USA Today Money reporter David Lynch is joining Bloomberg's Washington bureau, where he'll be an enterprise writer focusing on the intersection of politics and economics for both the wire service and its Businessweek magazine. He's at least the third high-profile USAT journalist whose departure has been disclosed this week, as Gannett's marquee daily undergoes a reorganization.
Lynch joined USAT 16 years ago from The Orange County Register, according to a memo to Money staffers this week. He opened the paper's London and Beijing bureaus, covered wars in Kosovo and Iraq, and reported from more than 50 countries. Lynch also was the first person from USAT to receive a Nieman Fellowship, the memo says.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
17 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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Funny how everyone at USA Today is described in the blog as overpaid, lazy, coddled, pampered, clueless and old.
ReplyDeleteBut when someone leaves, they suddenly become "pioneering", a "senior editor,'' "respected,'' and similar.
Just another example how the blog and its bloggers make "facts" fit their particular spin of the moment.
I challenge you to find one example of a post where I've described anyone at USAT in such terms.
ReplyDeleteWhile Hunke and Hillkirk fiddle, USA Today is burning. Phil Pruitt, Kathy Kiely and David Lynch are just the latest top talents to abandon The Nation's Newspaper. Meanwhile, a good portion of the rest of the staff is sending out resumes while waiting for the other transformation shoe to drop. What's taking so long? Maybe Hunke made his initial announcement before the so-called plan was formulated, and now he doesn't have the brains or braintrust to finish it. Maybe the beancounters, who seem to be the ones really in charge now, are waiting to see how much more money they can save by having seasoned pros quit. Maybe the lack of leadership at the top is so stultifying that they don't even realize what suffering they're visiting on the staff. Whatever is going on, it's a horrific slide downhill.
ReplyDeleteI agree with 2:20.
ReplyDeleteNo, Jim hasn't denounced USAT workers, or any Gannett workers, as lazy, but the predominant view of USAT workers on the blog by others is that they are pampered and clueless.
But suddenly one leaves and OMG, a priceless and irreplacable pro is leaving!
You can't have it both ways, USAT haters.
Proportionately, Money seems to lose more talented veterans than other sections of USA Today. Why is that?
ReplyDelete2:20: USAT employees overpaid, lazy, coddled, pampered, clueless and old. USAT has the highest salary scale of any newspaper in the country, and it looks to me as if the paper has the lowest productivity. Weeks go by without seeing some bylines, and yesterday two of the three main stories were written by AP. That, to me, is the definition of coddled and pampered. As for clueless, tell me when USAT broke a news story that got national attention.
ReplyDeleteYou may not like being ridiculed as overpaid, lazy, coddled, pampered, clueless and old, but it is the rock-solid truth.
QUOTE: You may not like being ridiculed as overpaid, lazy, coddled, pampered, clueless and old, but it is the rock-solid truth.
ReplyDeleteUntil one of them leaves and then they are one of the "pioneers" of journalism, a talent drain, a shocking defection.
As for the rest of your angry tirade, talk about clueless.
Do we really need to have this argument? I'm at a mid-sized daily and I have never viewed USAT reporters (as a whole) as coddled and overpaid. That's just sour grapes.
ReplyDeleteUSA Today is a national newspaper and to be competitive it should have the top talent in the nation. If you're one of the top journalists in the entire country, shouldn't you be making $100,000 or more in an area with an extremely high cost of living? If you say, "No," you may want to rethink your profession because you're essentially saying, "I'm doing a job with no value."
$100,000 is not a ridiculously high salary for experienced professionals in most other industries. Hell, managers in some regional department stores can make more. Are you saying that being a small-town retail manager is a more "valuable" career than being one of the top journalists in the U.S.? Maybe it is in our society, but that's awfully depressing.
Now, I'm sure there are many specific examples of people who aren't pulling their weight. But that is the case in every company. There are standout employees and there are those who aren't very good.
USA Today reporters should be making salaries comparable to peers at the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. Those, after all, are supposed to be the major competitors. If I went to USAT, I would expect to make a pretty damned good wage.
If we aren't willing to pay a competitive salary, which it appears we no longer are, we will sink. Sadly, I think that's what's happening. When management tries to cut costs by replacing these veterans with less-experienced people who will work cheaper, the stories will only get more daft. And we're already No. 3 among the papers mentioned.
If you want to be pissed at somebody, look to management. Dubow and company are being paid ridiculously well to helm a company that is slowly dying. And ... if you cheer the company on as it devalues the work of employees at its flagship paper, you assure that you will NEVER, EVER be able to make more than you are right now.
I am discouraged that so many people working for a media company don't appear savvy enough to grasp this simple concept. Devaluing the worker bees at USAT -- reporters, sales people, etc. -- ultimately hurts you.
Back in June, Dave Hunke's rationale for ending furloughs was that forced time off drives away valued employees, and that the paper absolutely needed to retain talent. Then in the next breath he announced that USA TODAY would be a smaller company by fall. So if you think Hunke has even remotely the intelligence to save the organization, you'd be very sadly mistakened.
ReplyDelete2:20 here. Thanks, 12:48, for an intelligent, measured response to the misguided rant of 11:03. Your analysis was spot on. It amazes me that people like 12:48 allow jealousy to blind them to facts.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Period 9 ended today, which would close the third quarter. Lately, there've been hints that USAT's Q3 advertising revenue has been trending higher vs. a year ago.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a significant improvement from the second quarter, when (I think) it fell in the very, very general vicinity of 20% from Q2 2009. And that followed a for-certain 11% dive in Q1 vs. Q1 of 2009.
Can anyone out there back me up on this?
Add another USA Today defection: Money reporter Paul Wiseman, who is heading to AP. This became public late Friday.
ReplyDeleteHe was one of USA Today's best. It's getting to the point The Nation's Newspaper should have a yard sale.
While you were all arguing, yet another reporter -- from the Money section -- announced today that he is leaving USAT.
ReplyDeleteThanks 2:20. I'm 12:48 with one more point. These folks who are leaving are very likely drawing comparable or better salaries from the companies they are defecting to.
ReplyDeleteYes, some may be taking small pay cuts out of frustration. But the AP, for example, pays very well.
I just don't see how we can survive as a communications company if we chase all of our top talent to wire services or competitors. I'm sure that most of you who criticize USAT folks as lazy and worthless would want their salaries if you took their jobs. And you might just find that the expectations of quality are higher than you think.
Its not the reporters who are overpaid. Its the former editors who are now doing menial rewrite desk tasks and other "projects" who were primarily hired and promoted under the Hal Ritter era.
ReplyDeleteIf you think USAT reporters are overpaid, you ought to check out the new Vertical employees brought in to oversee long-overdue projects. They sit around all day doing....nothing. Thanks, Heather!
ReplyDeleteSo CNN fires its Klein for losing market share and failing to attract an audience. GE/NBC gets rid of Jeff Zucker for losing viewers and failing to market new shows. At GCI/USAT, where circulation has fallen from over 2 million to 1.8 million and advertising is down preciptously, managers continue to draw big salaries. Some are even promoted. What's wrong with this picture?
ReplyDelete