You've probably read all about recent defections at the currently chaotic Village Voice, so here's a fresh angle: A reporter actually moving to New York to work for the storied weekly.
Sean Gardiner, formerly of Newsday and currently on the federal courts beat at the Sun-Sentinel's downtown office in Fort Lauderdale, has accepted a job covering New York City's justice system. And it doesn't sound like he's going to pull a Wemple, either. I congratulated Gardiner in electronic fashion today, and couldn't help but ask him the obvious: Is he worried at all about heading to the Voice during these, um, interesting times?
His reply:
The basic reason I'm going to the Voice is because I'm a dinosaur, at least as far as the daily newspaper business goes. My strength is what I now hear called "long form journalism" (we used to just call it reporting out a story). The dailies don't do much of that anymore. Being a little thick headed, it took me two years to figure it out but I finally got the message that the industry isn't going to suddenly reverse course and go with longer stories.Also, the move makes sense from a family standpoint. Most of my family lives in the Northeast and we just had our third kid and could use some free babysitting. Besides, there's no place to get a good corn beef sandwich down here.
I've read about some of the stuff going on at the Voice. However it shakes out I look forward to working there. It appears to be the perfect job for me. Over two stints, I've lived and worked in New York for 10 years. I know the landscape, I've got a lot of sources there. Covering the criminal justice system in NYC is the best job I could imagine. And now I'll have the room to write about the stories that really matter without worrying about the daily bullshit.
More power to Gardiner. The Pulp wishes him well and if Christgau tries to give him any shit, well, I've got his back.
