Coming from a major east coast newspaper I expected a professional and collegial atmosphere similar to what I was used to at my prior reporting jobs. How wrong I was. One editor seemed jealous of me for some reason and decided to teach me a lesson in how things operate in Arizona. It began before I even set foot in the newsroom. The day before I was to start work, she called to say I should come in on Tuesday -- not Monday as previously arranged.. As I was leaving at the end of that first week on Friday, I learned she had changed my schedule from M-F (which I had negtiated when taking the job) to Sunday through Thursday. She became increasingly difficult to work with as the weeks went on. After two or three months, she wrote me up for not having any sources -- even though I had the phone numbers for the top two people on my beat. The prior reporter on that same beat did not have those contact numbers until I gave them to her, yet I was written up for having "no sources." Then things got worse.
The editor I directly reported to left on a two week vacation and never told me. I was the only reporter she was responsible for yet never told me she was going on vacation. I was later sent to cover a major news story in Tucson. When I called in to hand off my info not one of the five editors I repeatedly called returned my phone call. To this day, I have not heard from any of them. I had to drive back to Phoenix ... a nearly two hour drive .... to report on a national news story that by now, was all over the intenet because not one of the five editors I called returned my phone call. On another occasion, when I approached the photo editor to ask how to file my first and only photo request, he wrote me up for being "abrupt, uncooperative. and difficult to work with." Our conversation was brief -- I only asked him how photo requests were filed so I don't know how I could have possibly led him to write that I was "abrupt, uncooperative and difficult to work with" in my performance review a few weeks later. My editors at my prior newspaper, where I was known for my long list of contacts and my affinity for my colleagues, were shocked when I told them all of this. I left the Republic after about six months after moving cross country to take the reprorting job in Arizona. Things turned out well, however. I moved back east and now work for a major paper in New York. It finally feels good to work with people who aren't jealous or vindictive ... and who return a reporter's phone call.