Ooh, fresh meat
After a (too) long period of contraction, the Herald newsroom is actually growing! Some long time readers have noticed that we simply don't cover as much as we used to. Our excuse was we just had fewer people doing the same work.
We're currently advertising four positions, two of which are replacements and two are new positions. Actually, they're positions we used to have until all those darn lay-offs.
You can thank our new overlords at Forum Communications for the expansion. Investing in the product, a concept Knight-Ridder investors never thought of.
The replacements include a new business reporter to replace Elisa Rineheart, who is leaving; a new education reporter to replace Paulette Tobin, who is taking over the arts and entertainment beat left vacant by Lisa Davis, who has left. (It's not a turnover problem. They're just following their spouses.)
The new positions include the region reporter and a copy editor -- that's the person laying out the paper.
I probably should have mentioned earlier that we got a new addition to our team, higher education reporter Joseph Marks. He's substituting for my good buddy David Dodds, who is deployed somewhere in the Middle East.
The word in the newsroom is we aren't done with the new hires yet, so check this space for future news. Ooh, ooh, I'm so excited!
We're currently advertising four positions, two of which are replacements and two are new positions. Actually, they're positions we used to have until all those darn lay-offs.
You can thank our new overlords at Forum Communications for the expansion. Investing in the product, a concept Knight-Ridder investors never thought of.
The replacements include a new business reporter to replace Elisa Rineheart, who is leaving; a new education reporter to replace Paulette Tobin, who is taking over the arts and entertainment beat left vacant by Lisa Davis, who has left. (It's not a turnover problem. They're just following their spouses.)
The new positions include the region reporter and a copy editor -- that's the person laying out the paper.
I probably should have mentioned earlier that we got a new addition to our team, higher education reporter Joseph Marks. He's substituting for my good buddy David Dodds, who is deployed somewhere in the Middle East.
The word in the newsroom is we aren't done with the new hires yet, so check this space for future news. Ooh, ooh, I'm so excited!
posted by Tu-Uyen at 12:02 AM
41 Comments:
I don't suppose there's any movement afoot to change the Herald from a local rag back to real newspaper. While all hell is breaking loose in the world, we get a front page spread on the REA.
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The only thing the Herald has that nobody else in the world has is local news. We focus on our strength because you can get world news on the Internet. Look for death and destruction in the "second front" section, which is supposed to be our "second front page."
Your "second front page" today was buried on page 5 of the A section. But if the Herald believe its sales will be stronger because people want local news as a priority, that's fine with me. It just seems out of place for the Ralph to be more newsworthy than Lebanon.
I'm a fan of Ralph Engelstad Arena. But what the hell was that story doing on the front page? Why was that news on that day? That story could have been done in a day, a month or two years from now. It was pointless and had absolutely no context.
Yeah, I wouldn't disagree with you on that point, though you probably mean Lebanon should be more important than record temperatures or the stem cell guy. That's today's paper.
REA was Sunday and the botched bombing in Qana happened after the paper came out.
I'll forward the criticism to the appropriate people.
The St. Paul paper took the same hit, which makes me wonder whether local news as priority was a Knight-Ridder strategy for all its papers. I was hoping that things would change under new management.
I don't know if it's a staffing issue or not, but the Herald website used to go head-to-head with almost any site at reporting Breaking News. That's dropped off dramatically over the last several months.
I was slightly puzzled by the REA lovefest too.
I mean, I love the place too but, I don't think REA will need to buy advertising space in the Herald after this...they've had the biggest ad they could have ever asked for.
I suppose a spread on the Alerus is coming out next week? Oh that's right...the Herald hates the Alerus. ;)
Another copy editor? Good. The Herald can always use more of them...
Die cynics. Empty hockey arena as tourist destination equals interesting Sunday center piece.
"Empty hockey arena as tourist destination equals interesting Sunday center piece."
So, waht's next? Another pie eating contest or threshing machines?
Why? Do you know of one? I always dread doing those stories about old couples celebrating their, what, 900th wedding anniversary. But people like reading about that sort of thing, so we keep churning them out. That and stories about women having 10 babies at a time.
Perhaps the Herald should change its name to the Grand Forks Enquirer, then.
Why? We don't report on who's sleeping with whom. Readers have told us in surveys that they want us to write more about people like them, so we are.
And that's news?
I am one of the usuals that checks the Herald online. What I really notice now, that Forum Communications owns the Herald is I really don't see updated "breaking" news anymore. What's up with this?
And our news seems to be "blank" compared to the Fargo Forum. Local news lately have been dull, and boring. But hey, thats just me but I'm sure others agree.
One last thing, how come the online Herald still has the same format? I thought you guys had to stop using that since it's part of Knight Ridder? Is Forum Communications transfering over to a new online Herald format?
I get a kick out of this. On the one hand, inane local news stories monopolize the Herald's front page because "that's what the readers want." On the other, the editorial board has endorsed the last two Democratic presidential candidates. Has called for the elimination of the Sioux nickname. Jacobs has waxed poetically about his wish for Ms. Clinton to be the next president. So, the Herald seems to want it both ways: mollify its readership, while it doesn't come close to reflecting the city's politcal belief.
The editorial board is different. You don't decide on an opinion based on surveys. If you're honest, you decide it on what you believe.
JGS: We're still in transition mode from Knight Ridder to Forum Communications.
I think there's a small-town, hokey "tone" that pervades much of the copy and headlines (tu-uyen excepted) in the Herald.
Talk about bake sales if that's your calling, but find something ironic or witty or urbane to call out for the rest of us.
"but find something ironic or witty or urbane to call out for the rest of us."
Ah, but the decision-makers at the Herald do not believe its readers are that sophisticated. Don't you remember when they proposed the elimination of George Will's column and the NY Times Sunday crossword because they were both above our meager vocabulary? That's why we get Ms. H's letter to Shirley as great journalism.
I think it would be genius if the Herald did a sort of counterpoint spoof of MH's Letter to Shirley or Eat Beat.
You could stiill publish her columns legitimately for her hardcore audience, but the rest of us, who think they're absurd, will get a laugh too.
"I think it would be genius if the Herald did a sort of counterpoint spoof of MH's Letter to Shirley or Eat Beat."
Before he left for the bright lights of Mpls and a fatter paycheck at the Strib, one of Chuck Haga's last columns for the Herald was indeed a parody of Ms. H's work (don't remember if it was a Shirley letter or an Eat Beat). Apparently it caused great hilarity in the newsroom among all save one. Which more or less reflected the esteem in which she was held by her colleagues. Perhaps an oldtimer there kept a copy of it.
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Ooh, I'd never mock Marilyn. Chuck had way more stature than I do, so he could pull that off. Plus, I'd bet that Chuck knew Marilyn better than I do, so it would feel less jerky to joke about her writing.
I have some choice descriptions but I won't repeat them here.
Just ignore it. It doesn't happen often enough for me to start one of those security measures where you have to look at some weirdly distorted letters and type them in.
In the mean time, enjoy this story about a spam king who pissed off the wrong people.
Blog spam can be deleted if you want to. There have been times when I had to go through and delete a couple dozen at a time.
Yeah, well, I can't do that myself because I'm not the administrator of the blog. Maybe I'll ask him to keep an eye out and delete spam.
God, I want to work at the herald.
Careful. Don't want the wrong eyes to see that one. Haha.
Is Marilyn viewed with as much disdain at the Herald as she is by the under-50 set in town?
I guess I'd view her as harmless and sweet if I hadn't had a run-in with her at a girl's basketball game. She apparently thinks the appropriate way to view a game is similar to an opera...hands folded, smiles of appreciation, shhhh. We didn't exactly see eye-to-eye on that one.
And except from today's EatBeat:
"I asked Lacey, a server who has been there since May, whether people ate pizza with their fingers or with a knife and fork. She says most of them use their hands, and I felt better because that's what I do."
Yum.
This may give you an idea of who's posting on the blog.
From chatting with people, I do know that the 20- and 30-something aren't the only ones reading. But older people may not feel comfortable posting, maybe?
That's not universally true, though.
EC99, no fan of Marilyn, seems to me to be an older fella if only because he actually remembers when Chuck Haga used to work here. Haga left in '87.
"EC99, no fan of Marilyn, seems to me to be an older fella if only because he actually remembers when Chuck Haga used to work here. Haga left in '87."
I even remember when the Herald ran the Winship quote in every issue. You know "It will be the people's paper..." Was there some reason this was omitted? Truth in advertising maybe? ;)
You don't think there are plenty of 20- to 30-year-olds talented enough to make a contribution in the Herald? That's truly cynical.
It's undoubtedly a management decision, based on their subscriber base, to keep Marilyn around.
"It's undoubtedly a management decision, based on their subscriber base, to keep Marilyn around."
I always chalked it up to Jacob's misplaced sense of loyalty to Jack.
"I asked Lacey, a server who has been there since May, whether people ate pizza with their fingers or with a knife and fork. She says most of them use their hands, and I felt better because that's what I do."
This is the same mindless drek she's been writing for decades. Anyone else submitting this sort of copy would find it in the circular file after an editor's reading of the first graph.
"That's such an elitist phrase."
I'll take that as a compliment. It was either that or "stupifying twaddle." Defend her if you like, even though she writes reviews of Dairy Queen and Burger King. But then don't ever criticize the dumbing down of anything.
I think the problem here is tunnel vision. As a paper, we want to attract as many readers as we can. There are those that like Marilyn's folksy style. There are those that like Ryan Bakken's sense of humor. Heaven knows, there are those that appreciate my endless stories about City Council.
You can dislike Marilyn if you want. Hopefully there are other things you'll want to read in the Herald. But there's maybe five people on this blog that really dislike her. Save your breath. You're blowing against a gale. I would think that we'll keep Marilyn around as long as there are readers that want her.
You'd do better to talk about what you'd like see more of.
Oh, I'm sure that as long as Mike Jacobs is running the show, Marilyn Hagerty's drivvel will continue to appear, as will local fluff on the front page, and I'll keep buying the Strib for the news.
Wolfgf: Man, you are so right. Trust me, we know we need that kind of content. I've kinda wanted to do it myself but I just can't let go of the city beat.
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