Sunday, September 28, 2008
Sunday | Sept. 28 | Got news, or a question?
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16 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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Go ahead and get it off your chest!
ReplyDeleteJim, ask how many gannett newspapers blew coverage of the first day of the bailout story - saturday, Sept. 20. I know of one that used a refer to the biz page, another that had a small story at bottom of page 1. Local local can go just too far sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI would like to know if any papers are doing anything to insure jobs security for the people they are hiring. Despite all the layoffs, there are still many job listings on journalismjobs.com. Are companies, Gannett included, giving anyone hired for these positions any assurance when they are hired that their jobs will be safe, or are they just hiring inexperienced kids who are happy to have a job, no matter the pay or circumstances?
ReplyDeleteAnd now that many Gannett papers are down to the bare bones with no intentions of filling positions that become vacant, are those in charge doing anything to build morale, make the environment better or give the remaining employees an incentive to stay?
~~And now that many Gannett papers are down to the bare bones with no intentions of filling positions that become vacant, are those in charge doing anything to build morale, make the environment better or give the remaining employees an incentive to stay?~~
ReplyDeleteOne word..
Nope.
I'm troubled about Gannett... Me thinks they feel that they are under attack as opposed to being a company badly managed. No telling what they may do with this mind set. Wholesale house cleaning? Throw everyone out and replace them with the young and inexperienced? Makes you wonder what this wounded, rabid animal with do next?
ReplyDeleteNEWSPAPER HOME DELIVERY CARRIERS = EMPLOYEES according to some states. Federal rules are more stringent. Negative financial effect on newspaper companies. I wonder what will happen at the Orange County Register??
ReplyDeleteState Appeals Court rules T&G carrier as employee
By Jacqueline Reis TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
jreis@telegram.com
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Allowing a newspaper carrier to decide whether to wrap newspapers in plastic or rubber bands when a company dictates nearly every other aspect of their job is not enough leeway to make someone an independent contractor, the state Appeals Court ruled yesterday.
In a case that could change the status of news carriers, a three-judge panel decided that Thomas G. Driscoll Jr., a former Telegram & Gazette newspaper carrier, was entitled to unemployment benefits.
“WT&G exercised a sufficient degree of control over Driscoll’s performance such that he should be considered an employee,” Associate Justice Ariane D. Vuono wrote on behalf of the panel. She cited state law that says someone is an employee unless their services are performed “free from control or direction of the employing enterprise,” “outside of the usual course of business, or outside of all the places of business, of the enterprise” or “as part of an independently established trade, occupation, profession, or business of the worker.”
The Telegram & Gazette required their carriers to have a car, told them when the papers should be delivered, docked a carrier’s pay if there were too many complaints about a carrier, approved the order in which papers were delivered and required advance notice of substitute carriers. The newspaper also reserved the right to require the carrier to deliver to some customers before others and to change the routes or papers delivered. Telegram & Gazette carriers also distribute other newspapers. The paper could also demand its carriers deliver product samples or install delivery tubes, according to the court case. The paper paid the carriers regardless of whether the customers on their route paid the company.
Judges in California and Kentucky have also decided newspaper carriers were employees in similar cases in recent years, according to Judge Vuono’s opinion.
The Telegram & Gazette has not decided whether to appeal the ruling. “We are disappointed in the decision, and we’re examining our options,” Publisher Bruce Gaultney said. He would not comment on the details of the case.
The Telegram & Gazette has approximately 345 news carriers, and Mr. Gaultney said the company considers them independent contractors.
Mr. Driscoll had been a Telegram & Gazette news carrier for 21 years and had signed a contract that described him as an independent contractor. He filed for unemployment in 2003.
Mr. Driscoll could not be reached for comment last night, and his lawyer, James M. Galliher, did not return a call to his Fitchburg office yesterday evening.
Yesterday’s ruling affirmed an earlier judgment from Gardner District Court Judge Patrick A. Fox. Judge Fox reversed decisions by the state Division of Unemployment Assistance, which had denied Mr. Driscoll’s unemployment claim.
Contact Jacqueline Reis at jreis@telegram.com.
Here at USAT, we have the Daily Hainer awards, designed to recognize breaking news or feature packages that happen to catch the eye of top editors that day.
ReplyDeleteRecently there have been a disturbing number of awards given to people alert their editors when they who happen to notice another news outlet breaking news. This is how a reporter is supposed to do their job? How about rewarding people who actually break news and not those who know how to use a Google News Alert? That's not worth the $50 (tax free) that accompanies a Hainer.
8:57 AM
ReplyDeleteHuh? You mean people get rewarded for bringing news to the attention of editors? If so, how does that benefit readers?
How come we continue to buy Pubishers cars? Our Publisher just got his new car 2 years ago, now we need to buy him a "green" car. Buying a "green" car was a directive from corporate, when we told them that they did not offer "green" cars in what we needed, circulation trucks, we were told to find a way to buy one "becuase we havce the spend the money". So now we are replacing a nice 2 year old car with a "green" car. The answer will be "well that comes from a different account".
ReplyDeleteCan someone, without venting or trashing Gannett, really explain this logic?
Because he (and they almost all are he) can't afford his own car on a mere six-figure salary. Until our salaries drop enough to make him competitive with Wall Street salaries, he'll have to settle for the car behind curtain No. 2.
ReplyDelete11:08----This is what happens in large "mature" bureaucratic organizations toward the end of their lives. They behave as if the near future will resemble the "comfortable" past. This explains Gannett's decline and the current implosion of the financial markets.
ReplyDeleteWhat we really have to worry about is the fact that $300+ Billion in short term 1-to-30 day financing that keeps businesses running on a day to day basis (Payroll, Car Loan Origination, store credit accounts) IS NOT FUNCTIONING. Even with this bail-out/rescue. Ours advertisers are going to be squeezed as well as our readers. We are in a BAD SPOT. Well all of us except Craig & "The Crew" on the bridge of the Titanic.
Was wondering if all sites, like the Gannett where I worked, do the candidate endorsement thing???
ReplyDeleteindy does.
ReplyDeletebut reporters/photographers/editors/librarians can be fired for putting a candidate's sticker on their car or having a sign in their yards. gotta keep the public from considering the paper biased, yanno.
Interesting. Are reporters, photographers, editors and librarians prohibited from contributing money to campaigns?
ReplyDeleteWestchester got this note late Friday at 5pm (sorry if it's already been posted):
ReplyDeleteFriday, September 26, 2008
To Journal News Employees:
Today we came to agreement with our partners at RNN to end our joint venture alliance which produced the daily television news broadcast Hudson Valley News Center Now. Today’s broadcast will be the last.
I want to thank all of you who have worked diligently over the past year and a half on this project. It was a great success on many levels, allowing us to learn a great deal while we served the public well with a vibrant local news show. The audience we gained was impressive and the lessons we learned will serve us well going forward.
We will continue to consider other news sharing and programming ideas with RNN, but at this point our daily program and the joint venture alliance will cease.
I also want to thank the French family and their employees and organization. They added great value to the program and we wish all the employees who participated in creating the show great success in their future endeavors.
We will continue our advances in video presentation on LoHud.com and will further our advances using the exciting capabilities with Mogulus.
Thank you again for your hard work and dedication to this project.
Mike Fisch
Anyone want to read between the lines?
Here is a great one...I was laid off on August 18th, 2008. I got a bill Saturday Sept. 27th for unpaid benefits in the amount of 44 cents. They spent that much to send me a bill. And it is suppose to come out of the paycheck.
ReplyDelete