Friday, October 4, 2013

Arizona Republic Reporters Told to Work From Starbucks or McDonald's

Posted By on Fri, Oct 4, 2013 at 5:00 PM

Did somebody say work from McDonald's?

The Arizona Republic is giving their reporters a laptop and letting them loose into the wild. Yesterday The Phoenix Business Journal reported that Arizona Republic editors told 20 of their journalist they can work from Starbucks or McDonald's because they have free wi-fi.

Top Republic editors met with reporters from the Mesa, Scottsdale and Phoenix community sections Thursday to tell the reporters they were getting laptops. They would become “mobile reporters” without any traditional desk in an office, according to multiple reporters who wished to remain anonymous.

Sources say the Scottsdale office could close as soon as the first quarter of 2014.

I personally wouldn't want to type an A1 story next to a McDonald's playground, but I wouldn't mind working in a coffee shop by the University. I'm sure they are going to miss working next to a bunch of bitter, sad journalist always talking about the "good old days" while huddling next to the police scanner.

Here's to the future of journalism!