Sports reporter, Columbus, Ohio

[GoDeacs]

Nope, not at the daily, but if you want to write and write a lot -- and not deal with design, pagination, editing, photography, etc. -- this is a great opportunity. ThisWeek is looking for a reporter to join its staff of 13 (SE, ASE, designer/paginator, two others on desk and eight full-time reporters). ThisWeek publishes 23 papers in and around the Columbus area. During heavy weeks, reporters file generally 10-13 stories per week; during summer, usually about six to eight. If you can manage time well and not rely on agate to write stories, you won't go into overtime much, but if you do you will be compensated. You will have your regular beats, but ThisWeek emphasizes good features, especially within those beats. This position has been posted and is available NOW.

Pay will be commensurate with experience, but even for someone just getting started it's not bad.

Interested? Send resume to ThisWeek, 7801 North Central Dr., Lewis Center, Ohio 43035. If you want more info, let me know. I know the glamour is not in writing for weekly papers, but this is not your typical weekly.

 

[Wisconsin Cowboy]

I don't think it's a matter of weekly's not getting enough respect, it's just the matter that they usually don't pay well. What's the circulation? Are these papers free?

 

[GoDeacs]

Are they free? That depends on which part of town - or the suburbs - in which you live. Most are free, some are subscription. The combined circulation is around 200,000, and depending on the week, some stories will get the entire circulation. A lot of effort is put into good design throughout our papers. We have a very good staff of photographers. Our reporters also frequently contribute to the daily in town, The Columbus Dispatch, seeing as how we all are owned by the same company. So there's the opportunity for a good writer to get his/her foot in the door that way. And the pay is not bad, about mid-20sK starting out.

 

[GoDeacs]

Having just talked with the SE (I'm the ASE), I realize I had the wrong number for our circulation - combined it's more than 300,000. The starting pay for a newbie will be between $25-30K. For a good reporter, the opportunities with the Dispatch and for freelancing (out-of-town papers frequently call us looking for help) are plentiful. We want someone who wants to know his beats well and write very good features. If you want, check out our Web site: www.thisweeknews.com.

 

[jshecket]

I'm a Columbus native so I would be applying for this one if I wasn't already happily employed & somewhat-happily relocated. I'll definitely send this to some friends.

 

[steveu]

GoDeacs, I just sent you a PM on this. Wondering about some stuff with the job and the Dispatch.

 

[Satchel Pooch]

Don't be under any illusions: Though ThisWeek writers have football/basketball gamers that land in the Dispatch on the weekends, I don't recall seeing any of their features in the big paper, nor have any TW sportswriters become Dispatch sportswriters in the dozen years I've been in town.

Deacs, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[GoDeacs]

OK, so Poochie won't be applying. It'll be tough, but I'm sure I'll get over it. However, some concerns were raised that I'll address.

Looking back at earlier posts, I didn't see where I said our reporters were doing features for the Dispatch. What I said was the opportunity to do some work for the Dispatch and get your foot in the door - if that's what you want to do - is there. Besides, most daily papers in a major market that I know of rarely if ever use stringers for features. There's no attempt to deceive there.

As far as ThisWeek having had no one in the last dozen years go on to full-time status at the Dispatch, nope, we haven't had any. I attribute that to a few things: 1) Look at the full-time reporters at the Dispatch and you'll see that there has been little turnover there as well. A few of their full-time hires already were on staff either working agate or had been on staff as a part-timer before that. Their primary hockey guy came to Columbus to cover an expansion team and already had experience covering the NHL. 2) There really hasn't been a ton of turnover on our staff, either. Five of the guys who were on staff when I started in 1998 still are on staff. Guys get here and they like it. I know a few have had opportunities to go elsewhere and turned them down. I'm a prime example myself. Less than two months after I started at ThisWeek, I was contacted by the Dispatch - my previous employer, on a part-time basis - about a spot on the agate desk and turned it down because I liked what I was doing. 3) We have a few guys on our staff who previously worked for our competitor in town; our competitor has none of our former writers. And every time we have an opening, we get applications from guys on the sports staff of our competitor.

Sounds to me like this is an opportunity to earn decent money and not burn yourself out. And if you're good enough to move on to something bigger and, as important, want to do so, I'm all for helping you.

 

[jshecket]

Chances are the CM Media guys are constantly asked when they're on the beat "Oh are you from This Week?"

I shadowed at the former SNP in high school for 5 days and what I most vividly remember is how ancient everything was there. Half of the papers were still being paginated by hand.

 

[Omar from the Wire]

Sounds like a good opportunity. But my only issue is the pay. While 30k aint bad in rural Penn or Georgia somwhere (and is never bad for a recent grad), we're talking aout a big city here with big citiy expenses. I'd stay away from this one if you've been out of school for a while. Or you'll end up getting a second job to make ends meet.

 

[JME]

Sadly Omar, the pay is probably right about where you'd expect it to be in relation to industry standards. I don't see it as being any worse than the majority of listings.

 

[Omar from the Wire]

I don't think we've seen many 25-30k jobs posted for metro area papers. But I could be wrong. I just think making that kind of cash is fine in small, cheaper markets. But any place with skyscrapers (more than 15 stories) has to hard to live in for 25k.

 

[steveu]

The 25-30K is for a newbie. Chances are it goes up a notch for experienced reporters. How much, I don't know. Doesn't sound like a bad opportunity to me.

 

[Omar from the Wire]

No, not in the least. I'm just wondering on how a 28-35 year old (who has bills) could live in that big of a city for that kind of money.

 

[JME]

Again, I think that's pretty standard pay for a job like this in a city like this.

 

[Omar from the Wire]

I just asked one of my co-workers, who is a metro-indy alum. They said 25k sounded about right. So, I guess if you don't mind the pay, this could be a grea job.

 

[sportsed]

You can live (and I have lived) on 25K in Columbus. It's about as cheap a big city as you're going to find. A fine town.

 

[flyers76]

I'd say the chances of guys on beat being asked if they were from SNP are equal to being asked if they were from TW...then again, I may be a little prejudiced.

 

[Waldo9939]

I've seen some of the posts on here and I have to say it's very interesting.

Most everyone is right about the chances of getting to the Dispatch: it's probably not gonna happen. But if you like covering Friday night football, want to have the chance of getting your clips into a big-city newspaper and like working in a low-stress environment, this is a perfect chance.

You can live in Columbus on somewhere between 25-30K. Hell I'm doing it now (although admittingly it is not easy! LOL) I may be outing myself to some who are familiar with the area, but if I wasn't doing what I'm doing right now, I would love to do this gig.

There are some great people over at TW. Pretty easy-going, laid-back guys. And believe me, while some of the guys over at SNP are good guys, the working conditions between the two places are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

These guys have the money to offer, so it is believable. Feature-oriented can be fun at times, and quite frankly, it is easy work. Work it is though. The number of schools you will cover is plenty.

There is possible chance for advancement and Lee is definitely good people.

 

[jball]

Do we have any new information this position, and do they have a deadline for when they are looking to hire someone?