Take this St. Petersburg Times Visual Journalist Challen

murielhogan · **Posted:** Thu May 30, 2002 9:42 pm

(Received from the ACES Job List)(Hey! :) ; each (b), 0 points :( .Perfect 50: You're just the person we'd like to see apply. Please send a cover letter and clips at once to the address below.Anything less: Uh, don't even bother.[ May 30, 2002: Message edited by: Muriel Hogan ]

tommangan · **Posted:** Thu May 30, 2002 11:01 pm

I pass that test with flying colors and it STILL pisses me off.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Thu May 30, 2002 11:52 pm

Can you imagine, even for a moment, what it might be like to work for someone who would write and place such a thoroughly repulsive ad?
On the basis of that advertisement alone, every opening at the St. Petersburg Times is hereby designated a Nightmare Job unless and until its author admits that she was joking.I'm especially annoyed by question No. 3. Perhaps all of the layout people at the Times are crackerjack copy editors, but I doubt it. Outstanding talent for layout and copy-editing rarely are found in the same person, although it is easier for an editor to move to layout than vice versa. I mean no disrespect to my visual-journalist colleagues, but my experience at small and big newspapers alike informs me that there are a lot of page-drawers who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near copy except to measure it (after it's edited, please).[ May 31, 2002: Message edited by: blanp ]

tommangan · **Posted:** Fri May 31, 2002 1:46 am

True story: I was working at my modest, unassuming hometown daily in Peoria about six years ago this summer. I applied for a copy desk opening at the Times, and when the offer came in it was for 10 bucks more a week than I was making in Peoria. The difference in circulation: 70,000 vs. 350,000. Oh, and get this: No union dues or state income tax, but I have to pay 50 percent of the health insurance premium. Nef effect: a recduction in pay. I gave them the chance to up their offer but decided I just didn't really want to live/work in St. Pete all that much, so I called the next day and said, "thanks but no thanks." In a moment of weakness a few months later ... when they were advertising yet another desk opening ... I sent a note saying I'd had a change of heart and wondered if maybe we could all reconsider. "That offer was a one-time thing," I was told. Not that they're given to pettiness or anything. Since then I've been recounting this story to anyone who asks, "what about the St. Pete Times." I'd starve before I'd work there.

tommangan · **Posted:** Fri May 31, 2002 1:51 am

apply here: Job seekers: Unless otherwise instructed in the job description above, resumes and work samples should be sent to the contact name and address below: Anne Glover490 First Ave. SSt. Petersburg, FL 33701
United StatesTelephone: 727-893-8562
Fax:
E-mail: glover@sptimes.com
Web site: www.sptimes.comDate of posting: 05/30/2002

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Fri May 31, 2002 3:47 am

While we're at it, here's a Page One described on Ron Reason's Web site as "Taking a chance: An all-photo, no-story front page." I can't read much on the page, but I guess that doesn't matter. Of course, I'm no "design guru," but I could come up with four or five things off the top of my head that are wrong about this page, starting with the simple fact that the "chance" it takes means that it is essentially worthless as a newspaper front page.Harsh?[ May 31, 2002: Message edited by: blanp ]

tommangan · **Posted:** Fri May 31, 2002 11:10 am

I call that "risk" for risk's sake. A newspaper is not a magazine, though various design gurus have been trying like hell to change that over the past 20 years. Reason is a pretty good designer, but this wasn't one of his better ideas.

Testy Copy Editors

Take this St. Petersburg Times Visual Journalist Challen

Who is online

What They're Saying

Useful Links