Confirm or deny department:
We thought we had heard it all from TSF tipsters after three years of Sun Media/Quebecor postings, but stop the presses, folks.
A tipster says Sun Media has decided to award performance points to newsroom employees, but the motivation remains unclear.
"I presume it's to compare reporter performance from paper to paper, although it has not been made clear to us," says the tipster.
Reporters earn points for how many stories they file each day. You also get points for things like photos, videos, tweets, briefs, special features.
The tipster provided a partial list of points to be awarded:
A story is 2 points; A photo is 2 points; A brief is .5 points; Special features are 4 points; Columns are 3 points; Videos are 2 points; Web posts are .5 points; "Writethroughs" are .5 points; Tweets are .5 points (minimum 5 tweets).
If Sun Media is serious about this, how will the accumulated points awarded to overworked journalists in understaffed newsrooms be used? Will top performers win a trip to Disneyland? Will bottom performers be shown the door?
It is not clear if the new point system launched in Ontario will become chain-wide or is restricted to selected newsrooms, but one newsroom is one too many in our books.
It sounds humiliating.
Earn those points, people, earn those points.
Shades of Glengarry Glen Ross, especially the last few words in the following YouTube clip.
We thought we had heard it all from TSF tipsters after three years of Sun Media/Quebecor postings, but stop the presses, folks.
A tipster says Sun Media has decided to award performance points to newsroom employees, but the motivation remains unclear.
"I presume it's to compare reporter performance from paper to paper, although it has not been made clear to us," says the tipster.
Reporters earn points for how many stories they file each day. You also get points for things like photos, videos, tweets, briefs, special features.
The tipster provided a partial list of points to be awarded:
A story is 2 points; A photo is 2 points; A brief is .5 points; Special features are 4 points; Columns are 3 points; Videos are 2 points; Web posts are .5 points; "Writethroughs" are .5 points; Tweets are .5 points (minimum 5 tweets).
If Sun Media is serious about this, how will the accumulated points awarded to overworked journalists in understaffed newsrooms be used? Will top performers win a trip to Disneyland? Will bottom performers be shown the door?
It is not clear if the new point system launched in Ontario will become chain-wide or is restricted to selected newsrooms, but one newsroom is one too many in our books.
It sounds humiliating.
Earn those points, people, earn those points.
Shades of Glengarry Glen Ross, especially the last few words in the following YouTube clip.
Oh yah, this sounds like another great inspirational idea. At the end of every season, will managing editors be required to schedule playoffs to see which reporter wins? Honestly, is our company paying a professional motivational firm to come up with these ideas, or is it just another 'brilliant' idea of the week proposed by someone inhouse with no idea of exactly how bad morale is?
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA... ooooh my aching sides...
ReplyDeleteIt's like PKP sits in his office all day and desperately tries to come up with new ways to dehumanize his empire, and demoralize his workers.
Astounding! I mean, what better way to inspire your staff than to distract them with worry about "points" every day?
So has anyone put any thought into what would happen to the reporter who slaves over a long, explosive story? Y'know, over the junior reporter who files 1,000 Tweets about Justin Bieber's hair from her cellphone?
This clueless company has no idea just how beaten down, depressed and mentally drained people are. Reward points? Shove them up your ass. Most of us paid our dues, we aren't fucking circus seals. Let us try to do our jobs in the wreckage you've left us and you'll get what meagre results are possible. .5 points for tweets? Oh my God, is this Dunder Mifflin??
ReplyDeleteRewards for high point tallies (i.e., quantity)will likely be awarded instead of acknowledging and participating in real, peer-reviewed awards (NNAs, ONAs, the self-fellating Dunlops) that recognize quality, diligence and devotion to journalistic principles. Makes one think of the "flare" count in the movie Office Space.
ReplyDeleteHumans are not designed to be overworked.
ReplyDeleteIf this so-called point system turns out to be true, it's just begging for burnout and high turnover of all staff concerned.
Whoever thought this up needs to personally demonstrate for one whole week to everyone concerned that racking up such points in the suggested manner works to 100% perfection and will not cause long-term harm.
If this is a fun thing - maybe a situation where the winner gets the publisher's parking spot for a week - then it might even boost morale for some in the newsroom. But if it's anything more serious than that, then it's crazy. What about the award-winning feature writer who needs extra hours or days to get a piece together? Should they be penalized? (Aside from not being able to enter award competitions anymore.) Besides, most of the former Osprey papers don't have room for too many local pieces anymore. Not when they're filled with yesterday's Toronto Sun copy?
ReplyDeleteWon't work in union shops where there are jurisdictional issues built into collective agreements. Give it a try, Sun Media and see how many "points" the company earns with lawyers bills for grievances.
ReplyDeleteYou might notice that there is not a single word about quality, and that is not a mistake on Quebecor's part.
ReplyDeleteIn a meeting about the new "points" system ... the only time the word "quality" entered the conversation was when it was brought up by a reporter ... uh, I mean, content generator. That's what we're being called now. Content generators. Somebody call around to the J-schools and ask them to change their course names to things like "Content Generation 1100" and "Investigative Content Generation."
ReplyDeleteUm, I'm a REPORTER and have been for 20 years. I don't have a column, I don't take photographs as we have staff photographers who do that, I'm not trained in videography nor have I been issued equipment, I don't Tweet as it would cut into non-productive time spent chasing and writing stories ad, briefs and rewrites are not bylined and good luck tracking them back to the Content Generator who produced them. Do these halfwits even know how newsrooms work?
ReplyDeleteThey csn assign brownie points for washing the publisher's car or cleaning the staff washrooms, but they can't make me care about their stupid system after watching 60 per cent of my newsroom get laid off, our newsroom cell phones and cameras cancelled, cable shut off, newspaper and mag subscriptions cancelled, our desk outsourced and even the plants and the air fresheners in the bathrooms emoved to save money.
God, I'm looking forward to this particular meeting, but I don't think our managers will dare propose it.
Can you trade your points for airmiles or cash them in like poker chips?
ReplyDeleteThis hasn't hit our paper yet. I am sure management is just waiting for the right time since we've been hit with recent firings. We're already walking around in a daze as it is, this would just make it worse.
ReplyDeleteJust an example of how stupid this is ...
ReplyDeleteYou're given an assignment. You're lagging behind in your idiotic 'point totals' this week because, you know, you actually spent time doing a story right. The editor assigns the photographer to take the photo for your assignment. But wait! A photo is two points! You need to take the photo to pad your numbers, but the editor insists on the photographer taking it. Fights and accusations follow.
This company is run by idiots. There's simply no other conclusion.
What about points for pages? I'm pretty sure reporters at the smaller dailies have the occasional shift to lay out pages...
ReplyDeleteI can only hope this inane system doesn't hit the community papers, where the editor, reporter, photographer, photo desk, page designer are often one and the same person.
Performance points on this 'points' idea: Minus Infinity. And that rhymes with 'stupidity.'
ReplyDeleteLOL not anymore.....the real world has regional pagination centres across the company. No time for content providers to layout pages...LOL...get with the program!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteActually, there is still some layout done at smaller dailies and community papers (newspaper titles withheld to protect the innocent...)
ReplyDeleteI know I'm not with the majority on this, but I think some reporters require a reward system in order to get the job done. Although receiving a raise would be more beneficial, I think a point system might light a fire under some journalists'butts and showcase those who have been working extremely hard and deserve recognition.
ReplyDeleteLast poster, you're an idiot if you honestly think this is a great idea.
ReplyDeleteI'll be sure to brag about my extra half-point victory for the week. Focus on the stories, not a god damn score card. How does this motivate someone, it's embarrassing and demoralizing - so I guess it's a perfect fit for this company.
You want me Tweet, post regularly? Am I going to run back to the office each time because I'm not using my own Blackerry and laptop. I offered to use my own stuff if I got compensated/insured which management refuses to do... so forget it.
It would be like being a city worker and being asked to bring in your own shovel and steam roller to pour pavement.
Fire me now because I won't be following this crap. Wait, let me tweet that for a half-point effort.
Actually I'm inclined to agree with the previous poster that a reward system will help some reporters. Currently we have a tracking system of stories, photos and web uploads and since that was implemented, my reporters'counts have increased. In a company where editors are unable to hire new help if they fire a bum worker, this option may help in motivating a crap reporter until PKP allows papers to hire staff again. Let's hope that happens soon.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me there are editors posting on this subject. I wish they would fill everyone in on what people actually get for their points.
ReplyDeleteIf you need a point system in order to work harder, I don't want you in my newsroom and any decent manager would find someone else to do the job.
ReplyDeleteA reporter's count might increase but the more important question is has the quality increased. One well-investigated, balanced story trumps five quick one-source items any days.
Let's get a big electronic scoreboard up on the newsroom walls as well with smiley faces and sirens each time someone reaches a point total while we're at it.
If you score three points in a single day, all in a row before anyone else in the newsroom, you get to become this week's Hat trick Hero with your photo and impressive stats for all readers to see!
ReplyDeleteIn some markets, like say Timmins, where they operate with one reporter for months at a time to produce a daily newspaper, the incentive to produce a bunch of stuff is that if you don't, the local pages of the paper are going to be empty the next day. If they dropped all their papers down to one reporter, I'm sure productivity would shoot up.
ReplyDeleteYeah, productivity by an overworked, underpaid and unappreciated employee.
ReplyDeleteTimmins isn't unionized and the reporter punches way too many hours and isn't compensated for it. Try doing that a unionized shop and see how far that goes.
I see no value in this so-called points system. Then again, there's a lot of things this company has done the past three years so I guess the trend continues.
Anyone want to sign a card?
ReplyDeleteRob Lamberti
Chair, Toronto Sun Unit
CEP Local 87-M
Oh no, Timmins, you have it all wrong. You would be the Ovechkin of Quebecor. Just think, in one week of flying solo in your newsroom, you would probably collect something like 113 points doing it all to put out a daily. Quebecor management will be cheering for you in their boardroom meetings... "Ovie, Ovie, Ovie!"
ReplyDelete... which translated means "Ovie-work!" "Ovie-work!" "Ovie-work!" And really, what do you have at the end of a day? A fatigued worker racking up worthless points which will amount to squat in the long run. Brownie points at worst.
ReplyDeleteI love how some of you putzes are defending this. Of course there are reporters who could work harder, but this point system has nothing to do with real journalism.
ReplyDeleteHell, I could post 20 blogs a day (10 points!) but that doesn't make me a better contributor than the reporter who worked five hours on a great story.
Does "real" journalism still exist? Very few weekly papers follow CP style and most do their research via the Internet because they don't have time to hit the pavement.
ReplyDeleteCP style? How dare you!!! You must follow the beloved Sun Media guide...you know the one where you save a few spaces with % instead of per cent.
ReplyDeleteTo paraphrase the Seinfeld's Soup Nazi...
"No points for you!"