Palm Beach Post

[MMatt60]

If you think that a lack of multi-media elements on the Web led to 33 percent staff cuts, you're a moron.

I mean, sorry to be harsh, but get real. Slightly larger issues are in play.

 

[12345]

Definitely more issues at play than that, but it's been clear as day to me that the bulk of the sports staff - writers, editors, managers - would have really liked the Web to just go away so they can get back to doing their jobs the way they always have.

 

[MMatt60]

I know people at the Post (including Web-site honchos who might be your boss) who offer a far different view.

The problem is that the Web team (not Sports) was charged with producing sports on the Web.

Those producers were swamped with helping Metro and other departments. They admitted that they couldn't keep up with demands of covering sports on the Web.

That's not assigning blame. They were overworked and in many cases had little sports knowledge.

So in recent months the sports desk took responsibility for sports production and is doing the job itself while getting further training.

Now, the news judgment shown on the site is better, headlines are improved and occasionally there even are more multi-media elements.

Sports blogs ALWAYS get more hits than the rest of the newsroom combined and sports content often leads the site in hits.

If any of these points are wrong, I'd love to hear it, because my sources are pretty darn good on this.

All that said, this issue has nothing to do with staff cutbacks, the success of the Web site or anything else. The newsroom staff is being cut because of the collapse of real-estate advertising, the loss of classified revenue (just like in the rest of the country) and the fact that the staff was very big to begin with.

 

[12345]

Wow, Matt - I know people at The Post, too. We should get together sometime and talk about how "occasionally there even are more multi-media elements."

It concerns me to no end that, especially in sports like you said, that we are relying on existing employees with little and in some cases NO background in Web beyond checking their email and the occasional fantasy sports blog to somehow increase the quality level on the site.

How can this industry reinvent itself in a timely fashion if we rely solely on employees who need months of training just to get a basic grasp of how the Web operates?

 

[Ace]

Wow, Matt - I know people at The Post, too. We should get together sometime and talk about how "occasionally there even are more multi-media elements."

It concerns me to no end that, especially in sports like you said, that we are relying on existing employees with little and in some cases NO background in Web beyond checking their email and the occasional fantasy sports blog to somehow increase the quality level on the site.

How can this industry reinvent itself in a timely fashion if we rely solely on employees who need months of training just to get a basic grasp of how the Web operates?

I assume this is epidemic throughout the industry and certainly isn't helping papers transition to the web.

I'll give the papers the benefit of the doubt and assume they didn't want to just fire a whole bunch of people and hire newbies with different skills.

 

[MMatt60]

Personally, I'd rather rely on journalists learning production skills rather than producers (often just out of college with no journalism experience) trying to learn journalism.

 

[Riddick]

This is what amazes me about media companies. Instead of finding ways to make the product better for the readers, they cut staffing to the bone and tell readers that the remaining people will work harder to bring them the best coverage....

A lot of papers have a state of the industry meeting, one of those meetings where they explain the new direction of the paper.
Has anyone ever asked one of the EEs, publishers or EEs how they expect readers to enjoy the product if it has less than the reader is accustomed to?

 

[Mediator]

Having web techs putting up content is a mistake papers made in the mid 90s, before most realized you needed aspiring journalists to write headlines and make basic editorial judgments, no matter how much of the job was really coding and FTPing.

I'm surprised the PBP was keeping at that for as long as it did. You can't pin that on the newsroom staff.

 

[MMatt60]

Mediator is correct in the largest sense. But, in fairness, I don't think the PBP people were Web techs. Many were/are very serious journalists. But they didn't have time to deal with sports, or were not experienced in sports.

 

[Ace]

Personally, I'd rather rely on journalists learning production skills rather than producers (often just out of college with no journalism experience) trying to learn journalism.

Journalism as it has been practiced for the past 200 years isn't working, though.

Younger consumers of news get their information in different ways.

Be good to have a few folks thinking outside the box than 20 people wondering how to open the damn box.

 

[Mediator]

I think it's less that journalism has changed, it's that the advertising model no longer supports it. People still want news, and the bones of that doesn't change no matter where they get it or how big and colorful the charts are.

Advertising and newspapers are no longer locked together. Too many people have the metaphorical presses. We need to find another way to support the content.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

Are Burke and Moschella still at the Post?

 

[Lollygaggers]

Are Burke and Moschella still at the Post?

99% sure they are, and Burke had made the Web his baby after leaving the SE post. That's why it's surprising the Web dept. there has lagged so far behind because Burke usually has great vision and works hard.

 

[SF_Express]

I know the place well, love it, and am just sick about this. Not much more I can say.

 

[SF_Express]

Was communicating with a friend there today; some of what they're talking about in terms of reining in beyond these staff cutbacks is almost equally depressing.

The proud, talented people still there will work their asses off, but without the resources they've had for a long time. And it's simply going to be impossible to do it the way they have.

 

[thegrifter]

I think it's less that journalism has changed, it's that the advertising model no longer supports it. People still want news, and the bones of that doesn't change no matter where they get it or how big and colorful the charts are.

Advertising and newspapers are no longer locked together. Too many people have the metaphorical presses. We need to find another way to support the content.

I couldn't agree more. I don't think journalists need to change how they do things. The ad reps need to come up with a new plan on how THEY do things.
At my last stop, I was told the ad reps couldn't sell ads for a basketball tab. are ****n kidding me?
yet, they don't change, they work less, usually make more, and are one of the last group of people to get axed.

 

[Lollygaggers]

Anyone know anything firm about news with the Post? I think buyouts have been offered by now, but I'm not positive.

 

[MMatt60]

Deadline to apply for buyouts was yesterday.

The paper is looking for about 100 newsroom people to exit.

If 100 don't volunteer (and that is not happening), layoffs will commence mid-August.

To answer question above, Tim Burke is now strictly a Web guy in the front office. Moschella is sports editor.

 

[BigDog]

They got very close to the 100-buyout-application mark, I've been told. Very close.

Will they all take it? Who knows.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

They got very close to the 100-buyout-application mark, I've been told. Very close.

Will they all take it? Who knows.

And of course, some who applied for buyouts won't be accepted so management will have to lay off somebody who didn't necessarily want to leave ... all the while keeping the unsuccessful buyout applicant in mind for "further cuts down the road, if necessary."