Not sad or glad just very mad!!
I am so happy that it is the weekend! Sleeping late, watching movies and no work!!! It has been quite a week. On Thursday, I learned my stats (how much I have done at the newspaper) for the February. For me a month represents, a daily newspaper that comes out five days a week, a monthly magazine and a quarterly that comes out four times a year.
For February, I wrote 47 stories (36 newspaper, three indepth pieces, 5 for women's mag and three for the Lake). I took 96 photos, one video and several photo galleries. I am tired just thinking of what I did. Apparently, it is not enough. The higher ups think I could do more since I am the education reporter. One of my co-workers had 70 stories for the month. 70!!
Wanna know how he got that number. He is the crime reporter and we are in the middle of bad crime times in RR. He doesn't go to crime scenes. Police call him to give him the stories plus he gets press releases from them. Some days, he has 5-7 stories this way. The publisher and CEO will not see how his stories are one sourced and small. They will see the 70. I am angry because it looks like I am not doing shit. And I am. But me with 47 and D with 43, we look we are the biggest slackers and he is carrying us. Honestly, it makes me want to throw in the towel.
I am not sad. I am mad.
Realistically, the most I could raise my numbers is 50 to 55 stories a month. Anymore, I would be hospitalized for exhaustion. I am so grateful to have a job in an area with an 11 percent unemployment rate. The newsroom is the backbone of this newspapers. Without us providing content, there is no newspaper. And if I may say so, we put out a damn good newspaper. I am not a quitter but I feel like throwing in the towel. But I will not. I will keep going until I am no longer needed or if I find something else. Thanks for letting me vent!!
DAILY DOSE
1. Thankful for having a job!
2. Rediscovering my love of cooking! I look forward to cooking dinner each night.
3. Refusing to let life consume me!
That sucks! One of the reasons that although I have a journalism degree, I never wanted to be a jornalist by the end of it. I ended up doing university administration instead when I am working. I'm glad you had a restful weekend and got to sleep late and watch movies :)
ReplyDelete*hugs*
Sarah
This is one of many reasons why I left journalism. I loved it, but the emphasis on quantity versus quality, and on speed versus accuracy, was too much. I was a damn good journalist and won many awards, and it broke my heart to leave, but the anxiety and how it impacted my quality of life became too much.
ReplyDeleteI wish you the best.
{{{Hugs}}}
It's really unfortunate when companies can only see numbers and the bottom line without taking into account other variables...and then criticizing you for it. I used to work at a company like that and it was awful. Hang in there. You like what you are doing...don't let them ruin it for you. Hope you got a nice weekend rest up.
ReplyDeleteIt seems as though employers look for any excuse to downplay your worth so they can justify meager (or non-existent) raises. Maybe they told the crime reporter that his / her work was sloppy.
ReplyDeleteCan you keep track of your own metrics such as word count, or amount of edits? Maybe you haven't produced as many articles, but your word count is higher than many and your work requires fewer edits.
Could you encourage the schools in your area to send their press releases to you? Not sure what the scope of your work covers, but maybe you can get alerted about student awards, teacher personnel changes (hiring, retirements and transfers), special events such as winter and spring concerts, etc. The student newspapers and magazines in high schools can be a source of material. I now recall that I was non-fiction editor for our award-winning school magazine, although I'll never understand how someone with such a tenuous grip on reality as me ended up doing non-fiction.
Good luck!