Lynn Hoppes: Keep your passion alive

[spaceman]

Welcome to the thread, Lynn!

 

[Joe Williams]

Really, if APSE wants to be of service in these awful times and wants to do something more than just talk about how terrible it is, they should form a committee to explore ways to help the displaced and then quickly DO IT. Get volunteers to critique resumes. Interview experts in other fields about how journalists can best market themselves when looking for jobs in PR, corporate communications, book publishing, etc. Advice from editors who've been there and mental-health professionals about how to deal with the anger and frustration. Advice to the remaining workers about how to cope with that nagging feeling that this isn't done yet. Maybe a hotline for people to call when they are at their wit's end. APSE has a rare opportunity to show that it's about more than self-aggrandizement. More action, less talk ... if they actually give a ****.

Great ideas here, especially utilizing a mental health professional.

I hope Hoppes is paying attention.

I'm not violating any confidences to tell you that someone I know who got forced out of a job in our business came very near to hitting rock bottom, and could have used that mental-health help desperately.

When you drill it into people that their work is a calling and taps into their passions and has so much to do with everything other than money, it's no wonder their hearts and their identities get ripped out when some bean-counter draws a thick black marker line through their name and salary.

Newspapers better start addressing this, at least, if they're going to keep shedding people. They act like they're simply nudging you into another career but what they're really doing is breaking hearts and crushing spirits.

 

[budcrew08]

WFW, Joe.

 

[imjustagirl]

Yes, I read this message board.
Not as much as some people think, though.
I love the idea of refocusing APSE.
We are slowly moving the ship.
We now can make changes by voting online.
That was the first step.
We have realigned the committees with real and attainable goals.
That was the second step.
We are looking at adding a college category.
We are looking at the job board and how to utilize that better.
We are looking at refocusing the regional meetings.
I'll welcome any ideas.
Like the column or hate it, that's OK.
I'm a big boy.
The APSE website just needs the web hits.

Of all those things you're talking about, only the jobs board is anything other than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

It's newspapers that are forcing people out, then turning their backs on the former employees. Tell me one thing you're doing, or looking at doing, to help those displaced by these cuts. One thing. And I'm sorry, voting online is not even the same ballpark.

 

[MMatt60]

I believe former Miami Herald employees have made this case well in the past, but just to reiterate: When it came to developing talent in news and sports, in both writing and editing, the Herald was unsurpassed in the 1980s and 1990s.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Yes, I read this message board.
Not as much as some people think, though.
I love the idea of refocusing APSE.
We are slowly moving the ship.
We now can make changes by voting online.
That was the first step.
We have realigned the committees with real and attainable goals.
That was the second step.
We are looking at adding a college category.
We are looking at the job board and how to utilize that better.
We are looking at refocusing the regional meetings.
I'll welcome any ideas.
Like the column or hate it, that's OK.
I'm a big boy.
The APSE website just needs the web hits.

Lynn, I'm sorry that it's your turn to lead APSE during the worst year for the business. Others have served in easier times, and you'd have had to have been clairvoyant to envision this when you entered the line of succession. But it is your turn. What you suggest is peripheral. And APSE needs to make it a priority to be of some significant, tangible use to the suffering, immediately. This is the defining moment of your year. This is something that's necessary -- a journalism organization needs to do it. People in every department of every newsroom in the country are looking for even a faint indication that some semblance of a soul remains. It would be quite a moment for sports journalism if those other departments saw the first sign of one coming from a bunch of sports editors.

 

[SockPuppet]

Frankly, I have a hard time hearing someone in management at a newspaper preaching about keeping the faith and passion alive.
Bull****. Passion is being eliminated with each bone-headed move by people from assistant managing editor on up. A large percentage of newspaper managers/executives attained their positions not based on the skins on their walls but because they could best parrot the party/corporate line. They're mostly interested in CYA.
I and a number of friends/associates in the business who were passionate about their jobs and about producing an excellent sports section are out of the business. Their passion was dashed against the rocks of corporate greed, stupidity and incompetence. The front-line professionals who are/were passionate about their jobs aren't what management wants. Management wants cheap labor who are OK with sitting on their butts in an office making phone calls to "cover" a beat.
Mr. Hoppes, go find another congregation to preach to. Some of us realize your sermon is a bunch of words filling space on the APSE web site.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

No compliments for Lynn's free verse? He always had his own style of doing things.

 

[playthrough]

Perhaps we could start gathering an informal listing of services or suggestions and sticky it at the top? Links to things like state-by-state unemployment information, any services the companies are offering (i.e. Tribune Co. resources they've made available), resources for breaking into other industries, suggestions on finding the aforementioned mental health professionals, stuff like that. Maybe set up an informal network of resume/cover letter helpers.

This is a great idea, and we've done it. Any and all relevant information and help is welcome.

 

[Tom Petty]

come on guys. what's he supposed to do, call out every newspaper chain's owner?

 

[Write-brained]

The column is disturbing and out of touch.

He's telling sports editors, "Don't worry fellas, lay off who you need to. Don't get down. Look at Scott Carter, he was laid off but he understands the business. No hard feelings from him."

And then he says to show passion for "your industry." He's sure not talking to those who lost their jobs. It's no longer their industry, is it?

Just the entire feeling of the column is eerie and short-sighted (probably conceived and written in under an hour).

It's like reading a story about the homeless with the gist being that the bums aren't so bad off and we - those with homes - will be just fine as long as we work hard or stay faithful to God.

 

[Tom Petty]

what was he supposed to write, write?

 

[Dickens Cider]

Something more useful, given the current business climate?

 

[Write-brained]

what was he supposed to write, write?

I don't care. This was stupid.

Excuse me if I'm more willing to empathize with the situations of those being laid off than that of Mr. Hoppes and his not wanting to **** anyone off.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

Hoppes spent more time fussing with his hair yesterday than he did on that column.

 

[Tom Petty]

yes, it could have been more useful. yes, he could have addressed some tough issues.

bottom line is he didn't. he won't be the first and he won't be the last. i just don't think we should take him to the woodshed because he played it safe.

 

[Dickens Cider]

He's the APSE president. If he won't take a stand and say something meaningful, who will?

 

[Tom Petty]

He's the APSE president. If he won't take a stand and say something meaningful, who will?

should he have pointed out the obvious?

 

[Dickens Cider]

He's the APSE president. If he won't take a stand and say something meaningful, who will?

should he have pointed out the obvious?

Better than ignoring it.

 

[SockPuppet]

Lead, follow or get the hell outta the way (which in the case of Hoppes' column would have been to write about something else or not write at all.)