From objective to bullish: Covering sports for a college

Poynter's Romenesko points out a good read out of Harrisonburg, Va., today.

Colleges are hiring official sports writers.

Dustin Dopirak writes about how more newspaper sports reporters are jumping to college athletic departments. "We wanted to create a position that informed our fans directly," said U.Va. executive associate athletic director Jon Oliver.

Now, that sounds like traditional PR, but the story is worth reading. There's more to it. Hiring sports writers is a trend that began with the pros. Sites like MLB.com and NFL.com employ beat writers for each of their teams.

Is this sports journalism or the impression of journalism? These writers are not going to write controversial stories that their employers don't want them to break.

As newsrooms downsize, travel becomes limited, and journalists redefine themselves, what happens to objectivity? What do the fans, sports customers, want?

What happens to stories about the business of sports?

The Reynolds Center for Business Journalism will be hosting a workshop on covering the Business of Sports March 10, 2010, in Indianapolis.

Stay tuned.

Ex-business editor starts financial planning business

Joe Grimm posted his interview with David McPherson, the former Deputy business editor of The Providence Journal today on Poynter.
McPherson left the Providence Journal in 2007 to start his own financial planning business. He departed the news industry after 20 years to help people "make sense of their financial lives" and to avoid growing to dislike his journalism work.
He started setting up Four Ponds Financial Planning LLC immediately after leaving the paper and got his first customer within a few months. He now runs his business and writes a financial column for ABCNews.com.
McPherson discusses some of the difficulties he faced leaving his job, what motivated him to continue on with his goal and what he learned along the way. The now-business owner said he wished he had pursued an MBA while still in journalism. From the article:

"That would have made me a better reporter and editor and would have helped me prepare for the next stage of my working life...Seek education and training in another career field even if you feel secure in your job and you can't imagine a life without journalism."

See the entire story here.

Star-Ledger announces cuts

George Arwaday, publisher of The Star-Ledger of New Jersey, sent a memo to employees Thursday detailing new pay and benefits cuts at the paper. The entire memo has been posted to Poynter's Romenesko blog.
From the memo:

The first $40,000 of your new combined annualized income will be cut by 5%. If you make more than $40,000, your next $40,000 in income up to $80,000 will be cut by 10%. Any annualized income over $80,000 will be cut by 15%.

In addition, Arwaday told employees that any bonuses they receive will be rolled into their salary and not delivered all at once at the end of the year.
In addition, all employees will now have to pay for 25 percent of their health care coverage. These moves were put in place to help offset a $20 million year-over-year drop in first quarter ad revenue.
To read the memo, click here.

Baltimore Sun cuts 61 from newsroom

The Baltimore Sun this week laid off 61 newsroom employees, or nearly a third of the total newsroom, according to an article on the paper's website.

The reductions hit nearly every type of job in the 205-person newsroom, including top editors, news photographers, critics, columnists, sports reporters, copy editors, page designers and graphic artists, according to The Newspaper Guild, which was notified of the union-represented layoffs. One news reporter was laid off as well, after leaving voluntarily. Most employees were notified Wednesday, with others laid off late Tuesday.

According to Poynter's Rick Edmonds, Ted Venetoulis, who has been trying to buy the Sun for years, thought that a deal was close at hand. However:

[...] by ditching so many experienced print editors, Tribune Co. could be signaling that it plans to continue running the operation itself rather than selling it.

A Baltimore Sun Media Group representative said the cuts were part of the paper's transition to a 24-hour multimedia news operation.
Click here for the article on the cuts, and here for the Poynter article.