Thursday, March 24, 2011

Best journalism ad ever (Foul language alert)

Mother Jones reported on this ad for the Sarasota newspaper. If they are serious this would be a great place for a reporter. Especially love they enjoy the sometimes angry interaction between reporters and editors. (Hat tip to Kevin M. for the link).

The best news rooms are the ones where there is a real tension between reporters and editors and the weekly, sometimes verbally violent, flare up between a reporter and his/her editor.

Instead of viewing it as a distraction, as was the case at the Journal, it should be viewed as professionals battling for the best product they can publish. As an editor I would never want a reporter who wouldn't battle hard for their work. (Heck, when I was chief editor of The State News I was at least once referred to - to my face - as a "goat brain" by one of my reporters.)

Newspapers should never discourage or punish passion, they should reward it.

A few of my confrontations were show stopping fits of anger (not really proud of all those) but they were out of my desire to produce the hardest and most interesting story I could.

Better reporters than me were constantly battling editors (and company lawyers) to keep in information they felt vital to the readers. Where that is happening, everyone wins.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice blog ... GOAT BRAIN! (Although I've always thought of you as more of a "goat face" Jim.)