Internet staffing

[sportsed]

New poster here, but longtime gawker of the site. Had a question that's been lingering, yet I've never seen the answer included in the myriad of news stories about staff cuts going on at newspapers around the country. So I figured that I'd just take the question to the masses here: Is your newspaper's website adding any editors and/or writers to manage its sports content?

Mind you, I'm not talking about someone charged with simply posting stories generated from the newspaper staff, but those people who create unique content for a web-only audience. So how many people does your newspaper use to staff its website?

I'm well aware of the growing army of reporters and editors at the largest newspapers, from the New York Times on down. But just how far down the circulation totem pole do these expanding job opportunities exist?

 

[HejiraHenry]

At the fine New York Times Regional Group, just about the only new newsroom jobs are Web-related.

 

[sportsed]

Come on. We're talking about the future of our business here. And the demise of what it has been. Yet all we hear about are job cuts, job cuts, job cuts, from Los Angeles to Boston and all points in between. So how many of the old jobs are really being shifted to web duty? Is your paper's website hiring editors AND reporters? Are the numbers proportional to the cuts on the ink side? What's the experience level of those new hires? Has your news organization created separate "companies" to oversee the newspaper and website, such as the Washington Post and washingtonpost.com are structured? This is your chance to discuss what's actually going on at your shop or what you know about a competitor's.

 

[Starman]

New poster here, but longtime gawker of the site. Had a question that's been lingering, yet I've never seen the answer included in the myriad of news stories about staff cuts going on at newspapers around the country. So I figured that I'd just take the question to the masses here: Is your newspaper's website adding any editors and/or writers to manage its sports content?

Mind you, I'm not talking about someone charged with simply posting stories generated from the newspaper staff, but those people who create unique content for a web-only audience. So how many people does your newspaper use to staff its website?

They force writers and editors who already have 55 hours of work to do in their 40-hour work weeks to do the website "in their spare time."

 

[WaylonJennings]

The problem is that only like 2 percent of revenue comes from the Internet, but at the same time, they know it's the future. So they won't put new resources into it until it earns a profit, but they can't afford to ignore it, either.

 

[sportsed]

Where? What size paper are we talking about? Are you in a metro or rural area? A few details would go a long way in furthering the discussion. Thanks.

 

[Ace]

Don't get me started on this, sports ed.

Suffice to say if they do hire any extra bodies to provide content for the web, it likely will be one guy with a whip.

 

[WaylonJennings]

We have one young woman with no real authority who has to run around like a chicken with her head cut off begging all the newsroom veterans to contribute to the Web, to little avail. I'd imagine it's similar to other newspapers' situations.

 

[buckweaver]

Where? What size paper are we talking about? Are you in a metro or rural area? A few details would go a long way in furthering the discussion. Thanks.

You're not going to get people giving specific details about their current papers, sportsed. It's not going to happen.

But my first paper was 21K in the Southeast. We implemented any and all Web changes by ourselves, with no OT, and little outside help.

We have one young woman with no real authority who has to run around like a chicken with her head cut off begging all the newsroom veterans to contribute to the Web, to little avail. I'd imagine it's similar to other newspapers' situations.

Here, we had one elderly woman with no real authority who ran around like a chicken with her head cut off begging us in the newsroom to contribute to the Web, to little avail.

See, you shouldn't make assumptions. It's not so similar after all, is it?

 

[sportsed]

Are these papers that have had staff reductions?

 

[buckweaver]

One yes, one no.

In neither case did we add anybody to work with the Web site, though. Pile it on to the reporters and editors who are already working 50 hours a week, like Starman said.

 

[forever_town]

I add stories to the web as they happen sometimes. It means I have to work 60 hours instead of 55 some weeks.

It meant I had to learn how to work IQueWeb, but I think I've got it down pat.

 

[Starman]

I add stories to the web as they happen sometimes. It means I have to work 60 hours instead of 55 some weeks.

Yeah, and still get paid for 40. What the hell. And soon enough, it'll mean you get to work 65 hours instead of 60. And then, 70 instead of 65. What the hell.

 

[forever_town]

I add stories to the web as they happen sometimes. It means I have to work 60 hours instead of 55 some weeks.

Yeah, and still get paid for 40. What the hell. And soon enough, it'll mean you get to work 65 hours instead of 60. And then, 70 instead of 65. What the hell.

Until April this year, I worked 80 hour weeks between two jobs. Dropping back to 60 hours felt like a vacation by comparison.

 

[Football_Bat]

We have one girl who manually cuts and pastes stories off our server and types in headlines. And she couldn't spell "DOG" if you spotted her the D and the O. Since my department often generates the majority of local copy for our paper, the majority of misspelled heads are ours. It pisses me off, and I'll fire off an e-mail and the problem will be fixed for a few days, then it happens again.

It was better with the old system, where everything that was placed automatically was posted on the web at 2 a.m. The website was Mickey Mouse as all get-out, but at least we could control content.

 

[GravyTrain]

sportsed. Here you go, I've worked at a pretty decent-sized paper (150,000 circ) and we don't have anybody who's job is specifically to provide online content. Instead, we've taken existing newsroom spots and turned them into an online desk, which takes short stories from reporters and puts them on the web and makes sure they have pictures, etc. No jobs have been added - just some shuffling...

 

[sportsed]

Sounds like there's little investment in adapting the offline product to the growing online marketplace. I wasn't expecting to hear that news organizations were swapping, job for job, each layoff at a newspaper for a new position on its website, but I figured there would be some growth. Are the small- and mid-sized papers completely surrendering their niche in the cyber-arena?