Q: An answer you gave to a youngster with experience working at a weekly troubled me ("Weekly to daily," Feb. 8, 2006).
I became a reporter for a small weekly (then editor, then publisher and now publish a small daily) at mid-life, about 15 years ago and know that young reporters or editors can gain valuable experience in these situations ... but even the best of them often have difficulties finding positions with larger publications and find their experience simply doesn't count for much.
With most metros cutting newsroom jobs, it is likely many of those graduating college right now will have to put in at least some time at weeklies if they hope to gain any experience (and a paying job in journalism).
It would make sense that editors at these larger papers pay a bit more attention to this experience but, as your response indicated, this doesn't appear to be the case.
Any thoughts?
Publisher in Texas
A: I'm glad you wrote.
The question of weekly vs. daily requires a more complex answer. Certainly, we are not in a one-size-fits-all business. And thank heavens not everyone has to work at a major metro to be successful and happy.
Individually, we do best to have some notion of what we'd like to wind up doing and then pay attention to what happens along the way to getting there.
Most people, right out of school, aspire to dailies. They'll get there faster if they can start with dailies. If they can't, they shouldn't just give up. Weeklies can be a next-best option. Once there, it pays to pay attention to the kind of editing and work you get. It can be some of the most rewarding journalism there is.
I should have thought a little harder about my part-time job at the Croswell Jeffersonian before writing that too-brief answer.
