Just by way of comparison I found this list of the editors and staff at the Flint Journal in 2006. Nearly all, with a few exceptions, were full time employees.
Here is the list today. Please note that many of those names are covering multiple beats and many are part time employees.
I give the new staff credit for doing all that they do with as small a staff as they have. You could probably find similar reductions at newspapers all across the country. It does not bode well for the future watchdog role that so few are watching so many.
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6 comments:
Jim....
Scratch Liz Shaw from the current Journal lineup. She's now doing media relations for the Michigan State Medical Society
So they have five fulltime reporters: Melissa Burden, Kristin Longley, Ron Fonger, Beata M. and Laura Angus. The rest are part-time, or contract or freelance. My god...that is unbelievable. It also explains why the paper is so lousy, it has nothing to do with these writers, but everything to do with the fact that there are more people trying to sell advertising then cover the news. It's a bottom line business. How sad.
Hmmm, small indeed and also a little short on the male side of the gender coin. Is this because they feel they can pay female reportes less and get away with it in this economically fearful environment? It is by no means a good sign that the staff is so small -- and it may be smaller than FJ competitor, the Tri-County Times. On the other hand, it is, in part, the FJ's staff excesses during the good ol' days which contributed to its decline. In my opinion, it had way too many newsroom employees with little accountability. I don't think the fact that some reporters churn out a lot of stories and others a trickle at best is anything new to the FJ. But some went seemingly for months with little to show, and projects that should've taken a week at most to complete were given deadlines more aligned with leap year and presidential election cycles. Anyone recall the project about, what was it, dog names or something involving dogs? Case closed. I know measuring story output can be tricky and the one doing the measuring maybe is too often too lenient on himself. But it's hard to argue now that the newsroom became too large, based on it productivity and declining advertising revenues. Let's face it, the FJ took its cues from GM and with near disasterous results. In other words, when the FJ finally acted it was too little too late. The GM gravy train had long ago left the station. Now, the FJ can't give adequate coverage to two GM cars crashing on 475, let alone GM Corp. as a troubled automaker falsely claiming on TV spots that it has paid back the government in full. As for Liz Shaw, why not let her do media relations for Michigan State Medical Society and remain on the FJ payroll? There are many examples of newsroom staff doing other gigs in their off hours -- even blatantly political ones. I believe this is allowed to continue to this day, albeit on a much smaller scale. Just like GM emerging from bankruptcy only to repeat some its past mistakes, FJ management never learned. It would be nice if the FJ could somehow grow to resemble something akin to its glory days. I think that is almost impossible. But if the paper can somehow beat the odds, I think it can only succeed long-term if it truly admits its past mistakes and stamps out any and all remaining traces of them now.
Whew...anonymous you're right...poor Ron Fonger, other than Bryn Mickle (who went from cop reporter to second editor in charge) it's an estrogen party at the FJ. What the heck was the dog project? Anybody? You are right, there were always reporters given huge latitude, while other could be counted on to pick up the slack. The problem was that with a "job for life" policy, firing wasn't easy. At least not until they just plain tossed out the "job for life" policy and fired everybody. the funny part of all this is that everybody thought everybody else was getting the break. Nobody ever sees him or herself as the one getting off easy. Once everybody started to leave, those left to pick up the slack began to realize that maybe most were doing more than many knew about. You know the old saying, don't talk about someone else's job until you've walked a mile in their Ferragamos.
What a dumb comparison. The staff list from 2006 includes the sports staff. The second list Jim links to shows no one from the sports department. Plus, there are several more full-time reporters than the five second anonymous so confidently lists. There are at least 15 staff newsroom reporters or editors who aren't listed on that second link. The staff is certainly smaller than in 06, not debating that. But "smaller than the Tri-County Times?" Give me a break. Yeah, TCT is well on its way to becoming the biggest news outlet in the county, what with all of the columns by the dude who holds a rifle in his column mug or the sports guy who writes 1,000 words about the hilarity that ensued after he lost his car keys.
People here constantly discussing what's going on at the FJ when they haven't been in the building in quite some time (if at all) and don't know many (if any) of the people currently working there is pretty laughable.
If the FJ has only five full-timers and the rest are part-timers, contractors or freelancers, then the FJ staff of full-timers surely must be comparable to the Tri-County Times staff of full-timers. My bet is the FJ is still larger but by how much? If sports staff wasn't counted, maybe that changes things a bit, but I'm really only looking at news staff anyway.
The dog project had something to do with most common dog names. Because the reporter consulted a local database of what -- registrations/vaccinations -- it was considered a big pseudo-investigatory piece, so mucho tim-o was awarded to it. Well, the reporter milked the generous deadline like a beefy dog treat for weeks on end, sometimes updating his editor like a panting puppy who just fetched his first shoe for his master. Again, those were the good ol' days. That sort of thing might be OK in days of wine and roses but no so much in days of sterno bums and crabgrass.
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