{"id":398874,"date":"2023-09-15T00:24:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T00:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=398874"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Largest-US-newspaper-chain-hiring-Taylor-Swift-Beyonc-writers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Largest-US-newspaper-chain-hiring-Taylor-Swift-Beyonc-writers\/","title":{"rendered":"Largest US newspaper chain hiring Taylor Swift, Beyonc\u00e9 writers"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES<\/strong> (AP)\u2014This week the United States\u2019 biggest newspaper chain posted to its site two unusual job listings: a Taylor Swift reporter and a Beyonc\u00e9 Knowles-Carter reporter.<\/p>\n

Gannett, which owns more than 200 daily papers, will employ these new hires through USA Today and The Tennessean, the company\u2019s Nashville-based newspaper. The chain is looking for \u201cmodern storytellers\u201d adept in print, audio and visual journalism, said Michael Anastasi, the Tennessean\u2019s editor and Gannett\u2019s vice president for local news.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing both the facts and the fury, the Taylor Swift reporter will identify why the pop star\u2019s influence only expands, what her fanbase stands for in pop culture, and the effect she has across the music and business worlds,\u201d the company said in its job description.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the company wants a journalist who can capture Beyonc\u00e9 Knowles-Carter\u2019s effect on society and the industries in which she operates.<\/p>\n

Anastasi said the Tennessean already has a three-person music team and \u201cI put our sophisticated coverage up against anybody.\u201d Gannett is always looking for opportunities to make itself essential for paying customers, he said.<\/p>\n

Critics of the new roles cited layoffs at Gannett, where the workforce has shrunk 47% in the last three years due to layoffs and attrition, according to the NewsGuild. At some newspapers, the union said the headcount has fallen by as much as 90%. Last year alone, Gannett cut about 6% of its roughly 3,440-person U.S. media division.<\/p>\n

Some journalists said that while hiring these massively popular artist-specific roles reflect their influence in pop culture, they do fail to invest in local journalism at a company known for its local dailies.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when so much serious news and local reporting is being cut, it\u2019s a decision to raise some questions about,\u201d Rick Edmonds, an expert at the journalism think tank Poynter Institute, said of the new positions.<\/p>\n

Said Anastasi: \u201cWe\u2019re not hiring a Taylor Swift reporter at the expense of other reporters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some journalists criticized the job listings for presenting superfan behavior as a full-time journalism job. Music writer Jeremy Gordon said on social media that it \u201cdoesn\u2019t feel great to see \u2018full-time stan\u2019 go out as an actual journalism job.\u201d Stan is slang for \u201csuperfan.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the hire acts more like a fan than a journalist, the decision could backfire on Gannett. But if the job is done well, and the reporters can penetrate tightly-controlled operations to glean insights, they can establish themselves as national authorities on important cultural figures.<\/p>\n

Omise\u2019eke Tinsley, academic and author of \u201cBeyonc\u00e9 in Formation: Remixing Black Feminism,\u201d says this type of role makes space for more positive stories about Black women.<\/p>\n

But also, she adds, the existence of both jobs directly reflects Beyonc\u00e9 and Swift\u2019s economic power. \u201cIf there wasn\u2019t that component to it, there wouldn\u2019t be a Beyonc\u00e9 reporter,\u201d Tinsley said.<\/p>\n

It is not uncommon for journalists to develop a beat on a specific figure, particularly in politics\u2014as evidenced by Amy Chozick, who the New York Times hired in 2013 to cover Hilary Clinton exclusively. But most entertainment journalists are responsible for reporting on a wide range of talent\u2014even if they are subject matter experts on a specific artist.<\/p>\n

That was the case for Los Angeles Times reporter Suzy Exposito, who called herself an \u201cunofficial\u201d beat reporter on popular reggaetonero Bad Bunny because she spent a disproportionate amount of time in a previous job covering him compared to other priorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis near-weekly output became really overwhelming, and it took away focus from a lot of other artists who were also making compelling work,\u201d Exposito said. \u201cHe\u2019s so prolific that I think I literally ran out of new words to describe him at some point. He could use his own reporter, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said a major challenge for entertainment journalists is the sheer volume of releases from pop artists. \u201cThe business of music is a numbers game,\u201d Exposito said. \u201cHit records become deluxe editions become sold-out world tours, and it can be dizzying for a general music journalist to keep up.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, are artist-specific jobs the future of music journalism?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a bit odd, but Taylor Swift Inc., I guess you would call it, is a big economic driver right now,\u201d said Eric Grode, director of the Goldring Arts Journalism and Communications program at Syracuse University. \u201cTaylor Swift is doing a lot of newsworthy things beyond just selling concert tickets.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a reporter takes the job seriously and provides more than breathless concert coverage, their established expertise could be valuable for a news organization, Grode said. Still, there are very few musicians who have such a wide cultural reach.<\/p>\n

The likelihood of fans to click on stories about Swift or Beyonc\u00e9 makes it an obvious motivating factor in designing the new jobs, Exposito said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDigital media is now competing with fan accounts on social media\u2014not when it comes to accuracy, but when it comes to being the first source to report on pop stars\u2019 developments,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Top artists prioritize the attention and work of expert reporters, leading to what critic Soraya Roberts has called a \u201c culture of sameness \u201c\u2014yet another barrier to local arts coverage.<\/p>\n

Tinsley believes that posts on social media criticizing the focus of these new roles may reflect a culture of sexism. \u201cAdding to the pantheon of what figures and representatives matter has the potential to do something important,\u201d she said. \u201cI believe some of the dismissals (of these roles) have to do with what we value and don\u2019t value as a society\u2014and I think there\u2019s an implicit misogyny in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Representatives for Swift and Beyonc\u00e9 did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES (AP)\u2014This week the United States\u2019 biggest newspaper chain posted to its site two…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-398874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}