Non-competes

McP has added another paper for which to freelance. At this place, he had to agree to not freelance for its nearest competitor. I've heard many an argument from people here in Florida about non-compete agreements, and I still believe them to be bullshit in all forms.

First of all, the one I had to sign forbade me from working for another paper two hours north of me stretching to two hours south. Nothing within commuting distance. Only one of the four papers this covered are even a competitor. Effectively, signing the stupid thing killed any chance of working in the business for at least a year after I left unless I packed up and moved quite a distance. (I was told by an editor during the interview process that they didn't enforce very strictly; it was mainly to make sure no one moved here, worked for them for two months, then split to work for a bigger paper.) Obviously, once you're hired at the fauxpaper and realize what a crap pile it is, the first thought is to get the hell out. Bosses there were at least smart enough to realize that. Now if they could only figure out what a real newspaper is.

As far as freelance non-competes, that only hurts the newspapers and makes it nearly impossible to make a living freelancing here. Mc has two papers, a magazine and a website as fairly steady work and he can't pay the bills. So why does it hurt papers? Because it means there are fewer professional freelancers around, so papers get stuck using a lot of non-professionals if they want local people.

Personally, I think top execs are the only people any kind of non-compete should apply to. I also found out another area paper also has one which prohibits employees from leaving to work at the two nearest metro dailies. No one in their right mind should agree to that.