The Political Whore

My story in the print edition of CL this week details the personnel changes and newsroom reconfigurations going on at the Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times. It focuses on intern Jessie DaSilva, who blogged about Coats newsroom explanation of how she hopes to combat the tough times that led her to lay off 11 editorial staffers two weeks ago. The full story is here.

Bonus cut: DaSilva would agree only to an e-mail interview, and here is her entire exchange with me about the reaction to her blog, which supported Coats’ plan and was seen by some as either naive or uncaring about the reporters who lost their jobs. My questions were, Did you have any hesitation about posting your thoughts on the layoffs and realignments?
Any regrets?
Has management at the paper had any reaction to your blog? In the past, I know from some reporters they have told folks not to discuss newspaper business in personal blogs.
What is your reaction to all the comments and reaction your post attracted?
Are you the incoming Alligator editor? If so, what lessons do you take back to that paper from this realignment?

And DaSilva’s e-mail back to me:

Here are my answers:

1. a.) I did face a little hesitation, but because the story had already been broken on blogs by University of Florida journalism professor Mindy McAdams (”Teaching Online Journalism”) and Jim Romenesko at Poynter.org I figured the cat was out of the bag. Also, my editors knew I had a blog that I use to relay my experiences and lessons in journalism, so I wasn’t worried about anyone finding out about it. They already knew.

b.) The only regret I have is that my post hurt some people. Nothing in my post was meant to be malicious, and I definitely wasn’t supporting the fact that about 50 journalists are being laid off at this news organization. The journalists who are taking buyouts and losing their jobs are people - some of whom have families - and I can’t overlook that.

In addition to financial obligations, they’re losing jobs they really and truly love. I firmly believe journalism is much more than a job; it’s a calling. The people leaving the Trib are leaving behind legacies of blood, sweat, tears and passion. I’m not sure how many other jobs can replace that, considering the bleak outlook on the job market in this industry.

Looking back, there was probably a better way to handle the situation. I could have posted two separate posts, one giving the details of the meeting and one with my reaction and a better explanation for it than I provided.

Another regret was not using spell check before posting. I really can’t believe I spelled it “layed,” but I’ll never make that mistake again! Haha

2. From my view, the reaction has been pretty mixed. It would be better to ask them about what they think for further details.

3. I was pretty surprised at the attention and comments my post garnered. While there was a lot of bomb throwing between journalists, I’m glad that some discussion is starting to take form. If anything, at least I was able to bring a problem to the forefront of everyone’s mind: People get their news differently than they did 20, 10 or even 5 years ago, and the industry is starting to feel those changes.

News organizations won’t be able to keep reporting the news like it used to, and there needs to be a way to compensate for job loss. They’ll have to change how they report the news to deal with smaller staffs. I don’t know if the Tribune’s new plan will fix it, but it might lead to the plan that will.

I have faith that someone will find a solution, but I really hope it happens here. This is the news organization that first spearheaded the idea of convergence, and I’ve always admired that, which is why I decided to intern here. I’m a Florida native, and I’ve always been damn proud to read that Florida newspapers were the first to really invest in online journalism. It would really be something if the Trib could continue its reputation for innovation.

4. I’m applying for the editor in chief position at the Alligator, but no decisions have been made.

But hypothetically speaking, if I were editor, there are a lot of lessons I can apply from this experience so far, particularly about blogging. I think blogging has a lot of potential as a news platform and a way to directly communicate with readers. One lesson I would apply is letting someone read over posts before they go live - even if it’s just the reporter next to you. You can’t be 100 percent sure how others will interpret your words.

As for the realignment, I’m not sure how applicable it would be in Gainesville. The Alligator is obviously way different than the Tribune. We’re serving a much smaller community and our newspapers are free to students - not to mention that we’re a non-profit.

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