Once again, WHAT is up with Hearst's hiring process?

 Consider this a second payment on a piece of mine 3.5 years ago about looking at the assistant managing editor's position in Beaumont, Texas. I said then that Hearst's hiring process was worse than Gannett's.

OK, now to the current scenario.

Six weeks ago, while I was on vacation, a Hearst recruiter tagged me on LinkedIn. Position? Managing editor in Midland, Texas. Presumably she had seen that I worked long ago at Midland's twin city, Odessa, for the Odessa American. This was before Freedom's post-Chapter 11 breakup into multiple smaller entities.

I'm not from Odessa. I had never before worked for Freedom. Not enamored of the pre-breakup company. That said, its libertarianism in politics on the editorial page was social, not just government regulatory and fiscal.

Anyway, the disclaimer above is to note that back then, I, along with longer-term staffers, thought the OA was superior to the Midland Reporter Telegram, and with evidence. More than once, the MRT asked for OA editorial bailout on a story that was on Midland's half of the dividing line, though not in Midland itself. Both were seven-day print dailies back then; hold on to that.

(For a totally non-partisan background, the OA, and NOT the MRT, won a Pulitzer for "Baby Jessica" coverage, on photography, even though the well she was trapped in was in Midland.) 

With this background, I decided to agree to start the process anyway. Culturally, politically and sociologically, Midland is definitely not my cup of tea. But, it would have been a big pay raise. And, although not truly "West," would have gotten me enough further west to be worth it that way. I could have toughed it out three years and dealt with the future after that. 

Anyway, I was interviewed for the first round this time by someone directly at Hearst papers, not a person from Local Edge, in 2022 at least, a separate HR division for all Hearst properties, per the link.

OK, the usual questions both ways, and comments both ways. I said I was plenty familiar with Wilks and Dunn, as well as the oil patch. Per the above, I asked if there was any cooperation with the OA.

"We consider them a rival," said person said.

I later checked the annual Texas Press Association yearbook. Fifteen years ago, the OA was ahead in circulation. A decade ago, it was still in hailing distance. Today, it's one-quarter of the MRT. Yikes! (On the print side, MRT is now a five-day daily, while OA is a semiweekly. Yikes!) That said, TPA and Wiki don't 

OK, near the end, I ask about the interview process. I think he said nine or 10 rounds. I know he said at least six or seven, itself too many for a position at this level.

To me, that bespoke two things, which aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. You either have bureaucracy trying to justify itself, or you else have people scared of making bad hires, which in turn means they've likely made recent bad hires.

I am told the second interview will be in a couple of days. Before it happens, said recruiter sends me one of these "Predictive Index" bullshit items, which, when I get them, I've taken to deliberately Poe-ing them on answers. I didn't do it until after the second interview, a few days after.

Then comes "an invitation to officially apply." Did not address that immediately, either. I figured I'd wait until after not just the second, but the third interview if there were going to be six or seven, let alone nine or more.

There has been no third interview, not even after I completed the predictive index.

Let's get back to the first and second interviews.

In the second, especially, I asked more about workflow between ME and reporters, and it's "interesting." They lean into AI a fair amount. It doesn't write stories, but it does kind of frame them, especially on things like government reporting. Now, the ME can override its guesses as to what goes at the top of AP's inverted pyramid, and presumably staffers can, too.

I'm still old-school enough that that doesn't totally enamor me. Anyway, this is loaded into a system. The ME makes changes. Presumably they tell the staffer to look at the changes, and the "why" is explained, or else the staffer is flagged. But at that point, it's pretty much nonlocal. The pagination hub right then gets the edited version of the story. Eventually, they get the budget for A1 and inside, B1 and inside, etc.

Sports? It's Midland, home of Midland Lee, archrival (or they were at one time) of Odessa Permian. Friday night lights. Etc.

Second interviewer said sports interest is not high.

Figured out why.

They currently print IN MEXICO.

Used to print with Gannett — I thought he said the Valley, but teh Google said Lubbock — but when that printing plant closed, they hopped the Rio Grande. 

I'll tackle this part more in a separate piece, as that's still Gannett printing, in Juarez.

Anyway, there's basically a three-day time lag between when news and sports are sent to the pagination hub, then the printing press, and a print product comes to Midland.

SO, Friday night lights is Tuesday or Wednesday in print.

Given Max Preps, especially if they aggressively market themselves on the photo side, or even more if there's a third party "Basin Sports" website or something (hold on to that thought and a related one), well, no shit Sherlock, you're not going to have high interest.  

OK, pick up the thought.

First interviewer said there's no sports editor, just two reporters. AND, he indicated that he thought the new ME needed to justify having two sports reporters, even.

Well, definitely no shit Sherlock on second guy and why nobody is interested in Midland Lee coverage. It's late, outdated, maybe even in web version, it's outdated, with limited art.

OK, pick the thought up again. Everybody shoots their own on photos, both sports and news, and there's no photo editor to even help out, or to edit product.

So, if it's not one of the Midland public high schools? Submitting info and photos is the only way you get in the MRT, print or online. Back to Max. If they have good and aggressive local reporters, let alone if there's a "Basin Sports," nobody in Crane is reading your ass. Ditto for news; you're not sending a reporter there and if the city of Crane or Crane ISD doesn't have a live video stream, you're not writing.

Anyway, I'm good, Hearst. I semi-fooled myself the second time around. I'll do my best to avoid that happening again. 

From frying pan to fire

Having left the daily newspaper which, personally and at the corporate level, came to the belief last summer that massive Facebooking and Twittering by everybody,  including copy editors who never are out and about  on news stories, was the "answer" to today's journalism revenue streams even as the company refuses to paywall websites, I may have gone from the frying pan to the fire.

(Oh, and now that I've left, I'll identify that previous newspaper as the Odessa American, part of Freedom Communications. And, despite being in the middle of the Permian Basin oilfield boom, the parent company, now owned primarily by its pre-Chapter 11 creditors, is continuing to tighten the editorial screws; I was replaced by a three-day-a-week person.)

Anyway, I'm now at a semiweekly, part of a group of newspapers owned by two "veterans," which is worse yet.

1. The owner allegedly published the exec editor to make him a minority owner, and it never happened. A recipe for bitterness right there, eh?
2. They're both "yellers."
3. They compete with another paper in the same area, which actually has more staff, and expect staff here to do more.
4. And, I've worked at many "community" newspapers that had "advertorial" special sections. I've never before worked at one that assigned stories about a particular advertiser before the sold ad was in the bag. I've worked at one now, though.

Well, if life has "learning experiences," there's plenty here.

And, at least Odessa was well organized as a newspaper. This place isn't. And, I may well be posting more about that soon.

Big newspaper merger ahead?

Freedom Communications and MediaNews, both partially owned by the same capital management group, Alden Global Capital as part of their emergence from bankruptcy, could merge.

It seems pretty clear this is NOT MediaNews driving the process. Dean-O, Dean Singleton, CEO of pre-bankruptcy MediaNews, is being kicked upstairs:

MediaNews on Tuesday announced a series of management changes under which current chairman and chief executive William Dean Singleton will relinquish his CEO role and become executive chairman of the Denver-based company. In a news release, MediaNews said the moves, which also include the hiring of three new directors, will "position the company to identify, pursue and execute on strategic consolidation opportunities."

That said, they aren't the only merger possibilities on Alden's list.

The recession and its fallout have depressed media properties. With folks like Alden either in control, or threatening to become in control, of more and more media chains, they're surely going to throw their weight around more.