Bad management - Reporter USA TODAY Employee Review

2.0
22 Dec 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

It's a job. Some of the coworkers are talented.

Cons

I was warned by every former employee I talked to during my job search that the editors were bad. The warnings were accurate. USA Today hires many of its editors from small newspapers. Even the marquee editors it hires are terribly subpar. A few of them are also awful human beings. Upper management has no way to evaluate the performance of editors because they are totally disconnected from frontline workers. The editing of stories is frankly incompetent. Content is driven by editors, who assign cookie cutter stories. Reporters have little say. The paper has constant turnover, as people flee for better jobs. The merger with Gatehouse brought with it huge debt, and the paper's future is in doubt. Some of the editors were focused primarily on awards until the paywell went up. Now it's all about clicks. There's not a holistic approach either. Reporters are expected to compete for stories that may get the most clicks, even if that means duplication of effort.

Explore other reviews about USA TODAY

5.0
11 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

It’s good and I like it a lot

Cons

Not a lot of cons

2.0
13 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Pay is higher than at the local level. Nice, motivated teammates. Remote work.

Cons

Too many meetings. Rules and expectations are constantly changed with no talk of higher pay. Pay may be higher than at local papers but it's still not enough in today's economy. Editors from different teams can be very passive aggressive and nasty. Feels like teams are competing against each other instead of working together. Page views matter more than people. Company passes up qualified employees for promotions and instead hires people who don't know what they are doing. Low morale. Editors create new programs for teams and try to give them fun names when really they are changing your job and requiring you to do something you weren't hired for...very manipulative. Computers are trash. Too many meetings that interrupt workflow. The news desk that edits stories before they are published can be a bit of a new sense. Some of the editors on that desk change things that are preferences, not things that need correcting.

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