No beat of a different drum

Somebody I was interviewing asked me what my beat was at the paper.

“Everything,” I said.

Ten years ago, there were three or four reporters at my paper. As of last week, I’m the only one. There were two of us when I started working, but she took another job. Reinforcements won’t be arriving because there’s a hiring freeze from our kind rulers at Hearst. That means even if people leave, their position can’t be replaced. Maybe they would make exceptions if I were to die or something. After all, somebody needs to get some news for a newspaper.

Anyways, it seems that if you’re working in other fields, specialization is a great thing to have. If you can do one thing better than anyone else, then you’re set. For reporters, a degree of specialization is a great asset. If one reporter knows health better than anyone else, then they can provide the best, most nuanced stories available. Same with all the other beats.

I work in a relatively small town, so I don’t need too much specialization. However, I can’t do everything. There are many branches of local government, not even counting state legislators, and so many other aspects of towns that are important. Business. Crime (not that there’s much of it here). Education. Fluffy and sweet events that make good features.

When it was two reporters, we split some things and it was for the best. Now, things are going to be difficult and I’m worried that the readers will end up paying. There’s so much going on that it will be difficult to go truly in-depth on complex issues. Quicker stories made take precedence over long, convoluted ones that require lots of time. Of course, I’m going to have to kick my game up a notch, but something has to give. Hopefully it won’t be my sanity.

Somebody told me how newspapers are one of the only products that’s losing customers and offers a less stellar product in response. I’m on the bottom of the totem pole and don’t know what’s goes on with these massive conglomerations, but it boggles my mind that money can’t be made on newspapers. Do you know how much reporters are paid? It’s insane. Editors make comparatively decent money, which would be nice if they actually had time to spend it. These salary slaves seem to work at least 60 hours a week, and that’s what I’ve seen at tiny papers.

Where is this money going? It hurts when people say print is dying because I love it so much. It’s nice reading articles that have had time to develop rather than minute-by-minute updates. I like carrying around a paper and reading it over lunch, at my desk or in the bathroom. Who doesn’t? If the internet needs to be invested in to survive, so be it. No concerted efforts seem to be made anywhere about this. Time mag had some interesting ideas about this.

I guess I’m just bitter that I wasn’t around for the more lucrative era of newspapers, where people had strict beats and nothing slipped past a reporter. I’ll make due and keep on doing my best. The readers, at least most of them, will still stick with the paper. Gradually, I think this will lead to a slow and steady decline. I’ll just keep on doing what I’m doing, but I hope that some higher ups and taking serious measures to see what’s going on. It all starts in the newsroom. There will always be an audience for solid reporting as long as there are people to report it.