Wanted: Someone to Go Down in the Perfect Storm   

Long-suffering States News seeks reporters undaunted by the prospect of a "hazardous journey."

Covering Washington is a dangerous--if not completely dour and hopeless--endeavor, judging from a recent job ad posted by States News Service. But apparently, such a torturous position is just what some people are looking for.

"Reporters wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success."

History buffs might recognize the ad as the one Sir Ernest Shackleton posted in the Times of London in 1914 to recruit a shipping crew for a risky trans-Antarctic journey on the Endurance. States Editor and Publisher Leland Schwartz thought that sounded like the right sales tack to bring a reporter on board the 30-year-old news service that covers Washington, D.C., daily for individual newspapers.

"We were just trying to have a sense of humor," says Schwartz. "We are a wire service that is always struggling to stay alive.

"We cover Washington for newspapers around the country, in the shadow of a blizzard of major wires and bureaus," Schwartz says, adding that that, along with the ailing economy, makes for a miserable situation.

Managing Editor Myron Struck says job applications, as well as the company's client base, dwindled after September 11. The company has gotten "a few nibbles," but Struck says it can't feasibly add many large papers to the client list without also adding manpower.

Money is so tight at States that it is considering selling parts of the business to pay three IRS tax liens amounting to nearly $300,000, Schwartz says. He says the IRS claims the company owes income and employment tax from December 1998. States is considering selling its document retrieval service and the Latest News, a daily newspaper updated hourly for passengers on the US Airways shuttle between Boston, New York and Washington.

As if that weren't enough, the newswire, long suffering and always seemingly on the verge of collapse, is plagued by a bad case of stepping-stonitis. Young reporters take low-paying jobs with States News, learn a lot in a short amount of time and then move out and up the ladder.

"It's not the cushiest job," says 23-year-old States reporter David Enrich. In the year-and-a-half he's been at States, two reporters have left--not for better jobs, but from exasperation. Enrich, who writes for Cleveland's Plain Dealer, the Philadelphia Daily News and the Wisconsin State Journal, is one of States' three remaining full-time reporters, down from 40 in 1993.

Despite the occasional bounced paycheck and stalled Internet service, Enrich calls States "a great place to work." He says it is the best place for young reporters who don't have a lot of daily experience but want to work in Washington to "get their feet wet."

Not unlike the damp feet undoubtedly suffered by the Endurance crew.

The Shackleton ad drew an "explosive" response, says Schwartz, who "really expected people to apply, knowing many of them would" get the reference. "Twenty years ago we hired a great staff off an ad we ran looking for 'reporters for battle duty,' " he recalls, saying this time he's gotten dozens of queries and applications "from all over the world." Some better than others.

Here's a taste of the replies:

"Your description makes the position sound very attractive. One question though: Is the part about safe return negotiable?"

"If you think such threats are intimidating, you have obviously never spent time sitting in North Jersey Saturday afternoon traffic!"

"Short money? Bitter cold? Complete darkness? I'm from Boston--you don't scare me."

"It would never better suit meself than to join along with your band of high-seas ruffians. Rightly so I've earned me stripes on small expeditions, and I reckon a longer journey would befit me ever-growing foolhardiness."

"You're not going to get many applicants."

To the undaunted, Schwartz responded in his typical optimistic fashion: "[We] need reporters who can withstand being in a dinghy in the ocean in the perfect storm. The economy, Sept. 11th and the Internet implosion has crushed us."