i don't care

[Tom Petty]

i picked up a random PNW sports section today that was a couple of weeks old. i read a piece on page 2 that fired me up ... for a second.

the piece was unconventional, smart and made me think about what was going through the writer's head when s/he approached the story. my first instinct was to call someone and share the story just as i always do when i run across a piece such as this. but after thinking about it, the "eh" in me took over and i tossed the section in the recycling bin and made myself a snack.

i feel terrible that i'm losing my passion as far as the industry -- and even good writing -- is concerned. hell, i was angry at myself when i started feeling this way not all that long ago, but i just can't bring myself to give two ****s any longer.

wrong or right, i blame the layoffs, the downsizing and the bastardization of the profession for the apathy i feel. am i alone in this?

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Bet you didn't toss your snack in the recycling bin.

Become a chef.

 

[lono]

Maybe if you used proper capitalization, you wouldn't have such a ****ty attitude, young man.

 

[shotglass]

Capital Letters Are Our Friends.

 

[Ace]

If that story had been online, you could have emailed it to all your friends.

What kind of snack was it?

 

[Angola!]

If that story had been online, you could have emailed it to all your friends.

What kind of snack was it?

A cocktail.

 

[shotglass]

 

[DanOregon]

When I read print stories that are less enlightening and shorter than posts on this blog make the front page or a section front I really wonder what the point is anymore.
I don't know why newspapers should expect its customers to appreciate their product when they don't. As sad as it must be to see respected and experienced colleagues end up sorting mail - isn't it similar to what readers see on their front porches every day. It's tough to see, you end up wanting to look away and remember the newspaper in better times.

 

[Tom Petty]

When I read print stories that are less enlightening and shorter than posts on this blog make the front page or a section front I really wonder what the point is anymore.
I don't know why newspapers should expect its customers to appreciate their product when they don't. As sad as it must be to see respected and experienced colleagues end up sorting mail - isn't it similar to what readers see on their front porches every day. It's tough to see, you end up wanting to look away and remember the newspaper in better times.

i'd like to think there aren't that many folks who give their lives to their jobs, but a lot of the people i know in journalism have (had) a deep personal investment in their jobs and the industry.

i can't start to explain how it makes me feel to be disconnected from what i once held so dear.

i want to be angry at myself, but i can't ... which simply creates some strange void.

 

[playthrough]

I can relate. Took a work trip recently and realized midway through that I hadn't read a paper cover to cover. Scanned the USA Today that was at my door every morning, just to make sure I didn't miss anything big, but didn't read any of the locals. A few years ago I would have bought every paper in sight and checked out everyone's wares. On this trip I didn't pick up the major metro until at the airport heading home, and had no feeling of "darn I wished I'd been reading this every day" because it just wasn't that good.

 

[buckweaver]

I have long since accepted that my job is simply that: it's just a job. It might still be my career, but I know there's a pretty good chance it won't even be that. So right now, it's just a job that I enjoy which pays the bills.

I still love what I do -- the day-to-day work, the assignments, the colleagues and the environment of the newsroom -- but I'm not willing to give my life to it anymore. I come to work, I do my best, I get my paycheck and I go home. Honest day's work, nothing more, nothing less.

I didn't always feel that way; I'll confess that working for Singleton beat it out of me. But I'm a lot happier now, having that healthy emotional detachment from my work. I still enjoy journalism, I still enjoy great reporting, great writing. But that type of journalism has a feeble heartbeat in newspapers these days. I can find it in magazines. I can find it in research, including my own. It's still out there.

But my line of work is something different now. And that's OK with me. It's just a job.

 

[shotglass]

I guess I'm the third category. Newhouse is leaking oil, but not as fast. I still admittedly have an attachment to my work. The people there are my second family, have been for 28 years. It's not lost on me that I'm one of the fortunate ones.

 

[Tom Petty]

i guess, for me, if journalism is only a job, i should look for something with more security and a much, much, much better retirement.

****, if i can't bring myself to enjoy and embrace great writing any more, what am i still doing here? as dan "said," i enjoy more of what i read at this site than i do in any newspaper ... and that's a sad statement.

 

[strunk_you]

to me, tom, it starts up top.

when the decision-makers could care less about who can and can't do what well — only that someone does it and it gets done — it's hard to take pride in your work.

yeah, you might be busting ass to satisfy yourself, your readers, your sources or whoever the heck you want to write for, but if the bosses are just as willing to have someone with no qualifications take your spot and do a ****ty job to save money, it strips your passion.

i still write and report like a madman, but when i go home or when i have days off, i completely shut off from work. no espn, no blogs, no google news, no e-mail. don't read the paper. don't hang out with people from work.

like others have said, it wasn't always that way, but **** it. **** capital letters. **** caring most about something i can't save alone. i will give you the bylines you desire, then you give me the paycheck in turn.

 

[Drip]

I can relate. Took a work trip recently and realized midway through that I hadn't read a paper cover to cover. Scanned the USA Today that was at my door every morning, just to make sure I didn't miss anything big, but didn't read any of the locals. A few years ago I would have bought every paper in sight and checked out everyone's wares. On this trip I didn't pick up the major metro until at the airport heading home, and had no feeling of "darn I wished I'd been reading this every day" because it just wasn't that good.

I think I've said this before. There used to be a time when you could comb airports, train and bus stations and find newspapers. Not anymore.
Very depressing.

 

[forever_town]

i'd like to think there aren't that many folks who give their lives to their jobs, but a lot of the people i know in journalism have (had) a deep personal investment in their jobs and the industry.

i can't start to explain how it makes me feel to be disconnected from what i once held so dear.

i want to be angry at myself, but i can't ... which simply creates some strange void.

I think I have a pretty good idea of where you're coming from. After I poured my heart and soul into my now-former job for two and a half years, my reward for all that effort was especially dehumanizing treatment from the publisher and CEO as they all but pushed me out the door.

When a profession bleeds someone dry, then discards him or her for the next victim, it's hard to remain enthusiastic.

I still love the writing part. I loved much about the job, but in the end, it wasn't enough.

 

[buckweaver]

when the decision-makers could care less about who can and can't do what well — only that someone does it and it gets done — it's hard to take pride in your work.

Oh, I don't think that's true. It's still very easy to take pride in your work -- for yourself. I can't look myself in the mirror if I don't put some pride in what I do, regardless of how my bosses or the readers may feel.

And they can't take that away unless you let them.

Yeah, it sucks to be beaten down over and over again. But if you're doing this for external validation, you're in the wrong line of work to begin with.

 

[strunk_you]

when the decision-makers could care less about who can and can't do what well — only that someone does it and it gets done — it's hard to take pride in your work.

Oh, I don't think that's true. It's still very easy to take pride in your work -- for yourself. I can't look myself in the mirror if I don't put some pride in what I do, regardless of how my bosses or the readers may feel.

And they can't take that away unless you let them.

Yeah, it sucks to be beaten down over and over again. But if you're doing this for external validation, you're in the wrong line of work to begin with.

i don't view it as external. your own superiors? i guess it's not inside your own body, but it's as close as you can get.

how about if your paper took the buyout of a 10-year vet on the college beat and replaced him or her with an intern because, well, he graduated, he's been an intern for a year, he's paid his dues?

yeah, you still can do your job with some vigor pretty easily. but will it bother you as much to see a typo in a headline? a mistake in the tv schedule? how about when the former intern struggles on that other beat?

those things are harder to care about. and like tom said, reading other papers and getting jazzed about journalism in general is a lot tougher these days.

 

[shotglass]

I hesitate to suggest this, because I know it's going to be roundly assailed. But I must.

I hear a lot of "when so-and-so happens, it's hard to remain enthusiastic for your job."

Folks, is it that, or is it that this provides an easier excuse not to remain enthusiastic because you'd really rather spend your time thinking about something else after having lived in journalism for a long time?

If you want to remain enthusiastic about your job, you know what? You just DO. If it's harder, you just TRY harder. Or don't, and I'm not going to judge you for it.

Just understand that you're providing yourself with a built-in reason not to give a ****.

 

[buckweaver]

Strunk, I'm not talking about pride in the paper. I'm talking about pride in your own work.

Yeah, it still gets to me when the section I put out has typos throughout. But I also don't lose sleep over it like I used to (unless I'm the one who made the ****up.) The fact is, we're making quite a few more mistakes than we used to because our staff is about 75 percent of the size it was a month ago. What can I do about that? I bust my ass, I do the best I can and I go home. Still try to make sure I get it right, same as I did before.

I still take pride in my work; I just don't equate MY work with the entire newspaper anymore. It's a waste of energy.