Why are you angry today?
Tell us what’s making you upset at your journalism job.
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10,095 Responses to “Why are you angry today?”
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Pages: « 505 … 406 405 404 403 402 [401] 400 399 398 397 396 … 1 » Show All
February 6th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
To the journalist angry about being switched from wage to salary:
That might be illegal. There are federal guidelines governing who is a wage employee and who is salaried. It has to do with the type of work you do. I don’t believe an employer can arbitrarily switch staffers from one to the other to deny them overtime. So I’d check it out if I were you.
Of course, just becaues it might be illegal doesn’t mean they won’t try it. Rights, unfortunately, tend to belong to those who fight for them.
February 6th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
And so it begins. . . . at my Central Texas daily newspaper, today they announced the layoffs of three newsroom colleagues whose positions have been eliminated (“It’s not the people who were targeted, but the job slots”, we were told.)
These are the FIRST EVER layoffs in our department in the history of the company, period. Managing editor (a gal) and executive editor (a guy) with tears in their eyes, explained, with zero sugar-coating, that the company seems to be tanking. The fact that we are for sale doesn’t help the sense of impending doom.
The folks who were affected are getting severance packages of at least 8-weeks pay (the fellow with the company for more than 25 years is getting a year) and corporate out-sourcing help. But this has shaken us survivors of this round to the core. We have no idea if this will become a weekly exercise in blood-letting, a monthly affair, or what.
February 6th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Why can’t we just skip all the industry bullshit and office politics and just write…like the way we used to do it when we were young, naive and we actually loved it?
February 6th, 2009 at 11:30 am
I’m tired of arrogant ‘grad students’ who think they’re wonderful and know it all but still can’t write for piss and run around with the ‘wtf’ look on their faces. Yet they have the nerve to look down at me with scepticism just because I’m not a university graduate. Honey, it’s called hard work and natural talent in writing good **** . *sticks tongue out*
February 6th, 2009 at 2:36 am
I’m angry that I can never have a moment to myself, to see my friends or my family because I’m the only one on staff who knows how to use the internet.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
When asked for career advice, the guest speaker in my senior news writing class recommended going to grad school or moving to India, because there are no newspaper jobs here in America. That’s not advice.
February 5th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
I am damn angry at being forced to write editorial to appease high-paying advertisers – especially when the only point to the “story” is essentially another ad.
I am sick of advertisers thinking they can blackmail editorial departments into writing stories about them with an obvious positive bias “or else they will seriously reconsider their advertising commitment”.
If that’s the sullied path taken by journalism ethics, then can I get paid for writing such stories – as a bonus??
February 5th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Our editors tell the reporters, “We need more copy. We need more copy, now.” We work our tails off to get the stories, and then we can’t get a response when the stories are held, buried or cut to pieces.
OT, forget it, even when we’re asked to give up parts of our days off.
Lack of communication from editors to reporters.
I could go on…. but I’m sure it’s the same at other papers. Many of us are very frustrated.
February 5th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I am angry because every time I think I’m doing my job well, I learn that my editor thinks there are issues to address. I’m angry because I feel guilty for being home SICK because our newsroom only works when we’re operating at maximum capacity. I’m angry because I want to have a more balanced life and I don’t think my job will allow for that. I’m angry that this job takes so much out of my life, and barely pays enough to cover all my bills. I am angry. Only one more week till I find out if I’m in the grad program that will take me away from all this.
February 5th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
I am so tired of my boss wandering around picking on random people just to feel “in charge.” I am sick of my boss pushing stupid stories just so we have “something.” Grow up and hide in your office like you are supposed to do.
February 5th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
I’m angry that nobody wants to hear my simple solution to the “they’re stealing our work” problem. Here it is: Instead of posting stories online as HTML text, which can be read by search engines and copied-and-pasted by anyone, just convert the text to an watermarked image of the text. It would appear no different to the reader (except for the watermark, which could include a copyright notice), but nobody could copy the text (to paste elsewhere) because it would be a .jpg or .gif file and not text. If they copy/paste the text-image then the watermark and copyright notice have to go along for the ride. Search engines couldn’t read it without OCR processing, which they wouldn’t do (except for the largest major market papers) because that’s processor-intensive and they’re rather just steal from the next source than go to the trouble of transcribing yours. Problem solved (no charge).
February 5th, 2009 at 8:31 am
I just got laid off yesterday–over the phone. So I hung up on them. I warned my co-workers that when their turn comes, it might be through smoke signals.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
I’m angry because my editors couldn’t keep the newspaper together during a natural disaster, couldn’t publish one day or keep up with what was happening, then congratulated themselves on what a superb job they did.
February 4th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Rage at not finding a job aye
February 4th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
i’m angry that my “boss,” who is pretty much the same age as me and only out of college for 3 years or so, is so incredibly incompetent that our budgets can “fall apart” in the blink of an eye. i swear to god i will have an aneurysm the next time i hear her whine (oh, and she whines!) about “well if that story doesn’t come through, my whole budget falls apart!”
i’m sorry, remind me about how much more you get paid and how you get to work 9-5 and THEN tell me how it’s my problem that you can’t do your job properly?
what’s worse is that our EIC doesn’t realize any of this. in his eyes, she’s the golden child who can do no wrong, and we’re the fuck-ups who make her life harder.
February 4th, 2009 at 11:31 am
I’m angry because most of the time I love my job but I’m probably going to get made redundant soon.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:54 am
Everyone and their mothers are more competent than the managing editor at the newspaper for which I work.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:26 pm
#7994: You sound like a journalist with an actual head on your shoulders. Don’t let yourself be too swept up on all that bullshit probably going on in that newsroom. But while you’re in the thick of it, look for something else at the same time, see what might be out there, tap into other passions you might have to. Do not lose who you are within that cesspool. I made it to two years where I worked part-time as well, and then gave it up. I couldn’t see myself spending a decade in that place, worse for wear and health.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:21 pm
I’m tired of the over-abundant news that comes out of DC. It’s like the mainstream media seems to only want to cover press conferences on the Hill, as opposed to getting out into the real world and seeing how the people are being affected. It’s just lazy, spoon-fed journalism. How many mind-numbing cover stories over the last 2 years on Obama, McCain and Hillary, and every minute detail of their lives, do we really need to see. C’mon guys, get outta the beltway and open your eyes. There’s a lot going on.
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:31 pm
I am tired of so many people who buy a digital camera and four months later try to start their own photo business. Whatever happened to paying your dues? Heck, some of them don’t even know how to use an external flash, but because their camera is digital, they can very easily get some nice shots.
Sometimes I want to be a hermit.
Sign me,
Somebody Who Paid Their Dues