Have you given up?

[Moderator1]

A lot of it here, I think, is that the publisher came up through the news room. Copy editor, business editor *** he's more in tune there. Previous publisher I didn't see quite so much but I also was a roadie during those years.

Not sure I'd want to be a publisher these days, though I hear the pay is nice.

 

[Damaramu]

Our publisher was a press manager before he was our publisher. Yes that's right, press manager. He's never set foot in a J-school in his life. I'm not even sure if he even has a college degree.
Yet he acts like he knows everything there is to know about writing. That's why I made that comment earlier. If I gave him one of those assignments from an entry level journalism course that said "Find the 50 mistakes in this story" he would only find 15-20.
Yet somehow he's always jumping on everyone's writing. It's not like we haven't seen his writing. He's written a few columns and well, it just confirms what I already know.

 

[expendable]

Frankly, I'm not even sure of our publisher's first name. I think we got a new one recently. I don't go up in that ivory tower.

I just stamped my feet and if my publisher was in the office, he was bound to hear it. That has its good points and its bad ones.

 

[spnited]

The more I read the multiple gloom and doom threads on this board, the more I love my job.

 

[jboy]

Deadends come at different points.

I spent 10 years getting to a destination paper. Now that I'm here -- one of the 10 largest in the country -- I make a little over $50,000 covering the biggest teams in town.

In a big city with 2 kids that doesnt go very far, which means here I am, at the top of my profession, living paycheck to paycheck. I love my job. One of the highlights of my day is reading the morning paper. But at some point you have to ask yourself: What is best for my family? With the industry tanking, I really don't see my salary jumping another 10 grand over the next seven, eight or nine years. And last I checked, the world's not getting any cheaper.

Doesnt leave one with a lot of options.

But what other field can you get into where you'll start at over $50K?

If you have a good amount of experience, you won't be starting over. And 50K is only about 15 percent more than my starting salary (not bragging, I swear) at my first straight-from-newspaper-to-PR job.

It's almost impossible -- unless you become a teacher or a crack ***** -- to make less money when you leave the newspaper biz. (And it wouldn't have taken many years as a teacher to surpass my previous salary).

 

[imjustagirl]

Deadends come at different points.

I spent 10 years getting to a destination paper. Now that I'm here -- one of the 10 largest in the country -- I make a little over $50,000 covering the biggest teams in town.

In a big city with 2 kids that doesnt go very far, which means here I am, at the top of my profession, living paycheck to paycheck. I love my job. One of the highlights of my day is reading the morning paper. But at some point you have to ask yourself: What is best for my family? With the industry tanking, I really don't see my salary jumping another 10 grand over the next seven, eight or nine years. And last I checked, the world's not getting any cheaper.

Doesnt leave one with a lot of options.

But what other field can you get into where you'll start at over $50K?

If you have a good amount of experience, you won't be starting over. And 50K is only about 15 percent more than my starting salary (not bragging, I swear) at my first straight-from-newspaper-to-PR job.

It's almost impossible -- unless you become a teacher or a crack ***** -- to make less money when you leave the newspaper biz. (And it wouldn't have taken many years as a teacher to surpass my previous salary).

I have spent 18 months looking for another job. I can't find one that will even get within $10K of what I'm making now.

 

[expendable]

Deadends come at different points.

I spent 10 years getting to a destination paper. Now that I'm here -- one of the 10 largest in the country -- I make a little over $50,000 covering the biggest teams in town.

In a big city with 2 kids that doesnt go very far, which means here I am, at the top of my profession, living paycheck to paycheck. I love my job. One of the highlights of my day is reading the morning paper. But at some point you have to ask yourself: What is best for my family? With the industry tanking, I really don't see my salary jumping another 10 grand over the next seven, eight or nine years. And last I checked, the world's not getting any cheaper.

Doesnt leave one with a lot of options.

But what other field can you get into where you'll start at over $50K?

If you have a good amount of experience, you won't be starting over. And 50K is only about 15 percent more than my starting salary (not bragging, I swear) at my first straight-from-newspaper-to-PR job.

It's almost impossible -- unless you become a teacher or a crack ***** -- to make less money when you leave the newspaper biz. (And it wouldn't have taken many years as a teacher to surpass my previous salary).

I have spent 18 months looking for another job. I can't find one that will even get within $10K of what I'm making now.

That's a pisser, but when you read it in Debbie Downer's voice (followed by waaah waaaaah) it's actually quite amusing.

Still a pisser, though.

 

[imjustagirl]

Dammit!!!

Deadends come at different points.

I spent 10 years getting to a destination paper. Now that I'm here -- one of the 10 largest in the country -- I make a little over $50,000 covering the biggest teams in town.

In a big city with 2 kids that doesnt go very far, which means here I am, at the top of my profession, living paycheck to paycheck. I love my job. One of the highlights of my day is reading the morning paper. But at some point you have to ask yourself: What is best for my family? With the industry tanking, I really don't see my salary jumping another 10 grand over the next seven, eight or nine years. And last I checked, the world's not getting any cheaper.

Doesnt leave one with a lot of options.

But what other field can you get into where you'll start at over $50K?

If you have a good amount of experience, you won't be starting over. And 50K is only about 15 percent more than my starting salary (not bragging, I swear) at my first straight-from-newspaper-to-PR job.

It's almost impossible -- unless you become a teacher or a crack ***** -- to make less money when you leave the newspaper biz. (And it wouldn't have taken many years as a teacher to surpass my previous salary).

I have spent 18 months looking for another job. I can't find one that will even get within $10K of what I'm making now.

WAAH WAAAAAAAAAAAH!

 

[jboy]

The more I read the multiple gloom and doom threads on this board, the more I love my job.

Blog's going well, huh?

 

[CarlSpackler]

If *** did work for a Gatehouse paper -- which he eluded to as possibly being the case -- I'm pretty sure the job of the publisher is to be as hands-on as possible. Our publisher used to walk around the newsroom barefoot (seriously!) and change stuff on the editorial page like 15 minutes before deadline so it would meet the views of himself or the Chamber of Commerce. The best was when for the "War on Christmas" editorial he insisted that the line "And don't forget, Jesus is the reason for the season" be included. At least the AME didn't budge on that.

That was the same publisher that almost didn't let me bring a photographer to cover a local team at the state softball tourney (a whole 2.5 hour drive away) -- that another paper also covered -- because he was that cheap.

 

[SlickWillie71]

Let me apologize for the venom in my rant. Seriously, I do mean it.

Just the gloom and doom (and no, I'm not blind to way print is going) astounds me at times. It just bothers me to watch good talent leaving what they've always dreamed of doing.

Let's not overlook the fact that dreams generally end. You wake up in the morning, the dream is over. Or you chronicle the exploits of others in sporting pursuits for a decade or two, and then you've had enough. For five, 10 or 20 years, you enjoyed it enough to put up with all the sacrifices required. And the industry allowed you to hang onto some dignity.

Then one day, you're 20 years in to doing this and you start to feel a little dumb for chronicling the athletic deeds of people now somewhat or even much younger than you. The lack of payoff in terms of money or growth starts to bug you, and the sacrifices seem to increase, not lessen, the longer you stick with it. Maybe you have kids yourself and you realize that the great history and math students deserve the kudos as much or more than the jocks. Now overlay that with the panic of bottom-line obsessed managers, and the disrespect they're all too happy to dump on you and your colleagues.

At that point -- I feel bad for anyone who truly believes they "were born to do this and only this." That really is selling yourself short.

One of the best posts I have ever seen here.

High quality.

I second that. As good as things are for me now, I never fool myself into thinking that this is the be-all, end-all of my life. I've always kept the option open to where I can feel at peace and walk away from the field on my own terms. The itch to teach history at a high school level has never left, and it's one that will get scratched at some point.

 

[RossLT]

I had an intense passion for this job when I graduated now, 18 months later, I have an EIC who hates me and has taken every ounce of passion, love and drive I had in this business from me

is your eic an ass or do you have mistakes falling out of yours?

He is an ass. Nothing the sports dept. does will ever be right