Should a Sports Editor write or manage?

[gormless]

Curious should a sports editor write articles report or just edit/organise?
How does it reflect on a paper if the Sports Editor writes articles along with the cubs, is it collegiate or not the way things should be.
I believe that sports editors are journalists who make the leap and can still contribute, but a friend said that sports editors shouldn’t be writing.
Interested to get peoples views..
I thought it a sports editor is in the job years he is entitled to write..

 

[Moderator1]

Each situation is different - staffing size, needs. I spent 461 days as SE (plus two months as interim) and probably wrote five times. My first boss wrote four columns a week - but didn't have a Web site to worry about along with a daily section.
Smaller papers need an SE to do layout much of the week, and still manage the department. I think an SE can write and manage but probably not write, travel and manage too much unless there's a deputy SE carrying a hell of a lot of the load.

 

[canucklehead]

Sports editors should manage and leave the writing to others. Not because they can't, but because they should be focussing on running the department, not chasing down quotes. I know that's easier said than done these days, with dwindling staff numbers. We've got a guy trying to both right now and it appears he's about to jump off the roof of the building because he's overworked.

 

[DirtyDeeds]

What Moddy said. I was at a small paper where the SE wrote almost as much as the staff writers, and I've been at larger papers where SEs do nothing but manage (and attend meetings). Totally depends on staffing, the size of the paper and the paper's goals.

 

[write then drink]

i can't stand when SEs write, unless it's at a tiny paper

especially, when they snag a plum assignment or story out from under somebody who should be doing it

too much other stuff they should be doing

hate it

 

[jps]

it's been said, but depends on the staff size. but even in a mid-sized market, no reason an se can't contribute copy - it can only broaden your coverage, which isn't a bad thing at all. I've been in that position at a mid-sized shop and also at a smaller place, and have/am in both.

 

[pseudo]

At the 15K daily I subscribe to, the longtime SE not only covers prep and college games, writes columns, and works the desk, he's also covered an NFL beat (including most of the road games) since the mid-'70s. I have no idea how he does all that and remains sane, but it has to help that the other two full-timers both have 20+ years at that paper. The three of them work well together.

On the other hand, although Larry Felser kept writing a regular column after he took over at the Buffalo News, I can't think of the last time I saw a byline from their current SE. Like Moddy (who knows a hell of a lot more about it than I ever will) said, depends on the details -- more people to manage equals less time for actual reporting/writing.

 

[SCEditor]

I'm the SE at a 17K daily, and the bulk of my time is designing the section. When I got here, almost two years ago, I came in expecting to handle the design aspect of the job more because I knew it was easier to get talented writers than talented designers (most talented designers get jobs at bigger papers). Along with the design stuff, I occasionally write and occasionally work stories and leads, but I usually let my staff handle that work. Along with the design work, I handle all the administrative work (scheduling, etc...) and most of the clerk duties (typing in stuff, answering phones, etc...), because I prefer to keep the writers free to write. Plus, I haven't mastered the art of delegation yet.

 

[Moderator1]

One thing I meant to say because I think this was part of the original question - a good SE will NOT cherry pick, take what he/she wants and let others pick up the rest. I wrote a few times because of circumstances that left me few other options. I never said, Oh, I'm the SE. I'll jump in and take this big game. That should never happen.

I also picked up a desk shift here and there, particularly on nights when we had two sections to produce (racing, various road races in town).

 

[Angola!]

One thing I meant to say because I think this was part of the original question - a good SE will NOT cherry pick, take what he/she wants and let others pick up the rest. I wrote a few times because of circumstances that left me few other options. I never said, Oh, I'm the SE. I'll jump in and take this big game. That should never happen.

I also picked up a desk shift here and there, particularly on nights when we had two sections to produce (racing, various road races in town).

My SE writes. We are a 25k or so, and he has a couple of beats that he does.

I'm the ASE and I am the main layout person and run the show in the office when he is out of town or at a game.

I have no problem with SE's writing, as long as they don't cherry pick.

Hell, I wish there was a way for me to write, but I sacrificed that for the promotion/pay raise.

 

[buckweaver]

I'm with Moddy: All depends on staff size and need.

At my first paper, a small 20K in my hometown, my first SE did almost no writing at all. But he was a hell of an editor and also could crank out good pages quickly. The role suited him -- and our department -- well.

The next SE who came in couldn't stand being on the desk, but had an ASE (me) who wanted to switch over to the desk full-time and it worked out for both of us. He could do more writing and focus on planning and direction of the department. He and I worked together to budget out the section, but largely trusted me when it came down to the heavy lifting of production. It made us a more efficient department, because we were both happy with our roles.

And, like Angola's SE, he didn't cherry-pick when it came to the plum assignments, which I greatly appreciated. He let me go cover our local NFL team when it was warranted and I gained a lot of experience from that.

Certainly don't think there's a hard-and-fast rule for whether SEs should write or not write. Do what's best for your people and your section. The best thing managers can do is put their people -- and their sections -- in a position to succeed.

 

[ColbertNation]

I've worked for some who did both and some who did neither. I prefer the former.
It does depend on the situation, though. A veteran staff might not need much management.
As for writing, I've always appreciated an editor who was willing to take a story off the hands of an overworked staff.

 

[SCEditor]

One thing I meant to say because I think this was part of the original question - a good SE will NOT cherry pick, take what he/she wants and let others pick up the rest. I wrote a few times because of circumstances that left me few other options. I never said, Oh, I'm the SE. I'll jump in and take this big game. That should never happen.

I also picked up a desk shift here and there, particularly on nights when we had two sections to produce (racing, various road races in town).

A few months ago, we had a local middle school team go undefeated a year after they won only one game. I assigned a photographer to shoot the game for a little photo spread on an inside page. The assignment got trumped for some silly, worthless features assignment (I won't get into all that), and I didn't find out that she couldn't shoot until after the game. So the next day, I go to the school, shoot a team picture and write a little feature for an inside page.

My staff knows I don't cherry-pick assignments. I cover some of the crap they have to cover, too.

 

[forever_town]

Depends on the situation.

My predecessor at my previous shop would write big investigative exposés and that was essentially it. My replacement seemingly has limited herself to occasional columns.

Me? I got right in there and covered stuff along with the reporter(s). We had a tiny, tiny operation when the semester wasn't in session. When the semester was in session, we usually had a lot of university students writing copy. That freed me to focus on writing my weekly column and a gamer.

Of course, there was a time when I was running the paper, covering a murder trial and two sports beats. Again, though, the operation was tiny. If it were a larger shop, I'd probably have limited myself to a column.

 

[WriteThinking]

Certainly it is the sports editor's right to decide to do whatever he or she deems best in any given instance, and special circumstances or a particularly large story/sensitive issue may or may not be determined to require the editor's direct handling. (Think Bill Dwyre writing the initial L.A. Times story following the Al Campanis/Ted Koppel "Nightline" interview).

If the Dodgers' PR staff didn't realize before that that interview was going to create a firestorm, they probably did once they saw that Dwyre had come out of nowhere, at a time when he hadn't been writing much, in order to handle that first, breaking story.

But, generally speaking, whether the sports editor reports/writes will depend on the size of the paper and the staff.

At any paper over 20- or 30K circulation, I'd rather have a sports editor be a manager more than a writer, and have him/her get as good at it as possible.

Truly good managers -- of budgets, sections, and especially, people, are hard to come by. And these days, especially, they can be really important -- special, even -- to their papers, their sections and their staffs. Therefore, that should be their focus.

 

[write then drink]

also ... it seems like most (though certainly not all) sports editors are not good writers or columnists

 

[DirtyDeeds]

Yeah, that's an absurd comment.

 

[jambalaya]

I've had the pleasure of working with some of the finest SE's out there, including one who many on here believe is the best going. None of them wrote, ever, with the exception of one story by one editor because it was Sunday, he didn't want to bother anyone and it popped some big news locally from a non-existent beat.

 

[Angola!]

also ... it seems like most (though certainly not all) sports editors are not good writers or columnists

Wow, that's a really dumb ****ing statement.

 

[jps]

also ... it seems like most (though certainly not all) sports editors are not good writers or columnists

Wow, that's a really dumb ****ing statement.

um, yeah. there are a few that are no good, sure - but they are, I'd say, in a huge minority. I'd like to think I know my way around a feature/column/whatever, anyway. I know gola's se is a stud, regardless of what he's doing, also.

maybe you should change your name to think then write. just a thought.