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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December 10th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Angry Journalist #10034: While I don’t work for a newspaper owned by a group like yours, I have been in the position of being asked to “do more” with the maxed-out resources I have. And I have found that if you press back, and say, “we just can’t take this on with the staff we have,” they will usually just find someone who will. Someone desperate for a job. And usually someone younger and less experienced who will work for less money.
December 10th, 2009 at 10:08 am
At our paper, if a company refuses to advertise with us, and advertises with a competitor, we’re not allowed to report on them. No matter how important their news is.
December 10th, 2009 at 9:28 am
10030 says “Or maybe the moderator could open an Angry Journalist page on Facebook?”
Not a good idea, people who hire journalists routinely monitor facebook, my space etc. of prospective employees.
Who would ever hire someone who is already disgruntled?
December 10th, 2009 at 6:53 am
Hello AJs:
It’s 10001 again.
Hey, I’m truly not a snob. I AM humble (most of the time!), even if my posts don’t show it.
I have been rejected numerous times and I work for a couple of small papers. There are no Pulitzers under my belt.
I just have worked so hard and things have changed dramatically. I will never stop shooting photos for some publication, blog or whatever.
Truly, I try to be nice to all the folks I encounter at work. I am grateful to the subjects. Without them, there would be no photos at all!
There are photographers I meet when I’m out on assignment who won’t even say hello to me unless I step right in front of them to introduce myself.
A lot of folks are probably too defensive (competition can spur fear of job loss), including me.
The digital photography instructor is right, I think — those who charge big bucks will probably do well, and those who try to make a living AND charge reasonable rates might fail. We are being sold out to the people who have had a digital camera for six months. I really doubt within six months someone can acquire knowledge and equipment to shoot a wedding effectively in bad lighting.
Yeah, I have paid my dues — scraped by to buy good equipment, shot photos is blazing heat, in blizzard-like conditions and put up with folks asking what kind of equipment I use (I just give a generic answer now because I use two different brands) and been whacked really hard by a football player while working. I had one tech guy bombard me with some very technical questions about my camera and a guy step right in front of me to try to figure out what kind of camera I was using. They were a little too close for comfort, but I probably get a little too close for comfort for some folks, too.
Oh, and I did want to mention that I AM inspired by a lot of younger people I meet in the field and they ARE my good friends. I am grateful for their enthusiasm and knowledge of new stuff.
I am thankful to have enjoyed (most of the time) the newspaper business for so long.
I really like this forum and all the different opinions. No 10033 is definitely right about some things in his/her post.
Peace out to everybody at AJ!
December 10th, 2009 at 2:49 am
#10025: Shutting up and keeping the job you so desperately want. Have a nice day. :)
December 10th, 2009 at 2:15 am
Layoffs at Christmas time. Heartless.
December 9th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
So, does this happen to anyone else? I’m sure it does, but I’m bitching anyway. Here’s the situation: [Big parent company] waltzes into your small-town newsroom and thinks is knows what the fuck its are talking about.
Most of these dipshits haven’t seen the inside of a working newsroom in years, and those that have probably worked the copy desk at some crappy suburban daily, thus having no idea how a small-town community paper works.
So they tell you (an imagined conversation): -We like the job you’re doing, but we think you could do MORE!
-Oh, really? More?
-Yes, more! Like: We want you to go out and waste all your time taking photos of community recreation league sports. I mean, you can do that before your big basketball game you have to cover, right? You have two sports reporters there, right?
-Uhh, no, I’m the only person in the sports department. I lay out the pages and basically do everything 5 days a week.
-OK, well, can you at least jazz up your section a bit? Make some better design choices?
-Well, I could, but then I wouldn’t be spending enough time writing or reporting. Also, weren’t you guys supposed to send me some templates when we did our redesign? Wasn’t that supposed to make it easier?
-Oh, yeah… about that… we were going to, but then we decided just to design some pages for one of our other papers and send you the basic idea. It will even still have the other paper’s name and website on them! You’ll have to do the rest yourself. Actually, that’s the reason why we were not in your newsroom when the redesign launched, we were busy with one of our bigger papers. Sorry. You can handle this, though, right?
-Umm, yeah, I guess it shouldn’t be too hard, but…
-OK, sounds good! Also, don’t mess it up, or we’ll call the editor-and-chief to yell at her, and while we’re doing that, we’ll yell at her to yell at you. Oh, and while you’re at it, we’re going to institute a new internet policy, I hope you don’t mind!
-I guess not.
-Yeah, we’re going to want you to not post everything online that you put i the paper. We’re losing readership. HEY, I’VE GOT AN IDEA! Why don’t you take the stories you put in the paper and RE-WRITE THEM for the web! It’s genius. It will only take you, like 20 extra minutes. A story. We’re going to give you a new website if you can do this correctly.
-Alright, I guess. Cool. I like how that new website looks. Hey, any chance that you could give us another person or two to help us with this? This is a lot of work for such a small newsroom.
-Hmm… Don’t you guys you guys have, like, 10 people on the editorial staff? That’s not small!
-Well, actually, no. We have about 5. You think we can hire someone, please?
-Sorry bud, no can do! Hiring and salary freeze. Just do everything we want you to do and make some more money without fucking up, and then we’ll talk…
December 9th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
#10001
If you’re cute and female, you can do well. If you’re gruff, ugly, and pretentious, there’s food stamps, because no one wants you to shoot their babies or their wedding. Get off your high horse, network like hell, and kiss some ass, because the photo business is all about selling yourself. Not one client in ten can recognize the difference between high quality photography and Miss I-read-Photography-for-Dummies. Be prepared for customers who treat you like dirt, and demand the world for free because there’s probably a cousin-sister-college student who’s willing to shoot it for free. They don’t care all that much about quality because if you can get one photo in twenty that looks good by accident, and photoshop the lighting, Cousin Bob can do the job well enough. No one gives a rat’s ass about your dues, they’re just going to think you’re an idiot for going to college so you can take pictures of babies.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Raise your hand if you hate Saxotech!
December 9th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Hmm. My very Catholic boss just assigned my atheist ass a story about Catholicism, the very religion I ran screaming from years ago. This is going to go so well.
December 8th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
I wish this site could be a little less anonymous.
We wouldn’t have to post our names necessarily, but we could at least give ourselves nicknames. If anyone else wanted to contact me, all they would have to do is click my nickname and see my e-mail address (which wouldn’t have to give away my identity).
I’m ready to network with some people just like me and hopefully find a way out of this thankless profession!
Or maybe the moderator could open an Angry Journalist page on Facebook?
December 8th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
My editor decided to get mad about an off color remark I made. She never does and I suspect it was to show all the other reporters in the room who is boss.
Of course I refused to back down so I’m probably in trouble.
She used to have my beat and I think she is mad she took the promotion so she is taking it out on me. whatever.
December 8th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Our publisher hosts occasional meetings with editorial and advertising staff to keep us up to date on the company’s finances and their latest harebrained schemes to increase revenue.
Nothing he or any of the editors say ever really surprise me. What does surprise me is all the bitching that comes out of editorial (I don’t know about advertising or marketing, but I assume they’re unhappy too).
The situation may have deteriorated significantly in recent years, but the same general working conditions have been in place in newsrooms across the country for decades. Unless this is your first newspaper straight out of college, you knew exactly what you were getting into when you took your job: the low pay, the poor working conditions, the ungodly hours, not being appreciated, getting shafted by the copy desk, etc. etc.
If you hate it so much, go get another job.
December 8th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
My boss writes about the most personal stuff ever. As if anyone cares.
December 8th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
I’ve heard a lot about potential legislation to help the ailing newspaper business. Why not take a look at how reporters and editors are being treated — how many hours they work, what they are paid, whether they get benefits, training, continuing education … if you want to save the industry, start at the bottom, with the people who actually CARE about changing this profession for the better!
December 8th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
#9990: I’m not a poor, deluded bastard. I’m someone who knows he could get a job in another field if he wanted it — I actually took a 1/3 pay cut to come back to journalism from one of them — but I also know that miserable old fucks like you, who would rather bitch to your old cronies during hour-long “smoke breaks” instead of getting the hell out of the profession like you claim you want are preventing the rest of us from having any real openings worth looking into in this field.
If you really hate the profession, get out. It won’t be perfect, but at least there will be upward mobility again. If you are God’s gift, the way so many folks here think they are, you should have no trouble getting a new, better-paying job, even in this economy.
Shut up or get out.
December 8th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
How can a managing editor and a publisher keep their jobs if their paper loses a third of its circulation in a year?
That’s not the recession. That’s your paper sucking terribly under your direction.
The best thing possible for the paper would be these two idiots losing their jobs and anyone, even random homeless guys off the street, taking their place.
December 8th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Re: 10021 – I am sorry to inform you that you are not the first person to find that technology has overtaken experience.
There are many jobs being done today where the “machine” has more experience than the human operator.
I grew up in the 1950s and many jobs that existed then, do not exist today.
I am not sure if this is good or bad, it is just is.
Digital cameras allow someone with little or no knowledge of photography to take okay photos, and (unfortunately for you) most people will be happy with “okay”. Few won’t be and will still use professional photographers, but not enough to employ all the existing professionals. Those that adapt to the new reality and can still offer value for the money they are paid will do alright. Those that feel the world owes them something will go the way of elevator operators.
December 8th, 2009 at 10:40 am
10005…exactly the kind of person and thinking I’m talking about in post 10011.
There is no way you can learn the intracacies of what makes a truly outstanding photograph in 6 months.
But the advertisers have many convinced that as long as the color is ‘good’ and the subject is centered you gots yourself a good pic.
So 10005, explain the difference between Rembrandt and Butterfly lighting to me.
December 8th, 2009 at 6:03 am
It’s #10001.
My 17 years of shooting photos vs. only six months with a digital camera — yes, I am a “snob” and really don’t care.
It’s not being a snob. It’s something called experience.
No apologies from me.
Thank you No. 10011 for your insight backed up with experience.