Sunday, November 23, 2008
Sunday | Nov. 23 | Got news, or a question?
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81 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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Hi!
ReplyDeleteAn open letter to the real Larry St. Cyr;
ReplyDeleteIf there were any damages or pain caused by the post where I signed your name, I would like to apologize. My intentions were not to steal your identity. I assumed that anyone reading this blog would know that it was a joke and not actually you posting that message.
“Why me?” you ask.
Well the following was my motivation.
1. I have to confess that I do not work for you and have no idea who you are.
2. I read this blog daily and someone keeps randomly posting “Larry St. Cyr to the rescue!!!!!!!!!!” and the randomness of it makes me laugh.
3. So, I thought to myself, “self, how funny would it be if I posted as Larry St. Cyr and said me to the rescue.”
4. With that, a joke was born. Granted kind of lame, but a joke nonetheless.
I just feel awful knowing it caused you great sorrow. I know that I can not put that genie back in the bottle, but I hope with this open letter maybe we both can move on and begin to rebuild what is left of our lives.
Now that we are friends again, I have to admit that I was only assuming that the original poster was being sarcastic with, “Larry St. Cyr to the rescue!!!!!!!!!!”. Maybe he really believes that you hold the keys to the future success of this company. If so, I would like to pledge my allegiance to you right here. I want to state here and now that I want to be your "storm trooper" as you lead us back into the black ink. God speed Larry St. Cyr! Let you be our torch and show us the light! I can almost hear the trumpets blaring and all the people yelling, "Larry St. Cyr to the rescue!!!!!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqf2daVP3yI
ReplyDeleteWork your fingers to the bone?
We're about to enter two very stressful weeks - something we learned about only because of the hard work and time Jim has put into providing a virtual place for Gannett employees to gather and share info. I'm about to be laid off, and I just donated to his cause. Please take a minute or two to send a few bucks his way. He is doing good things by helping us all keep the company on its toes.
ReplyDeleteI know Larry St. Cyr, Larry St. Cyr is a friend of mine. You sir, are no Larry St. Cyr!
ReplyDeleteNancy St. Cyr to the rescue!!!
ReplyDelete(We are done with Larry, he appears to be too sensitive and he is just an accounting clerk that can't save us. Now Nancy St. Cyr, she works in Human Resources. Maybe she can rescue us!).
We interrupt this program for a special news alert...President-elect Barack Obama's choice for Treasury Secretary will not be former Fed President Timothy Geithner, instead President-elect is tapping Larry St. Cyr to head up the Treasury. Larry, a relative unknown in the DC limelight, is best known for his fine accounting work at the failed media conglomerate Gannett.
ReplyDeleteWe interviewed CEO Craig Dubow and asked him about this appointment and his only comment was "Larry St. Cyr to the rescue!!!"
As the markets tank, all of wall street is asking..."Who the hell is Larry St. Cyr?"
Look out Jim! Now Tom Brokaw is going to send you an email saying that someone is using his name on the message board lol.
ReplyDeleteand I guess our new great hope is Nancy St. Cyr to the rescue!!!
I really feel sorry for those people at USAT that they have a whole weekend to worry! The rest of us lowly paper people have already put in 2 weeks of worry and still have 2 more to go by the looks of it! At least you get your meeting on Monday and may have everything resolved before Thanksgiving. Again, we aren't even given the courtesy of being able to enjoy our holiday with the thoughts of being thankful that we still definately have a job or thank god they let me go! Maybe corp. will give us a break and do it ALL on Monday! Yahoo!
ReplyDeleteCan Larry St. Cyr make me some fried eggs and bacon with grits on the fine Sunday morning?
ReplyDeleteLarry St. Cyr to the rescue!!!
There is going to be a need some SERIOUS damage control for the moral (if there's any left) when this round is all over.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to church today to pray for Larry St. Cyr.
ReplyDeleteRe: Asheville thread - Plant closing [production moving to Greenville, SC], 60 jobs lost.
ReplyDeleteA poster commented: "Don't want to travel 60 miles to work to retain your job? MOVE. With today's home prices, you likely can get into a nice place in a great town for a reasonable price. It may take a while to sell your house, but if you're working you'll be able to manage. I'm always annoyed with people who are unwilling to take some risk in order to succeed [or stay employed]."
This line of thinking is precisely what is wrong with Gannett's attitude toward its community newspapers, and could have come from corporate itself.
GCI arrogantly believes it invented journalism, and its cookie-cutter template can be dropped anywhere on the map and it will work. Consequently, a community editor's knowledge of his or her community and its residents have no value - a few focus groups and Reston surveys will tell us all we need to know.
That's why you see Currie's Inner Circle of editors moving all over the country, with no insight into the communities they are expected to serve. Of course, an EE can do that far more easily than a $9 per hour press operator or mailroom inserter.
Moreover, these workers are natives of North Carolina, with homes, churches, family and friends imbedded here.
So don't expect any of the 60 disenfranchised Asheville press plant workers to "just move" to Greenville.
To us, family and the homes we have built here are more important than following the GCI caravan of carpetbagging executives.
-- North Carolinian by the grace of God
Any word on Gannett broadcasting Traffic Departments? We're left in the dark and aren't sure what to expect. Consolidation coming/layoffs?
ReplyDelete7:01 -
ReplyDeleteDecember 3rd is a much better date to be laid off than before Thanksgiving. Your health benefits will be canceled at the end of the month in which you are laid off.
8:18 AM
ReplyDeleteSurely you won't keep your subscriptions.
Surely every business this hurts will pick true community news organizations for their advertising.
not everyone is trying to throw coworkers under the bus. some of us are brainstorming about what we can do to help those who get pink-slipped.
ReplyDeleteget a free gift card with a purchase? send it in a holiday card to a pink-slipped former coworker -- anonymously if you must.
still got a job? stay in touch with the laid-off. pass along job tips, extra grocery coupons, movie passes, etc.
take a former colleague out for lunch or a beer.
forward non-confidential e-mails -- (e.g., congrats to jim and ashley on their baby boy, or word of other colleagues' going-away parties as they head for new jobs elsewhere.)
pick up an extra toy for a laid-off friend's kid and smuggle it to the parent so santa or mom and dad can deliver it.
if you've survived a layoff and moved on with others' help, pay it forward. if you're afraid you'll be in the next batch of layoffs, pay it forward and hope someone will do the same for you.
but most of all, find a way to focus on someone else for a little while. if you spend all your time navel-gazing, you'll be looking nowhere but down.
you are so much more than your job, and with very few exceptions, THIS IS NOT YOUR FAULT!
good luck to all of us! we're survivors or we wouldn't have come this far.
When I'm laid off from this company, I want nothing more to do with it -- no emails, no messages. Sympathy cards will just grind in the humiliation of all those lost years, and I'm not interested in office gossip.
ReplyDeleteANY WORD YET ON THE MISSISSIPPI PAPERS, JACKSON AND HATTISBURG?
ReplyDelete10:04 - YOU ARE RIGHT! Finally someone with some sense! When you walk out the door - be done with Gannett for good!
ReplyDeleteWhen I left this miserable company, I never stepped foot in the door again! Never went back to visit my old paper, never talked to any of them. It was DONE. And in the two years since, I have been able to build up an amazing level of anger and bitterness and animosity toward this aweful company and its people!
Oh, please. Some people are just coworkers, but for most of us, after a while, we build true friendships. Those friendships should withstand this, even if it is difficult on both sides at first. If you can sit next to people for 10 years and make no lasting connections, you are a robot.
ReplyDeleteAs for the poster from last night threatening to release a list before Craig's List, well, that's about the saddest thing Ive ever heard. Can't you find a food bank or soup kitchen to go help instead of wasting your time making up hit lists of coworkers four days before Thanksgiving? I really do feel sorry for you.
Here's the word on the Mississippi papers:
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand, and what people have told me, they're still there.
10:27 It is not a matter of being a robot, it is a matter of you working, me not working. How cruel can you be reminding your laid-off office-mates that you are happy and working, and they are not. Let people go. Don't rub it in.
ReplyDeleteMr Whig,
ReplyDeleteYou mean "paper" in Mississippi. One of them is so pitiful, it doesn't deserve to be called a newspaper. It looks more like an agenda-driven newsletter.
I'm with the poster who suggested that those still working make contact with the newly jobless.
ReplyDeleteWhen a layoff happened to me, one co-worker called me and invited me to dinner with him and his partner. It was so appreciated, as I was already feeling cut off and lonely.
On the other hand, there were people who couldn't/wouldn't talk to me, either out of fear of being associated with persona non grata, or out of embarrassment at not knowing what to say. I don't hold anything against those people, some of whom I would previously have considered to be friends. I just feel sorry for them. Living in fear day after day is not really living.
I am happy to be elsewhere now, and I wish all the rest of you the best. But please, don't continue to live in denial. Your jobs will be gone -- either this year or in rapidly coming years. Start job searching now.
Well you do find out who your friends are when you get laid off. Just a quick phone call to say you are thinking about them is sufficient.
ReplyDeleteI am told the Jackson paper is in Jackson MS while the Hattiesburg paper is in Hattiesburg, Ms.
ReplyDeleteLarry St. Cyr is moving to Mississippi.
ReplyDeleteLarry St. Cyr is father of my baby :)
ReplyDelete"There is going to be a need some SERIOUS damage control for the moral (if there's any left) when this round is all over."
ReplyDeleteYou assume that they care about morale at the properties. Their level of concern about damage control is so underwhelming. And what about the next round? Do you think that Dubow cares about morale then. If it were possible, the papers would be created, layed out and printed in india and shipped to the US for distribution. I wonder if we could bus in some of those Samoli pirates to the Crystal Palace?
Weekend four since the 10/28 memo has been torture. I downplayed the first 3 weeks of it, but now that we're facing a short week (many of my coworkers have Friday off) I've come to the realization that this past Friday was the last Friday I'd spend with some of my fine co-workers.
ReplyDeleteThanks to this blog I already have a list of questions/requests if I am laid off. My desk and computer will be cleaned out completely by COB Wednesday so that if I am to go the following week, I can leave quickly.
I wish our publisher would man up and tell us what our number is, or if he's done anything to try and decrease that number. But that would require communication with the rank and file, and to paraphrase a book title, he's just not that into us.
9:46 - Great words of advice, and kindness. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile back in Bridgewater there's a nice clusterfark on Page 1. Above the fold: Pimping for Black Friday, pimping for the "Christmas Wish" pullout. Below the fold: Owner of area's biggest mall may file Chapter 11.
ReplyDeleteIn sports it gets better ... Full-age Metromix house ad (with photo of 2 club babes). Full page of canned columns. Very weak college football roundup, no NFL preview. Nothing about the state gov't report that nailed the Rutgers football program as out of control.
All in all a nice way to drive your remaining readers to the Star-Ledger and the New York papers.
I know recent threads have focused on the liberal press, which I had always considered a fallacy. I was always willing to argue this point to the death.
ReplyDeleteBut I have to tell you at our site, it has become a reality. Our information center leadership and its integrity have been compromised to the point that even reporters and clerks are following their lead to "boost" Democrats, whether it be in national or local races. Stories benefitting Democrats are being fed to us from party flaks; relationships have long crossed the line from being professional. Attempts at critical reporting are rejected or rewritten. Some of it continues despite the election being over. And there is nobody to stop this.
I don't know the benefit of this, other than perhaps an ego boost from prominent people in a time when people are feeling undervalued within their own sites, but it is certainly dangerous for a very, very troubled industry.
To all of you with the words of kindness - thank you for understanding that we are all under a great amount of stress.
ReplyDeleteAs much as some dislike the "negativity" on this blog it is a way to let it out amongst others who can relate to what we are going through.
Last week was especially stressful at my site (I am NOT in a newsroom.) Reading that I was not alone made it much easier to deal with.
My family knows it's been difficult, but they can't really know what's going on while I'm working.
Things are only going to get more stressful the closer we get to 12/2. Please help each other through this - your compassion can really help another coworker who needs it. A few nice words, or just remembering that we are all human would have really helped me last week.
Where, oh where has j. Jonah Jameson gone when you need him?
ReplyDeleteI would rather have Jenna Jameson
ReplyDeleteI work at a Gannett paper, and I too, worry about the future. What amazes me is that with the amount of people with journalistic backgrounds posting to this site, that no one is recognizing the scope of the economic downturn affecting business as a whole in this country. If this site were Citigroup.blog, the posts would sound the same. If it were GM.blog, still the same, etc. The impact of the internet on the newspaper industry, combined with credit availablility, newsprint costs, labor costs and the dwindling paychecks of the average american worker have contributed to our situation. If we are naive to think that upper management have a choice to not trim expenses one way or another, that's on us. Not to defend anyone in the crystal palace, but really, what choice do they have? Less people are buying our products. Less businesses are advertising in them. I have to believe that if corporate had the choise to relive the hay-days of the early 90's instead of cutting to oblivion, they would. The sentiment I get here is that everyone thinks the people in charge get some sort of high out of making people's lives miserable. Well, look around. Read the paper, watch the news. Most of the industries in our country are facing the same fate. Pull up your boot straps and do the best you can while you're here. At least you can say you tried to make things better instead of saying you gave up and didn't care anymore and lost your job because some clueless corporate elite got off on throwing you to the street! I'm going out with my head up. Not for anyone else but for myself. I can tell my kids someday that I gave everything I had, but it wasn't in the cards. I want them to give their best in whatever they set out to do. I won't crawl in a hole an hope they don't find me. That's not what life is about. Go to work, do the best you can, and if that's not enough, it wasn't meant to be. Perhaps life is trying to tell you something! Good luck to all, we are about to embark on a journey we never envisioned...One way or another.
ReplyDelete9:39 - 7:01 here - I know it's better to be laid off on Dec. 3rd due to the benefits and I'd like to stay until then. - My question was, are the ones who volunteered going to be told they were accepted prior to the lay off date or are they going to be made to suffer as those who didn't volunteer and are just on the HIT LIST? Obviously, I volunteered and feel that it would be more on the professional side of corp. to let all of us who are ready to step aside know earlier. But, I imagine they won't consider that. I had a terrible time trying to decide and was horribly sick over it for the 1 1/2 weeks - thought my stress would be lessened by volunteering but it hasn't and I'm still just as nervous and stressed out! Hope others aren't having as hard a time coping! Happy Thanksgiving to all either way!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know Larry St. Cyr? What property does he work? Does he wear some sort of cape? Is he really working to save our company?
ReplyDeleteThis from the Hawaii newspaper guild website.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cwahawaii.org/index.php?ID=5707
In the midst of contract negotiations at the Honolulu Advertiser a 31.5% wage cut has been proposed.
Hmm lets see $1202.50 per week minus 31.5% would become $823.71
But hey, maybe they'll get back after Gannett returns to profitability.............NOT!
I'm waiting to hear about a 10% pay cut across the board, anyone making over $40,000 or something. Lord knows no one will quit because of 10%, so we will still have the bodies to get the paper out.
ReplyDelete"Does anyone know Larry St. Cyr? What property does he work? Does he wear some sort of cape? Is he really working to save our company?"
ReplyDeleteLarry works on the 6th floor in McLean, at Gannett Digital. I have never seen him in a cape, but who's to say what he's sporting underneath those nondescript, finance-guy duds? ;-)
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI just deleted a comment that wasn't focused sharply enough on Gannett.
ReplyDeleteLarry St. Cyr has kryptonite in his pants.
ReplyDeleteYou go Nancy! Grab that kryptonite!
ReplyDeleteA 10 percent payroll cut, targeting higher income employees. Maybe, maybe not. Doesn't address fringe benefit costs, other behind the curtain expenses. Might fall more heavily on longer-serving and older employees, bringing intended grief to the company. The company already does charge more for insurance who are paid more, regardless of age or time with the company, but a pay cut that was viewed as protecting younger workers might take some thinking, at least for the larger papers with larger and older staffs.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't a targetd paycut be concidered a form of discrimination?
ReplyDeleteWow, anyone else notice how empty the shopping malls are these days. I just came back from buying a new pair of slacks, and I've never seen it that vacant at Christmas shopping time. That's not good for advertising, or good for prospects of getting back some of this lost revenue that is one cause of our problem. This economic stimulus package won't directly help, because it is going into companies that build bridges and roads, and don't advertise.
ReplyDelete4:43 & 4:55
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Big LOL! I needed it!
-Sleepless in NJ
Hi 1:36
ReplyDeleteYou wrote,
"Not to defend anyone in the crystal palace, but really, what choice do they have? Less people are buying our products. Less businesses are advertising in them. I have to believe that if corporate had the choice to relive the hay-days of the early 90's instead of cutting to oblivion, they would."
You’re right, less people are buying our products now because the content, at least here in Poughkeepsie, is shallow. And why should anybody buy the paper if they get it on the web for free.
But corporate’s choice now, is whether or not to provide resources (money to local newspapers for hiring talented reporters) so local newspapers can provide content that people want. Eight or 10 reporters isn’t enough to cover the news of a 40,000 circulation paper. We have one sports reporter!
But the Poughkeepsie Journal has lost a lot of credibility on its own. And we can't blame corporate for this.
Case in point, there was a story of a family of five murdered in Fishkill about a 1.5 years ago, but the Poughkeepsie Journal dropped the ball on the story and got scooped by the New York Times when the murders took place. The same New York Times who has no sources in the area.
Readers have lost faith in the Journal from this and other stories.
It's the editors that dropped the ball on this story, the biggest story in the county in the last 15 years. Perhaps the “good editor” at the Journal could have thought to put the experienced reporters on the job to chase the story and not the cubs, just out of college. What a failure that was.
There are countless stories just like this, fires not chased, murders not investigated, sports stories not covered. There were stories not published, the Chazen story, the Watson story and the JJ Thompson story to name a few. All held back because of a lack of guts.
The publishers and editors who talk of hard times, not just at the Poughkeepsie Journal but throughout Gannett, are creating their own hard times by not chasing news and becoming irrelevant. They would just have the reporters sit in the office and write press releases and play kiss up to the business community through stories and pictures.
Report and investigate the news and sell some papers, it’s not rocket science. Oh and by the way, the Poughkeepsie Journal is making a healthy profit even with the 45 pressmen and women on the job.
to @1:18am no I was being sarcastic with the Larry St.Cyr to the rescue
ReplyDeleteTo: The newsroom staff
ReplyDeleteFrom: Ken Paulson and John Hillkirk
The current economic crisis has taken its toll on businesses nationwide, including USA TODAY. This will mean a cut in our 2009 budget, including the elimination of about 20 positions in early December.
We wish this wasn't necessary, but we're facing unprecedented economic challenges and we have to cut spending.
We'll have our regular monthly staff meeting Monday at 5 p.m. EST and will discuss this development and answer any questions you may have, but here are the basics:
Those whose jobs are eliminated will receive severance consisting of 1 week of pay for each completed year of service, with a minimum of 2 weeks and a maximum of 26 weeks of severance.
If you'd like to volunteer for severance, please notify Lillian Perez in Human Resources by close of business on Dec. 1, using the attached form. Volunteers will receive the same compensation package. Any staff member may volunteer and will be considered for the severance, but there may be some limits based on overall newsroom needs.
The job eliminations - including those of volunteers - are expected to take place in early December, although under some circumstances, staff members may stay a few more weeks.
This is a difficult close to what has been an extraordinary year for this newsroom, including outstanding coverage of the presidential race, the Olympics and the stunning decline on Wall Street.
We'll talk about all of this on Monday. In the meantime, please feel free to drop by or send an e-mail with any questions.
Hey Jim. I also sent in my $5 (you should have it by now via snail mail) and I will send you another in the next quarter b/c I believe that if a site is worthy, it should be supported. Others should pony up as well! C'mon, you slackers, he should have $3K in his coffers by now! I am looking at your site on a Sunday night, so I am not at work (this is meant for the Gannett corporate type who says all we do is moan and complain and complain at work). Over the next two weeks we need ya more than ever to aggregate our aggravations. Happy thanksgiving to all, good luck, and to the nincompoop naysayers I give you the bird as well. Yours truly, Barry St. Qyr
ReplyDeleteGood post 1:36. So true and it accomplishes nothing by complaining about the layoffs. Keep giving 110% and not matter what happens, we can say we did the best job we could.
ReplyDelete4:55, I assume you are one of the individuals that were part of previous layoffs. If so, I can see why. What a dumbaxx.
ReplyDelete1:36PM.... I'm really grateful for all you wrote. I mean, I went to church this morning and I heard a sermon which kind of inferred that despite the current financial crisis we should not decrease our donations. The minister was a jackass and made about as much sense as you do with your posting. Platitudes and "Uncle Tom" remarks don't improve the sorry situation.
ReplyDeleteHow in hell can you think that those in charge DON'T get a high from making our lives miserable??? Give us one good reason they have prolonged this layoff for this much time! Has Gannett robbed you of all powers of thought?
Being of the verge of unemployment, I can't afford to bet on it, but chances are good that you are the mindless, sanctimonious, hysterically laughing associate editor in Bridgewater! The cover-up about the kids is brilliant!
This year, I sure hope that the crapped upon employees get a chance to explain to all the readers "What the Holidays Mean To Me"!!!
Hi. Could you start a thread called "The New Newspaper Model" so that we can productively post ideas that would help save newspapers and create a new, working, profitable model?
ReplyDeleteOur paper would be SO MUCH BETTER if the reporters were simply given the FREEDOM to do their jobs without interference.
ReplyDeleteSO now we know about USAT, what about the Freep? Detroit is really going to have to reduce if the Big Three end up in bankruptcy court.
ReplyDeleteI don't come here often. But when I do, I am almost always reminded that most posters here have the maturity and business sense of a 13 year old.
ReplyDeleteI take that back, my 13 year old has MORE maturity.
7:02 IT'S not a new model newspaper that is needed to save gannett newspapers, its an old model that would.I have worked for gannett for 18 years and for the last 10 the news part of the paper is lacking where did it go? bring the news back and the paper will thrive againe.
ReplyDeleteok, I should know this.
ReplyDeleteHumor me.
How many people are at USAT?
20 too many
ReplyDeleteThe number of employees at USAT is difficult to define. Do you mean USA Today to include usatoday.com? We will get more information Monday.
ReplyDeleteThis time last year, there were 470 employees in the news division at USA Today. Of that number, 43 were bought out earlier this year, and a number of vacancies has not been filled. This round looks like a 5 percent cut of the current payroll (exluding vacancies) to me.
I am not being evasive. You can play with these numbers.
Can anyone tell me what percent of your salary Gannett will contribute to your 401K?
ReplyDeleteAnd how do I dump the Gannett stock each pay period. How do you do that?
ReplyDeleteAnd when I dump it, what should I do with it?
Hi 7:00pm....
ReplyDeleteI'm 1:36pm.
I can assure you that I am not who you think I am......
....I can also assure you that you are an idiot....the point of my post goes a bit past your level of comprehension....I apologize.
10 things Dubow and Co. can do to innovate:
ReplyDelete1) Sell the fleet of jets and start hitching rides in coach. If anything, management will learn a LOT more about the people their newspapers are trying to reach.
2) Sell the Crystal Palace and move all of the staff into an out-of-date building that is in severe disrepair. Don't fix it up, either. That way the corporate mucky-mucks will get an idea of what it's like working in the field.
3) Make a rule that states ALL employees, including those in corporate roles, must purchase their own lunches and dinners. Put in place stringent restrictions on paying for lunch meetings (e.g.: the most you can spend is $6 per person at the event and you can only do this twice a month).
4) Send out a memo saying that the top management (including those at local sites) who failed to pay attention to the Internet's creation are being replaced by folks who don't require training on basic computer functions: checking email, surfing the 'net, and turning on the monitor.
5) Eliminate company issued credit cards for EVERYONE. Make all managers expense EVERYTHING. They will be less likely to fill up their tanks or buy some java at Starbucks if they have to provide an actual receipt and go to the work of filling out all of those forms.
6) Have a summit with creative people, not just the ones in creative roles who are there because the bosses like them. Target the "real" creative people. Make everyone in the company take a test to prove their creativity. Those who score high are looked at as the next generation of the company and as such, are taxed with heading up innovation.
7) Put a marketing guru in charge of newsrooms at each newspaper. What's that book that Obama keeps quoting about a team of rivals?!?!? hmmm. If would get rid of all the traditional editors who stand by the First Amendment as their justification to defend the status quo.
8) No more company cars. Make everyone record mileage and drive their own vehicles.
9) Take all of that fancy video equipment and require that every newspaper provide at least one daily Web newscast from their newsrooms (a total of at least 20 minutes). Sell ads in video.
10) Take all of the money you save on the above and funnel those resources into innovative ideas. And no, paid lunch for a publisher does not qualify as innovation.
My point is that there is a LOT of fat that can be cut that doesn't require cutting smart, talented people. This company needs a reorganization from top down.
Jim, could you start a thread about how to handle your 401K. I can't really tell anything by looking at the Web site, and I'd like some advice.
ReplyDeleteLooks like USAT's second offer is not as good as last years. You made a good call Jim.
ReplyDeleteThe offers are getting more parsimonious as the revenues continue to decline. We are now in the middle of a dreadful period where revenues are declining 30-to-40 percent over last year. It will get even worse in 1Q. It is for that reason that I believe there will be another round of layoffs coming after this one, and more quickly this time. But doing that pulls down the whole structure, because the continued financial success of USAT is dependent on the future financial viability of the community papers and profitable TV properties. The revenue declines in community newspapers and TV have been dramatic, and some new business plan is needed. The easy cuts have been made, now Dubow and his ilk need to decide the future of newspapers, and they have to make those decisions quickly before this year is out.
ReplyDeleteIf this company has any desire to be profitable in the future, I am praying that Gannett executives will do something about the god awful websites and pedantic Pluck blogs and hire an outside firm that can create something that actually works well.
ReplyDeleteGannett is making this way too difficult. Why don't they backwards plan----you know, set a vision or goal of what the company will look like in three years, make a staffing plan and cut jobs that don't fit in with the plan. Why not be proactive for once rather than keeping everyone all worked up about possible cuts every few months.
ReplyDelete9;19 If I read one more story on Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals," I am going to puke. The book was out in 2005.
ReplyDeleteYour other suggestions are nickels and dimes compared to the sums needed to make this ship upright. I don't know anyone who puts their morning Starbucks coffee on their credit cards unless they are on company approved travel, in which case it is a justified breakfast expense. I should note travel is increasingly rare these days.
10:26 Hooray, you hit the nail on the head. What you are describing is what they call in business schools a "business plan." GCI doesn't have one now to replace the current business plan, which obiously is broken beyond repair. Dubow needs to find one, and soon. He needs to find a vision for GCI, explain to everyone clearly, then carry it out.
ReplyDelete10:27 - This is 9:19. Obviously you don't get the irony and sarcastic references. My point: If publishers like Indy's Michael Kane are able to find ways to cut many fewer people, then perhaps there are other ways to eliminate expenses than automatically just looking at the people aspect. Yes, Gannett has too many people. These folks are at the corporate level. Why are soooooo many layers necessary? Why is it necessary to give these folks better perks that the average GCI employee gets? Furthermore, I don't think eliminating company cars, car insurance, a corporate jet fleet, lunches and dinners, etc. is just nickles and dimes. Gannett needs to learn how to live in its means. Just because the executive management seems to feel that a lot of perks are necessary to keep its corporate staff happy/motivated/returning to work, isn't a mandate that it makes prudent financial sense. Fiduciary responsibility would indicate that Gannett is living too high on the hog. Regardless of how many people get cut, the expenses for the jets, cars, insurance, gas, car washes, golf outings, etc. will still remain. These expenses all add up. I have seen so many cases of directors making horribly bad financial decisions that would give major investors reasonable grounds to go after the company for failing to meet it fiduciary responsibility to shareholders.
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ReplyDeleteRe: Step-by-step instructions for shifting 401(k) money out of GCI stock:
Every pay period, assuming you get paid on Friday, your GCI contribution is posted by the end of the day (which can be 7 p.m. Eastern or later).
Go to www.ybr.com/gannett, click "logon" and sign in. (If you have never done so before, you will need to create a login ID and password.)
Look near the top of the page, find "401(k) savings" and click on that.
Just under "401(k) savings" click on "Manage investments."
Scroll down to "Take Action" and click on the "Transfer Funds" link.
Click on "Transfer money to individual funds" and "continue."
Click on "percentage" and "continue."
Find "company stock" on the list and fill in 100 in the transfer percentage box and click on "continue."
Pick the place where you want the money to go.
(Money market and stable value are the safest right now. If you have a long time to retirement and want to bet on the market coming back strong over whatever your timeline is -- 10, 20, 30 yrs+ --, you might consider transferring into something like S&P 500 Index or some combination of stock funds. This is where you need to do some research and think about your personal preferences -- mostly, how long do you have to wait for things to perk us and how much risk you can tolerate.)
Once you have 100% of your transfer allocated to receiving accounts, click "continue."
Click "Transfer money."
And you're done.
Thank you, 11:26 pm; I should have that on a "save-get" key by now.
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