opinion - predictable structure - very nearly plodding

she's not a columnist - espn ought to let her do features

 

[BYH]

Well that was predictable.

come back to the adult table, sparky, when you have something to offer beyond your usual jealousy of writers and your giddiness over another nail in their coffin.

 

[Mediator]

This is a loss, but to go big picture it's even worse.

Jackie, Lisa Olson, Selena Roberts... All of the women who have worked so hard to get those column-writing jobs are gone, and they are not being replaced. This is an unfortunate trend now.

I am sure that they will all continue to be productive, and you can certainly argue that they may have greater influence in their next incarnation, but as a writer who came up through print and still loves the feel of a newspaper page between my two fingers, it's hard not to be sad to see the role models getting out of the business.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

My guess is Jackie will not be replaced. The Globe's mastermind (but he WINS AWARDS!) editor in chief Martin Baron doesn't care for sports, or in fact, columnists of any kind.
It's working great for them so far. Fastest sinking big-city daily in the USA.

 

[lono]

Fastest sinking big-city daily in the USA.

I wouldn't worry about it though, it's not a big college town.

 

[21]

This is a loss, but to go big picture it's even worse.

Jackie, Lisa Olson, Selena Roberts... All of the women who have worked so hard to get those column-writing jobs are gone, and they are not being replaced. This is an unfortunate trend now.

I am sure that they will all continue to be productive, and you can certainly argue that they may have greater influence in their next incarnation, but as a writer who came up through print and still loves the feel of a newspaper page between my two fingers, it's hard not to be sad to see the role models getting out of the business.

I was thinking the same today looking at the APSE winners.

I tend to think a lot of these papers no longer feel the social pressure to hire a woman columnist at this point. It's not new or novel. It's been done. The readership doesn't particularly care or demand it. You could convince me I'm wrong, but I think I'm unfortunately right.

Jackie will be great anywhere she goes, big loss for the stupid paper that let her go.

 

[Mediator]

Agreed 21. I think you could say the same about minorities. It's like an idea that's been replaced because its so tedious to implement, without tangible bottom-line results. Why bother? So the Jackies will leave and the young people they've inspired to enter the business will find the landscape very different.

 

[sportschick]

Agreed 21. I think you could say the same about minorities. It's like an idea that's been replaced because its so tedious to implement, without tangible bottom-line results. Why bother? So the Jackies will leave and the young people they've inspired to enter the business will find the landscape very different.

Don't remind me. :-\

 

[broadway joe]

Exactly. The Globe needs Jackie more than Jackie needs the Globe.

you think people buy the globe to read jackie macmullen - please

she's a lovely person - very earnest and nice - and speaks well on tv and radio - and knows basketbal - and she's good at getting people to open up

but way over-rated as a writer - no sense of humor - no wit - no edge - rarely a strong opinion - predictable structure - very nearly plodding

she's not a columnist - espn ought to let her do features

I didn't say people bought the Globe specifically to read Jackie. What I'm saying is that Jackie is tremendously well plugged in to the Boston sports scene. Tremendously well-plugged in. Readers will feel her absence even if they don't think of her by name. The Globe can't easily or quickly replace someone with her contacts and relationships, but she can get another nice paycheck in a heartbeat.

 

[cougargirl]

21 and Mediator both hit on solid points. What direction will the women's movement in this field go in?

Here's another sobering one to chew on - with all of these cost-cutting/money-saving measures, will the columnist or the features writer eventually become a dinosaur? With buyouts and those positions not being replaced for the sake of the bottom line, what will be deemed necessary in the newspaper?

 

[MMatt60]

This is a pretty small sample size. And Roberts and MacMullan were able to get parley their successes into new gigs with fewer hours and more money.

Female columnists should be in ever greater demand. Newspapers with all-male lineups look pretty old-fashioned these days, especially if they are all white male.

 

[Joe Williams]

The readership doesn't particularly care or demand it.

I have never sensed that the readership did, ever. Hiring newspaper reporters according to demographics first, skills second, was a losing game from the start. Bemoaning the loss of several women sports columnists because they're women is a non-starter with readers. Those three all are talented people but the hand-wringing their departures inspire has been because of their gender. That is a bore.

As for newspapers with all-male lineups looking pretty old-fashioned these days, MMatt60, I'd say you're right, with one small tweak:

Newspapers with all-male lineups look pretty old-fashioned these days...

 

[playthrough]

21 and Mediator both hit on solid points. What direction will the women's movement in this field go in?

Here's another sobering one to chew on - with all of these cost-cutting/money-saving measures, will the columnist or the features writer eventually become a dinosaur? With buyouts and those positions not being replaced for the sake of the bottom line, what will be deemed necessary in the newspaper?

The features writer has one foot in the grave already, between papers condensing or eliminating features sections and myopic beancounters probably looking at high-paid, low-byline-count writers and saying "why?"

I think the columnist is safe though, but it's a shame to see a lot of big papers with only one columnist and a place like the Globe now having two.

 

[bob]

The buyout didn't "claim" Jackie. She jumped at the chance so she could spend more time with her kids. True, it will impact the Globe, which probably won't fill the position. Make no mistake, it is a big loss. Jackie has great sources. Just last week she got a sit-down with Shaq, when the Suns beat writer can't even do that. She's broken many stories because star athletes and others know and trust her, for whatever reason. Not a great writer, but a great loss.