Next up - Columbia (S.C.) State

[sportschick]

Didn't McClatchy just announce that things were better and putting back in pay raises, 401k contributions and ending the hiring freeze?

And now they are laying people off?

Something doesn't make sense.

As I understand it, and I could be very wrong, the papers were told about cuts that needed to be made back in November. Some made their cuts then (like mine). Others chose to wait. The pay raises/401 K stuff was based how the company expected the bottom line to improve after telling the papers what they needed to cut in November.

 

[BigRed]

Wiseman was my boss when I did high school stringing for the State (after I was done with college and still searching for a job) and Strelow was a guy I enjoyed talking with when I covered games at Clemson. Respect the hell out of both of them and never in a million years thought I would be employed and they wouldn't. Good news for Wiseman is he gets to make the move to NC to be with his family who has been gone from Columbia for a while now. If Strelow doesn't land on his feet soon, I'll be totally shocked. That guy busted ass.

Kind of ironic that a TON of smaller papers in SC were using the State for South Carolina and Clemson coverage, plus Greenville didn't rehire for its USC position after Rick Scoppe left. The only paper with both spots still left is Charleston. Damn shame.

(Funny note though: A lot of people in Columbia ***** about the State saying it leans towards Clemson more than ever. Guess they can't say that now...)

On the leaning, I have heard it from both sides. I guess that means The State was doing a good job, which makes today even sadder.

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

I know this isn't exactly a Toot Your Own Horn scenario, but I'm kind of disappointed that The State hasn't put anything up on its Web site (as far as I can tell). If any of the businesses up on Assembly Street laid off this many people, there would surely be a story on it.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Not that any paper in the country is anywhere close to what it used to be, but at a APSE convention about a decade ago we were debating "Best college town paper" and people overwhelmingly said it was "The State"

After seeing a few sections, I can't say I disagree.

 

[Leo Mazzone]

I know this isn't exactly a Toot Your Own Horn scenario, but I'm kind of disappointed that The State hasn't put anything up on its Web site (as far as I can tell). If any of the businesses up on Assembly Street laid off this many people, there would surely be a story on it.

It's there. Sort of.

http://www.thestate.com/business/story/1106055.html

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

I know this isn't exactly a Toot Your Own Horn scenario, but I'm kind of disappointed that The State hasn't put anything up on its Web site (as far as I can tell). If any of the businesses up on Assembly Street laid off this many people, there would surely be a story on it.

It's there. Sort of.

http://www.thestate.com/business/story/1106055.html

I appreciate the link.
It's not anywhere on the front page. Must have been bumped for stories on McGwire, a political book review and a story on the Atlantic sturgeon fish population.
Sigh.

 

[SCEditor]

Anybody know who the third person in sports cut?

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

Anybody know who the third person in sports cut?

I haven't heard anything today, but word on the street is the third person hadn't been decided yet.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong or out-of-date.

 

[SCEditor]

Anybody know who the third person in sports cut?

I haven't heard anything today, but word on the street is the third person hadn't been decided yet.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong or out-of-date.

That's got to be comforting to everybody there.

 

[FreddiePatek]

Third person will be determined by whether someone takes a buyout

 

[Fredrick]

This sharing of content thing really is bothersome.
I wonder what it's like to be the beat writer who has to provide for several big papers. Aren't deadlines all different? Some newspapers probably need more notice on a feature story where they can plan for it, others don't need as much time.
I would think it would be a major headache for the beat writer having to deal with several editors on different papers.
Sounds like a difficult task to me, but most people would say the beat job of a major school is so great, just shut up and do your job, blah blah blah.

 

[lone star scribe]

The hardest thing about sharing content is that beat writers often localize the coverage for their market. Maybe a college or pro athlete played at a local HS, etc. In another market, that might not be important, or even stay in the story. So what happens is that each desk has to tailor the story to its needs.

Oh, that's right. We're going to a regional desk so all that local flavor will be filtered out anyway. Problem solved!

 

[SCEditor]

Third person will be determined by whether someone takes a buyout

The person that is being asked to take a buyout is in sports? I can only think of one veteran left in sports (although I could be wrong). If it's the person I'm thinking of, he's only the best writer in the state. I guess they want to be devoid of all talent there.

 

[alex.riley21]

Frederick, I wasn't a true beat writer per say, but I provided coverage of one team for three different outlets and ended up writing about six different stories from one game. One paper, didn't print on the weekend so a game story from Saturday went in Monday. One wanted stories immediately because it was a major daily and the other was a Web site so they wanted longer pieces that seemed to go on forever.

Needless to say it was always interesting trying to make sure you got everything right for each one, but on most days you could tweek stuff, add more, etc. just enough to eventually make it work.

 

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Third person will be determined by whether someone takes a buyout

The person that is being asked to take a buyout is in sports? I can only think of one veteran left in sports (although I could be wrong). If it's the person I'm thinking of, he's only the best writer in the state. I guess they want to be devoid of all talent there.

If we're talking about the same "Person," I agree whole-heartedly. No matter who it is, I feel for that person, as I do for the two who have already been named.

 

[Mahoney]

No one on the Gamecock beat will be affected, nor will the columnist. If one of two vets takes a buyout, problem solved. Otherwise a prep person draws short straw.

 

[SCEditor]

Leaving them with one prep person? Is that correct?

 

[Fredrick]

Frederick, I wasn't a true beat writer per say, but I provided coverage of one team for three different outlets and ended up writing about six different stories from one game. One paper, didn't print on the weekend so a game story from Saturday went in Monday. One wanted stories immediately because it was a major daily and the other was a Web site so they wanted longer pieces that seemed to go on forever.

Needless to say it was always interesting trying to make sure you got everything right for each one, but on most days you could tweek stuff, add more, etc. just enough to eventually make it work.

That's pretty crazy. You must be a talented reporter/writer. It'd be tough for some just to remember all the email addresses to send those stories to. Wow.

 

[Leo Mazzone]

Leaving them with one prep person? Is that correct?

Zero.

 

[alex.riley21]

yea, the preps would be basically at zero because wiseman was the preps editor. they have one writer on staff strictly for preps. sad days in columbia...