Well, we got the APSE (Associated Press Sports Editors) judging wrapped up and there were a lot of worthy winners in the writing and sections categories. I was told by a judge the Trib was on the cusp of honorable mention in the under-40,000 sections (the largest circulation group). I look forward to the critiques they did.
Our judging threesome got the assigned work done in short order and took over the final judging and ranking of projects by the over-250,000 papers. I don’t know how the final tally came out as our rankings will be tabulated by another committee. Big-paper projects proved to be a day-long job in itself. One farewell piece to Yankee Stadium was thicker than our phone book back home and really well written. I was told later it appeared on six consecutive Sundays in magazine form and that the paper that did it has one person whose only job is to craft the poetic lead-ins on such major projects. The package also included some great old photos of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and others. Once we got through that category, we had only to grade top-10 features in the 100,000 to 250,000 group. There were some good stories, to be sure, but it was a walk in the park compared to the project task.
When we weren’t judging, there was a lot of shop talk. Again, cutbacks and the handling of operations with fewer resources were popular topics. Papers in one chain are having everyone take a week’s furlough through the first quarter, I believe it is. Some hadn’t heard of a furlough, a temporary layoff from work.
Something being explored that could help our budget-strapped industry is the sharing of stories, perhaps to the point that it impacts what we pay for and how much we get from the Associated Press. I’d say that seems like a ways off, but some papers in the Midwest already have a system in place to swap stories. My roommate from Texas and I wondered to what degree big papers would supply us with stories on pro and college sports knowing small papers couldn’t reciprocate. (An aside, if you see a typo in here, I’m blaming it on the choppy air my plane is encountering.)
Sharing stories is already something that many papers do at the state and regional levels. We work well with the folks in Grants Pass, Roseburg, Klamath Falls and Eugene as we’re tracking down prep results. The Cleveland sports editor who is researching the idea of large-scale sharing said it’s not other papers he’s in competition with, but rather Web sites.
It was funny. I was talking with an editor from Tennessee and he told me they hired a stringer from Eugene to do a pre-Olympic piece on decathlon star Tom Pappas. It was a good story and one for which he paid more than usual. It dawned on me his was the paper we contacted to see if they’d be willing to share the article since Pappas is from just up I-5. They declined because of what they shelled out. I didn’t tell him we were the ones who called. I operate on the notion that if someone wants something we’ve done, they get it so long as we are appropriately credited. And I hope we’re treated similarly. If we really wanted the Pappas thing and didn’t have other options, we probably could have negotiated a fair price.
Interaction between APSE members is a concept drilled in at every organization gathering, and I take it to heart. Over the years, I’ve called the Boston Globe, a paper in Providence, R.I., the Sacramento Bee and others for pieces to fill holes in our coverage. I’ve called on a great many to get freelancers for our notes packages from Duck and Beaver football games. In some cases, notably Los Angeles and Phoenix, I’m dealing with editors I’ve gotten to know through these professional excursions.
In fact, there was a mini-reunion in Vegas with myself, Mark Faller of the Arizona Republic and Bob Berghaus, who used to be in Green Bay, Wis., but is now in Asheville, N.C. We all were part of a weeklong seminar about a decade ago in Virginia, and we reminisced about that.
There was also discussion as to whether the winter convention, as the judging is called, should continue in its present form or if there isn’t a more cost-effective way of doing it, like mailing entries to various regional groups for judging. That’s how it’s done in many other areas of newspapering. Nothing’s been decided on the future, but this winter gathering might be on its last legs. Money spent for it would then be devoted to the national convention each summer. My feeling is, this is a terrific way to get involved, see outstanding work by others, get ideas and network. But if papers aren’t able to come, then it loses something. There were some notable absences this week. Also, turning the judging over to regions could strengthen APSE at a sub-level. I could see with a bit of recruiting more papers taking part and the Northwest Region building a stronger foundation.
Well, that’s kind of a recap. Not all things stay in Vegas, I guess. The flight attendant just came on and said we have a tight connection to Medford from Portland because of a delay leaving Vegas, so the bumpy air might not be the only un-smooth thing about this journey home.
… Missed the connection. Not my first time. Gives me a few more hours in Portland.
Another tidbit:
Eyebrows were raised when my roomie told people his paper runs betting odds on high school football. They pay, I believe, $1,000 a year, and he says readers would string him up if the betting lines weren’t in the paper.
