The new site will be up sooner than expected and am looking forward to it coming out, building it up and pushing The Mag firmly into the online space.
But a few realisations about my new role have started to sink in.
1. Less perks. When I was editor of The Mag, it was tiring, stressful and a threat to my blood pressure. But at least it came with the odd perks and of course, PR people being ever anxious to make nice with you.
Being Web editor, despite my rank being pretty much the same in terms of seniority, public perception is that I’m not a decision-maker and that currying favour with me is no longer important.
2. No/little chance to travel. My journo friends at papers bemoaned the crap pay and lack of glamour, but at least they went overseas at least three times a year. Those days are gone for me now. I’ll be lucky to go down to Singapore now, and that’s only if there’s a slot free because the ‘first tier’ or newspapers decline the invite.
Hardly anyone calls now and though I don’t miss the barrage of calls, sometimes I do feel somewhat unimportant.
I guess my ego’s been hurt somewhat by my new status and it gave me reason to have a pity party of one.
But really, there are good things.
1. I’m less stressed
2. I rarely have to answer the phone
3. Though PR people no longer give me much credo, nothing’s changed at work as far as the pecking rank goes.
4. I have more time to do things like play WAR, work on creative projects on the side and do the occasional ‘lance piece.
5. The Web’s still growing as a space and has plenty of room to move forward. Publishing on the other hand has been static for years. So the news reporters get to go overseas and will get the plum invites. But I report only to my boss, I get a lot of say on what content goes on the Web and enjoy more autonomy that I did on the magazine.
Instead of relying on press releases, I have time to hunt my own stories and not rely as much on pitches. I get instant gratification instead of waiting a whole month for my pieces to appear. And unlike print, I get to play with video, music and the online medium to engage my readers with more than just the written word.
The good outweighs the bad. I can’t complain, really.
Important thing is: no more frickin’ advertorials that I don’t get paid extra for. Whoo bloody hoo.
Earnestly, Erna 
You can always tag along as a ‘photographer’, or ‘web editor’. PR people can always accommodate 2-3 people per mag.
Can you download a copy of the internet to CD for me? I want to take it with me when I go to KL. 🙂
Sorry, web publishing joke! 🙂
Sounds like a lot of fun playing with the extra media (video, music etc). 🙂
I still don’t have enough time to finish my re-writes of the books I want to publish. Maybe after this study period I’ll have more time to. 🙂
Heh… and some editors tell me they’d rather not get calls.
Don’t worry lah, you still have your credo with me mah.