Solid - Graphic Designer Indianapolis Star Employee Review

work for them they are great

nothing is wrong with them

This newspaper made me a newspaperman. I could have written that a thousand different ways – filling my words up with pomp, ornamental embellishments and everything in between but the short end of a long story is that without The Star I would have never earned my worth in ink as a stringer. I would have had nothing up until the moment in time when I sold my first clip to be proud of. The paper taught me how to write. The paper taught me what it meant to be honest at work. They gave me a position, a sense of dignity and the assurance that if I worked hard and did the right thing, I’d be treated well. The Star fell short on that last part. I was paid peanuts and my editor at the time, who ultimately was promoted, following the great work he did perfecting my copy, was promoted. He deserved it and during that period we became personal friends before I hit skid row, found myself an ultimate disgrace in large part over the paper’s obstinate refusal to promote outside talent. He acquiesced to my points regarding the papers flawed politics though there was little he could do and while he and I fought hard, we lost the good fight and years later he was also given the ax. We were both never officially terminated though. It was just so simple as, well, there was no work to be given and I’d say more – and, believe me – there is more to say but the simple fact is that the paper cared more about their profits than they were willing to invest in human capital. I have spent years venting in frustration over how the Pulitzer-winning newspaper treated me though have resolved to the notion that my will is good and I gave it my all. That editor I wrote for, by the way, never lost his fire and I suspect he will find himself in the good graces of another publication before he loses steam if he ever does. He has triumphed over most of his peers and he remains committed to the same ideals that both he and I share, never lost – and will never lose. A person is left feeling demoralized knowing that the newspaper industry is not quite what it was. In the age of “fake news,” newspaper men and women are treated like a lot of sordid reprobates. Affirming most news is not fake, I know much of what we read on our smartphones isn’t exactly something to admire either. There are still great reporters though and I was proud to be one of them. In another era, perhaps when the Pulliam family ran the famed paper in its heyday, my career would have taken me to a better place. On a bitter sweet note though, as I write this, I am transitioning into a renewed pursuit of journalism and have plans to revitalize my career. Had I of never written for The Star, that would not be possible as they made me the writer I am today. They tried to steal my fire – and that of my former editor who became a close friend but they never could do that. They clipped our wings but we still flew.

I have said without reservation that the paper paid an insulting rate, only competing with wages of third tier papers during the Cold War era.