Nashville Junk

Just been busy

2006-02-23T09:16:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in awhile because I've been busy with life outside the paper. Honestly, I've been working on figuring out a way to exit. In reposnse to Just Reading, I'm not sure if someone else at the paper would pick this up. I had hope that this would be more populated by the disaffected at the paper. But I think there has been only one or two. There are many more opinions than mine.

The earlier deadlines are a total pain.

Exiting Dodge

2006-02-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

I have to get out of Dodge as well. The designers have taken over the newsroom for sure. Deadlines have been moved up so the designers can work with the paper more. I wonder what will happen if there's late breaking news. Oh we can deal with it we are told. Regardless, the designers are dictating things instead of news. It's plain stupid. I know where we could save money and get writers back, fire most of the design desk. It's just insane to think that readers are somehow going to be wowed by a pretty package with little substance. I'm not sure readers really care.

As for Brad, it shows where the priorities are at the paper. But it also shows the priorities of the readers. Brad's column is one of the highest read features of the paper, which is a sad commentary on the readers.

I thought it was kind of good for EJ to get big footed by his boss. Maybe it will knock the ego down a notch.

Didn't disappear

2006-01-27T16:48:00.000-08:00

I just took a little break from posting is all. Not much really to write. It seems like we side with the lottery in the Adams firing. Editors didn't quite want to admit that the paper got beat in many ways on that story. We don't cover the lottery, and Rebecca Paul is ripe for tough coverage. It also appears that we have gotten away from the chest pounding finally. As to Grandefille's question on Rutherford County, I can't answer that one. It will be interesting to see if the start up Williamson County paper can survive and cut into WAM. If it can, then why not do it in Rutherford, too.

No vacation

2006-01-10T20:23:00.000-08:00

I just took a break from posting. What more can I say? Nothing's changing. The holidays are a slow time of year with lots of wire copy in the paper. The most exciting thing lately, in my view, has been the lottery deal, number two guy getting canned and we couldn't get the story. Nashvillepost did. Supposedly, EJ tried to call himself. That's just the talk. It would seem that expenses were so tight this year that all we got for the Christmas gift was a handshake from the publisher.

Job security

2005-12-18T09:40:00.000-08:00

I decided to create a new post for the sole purpose of not having to scroll down so much to read comments. I hope management is reading this, although they are probably loath to acknowledge it.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more done to dissuade people from blogging. If they did, wouldn't that be hypocritical? Think about it. Here wer are invoking the First Amendment every chance we get, freedom of information and all, and then fire someone for speaking. They get ticked about people talking to the Scene. I remember a year or so ago EJ had a meeting down in the room by Mo's. EJ was talking about the family or team or whatever and not talking outside the team and keep internal business internal. His comments came after someone gave the Scene some idiot memo Green had written. Isn't that how we get our information from inside organizations? If someone got fired at the organization, we'd very likely write about why they got fired.

Brentioch's question about how I'd feel about getting fired is interesting and verging on a dumb question. It was be awful if I got fired. How could they fire me if I have good evaluations and I'm "Key" or "Quality" depending on the quota of Key to Quality? They would have to find an excuse other than blogging about the internal gripes. If they fired me for that reason, suddenly I'd be the most vocal person in the world. They have found ways to push people out, but if you notice, most of them are openly rebellious. Not it's up to the quiet ones. Look at the story about one of the top IRA guys who turned out to be a British spy for the past two decades, small, wired rimmed guy who was described as wallpaper.

Some of it is mildly happening. There are a few reporters who will lean over and ask an editor how they spell their name for the byline after we've been told how to write the story.

manager evaluations

2005-12-14T23:09:00.000-08:00

There was a time at the paper when the reporters evaluated their managers. Those days need to come back. There would be many who would get reams of negative comments. Also, the survey we all took a couple of years ago doesn't seem to have hhad an impact. Those results were partly used in announcing the resdesign, which has been slow moving.

Do readers really want a more cluttered paper with fact boxes and such? Or do they simply want to read well-written and well-reported stories from writers that know what they are writing about? it seems the paper could have saved a bunch of money by foregoing the "design desk" and hiring more writers.

The discontent continues.

THP

2005-12-10T14:03:00.000-08:00

We are milking that story for all its worth. How about those headlines?

Off topic

2005-12-07T12:30:00.000-08:00

I don't eat meat, but this is a funny and interesting blog.

http://www.hotdogspot.com/

System

2005-12-05T18:42:00.000-08:00

The blog system apparently is acting up. I don't believe Mother Gannett has gotten to the guys at Google. In fact, I think Google could probably buy Gannett.

The Editor

2005-12-05T07:07:00.000-08:00

I know I've been pretty harsh on EJ. And as someone pointed out in one of the comments, rube isn't probably the best descriptor. I implied that he might not be that intelligent. When I wrote that, I was a bit ticked at something that day. Nevertheless, when it comes to writing stories, his instincts are good. He does know how to tell a story. And you can't fault the guy for going after politicians. It's questionable, however, that every story on 1A has to have a blaring headline. Some days, it's just not warranted.

EJ's management style I think stems from insecurity, which, by the way, I can understand. Think about it. You are the first black editor of a newspaper that has good lineage. He's 43 or so, relatively young for such a position. He has something to prove. And when someone has something to prove and he or she is young, then they want to present an image of being in charge because of position rather than experience. That is why I think he's come across as arrogant to leaders in the community. My feeling is he should have used the meetings with local leaders and officials to gauge what they thought were good and bad about the paper. What may have worked in Detroit doesn't necessarily work here. There's nothing wrong with getting their feedback first before making changes. The one size fits all really only works for McDonald's. Even then, the stores in Europe cater to the tastes of Europeans, not necessarily Americans.

Another way I guess would have been to make changes and watch for success, then brag about the success -- do first, talk later.

I guess my point is he should have shown a little more humility, listening more than talking. He walked in and started making changes right away whether some were needed or not. It came across as making change for the sake of making change; to show that he was in charge. Taking away the sportswriters beat columns, for example, was one of those changes that weren’t needed. There was concern in the community that the beat writers were expressing opinions in the columns and writing news. Readers like seeing the writers. So the columns were good outlets for writers showing their expertise and readers like that. What EJ should have done is gotten the writers to nix the opinion and do true analysis based on the news they had been writing. EJ apparently killed the columns because he thought they confused the readers. Yet, columnists have written news stories. Isn't that just as confusing?

This is kind of a stream of thoughts before morning coffee.

Comments

2005-12-01T07:39:00.000-08:00

I had no idea the Scene would include this blog in its column. The intent was more to inform than to have it publicized. So be it. The newsroom is a fairly tense place and this, family and church are the only outlets when you can't speak freely at work.

We had a good story this morning on the THP. It makes up for the honorary badge story, which had people wondering what in the world the paper was thinking. It also puts that story in perspective. That story launched a series of stories and no doubt sources pointing in the direction of what to seek from THP.

I'm tired of TennCare.

More on Pearl Harbor

2005-11-30T13:07:00.000-08:00

The Pearl Harbor headline on the Dark Day for GM was bigger than the Nissan annoucement bringing its headquarters to Franklin. That was an EJ decision. The headline had been written in the morning and the chief story had been turned in later in the day. The story and headline didn't match up. EJ spent a good bit of time in Detroit so that must have affected his decision making. Who knows. Then the paper did a 1A Sunday story a week later that basically said what had already been said. I know the writer Bush Bernard had argued that the story wasn't a story. But the editors persisted. It was a waste of paper.

A little too long

2005-11-24T00:46:00.000-08:00

Tennessean writers are dropping out, one a week it seems. Just nuts that place. The latest -- Richard Lawson, Keith Russell and Ian Demsky. One would think that someone would see this and stop the bleeding. But nope. People are talking about the paper quite a bit in the community, but not in a good way. One prominent civic leader said the paper is becoming a "rag." He took umberance with the headline on Saturn's annnouncement -- "Dark Day for GM." He called it a Pearl Harbor headline. Some of the job cuts had already been annnounced at the company. A "Dark Day" would have been if GM went into bankruptcy, which still isn't out of the question. The paper is losing its credibility everyday. Every Day Matters alright.

The editor of the paper is a complete rube. EJ Mitchell apparently is shy about looking stupid. He showed up at the CMA's in New York wearing a black cowboy hat and black shirt and pants and a bolo tie. What a sight. He isn't really minding the store like he thinks he is. Just like with Frank Sutherland, EJ's predecessor, he doesn't seem to communicate with his No. 2, Dave Green. It's surprising that Green has survived. EJ has told people in the community that he wants to get rid of Green. Who knows if that is accurate or not. Only EJ knows.

another day in paradise

2005-10-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

The Tennessean is an interesting beast, rather it's a study in disorganized management and thinking. Certainly, many newsrooms around the country are having similar problems. Morale is abysmal. For one, it operates like a factory line where nouns become verbs such as mainstreaming.

First, a little something about mainstreaming. It's a somewhat racists concept that Gannett, The Tennessean's owner, created some 20 years ago. In theory, it is quite noble. The goal is to have stories reflect the face of the community -- white, black, brown etc. It is supposed to be a subtle broadening of a reporter’s source base, meaning that through the natural course of developing a network of sources, the reporter builds up a diverse cadre of people to interview for stories. How editors have implemented it over the years offends even the minority reporters. Reporters are asked to mainstream a story and seek specific minorities to quote, preferably black, whether the source has in-depth knowledge of the subject matter in the story. Often times, the reporters must explain the story in great detail, including any nuisances, so that the source can comment. How would you like to know that the only reason a reporter is calling you is because of the color of your skin and not the expertise you possess? And here is one of the problems that skews things -- the number of minority sources is counted and top editors are monetarily rewarded for hitting certain benchmarks. Editors will say that isn’t so. It is feasible then that the paper or any Gannett paper in its content surpasses the percentage of minorities in the community. In the end, then, the papers don't actually represent the communities they cover. Instead, they over represent coverage of minorities in them. Is that fair?

Okay next is planspot. This is the news-planning tool The Tennessean uses. Again, it's another dictate that started with good intentions but has been badly implemented. The intent was to organize better the story ideas, kind of a loose thinking tool that would morph into clearer stories as they were developed over days or weeks. Instead, it's become a factory line of sorts in which editors place orders for stories and create packages that are then delivered and processed through the system of quality control, i.e. editing and copyediting. The writers are the factory workers that fill the orders of the editors. Though it was never meant to caste a story idea into stone, that is what has happened. It helps facilitate a paint-by numbers approach to journalism. Editors drive the process with their ideas and reporters now are slaves to the planspot system. If a story comes up on deadline and isn't in planspot, the story doesn't exist to editors despite verbal communication that there is a story. It quickly became an inflexible system. Stories now must be planned out two weeks in advance. These are called enterprise stories, ones that take time to develop. These are the centerpiece stories, the central story on the page with art and graphics. It is understandable as why the paper has to do this in one respect. The days of large newsrooms are gone, where many reporters hit the streets looking for stories. But in the age of getting more out of less, the system has to be as efficient as possible. With fewer reporters, it’s tougher to roam. If they roamed more, the paper’s local content would be inconsistent. For each section to have a local story, this is a necessary process. But it discounts how news happens or stories evolve.

Even though it has been planned out for two weeks, often times things aren't done until a few days prior to print date because the staff is so stretched that they are constantly behind. But chasing enterprise stories is a little like putting the cart before the horse to use a cliché. Technically, enterprise is supposed to springboard off the news. They are supposed to put news in a broader context, especially if a trend emerges from a series of news stories. Sometimes the enterprise story merely takes a deeper look at an issue after a new story breaks. It's actually worked the other way around. Writers don't roam as much looking for news. Instead they must pull ideas out of thin air or an editor comes up with an idea, thus back, to my point about ordering up stories.

What does this all mean for the reader? For the most part, you are getting manufactured news and stories through a feature format. More later.

Another sleepless night

2005-10-17T12:06:00.000-07:00

I've now entered the world of blogging. Let's see if people read.