Carpetbaggers Dept

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:02 pm

USA Today has carried a wire services story about the outsourcing of copy editing and design functions on New Zealand's largest daily newspaper.

gdcfa · **Posted:** Thu Aug 23, 2007 8:12 am

"Pagemasters is a subsidiary of the Australian Associated Press news agency."

Very interesting. What's your take on that, Mr. Wiggins?

Should Canadian Press and Associated Press (et al) be doing the same thing? Is this sort of an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" thing?

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Thu Aug 23, 2007 7:26 pm

Leaving aside the obvious self-interest, it should be pointed out that this massive change hasn't added a cent to the share price, as best I can gather. O'Reily is confusing the baked beans industry and the news business. The Herald will bleed circulation from this, which will cost them heavily on the digital side of the business as well.

gdcfa · **Posted:** Fri Aug 24, 2007 10:01 am

So it hasn't made the company money; has the share price dropped as a result?

As a FT reporter and a PT copy editor, I can see the potentially negative implications of outsourcing on my profession, but have yet to see the evidence of doom-and-gloom predictions. I'm not saying embrace it, but let's see what happens under this business model and then decide. Maybe it will work for some and not for others. I see no need to subscribe to one model and stick with it, come hell or high water. As has been said many times before, those who've learned to adapt as technology changes have done OK.

KyleJRM · **Posted:** Sun Aug 26, 2007 8:20 pm

Whether it works or not, the attempts will surely continue to spread. Thus putting even more downward pressure on wages.

Every day, my foot gets a little closer to the door. My current job is almost surely my first and last in the industry. I need to start applying to law school while I'm still young and childless.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Sun Aug 26, 2007 9:56 pm

I don't mean to be rude, but if that's the way you feel, "don't let the door hit you on the way out." There are still plenty of people who want to work in the news business.

Seriously, good luck in law school.

KyleJRM · **Posted:** Sun Aug 26, 2007 10:22 pm

Phillip Blanchard wrote:

I don't mean to be rude, but if that's the way you feel, "don't let the door hit you on the way out." There are still plenty of people who want to work in the news business.

Seriously, good luck in law school.

No offense taken. I hope the industry flourishes and people better than me take my place. Or better yet, that I inherit a large pile of money soon and don't have to leave.

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Sun Aug 26, 2007 11:00 pm

Newspaper share prices in this neck of the woods are determined more by the cost of transportation and newsprint than any other factors, with the sole exception of takeover speculation. Editorial costs are insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

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

KyleJRM wrote:

Whether it works or not, the attempts will surely continue to spread. Thus putting even more downward pressure on wages.

I agree. If newspapers aren't in your blood, there's no good reason to stay. If I could think of anything I'd rather be doing, I'd be doing it. Course that doesn't mean I'm sitting around waiting for my pay to be cut or to be booted out. Gotta have a fallback plan. But I'd suggest that you make sure you really want to practice law before making the leap. It's one thing to like the law, another to practice it. I've interviewed law school dropouts for copy editing jobs and have hired a former lawyer who returned to newspapers. What's worse than making newspaper wages? Making newspaper wages and paying law school debt.

SuchASlot · **Joined:** Thu Oct 21, 2004 12:01 am **Posts:** 1189

I haven't lost interest in newspaper journalism at all, but lately it sure seems like almost everyone else in this industry has. I could take the above advice about the door, but it sort of stings when you feel like you've been giving it your everything for more than a decade only to be sitting in news meetings these days about how to "sell" the paper on the rack and about what "talkers" (never mind what news) we've got for 1A tomorrow. Not to mention the meetings about what benefits you'll be losing shortly, why wages are frozen, and which positions they won't be filling anytime soon or ever...

I really apologize for sounding so bitter; I'm honestly at a loss. Who are all of these people who are so happy to be working in this industry right now, and what is so different for them, I wonder?

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

I can answer only from my perspective, of course:

I've had crappy jobs, but I love the work we do. I thought that whatever crappy job I had, it didn't have to be that way everywhere. If it did, damned if I wasn't going to exhaust the possibilities before I walked away from something I love. I figure everyone has to decide his priorities. I have a great family. I knew they would be there for me no matter what. My next priority was work. I was willing to move for that. I was willing to move somewhere more expensive. I was willing to take a pay cut within reason. I was willing to sell my house. So I did, and I've since ended up at what's probably my last paper. For me, it was part serendipity -- this job was never advertised -- part my willingness to risk. It's the best risk I've ever taken. I've ended up making more money than ever at a job that suits me perfectly. And as it turns out, I like where I live even better. ... My risk could've failed. But I live so that I won't look back and wonder "what if I had tried?"

There are papers that aren't focusing on the wrong priorities. But you have to find them. And you might have to make other tradeoffs, maybe in pay, location, prestige or whatever. But, to me, the biggest tradeoff would've been having to give up work I still love.

jjmoney62 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:15 am

Kumbayah, my Lord, kumbayah ....

Wabberjocky · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:32 pm

I try to avoid using the word "love" about my job, which I like because it's the best I've had in more than 20 years in the business. To me, it doesn't pass the "love" test â€” to wit, I wouldn't do it if I didn't get paid for it.

I've got a good job, I get paid well for it, and I enjoy it more often than not. But it's not a "calling" and I don't feel emotionally about it. The minute I do is the minute I should quit, because I'd then place all power over me into the hands of my employers. And who the hell wants to be in that position?

Heartodixie · **Posted:** Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:16 pm

SuchASlot wrote:

I haven't lost interest in newspaper journalism at all, but lately it sure seems like almost everyone else in this industry has. I could take the above advice about the door, but it sort of stings when you feel like you've been giving it your everything for more than a decade only to be sitting in news meetings these days about how to "sell" the paper on the rack and about what "talkers" (never mind what news) we've got for 1A tomorrow. Not to mention the meetings about what benefits you'll be losing shortly, why wages are frozen, and which positions they won't be filling anytime soon or ever...

I really apologize for sounding so bitter; I'm honestly at a loss. Who are all of these people who are so happy to be working in this industry right now, and what is so different for them, I wonder?

I hear you, Slot.

I'm about to leave my place on grounds of irreconcilable differences. Everything's about business strategy, from buying out the 50+ folks (just what a paper of mostly inexperienced carpetbaggers needs) to cutting back on the days the cleaners come through the office (first mouse sighted yesterday).

But the J101 basics are just lost on everyone all the way to the top. There are almost no people here who think our day's about getting the news. The go-getters are all about filling the paper and Web site with content for people who don't read; everyone else behaves like office workers, worried about covering their asses, what they're having for lunch, and how many tasks they do or don't have to do in a day.

I swear to God, my portfolio is going to be a sheaf of bad-taste stories and heds that I had to defer to my bosses on.

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

Wabberjocky, I don't hesitate to say love because I do. I have done this work for free -- that's how I got hooked on newspapers, in school. I'd do it even if I were rich, though part time. I feel no worries about being tied to a paper. I love to edit news; that doesn't mean I will stay at any one paper to do it. I've job hopped with little hesitation. And my primary house is almost paid off, so I will have even more freedom soon. There are other careers I want to try, but I see myself keeping a hand in newspapers as time allows. If the work stopped being fun tomorrow, I would leave so fast my chair would still be spinning as I drove away.

KyleJRM · **Posted:** Thu Aug 30, 2007 8:54 am

copynomad wrote:

KyleJRM wrote:

Whether it works or not, the attempts will surely continue to spread. Thus putting even more downward pressure on wages.

I agree. If newspapers aren't in your blood, there's no good reason to stay. If I could think of anything I'd rather be doing, I'd be doing it. Course that doesn't mean I'm sitting around waiting for my pay to be cut or to be booted out. Gotta have a fallback plan. But I'd suggest that you make sure you really want to practice law before making the leap. It's one thing to like the law, another to practice it. I've interviewed law school dropouts for copy editing jobs and have hired a former lawyer who returned to newspapers. What's worse than making newspaper wages? Making newspaper wages and paying law school debt.

That's a very fair point. I'm open to suggestions.

Responding to the other posts in this thread, I adore this job and would love to do it for free. The student loan collectors and other creditors who call me with increasing frequency, however, would probably not appreciate that move.

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

Being pursued by creditors would suck. I feel for you. As much as I love newspapers, I wouldn't be willing to live financially strapped long term. I worked my way through school and scrimped hard to pay my limited debt as soon as possible. But I went to a cheapo state school, knowing that whatever I borrowed I'd have to pay on newspaper wages. It's crazy how expensive schools have gotten. If I were looking at school costs vs. typical starter pay for journalists now, I don't know that I'd make the same job choice. If newspapers weren't working for me financially, I would do something else for a living and edit as a part-timer, freelancer or volunteer.

About considering law school: I don't know whether they still have them, but years ago an acquaintance was looking into law school and found some kind of introductory program, for prospective law students to figure out whether law might be a good fit. I don't remember any details now, but it sounded like a good idea then.

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