That's why crime news stays in Vegas

longwords · **Posted:** Tue Aug 07, 2007 9:41 pm

Quote:

The Las Vegas Sun is hiring two more copy editors. We offer the opportunity to edit substantive stories, learn online skills and focus on making the paper stronger, not worry about circulation or advertising. Our copy editors also typically work from noon till 8 p.m., with limited weekend shifts and most holidays off. We're looking for copy editors who ask smart questions and write punchy, provocative headlines -- more like those in magazines than in newspapers.

We're all about local news. But we entered a JOA about two years ago that frees us from the drudgery of typical local news. We don't run endless stories about crime, council meetings or meeting your neighbors. We cover issues and focus on local enterprise, analysis and investigative stories. Many of us are relatively new to the Sun. We came to reinvent the paper, ...

*We don't run endless stories about crime*

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Tue Aug 07, 2007 9:44 pm

It's hard to find fault with that.

LAEdtr · **Posted:** Wed Aug 08, 2007 12:17 pm

It's an insert inside the R-J, so its circulation is entirely dependent on how many people want to read wire stories in a booming town. That said, the Sun does pay pretty well for the market and has a few good editors running the show.

J Kaufman · **Posted:** Wed Aug 08, 2007 4:17 pm

Quote:

we entered a JOA about two years ago that frees us from the drudgery of typical local news.

Then why have a JOA? It's not supposed to be for the benefit of the owners [ha!] but for the public [ha!] -- preserving competition [ha! ha!] in a particular market.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Thu Aug 09, 2007 1:27 pm

It's a rare response from actual management:

The JOA has allowed Las Vegans to keep two distinctly different papers, as readers of the Sun and R-J can confirm. Before the JOA, the Sun was a dying paper with dwindling circulation. At the "new" Sun, we strive to tell readers why and how things happen. Doing that is much more demanding than filling the paper with stories about crime or city council meetings, for instance. Our coverage is especially vital in an area that gets 8,000 new residents every month, net. In a reader survey, more people said they read the Sun than the R-J for local coverage, even though we are inserted behind the R-J's local section every day. Readers don't lack for crime stories, because the R-J does many of them.

The Sun is a work in progress -- that's why many of us signed up to work here. This paper is better than it was six months ago, and it will be better still six months from now. Our owners invest and let us do our work without mucking around with our coverage. Few papers can say that nowadays.

Personally, this is the funnest job I've had after nearly 20 years in newspapers. I say that after having worked a papers including the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Seattle Times and Oregonian.

Maggie Leung, AME

*** OK. I'm sold. Make me an offer. ***

tommangan · **Posted:** Fri Aug 10, 2007 10:07 am

All those things are upsides.

But if you've ever so much as driven through Vegas on the Interstate...

Wabberjocky · **Posted:** Fri Aug 10, 2007 5:23 pm

Yeah. I'd apply for a job there in a heartbeat if it wasn't in the one place on earth I hate more than anywhere else.

JayByrd · **Posted:** Fri Aug 10, 2007 5:28 pm

A little factoid about Vegas (and it's a year old, at least): They open about six new elementary schools there every year to handle the flood.

LAEdtr · **Posted:** Wed Aug 15, 2007 2:55 am

Now their flood is in foreclosures.

copynomad · **Joined:** Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:07 am **Posts:** 623

Many stupid speculators, especially from California, are taking a beating in Vegas. The bottom is expected in Vegas in 2009. Meanwhile, there are wealthy people from around the world buying luxury condos on or near the Strip. I follow real estate closely across the country. The Vegas market is an especially interesting one.

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Fri Aug 17, 2007 5:37 pm

Sorry - my usual point abou abbreviations and assumed knowledge, What is a JOA?

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:01 pm

paulwiggins wrote:

Sorry - my usual point abou abbreviations and assumed knowledge, What is a JOA?

A Joint Operating Agreement.

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Sun Aug 19, 2007 11:37 pm

I'm obliged. If anyone there knows of links that cogently argue for or against the legislation, I'd appreciate them by private message. (Reasons academic.)

Testy Copy Editors

That's why crime news stays in Vegas

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