Pros
Atmosphere (and people) can be freewheeling and "fun"; there is some downtime and it is accepted--you don't have to "look busy" if you aren't. Benefits were decent. The bunker mentality can give you a sense of "family," but it's largely a mirage. Out of sight, out of mind.
Cons
It takes leaving the Post to truly understand how toxic a lot of the experience is. People get away with abusive behavior that would be unacceptable anywhere else-- I witnessed (or experienced) screaming, insults, threats, and bigotry routinely. On the contributor side, a lot of poor writers have risen steadily due to brown nosing; a lot of good writers (and editors), especially anyone over age 30, have been marginalized or ultimately laid off. There is a direct-from-college (and cheap) employment track that has taken over several departments, and those writers are encouraged to be clickable while being unable to string together a decent sentence without copy editors rewriting them wholesale. Meanwhile, pay is incredibly unbalanced -- a handful of "stars" suck up all the money while everyone else is underpaid (or, again, laid off). Low pay is justified with outright lies like "I barely make more than you do " It is not, on its own, a living wage for NYC. There is, of course, also the ongoing embarrassment of working for a newspaper with low ethical standards and toxic politics. Some non-news/opinion staff can comfort themselves by saying "that's not my department," but it touches everyone eventually.