What should I have done?

[huntsie]

We have two guys on vacation out of a staff of three and a stringer we use extensively.
The major provincial golf tournament of the summer is going on. With two guys gone, I'm left on the desk and the stringer does the golf. He files a story that, in my judgement, misses the crux of the story completely.
Briefly, there are two co-leaders from out of province at the halfway point of the tournament. The first round leader, a kid from our circulation area, shot a 65 on day one, but a 75 on day two to fall to third place. I rewrote the lead to reflect that -- taking 45 minutes out of a busy night to do so actually, since I had eight pages to lay out.
So I didn't have time to consult with the writer or send it back to him to do again. Got a note from him this morning pissed at the rewrite and indicating that we should tell the boss he'll never do golf again.
Should I have left his story alone but for minor edits? Sent it back to him to rewrite and complicated a crazy night? Did what I did? Or something else?
Honestly, this guy and I are pretty good friends and he's a valuable member of our department. I hate to be at odds with him. How would you handle this?

 

[slappy4428]

You're in the slot, it's your call.
The local kid is your angle -- especially since he was still in the lead to start the day.
He overreacted, however, not having seen the rewrite, don't know if you tweaked, rewrote or butchered...

 

[huntsie]

I'd call it a heavy rewrite and I think he'd agree. It wasn't butchered, for sure.

 

[BujuBanton]

You should just tell him welcome to the business, every writer has their stuff changed from time to time. Then send him to every golf event in the area.

 

[Some Guy]

If it was one of your regular writers, I would say you should never, ever **** with a lede without consulting the writer.

Since it was a stringer, I say **** 'em.

 

[hwkcrz1]

You had every right to change that story. Stringers have no right to treat you like that.

 

[BillyT]

No more golf?

How about no more assignments?

All copy is raw copy.

Unless you added a mistake, and even then, he missed the story.

 

[greenlantern]

I've changed ledes before as the slot guy. Guess what. I'll do it again. If the lede completely misses the mark or is a complete cluster****, I'm making changes. Don't like it? Tough nuts. And since when does a stringer get to say what he will and won't cover? Most people's bosses would be finding a new stringer. Like Buju said, "Welcome to the business."

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

Agreed, he missed the angle completely and the lede needed to be changed. However, you should have sent an email at the very least at the time you rewrote the lede. Should have called him if you could have. Just out of courtesy, not to *****. Then, the next day, you explain the changes and discuss focusing on local angles, etc.

"Bob. I'm changing your lede. We'll discuss why in the morning."

It's in our union contract that anything and everything in a story can be changed or reworked or cut — EXCEPT any lede. And, if the lede is changed, the reporter can pull his/her byline off it he/she wants.

 

[fishwrapper]

Sorry to be contrarian, but...
The stringer deserved a phone call. I don't care that the changes were made, or a rewrite took place.
But, as long as it is his/her byline at the top of the story, a call should be made.

 

[zebracoy]

Sorry to be contrarian, but...
The stringer deserved a phone call. I don't care that the changes were made, or a rewrite took place.
But, as long as it is his/her byline at the top of the story, a call should be made.

Agreed.

I also think that maybe it wasn't a good idea to schedule two of your three guys out on vacation the same week, regardless of how little is going on.

 

[Jersey_Guy]

At my place, stringer copy seems to be regarded as completely changeable without a phone call. OTOH, your paper seems to have a closer relationship with this stringer, and need for his services, than most.

I'd smooth it over, but make it clear to him that this was you job - to make sure the best coverage gets in the paper - and given the deadline, you didn't have time to chat about it.

 

[I Digress]

I string and the place I work with/for.. and it remains a crapshoot in that I never know what they're looking for.. If I put a straight lede on a story, they will sometimes make it more featurey. But if I do the featurey turn, they make it straight news ... of course that varies depending on which dept/editor is handling it. If I were on staff, I'd want to be consulted. I'm not on staff. Changing the lede doesn't change the story and I just let it roll off my back. Then again, I can't remember actually missing the story.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

A lot of desk people look at the call to the writer as just a courtesy, but really it's also protection against the desk person misreading what the writer is trying to say and/or making assumptions that might not be valid. There should be a (remote) possibility that the writer can talk you out of a change. Also, it helps the writer's growth if he understands exactly why changes were made. On golf I'm a bit less sure of arbitrary changes in the thrust of the main story. Sometimes the writer will write about someone one day because he already plans to write somebody else tomorrow, or he writes someone one day because he doesn't think that person will be worth writing about tomorrow or the next day. There's often some sort of plan in an effort to avoid having to write about the same person all four days, especially if the main is less play by play and more inclusive of background/feature material.

 

[spaceman]

he's a stringer. **** 'im

 

[slappy4428]

he's a stringer. **** 'im

While I agree Huntsie made the right call in this case by changing the lede, "he's a stringer, **** 'em" is a pretty cavalier attitude to take. At many shops, stringers might be better or have more experience than the staff writers.

 

[SF_Express]

I agree with the school of thought that it sounds like this might be different than a typical "stringer" and that a call should have been made.

I also agree, however, that if he's going to say he's never going to do golf again, then he can never do anything else again, either.

This probably can be solved in a 10-minute conversation, but if it can't, I then fall into the "**** 'im" school.

 

[accguy]

My attitude on this is the same as the main guy at night at my place: If an editor thinks it is important enough of a situatuion to change the lead, then it is important enough to call the writer.

I think that is only fair.

 

[mike311gd]

he's a stringer. **** 'im

He still works for that paper and still has his name at the top of the story. I don't care what your title is, you've still got the right to know what's happening with your story. Obviously, there are some times where there's just no time to make the call.

But that's the last approach I'd take.

 

[fishwrapper]

he's a stringer. **** 'im

He still works for that paper and still has his name at the top of the story. I don't care what your title is, you've still got the right to know what's happening with your story. Obviously, there are some times where there's just no time to make the call.

But that's the last approach I'd take.

Then, after deadline, you send him a note, explain the circumstances and the reasoning for said story alterations. It's called communication and professional courtesy. And, for our copy editors, it's their job.