Testy Assistant Subject Editors

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Tue Jan 14, 2003 12:00 am

Copy editors at the Chicago Tribune bear the title "assistant subject editor," I am reliably informed.

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Tue Jan 14, 2003 12:15 am

That's nice. What the hell does that mean?

Emily Salmon · **Joined:** Sat Nov 16, 2002 1:01 am **Posts:** 86

I think job titles are a good topic.
At my previous paper, I notice the copy editor and assistant editor have become "assistant managing editors."
For one thing, how can you have assistant managing editors if there is no managing editor?
For another, isn't a managing editor a big supervising editor in charge of a lot of subordinate editors at a major metro? This is at a little community weekly paper, for chrissake. Is this pretentious?[ January 14, 2003: Message edited by: Emily Salmon ]

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Tue Jan 14, 2003 11:55 am

The truly scary thing about your post, Emily, is this:"The" copy editor...Actually, the purpose is clear. By giving out these official-sounding titles, the company is protecting itself from potential claims of unpaid overtime. This way, if someone gets mad and goes to the NLRB and claims your paper sweated them for 1,000 free hours, the company can counter that they were titled employees exempt from overtime stipulations in the Wage & Hour Laws.Every man (or woman) a king![ January 14, 2003: Message edited by: Bumfketeer ]

Rio · **Posted:** Tue Jan 14, 2003 2:58 pm

Another, more simple explanation is that it's an ego thing.Distributing fancy titles in lieu of real money is a common practice at many companies, and not just media ones.

KfitzR · **Posted:** Tue Jan 14, 2003 3:05 pm

There was a time when a byline and a dime would buy you a cup of coffee. This is just a fancier way of conning you into thinking you have it made.

Guest · **Posted:** Tue Jan 14, 2003 3:22 pm

Two truly insidious consequences of giving a newsperson a fancy title with nominal managerial status are:a) It allows the paper to make such employees salaried rather than hourly -- which is often newspaperese for "work you to death and not pay you for much of that work."b) It often makes such employees ineligible for union membership by virtue -- or lack thereof -- of an arbitrary and obscure job classification.Me ... I make a piss-poor hourly wage as a "copy editor," but I work a lot of overtime, and am able to make sure every minute of it shows up on my time card -- and every cent I'm due shows up on my paycheck. I've turned down "management" opportunities before simply to protect that."Managers" at my paper work six or even seven days a week, for 12 to 15 hours a day. They have no lives, cranky spouses and look like they'll die long before retirement. Compared to them, I think I have it pretty good.

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Tue Jan 14, 2003 5:31 pm

I have no sympathy for managers who work long hours. They made their choice.As for your desk, Jim Thomsen, I have this to say: Any publisher who makes newsroom employees punch a time card should be kicked in the ass. Hard.

Guest · **Posted:** Tue Jan 14, 2003 6:46 pm

To clarify: I don't punch a time card (and wouldn't). I just fill in a sheet at week's end, note overtime where applicable, and include a brief note of explanation for the OT. It's a five-minute chore at the end of my week, and seems eminently reasonable. I've never been quibbled with where OT is concerned, fortunately ... although I know of places where the official policy is "no OT," and yet, the nature of the workload ensures that OT is necessary -- so what happens is that young, intimidated reporters wind up donating several hours a week to keep up with onerous workload demands, and won't say a word for the record.

Emily Salmon · **Joined:** Sat Nov 16, 2002 1:01 am **Posts:** 86

Funny you should say that, Jim. At the paper I was mentioning, I quit in June. One reason--among about 50--was that I was signing a 40-hour time card, as we were all required to--and working a 50-hour week.
I could just see the allegations from the vice president, a case study in narcissism--"She lied on her timesheet--and admitted it!" That's true--I routinely *under*estimated my hours. The reporters there agreed there was no way around it. There was no way to get the work done in 40 hours, and you couldn't get overtime approved except in special circumstances.

Emily Salmon · **Joined:** Sat Nov 16, 2002 1:01 am **Posts:** 86

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Bumfketeer:
The truly scary thing about your post, Emily, is this:"The" copy editor...<hr></blockquote>Maybe that would explain the week after I quit, when a community calendar entry for a certain June issue listed a notice of the main library's "Fag Day" celebrations.I kid you not.[ January 14, 2003: Message edited by: Bumfketeer ][/QUOTE][ January 14, 2003: Message edited by: Emily Salmon ]

Craig Lancaster · **Posted:** Tue Jan 14, 2003 9:39 pm

I worked at a joint that instituted a timecard-punching system because the powers that be were convinced folks weren't working their full 40 hours.So, for a month, we all "punched" our precise working time. After the honchos saw the overtime bill, out went the clock.Morons.

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Wed Jan 15, 2003 12:32 am

Sorry for the confusion, Jim.We do fill out time sheets at the end of the week in keeping with the stipulations of our union contract. As for an actual time clock, the reason the thought of it made me testy was that my last paper...much larger than the 100,000 paper I work at now...actually had a newsroom timeclock with timecards for everyone, including the exempts!The first time I saw this I could not believe it. The last time I punched a stupid time clock was when I worked in a dog food factory as a kid. This also was a union paper; just for sake of argument, let's call it the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.My answer was that I took the stupid card and WROTE my hours on it at the end of the week. I just refused to stand in line and punch out like some schmo. I guess I am just an anarchist at heart.

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