quantity trumps quality.

like micro-housing or density. the stranger should be on board with this...

Good Morning Charles,
I'm not going to ask whether The Stranger or Willamette Weekly for that matter has similar stipulations for their publications. My understanding is ALL editors have reasonable expectations for reporter article output/input. I am unfamiliar with journalistic standards so I don't if this incentive by the Oregonian is reasonable or not. It does stand to reason that if reporter X files more articles than reporter Y, a bonus may be in order for the latter. As a result, I don't know if Advance Publications/The Oregonian is being too demanding. The printed newspaper/alternative weekly is being threatened by the Internet. That may or may not have something to do with this.

@2,
Oops, meant to say "...a bonus may be in order for the FORMER..." That is reporter X.

Mr. Mudede seems awfully certain of his own job security, in light of the recent staff shakeup at The Stranger.

I look forward to Charle's careful analysis of the factors contributing to his own retention of one of the very, very few, coveted positions of remunerated culture-reaction in this world of internet-diluted opinion-dissemination.

Pretty common practice these days, although calculations based on pure output are pretty simplistic. The more sophisticated metrics for journalists include things like engagement (shares, clicks, comments, time) as well as traffic (pageviews, visits).

Most well run businesses have some way for management and the employee (ideally) to measure performance. If you pick the right metrics (a big if) then everyone can benefit.

There are a number of media companies looking to measure things like real-life impact rather than just popularity (did work change a vote, a perspective, a policy, raise a discussion in the community, cause someone to take action e.g. by volunteering or donating to a charity, etc.)

The Stranger clearly has a significant impact on a variety of topics from judges and politicians and policing to pot and minimum wage. It'd be interesting to know how much of an impact.

@2

Would you rather read a newspaper where reporters spend their time following up on leads to a story or where reporters have to write 15 or 21 short articles a week on whatever. Go check out all the dailies with their "50 professional athletes who are hot" stories before you answer.

@6 - Thank you!

This seems about par for the course as journalism gradually devolves to buzz feed.

Ugh, fuck this unholy Huffpo content farm future. I want to read less (crap) and learn more.

@10:

Apparently, that puts you - and by extension those of us who share a similar viewpoint - in a distinct minority.

The only thing creepy about this is requiring the reporter to post the first comment. But who knows: perhaps that's been the case for some time.

@12: Is it wrong that I want to start trolling their website refreshing for hours just to post "first!" on their new threads to get people in trouble/make the editors realize how stupid that is?

In the future somebody will write a dissertation on the journalistic style where if you have 10 salient points, you put 9 of them in the article and save one for the first comment.

Eventually readers will come to expect that the story isn't really done until you get to the first comment, where the author has their final say.

Then they'll make a rule that every author must post two comments.

This has been happening for a while now. Dailies all over the country have been laying off long-time reporters and photographers and on the same day posting help wanted ads looking for recent grads who can write content, take photos (with their phone), post stories on social media sites, tweet, etc.

These positions typically pay half what the previous workers made. Recently, a friend of mine had one of these new hires (from a daily in Chicago) call him for a comment and when he asked him for his phone number so he could call him back at his desk, he said that the paper had gotten rid of desks for the new reporters and he had to file his stories from his car or a Starbucks.

Come now, we all know Cthulhu there is actually Mudede's internet alter-ego.

@10

Then pick up a fucking textbook.