Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Tuesday | Nov. 18 | Got news, or a question?
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99 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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ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteI love seeing the fear in the posters on this blog. They must all be shitting bricks right now.
They are all so tough, but the reality is that they don't want to lose their jobs.
Maybe your readers should focus on working and stop wasting time on this blog.
I can't wait until December 3rd. There will be thousands of people thrown out! Thousands of bitter, ungrateful employees that will regret their hatred for Gannett.
I can't wait until December 3rd. I hope to be one of the thousands of people thrown out! Thousands of relieved, grateful employees who will collect unemployment and severance and retrain for a new career.
ReplyDeleteI love my job, but I'd hate to be one of those left behind after this round of cuts. It will be hard for Gannetteers to keep chins up in the coming year.
To 9:54 PM,
ReplyDeleteHere is some questions that I direct to you: Are you freakin' kidding me? Are you serious in your comments? Are you a member of the illustrious OC? Are you working for the same company as the rest of us? Are you from the same planet as us?
Here are people who give their all to their jobs, puttin' in the hours of toil only to be told by corporate that for all their hard work, their jobs are being cut, downsized, or outsourced. All this is to save money that is misspent or wasted by CD and Co. on frivolous stuff like Ripple so that wives can discuss the finer points of technique of BJ's. If anyone should be angry at any of this, on what Gannett is doing, it should be those who post here for they are the salt of the earth, compared to a dung beetle such as yourself.
PS - I read the blog at home, after hours. Sometimes it's the only way I can stay informed on the machinations of Gannett, it's not like the company tells us anything important. Just treats us like mushrooms - keepin' us in the dark and feedin' us lots of .... you know, that stuff that dung beetles feed on.
OK, so let me get this straight. We're losing AP, we're losing GNS, we're not going to have local autonomy (did we have that before?), and the biggest hits are going to come out of the newsrooms, oh, and 2009 will be worse (I'm sure it will be) so if you survive this round, you just get to start another countdown til the next bloodletting. Did I miss anything? Oh, yeah, go Metromix!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 9:54’s pleasure in people losing their jobs is distasteful. As for Gannett, the company is heading towards bankruptcy. Similar to GM, the company has a ball and chain of liabilities, this is no secret. What’s worse is the companies leaders have not kept up with the pace of technology and the demand of the consumer. Newspapers are a relic; there is nothing in a paper that can’t be read for free on the net. It is unlikely that Gannet will be successful by acquiring other companies to become more profitable. The heads at GCI are cutting jobs, yet they will continue to reward investors with the quarterly dividend…
ReplyDeleteMy boss worked for Gannet for 25 years. He went from site to site across the country for years helping Gannett become the company it was. He actually did something promised for years and moved the paper from a shit hole,(I worked at for years before he came) into a beautiful building, housing all employees. The production employees went first, and then the non-production employees were getting ready to move. He was called in to the Publishers office, given his severance and told to go to the new building to tell his employees he was gone for good. What a shitty directive, but he did it with honor and glory. He hugged us all and told us better him then us. This is a man who survived Collins and considered Bob Dickey his personal friend, as he worked for him for years in Palm Springs as his PD. I know he was abused by Collins as many were before him. He too had Collins stories, good and bad.. This Man loved the Gannett Company. He consistently told all us managers to work hard, and the Gannett Company will appreciate the effort and reward you as they did him. He wore his Presidents ring with diamonds as a daily reminder and told us, "You all can become a director in this company if you are successful as managers, and be rewarded in the end, I will show you how." . He is the best boss I ever worked for. Ever.
ReplyDelete(How about it De, Ca, NJ, Md?)
I know now, there is no reason for anyone to want to go through the ranks working our asses off he did. To give so much, for so many years, for what.
So I guess I will work my ass off as my mentor taught me, and, I guess, I’ll be looking for a job when Thanksgiving is over...or December 3rd, 4th whatever, when I too get let go as well.
Thanks for the memories Gannett. Keep letting your great people go and you all will end up with a bucket of asses/ashes, whatever.
To 10:29 p.m. and 9:54 p.m.:
ReplyDeleteYou have no heart, so you must not be a reporter.
You lack any courtesy or persuasion skill, reverting instead to taunting and name-calling, so you probably don't work in customer service or sales.
It's clear you've never labored hard, because if you had, you would empathize with the 99 percent of the bloggers here who have given their blood, sweat and tears only to be repaid with a layoff, so you probably don't work in production or delivery.
You do, however, follow the Gannett code blindly, a zombie-like trance in which you repeat the proverbial corporate twaddle (money... raises... with us or against us.... grrrr).
You must be corporate.
11:02 lol I said I work at the c-p in my post. If you're a journalist you must not be a good one to miss that point. To say I have no heart is incorrect, I stated that those who bicker about the company should leave the company. It makes sense. Please learn to read person. And you have proven my point that journalists aren't as smart asthey claim to be. Thanks!
ReplyDelete11:11 - I did see that, but found it, and still find it, hard to believe that a regular employee would drink the Corporate Kool-Aid so readily.
ReplyDeleteBoy, Gannett sure trained you well.
So let me get this straight - We're supposed to admire your intelligence because you obey a corporate with loose morals and no vision like a Labrador?
Hmmm. OK.
I don't know if a journalist is smarter than you. But at least he/she can think for himself/herself.
10:02 - I don't know about you, but I'm going to collect all of $745 if I get shitcanned. That's a week's pay for a year and nine months of work for Gannett, or a month's rent and an electric bill.
ReplyDeleteTrain for a new career? Not exactly likely. I can't afford to live on unemployment, let alone take courses in the stuff I want to know. Whoop-tee-freaking doo.
However, I must grudgingly admit it's still better than the fate of the folks at the non-Gannett, locally-owned newspaper where I previously worked. They went straight to unemployment or Wal-Mart stocker's jobs.
11:30 I'm not arguing with a cousin kissing, cock craving whore. Sorry but I have nothing to complain about with my job. I make decent money and I like what I do. If you can do your job properly maybe you'll be able to keep yours. Good luck with future endeavors. And if you keep your job more power too you.
ReplyDeleteClassy, 11:42. Thank you for proving my point.
ReplyDeleteAnd please keep your fantasies to yourself. I'm a dude.
Good luck to you too.
11:42 said: "If you can do your job properly maybe you'll be able to keep yours."
ReplyDeletePosts and thinking like that is just offensive. I'm in a management role, and I would just like to point out that there will be some very good people who are losing their jobs soon through no fault of their own. Lots of people will be let go, regardless of whether they are doing a good job. Let's not assume that simply "doing the job properly" is going to protect anyone in this round. The industry and the economy are at very low, low places right now. Not to say that some of the staffing cuts aren't needed and some of the fat will be eliminated this round in various places - but to say that a person must only do the job properly to keep it is simply ignorant of what we are really facing and the hand we are being dealt this go-round. Unbelievable.
And, based on the recent Gannett 10-Q filed recently with the SEC, there will be more reductions in 2009.
ReplyDeleteThese comments definitely prove one thing - copy editors are still needed in the Local Information Centers. You people can't write for shit.
ReplyDeleteLets be honest. There's a lot of dead weight at USAT. Much of it remains after last year's departure of 43, much of it will be around after this around, and unfortunately, probably the one that will come in 2009. Start with the repetitive layers of editors in News. Then move to the non-producing reporters and redundant editors in News and other sections. Factor in quota hires in every section who aren't working out and making more work for others. Throw in those immune from last year's purge- often useless copy editors and dot.commers.
ReplyDeleteLet's be honest; 40 to 50 USAT staffers could be ousted with little qualitative loss if someone (are you listening, Ken?) had the guts and decency to make everyone eligible for elimination. Give producers more money. If hires are to be made, do it with a blind eye and base it on competency. If they don't work out, fire them. And get rid of former line editors now relegated to rewrite desks and other jobs but still drawing top pay. Or turn them into reporters. That would do much more for morale and improving the product than monthly editor meetings and traveling popcorn shows.
9:54 is a gutless socio-path.
ReplyDelete9:54 PM is probably somebody's kid.
ReplyDeleteThe conversation is getting increasingly ugly as we get closer to the layoffs.
ReplyDeleteUnderstandable, too. Whatever job you're working you think you have all the answers. Hell, I do, as delusional as that is.
Jim, is it possible to split a couple chats into what rank and file think, middle managers think, top managers think and corporate staffers think?
And keep them active by moving them to the top of the blog if they're interesting?
I've noticed good conversations die when they are supplanted by others.
Also, let's all agree to not engage the folks who take the conversation off track.
My first question for a new thread, Jim:
Should multimedia skills be required for those who stay?
I like the idea of these questions. But is it possible to phrase that so it includes departments outside editorial -- like circulation or production?
ReplyDeleteI work at the Pacific Daily News in Guam and I've been hearing gossip from my coworkers that there are going to major cuts soon.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have any info or gossip concerning Gannett's faraway island newspaper of the Pacific Daily News?
Any thing would be very much appreciated. I'm already bracing for the worst.
Thanks in advance.
Jim: I think the employees in circulation and production are too busy working their butts off since layoffs have been a way of life for years. Everyone in those departments is busy doing the work of many and using the technology we have to do so. It seems only the editorial staffers are complaining about everything.
ReplyDeleteI like this blog when it is informative but it really drags me down when it gets into a social networking-type pissing match. Unfortunately, the more time that goes by with no news the more it gets filled with nothing which turns to speculation which turns to whining and bitching. Circulation and production just don't have time to fuel those flames.
"Should multimedia skills be required for those who stay?"
ReplyDeleteGod, I hope so. It's obvious we are going to have to rely heavily on web content to survive.
those of you who are sniping at each other and calling names are merely feeding into corporate's desire to make us all miserable enough to quit without waiting for severance so they can fill what once were real newspapers with crap written by know-nothings.
ReplyDeleteit's ugly, it's getting uglier, and we all should be figuring out ways to either help each other or remain civil.
are there slackers, goofoffs and fools in our workplaces? yes. but their families will be hurt just as badly (maybe worse) if they get layed off than the families of people who earn their paychecks.
the layoffs are a tragedy for all of us, those who leave and those who stay, and also for the public, which needs trustworthy info even more than a few years ago, but will be getting crap about people's pets and beautification projects, not about government viiolating people's rights or public officials stealing tax money.
so next time you want to be snarky here, type it all in, get the hate out of your system -- and then delete it and go do something useful.
Larry AND Nancy St. Cyr to the rescue!
ReplyDeleteWhile I feel for all the departments who will be affected in the layoffs, think of the "after" for some of these people. You're in finance, not too hard to find another accountant type job. You're in sales, go sell something else. Circulation? Managing carriers could be a direct pipeline to managing a Walmart. H.R.? I.T.? Oh, please.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you do "after" if you are a journalist, graphic artist or pressman?
Go to the other paper in town? Head to the p.r. agency that already has its fill of ex-paper employees? Hell, most of the time you can't even go to the next city's paper, because we own that too!
I'm looking in my classified section for any career with more than two openings and I'm going for it. My first career I had pride in. My second will be just to feed my family.
Adding up all the reported layoffs and rumors on this blog since the end of October, we evidently just fired our 47,000th employee.
ReplyDelete7:18 - what do you do if you used to be a publisher?
ReplyDelete7:21: Write your autobiography about doing journalism in the Golden Age of Journalism, detailing how your newspaper ripped the lid of the local school board, improved the lives of your community's citizens, and fought evil-doers.
ReplyDeleteANYBODY hear anything about NJ Group eliminating home delivery and shifting to Publisher's Circulation Fulfillment?
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling that's the target area for APP, HNT, CN, etc.
That's a good number of bodies. DeSantos could look like a logistical hero.....for a little while.
Rumor is that layoffs start this Friday in Phoenix..... 11/14
ReplyDeleteThis is @5:40 again from yesterday's posts to @6:52pm: No - I don't sit on the 10th or 11th floors at corporate. I'm a soldier in the trenches like most who post on this blog. To answer your question, EVERY corporate dept. was impacted by the buyouts/layoffs. Some cried upon being offered buyouts because they feared not finding other jobs and others were simply in shock, while those laid off didn't have a clue about what was coming. Does that make you feel better? We're all in the same soup folks. We're doing our best to stay productive and help turnaround a business model that's under siege. In my discipline, if you don't perform you're out - period. Let's all say a prayer (if that's your thing) for the livelihoods being destroyed by this economy and the downturn in our industry. And let's resolve to be less vitriolic and more focused on doing whatever we can to turn this damn ship around. We can wring our hands and watch, or we can get to steppin' on new ideas and ways to raise revenues that might save the jobs of our fellow colleagues. Titles don't mean a hill of beans to me because long ago I learned to challenge the status quo whenever it was the right thing to do. Stroll into those corner offices with your ideas and your determination and have it. This is YOUR company. And if some lesser manager or supposed leader who's "brain could find solace in the shade of snow pea" (that line comes from the old sitcom, "Cheers") seeks to retaliate, there's always "Karma". I've seen it, it's real. Keep the faith everyone.
ReplyDelete8:48 You talk a good talk, but as one of the soldiers in the trenches, I have tried in the past to suggest changes that I enthusiastically thought might be profitable, only to have my boss sneer at the temerity of an underling having a thought. It is too late for this "we are all in the same boat" routine. We are not. Gannett has thrived on creating a top-down "us" and "them" environment that has choked off innovation, creativity and stomped out new ideas. If you don't believe me, look around you, and you will see an office of Stepford wives. I have absolutely no sympathy for corporate office holders who now are feeling the consequences of the years of mismanagement. You made this environment, now live with the consequences.
ReplyDelete8:48 .... In my discipline, if you don't perform you're out - period....Really? Dubow and Dickey have not performed, have they? Just look at any measuring stick: circulation, stock price, revenue or impact.
ReplyDelete12:42 is correct about the wastefulness at USAT. However, it goes beyond bad personnel. There are wasteful systems in place, too.
ReplyDeleteHours, sometimes days or even weeks of work never make it into the paper because of some subjective decision made by some editor whose main goal has become quota hiring and covering up discontent in his or her department. Stories, graphics and photo shoots never get into print because someone didn't have the common sense to pull the plug on a project early enough before tons of time were invested by several departments.
Onliners work on things for weeks and months. I mean ONE thing! Can you imagine a print people working on just one thing for six months? And then this thing goes on the web site, is impossible to find and half the time all the bells and whistles don't even work well or simply are silly gimmicks made more annoyingn by popup ads. Is it good use of money to hire an army of people who wouldn't know what a daily deadline meant if it hit them in the face? Think I will take a pass.
The simplist task sometimes take three or four people to complete because of all the duplication and antiquated systems in place. Try getting new toner for printers. That will take four phone calls to three or four different people. Want a graphic for your story? You'll need to go through several folks before you get it, and by then it could be too late to complete. Need someone to answer a question about a story? Oh, wait, half the staff is in a useless USAT U meeting or "voluntary" staff meeting looking at baby pictures. Need a manager's help on an important issue? Oh, they're in yet another meeting where nothing gets done or on some seminar across the country learning how to be attentive managers.
This just scratches the surface of the wastefulness at USAT. If the smaller papers were run like USAT, they would have been out of business years ago.
From a previous post:
ReplyDelete"Newspapers are a relic; there is nothing in a paper that can’t be read for free on the net."
That's true, and it's at the root of the industry's problems.
However, there's another side to it: most of the news on the net originated with newspapers.
If you're looking for TMZ-type entertainment, or political commentary, yes -- that is abundant and free.
But the news you read, although free to you, was paid for by a newspaper somewhere.
When the newspapers go away, so will the news.
Some new creation will arise to fill the vacuum; you already see some original reporting in blogs such as Talking Points Memo.
But at this point, from what I can tell, most of the blogs and websites doing original reporting are covering political news. That's real insider stuff -- make a couple of calls to political operatives and run a story based on unnamed sources.
It has its place, but it's not the broad, substantive reporting a community needs. And it's national, not local. There's no Talking Points Memo or Politico for Indianapolis or Louisville or Shreveport.
In baseball they fire the managers when the team underperforms, not the players.
ReplyDeleteFrom 8:58 to 9:30 and 9:13am: IT"S NEVER TOO LATE! Yes - throughout Gannett there are incompetent people in positions of power and authority who propelled us into this mess and don't don't know jack squat about how to get us out. Does that mean the rest of us should give up? Don't let these fools beat the enthusiasm out of you. Where's your tenacity? No one's asking for your sympathy and I'd never generalize about your worth the way you generalize about those on corporate staff; that's way too sophmoric. I didn't make this environment but I sure as hell take responsibility for what happens today and tomorrow, and so should you my friend. There is a well of talent in this company that will not be silenced or cowed into submission. If your boss is a numb skull, go around him/her until you find someone willing to listen and act. This may sound like sedition of sorts but if we don't take this company back then we need look no further than a mirror as we assess its failure. Come on people, stop looking to the past. We can't change yesterday's idiocy and lack of vision but we sure as hell can impact its future. Do you think things are going to change overnight? Get real, get busy, get angry, get motivated, do whatever it takes to change your corner of this company. If we all did just that, perhaps the leadership that has failed us so miserably will reap what they have sewn, leaving behind the best and the brightest to pull us through. Pollyannish? maybe. But if you don't have any hope for this company's survival and you don't act to save it then you're part of the problem and not the solution.
ReplyDeleteCraig D. was in Grenville, SC today. Here is what was discussed.
ReplyDeleteSpoke for about an hour about 3 key issues.
Solvency of the banks
Abiliity to function in a nonliquid market
Health of the economy.
Huge push to combine efforts like stories & video among Gannett's print, television and digital mediums.
Still looking for opportunities to purchase strategic papers.
Focus on being innovative with consumers.
10:27 ... If your boss is a numb skull, go around him/her until you find someone willing to listen and act....
ReplyDeleteHow naive can you be? You try going around my boss and you will find out how fast you will be out the door. As I told you, this is a top-down structure, and it doesn't support anyone who rebels or goes outside of the stream. There is no symapthy for dissent or disagreement, and those who try to go outside of channels find their work questioned, errors discovered, poor performance reviews, and a whole array of corporate retaliation. My boss is out to protect her job and her turf. There will be payback for anyone who doesn't understand that, and we all understand that.
Of course it is getting ugly, what did you expect? Don't tell me you bought into that "We are all in the same boat" crap. Be ready because some of the cuts will make no sense. Surving this round is the employee that works three hours a day but knows how to play the schmoze game and does the "look at me dance" in front of the ME's office. Getting the axe is the quiet employee that puts in a full days work but doesn't know how to play the game.
ReplyDelete10 things that plague USAT's newsroom (and I suspect other papers):
ReplyDelete1. Quota hiring. When can we get back to hiring the best people available?
2. Retaining bad hires while losing smart, hard-working people.
3. Turf wars. Remember high school?
4. Merger of print and online without a cohesive plan. Does anyone on either platform, who doesn't have a private parking space, think merging was a good idea?
5. Young'uns and elders not respecting or learning from each other.
6. Managers who manage by the book in lieu of natural leadership abilities and integrity.
7. Contrived "events" like silly awards and phony department-sponsored bonding experiences. These should not be considered morale-boosting substitutes for respect, engaging work and fair treatment.
8. Blatant favoritisms and double standards that lead to vastly different workloads, pressures and declining morale. Joe Blow is in the gym for 2 hours and came in late again, while Mary is eating dinner at her desk and will be staying late for the third day in a row. But Joe is popular, smiles nicely and looks stylish. He may even get comp time for some of his workouts because he helped the boss rack his leaves. Meanwhile, Mary has quietly begun sending her resume out.
9. Redundancies. Why do three different copy editors need to read the same cutline or five different 1A editors tinker with a sub-head from about noon to midnight?
10. Lack of accountability. For instance, shouldn't someone know how to perform simple tasks directly related to their jobs after having been here 5 or 25 years?
Hey 10:26, you make an excellent point. In baseball, in any sport, at any corporation and in any political office, when the organization is tanking, you fire or vote out the ones in charge. Gannett's kiss-ass board of directors fails to understand that. Throughout this company are the dregs of executives and managers who were unfit to work at world-class news organizations. I'm broad-brushing here, but I've never seen or heard of so many inept and brown-nosing leaders as I've seen in my seven years at a GCI paper. Not that you don't find those types at any other company in and out of the news biz, but Gannett seems to attract and promote managers who are willing to dedicate their lives to being order-taking corporate automatons. Where are the principled leaders who are quitting rather than carrying out Gannett's suicidal marching orders? Where are the Jay Harrises of Gannett, the John Carrolls, the Jeffrey Johnsons, the Dean Baquets, the James O'Sheas, the Ann Marie Lipinskis who told their corporate paymasters to hire someone else to do their newsroom genocide work? Apparently they don't exist. Apparently they all agree that Gannett is on the right track exiting the news industry in favor of giving blow-job tips on MomsLikeMe and taking the ill-fated path of trying to become a player in the social networking realm.
ReplyDeleteA brief look at recent GCI purchases:
ReplyDeleteMogulus - Good technology but in the wrong hands. Many technical problems. So far only used for boring meetings and low quality amature video of high school football games.
Metromix - More cleavage please
Ripple6 - Spend an enormous amount of money on an in-house purchase. Ripple down effect, more layoffs after this round.
Four new job postings popped up so far today for Gannett's publishing division. Twelve yesterday.
ReplyDeleteAmen to 10:05!! I've been saying this for the last couple of years. Why isn't there more focus on this issue, which easily is the biggest of the big in terms of challenges our industry must face?
ReplyDeleteSome advise for USAT/Gannett Corp...
ReplyDelete- Close the damn gym
- Sell the prime land the softball and volleyball fields are on
- Get rid of anyone who doesn't know how to use a printer and fails to grasp the concept of e-mail
- Send anyone packing who doesn't know the basics about libel and journalistic ethics
- Fire people who abuse sick time
- Stop hiring people just because they have a Hispanic-sounding last name
- For the love of God, please get rid of the Hainers
- Hold newsroom staff meetings that don't bury the lede in the last five minutes of the session
- Cease from all activities that are trying to dismantle a national newspaper that still makes money and holds its own circulation-wise
- Close the hostile mini-cafe, or whatever the heck it is called and keep the main cafeteria open for the people who work the crappiest of shifts. They deserve to eat.
- Tighten up the online operation that still tends to operate like they are doing their own thing circa 1999
- Let people do what they were hired to do and tend to do best instead of trying to convert everyone into something they aren't
- Shut the lights and turn off the TVs at night when everyone is gone
- Level the playing field so that all voices are heard, not just the popular, ass-kissing ones...and don't penalize those who are courageous enough to speak honestly and from the heart
- Stop grossly overstaffing in some places and understaffing in others
- Pay more attention to IT so they can better serve everyone
- Pay more attention to singles and doubles-hitters than those who hit home runs but also strike out three times every nine innings
- Keeping with the sports analogies, give more love to the hard-working offense line and lay the law down with the flashy running back who refuses to practice
- Bring back and reward old school values like showing up to work on time, meeting deadlines and pitching in wherever and whenever needed
- Value speed and accuracy regardless of whether it's in print or online
- Clean up the ridiculous, over-the-top reader responses to online content
- Protect the integrity of the brand by not getting too gimmicky online
- Get rid of the friggin' popcorn
- Stop mandating that the security guards must wave to every employee as they come and go
- Forbid anyone from watching/listening to TV or music at their work station without headphones
- Reduce the number of meetings by 75 percent
- Never, ever make USAT U's mandatory again
- Hire smart people with good work ethics and pay them a wage that is proportionate to the ridiculous cost of living in this area
- Simplify the annual review process
- Pay people for what they are worth, not just on how long they've been with the company
- Change the time-off policy by creating one pool of days off without regard to whether it's sick days or vacation days (too many people abuse sick time while others rarely take a sick day)
- No more bonuses, period
- Discourage cliques
- Teach people to be more self-sufficient rather than creating new jobs to prop up those people
- Fix schedules to match the workflow of the day/night, and get away from everyone working the same basic shift
- Reduce the amount of rework
- Treasure people's areas of expertise
- Curtail 90-minute lunches
- Don't force friendships, but do promote mutual respect
You know, 12:16, for somebody who seems to have some idea of how things work around here, you really undermine yourself by mentioning a softball field that was sold years ago and now has a big building on top of it.
ReplyDeleteThe lists are done at corporate. From what I have seen it looks as though CP Cherry Hill will lose around 30 people from the newsroom, about 20 more or so from production and some from advertising. Jackson is also going to see similar layoffs. I am not sure about the rest but will keep everyone informed as I snoop further.
ReplyDelete12:16, AMEN. If there was ever a post corporate should read, it's this one. It has merit for every Gannett property, not just USAT.
ReplyDeleteThese three especially should be taken note of:
- Bring back and reward old school values like showing up to work on time, meeting deadlines and pitching in wherever and whenever needed
- Value speed and accuracy regardless of whether it's in print or online
- Hire smart people with good work ethics and pay them a wage that is proportionate to the ridiculous cost of living in this area
USAT: Close the cafes. It's a three block walk to Tyson's Galleria, and there's tons of fast food on Rte. 7.
ReplyDeleteNo children in the newsroom.
ReplyDelete12:37, you have got to be kidding. It is not a three-block walk to Tysons Galleria. It's at least an eight-block walk through an area that is not designed for pedestrian traffic. And Route 7 at noon is one big rush hour/traffic lockdown. It's hard enough to get in and out of this office with traffic congestion as it is. That's just a beyond-dumb suggestion.
ReplyDelete12:54 How about packing a lunch? Many of us have to do it with our piss poor salaries.
ReplyDeleteOr if you have cash to eat out, don't place deliver lunch? Even in my suck-y economy mid-western city we have lunch delivery.
Jim, why did u take down the kiwi video?
ReplyDeleteIt is three blocks. Count them as you walk by. You are not crossing Chain Bridge Road to get to the other shopping center, so there is no reason you can't walk in the street. Trust me, the only traffic issues you face on that walk is from outraged laid off USAT employees. If you don't like Rte. 7, just go the Galleria. I've never seen a shopping center as empty as that one is, even at Christmas time. Legal Sea Food, the Italian place and the Ritz Carlton have good cheap eats, and it is far better than the horrible cafes at the Crystal Palace.
ReplyDeleteI've worked in Gannett marketing for years at the local newspapers. I remember when we used to look forward to the market studies because the numbers were always great. Now when we get the scarborough studies we have to spend days trying to figure out how to spin the readership decline and lower the number of repondents we're willing to use (went from 50 now down to 25).
ReplyDeleteA smart advertiser would ask for a trend report on readership, but most don't - for now.
On the 30th anniversary of the Jonestown massacre, I’d like to remind all employees to please drink the Kool-Aid.
ReplyDeleteSincerely Craig Dubow.
@12:29 -- who are you and why should we believe you?
ReplyDeleteIn a forum where perhaps some bright thinkers could be discussing innovative ideas to save a sputtering business, we've started arguing about traffic flow around McLean, Virginia.
ReplyDeleteExcellent. You know, if they made Leesburg Pike one way, it'd probably be easier to cross! That way you could all go to the Olive Garden!
I had lunch downstairs today, and it was not good. I think that the deteriorating choices and quality in the cafeteria are a clear sign that management is trying to undermine our morale, physical stamina, and even our belief in God! Unhappy workers unite! Or whatever the mantra is supposed to be.
ReplyDeleteI think that tomorrow I will bring a peanut butter sandwich. And maybe an apple. Maybe even go wild with a Lean Cuisine!
I'm employee, hear me roar! And I owe it all to Gannett Blog. Huzzah!
12:16pm: BRAVO, BRAVO!!!
ReplyDeleteGCI corporate management is letting a great number of the good people go, while some deadbeats hang on.
We've got people at GCI corporate making their own hours (late arrival/early departure); taking unlimited, sky's the limit sick/maternity/disability/bereavement, and vacation days off; taking 2 hour lunches; bringing in their kids and grandkids to babysit for whole/half days; watching tv in conference rooms; spending more time at the gym; doing NYT crossword puzzles; etc. Those are the ones who need to go, and if they're reading this now, they know exactly who they are because we know they're abusing and taking advantage of their time.
The loyal, honest people who've put in their years of time are the ones getting screwed.
Wow. The venom is coming out now. Get out of Gannett people. There are so many better companies out there! I left 5 years ago when I had the G tattoo on my forehead and a good career ahead of me. It was a scary thing at the time for me. Now the choice would be easy. Get out on your own terms. No one would blame you at this point.
ReplyDeleteHowever, be prepared for the job world inside the media industry to not want you or accept you - particularly if you are a manager. Gannett has an awful reputation at this point and the stain will be on you too.
1:34 I am just suggesting USAT could save some layoffs by closing the subsidized cafes and let people use the local restaurants. There are plenty of choices. Perhaps not a deep thought, but as practical as the others, I think.
ReplyDelete1:24 PM...our marketing department is in the same boat. Terrible readership figures. I just wonder how long before GCI wakes up and realizes that most of the marketing can be done regionally like finance is doing. That's the reason I'm looking right now. I figure online and marketing are heading the way of finance and the call center. It's just a matter of when.
ReplyDeleteObviously the first poster on this thread is a corporate flunkie. How else could he/she demonstrate such a gross lack of understanding about what the real troops of Gannett -- those out here in the field running the newspapers and trying to do real journalism -- really do. It wouldn't be the first time corporate demonstrated its all-encompassing ignorance about just what it is newspapers do. People are mad because they're getting laid off!!!! What do you expect them to say -- "I love Gannett?" These are not trivial matters.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of lunch, get rid of the lunches being served free every day to top brass and executive assistants in the Crystal Palace. You can walk downstairs and buy your own lunch. You make the salaries to afford it - and don't say you don't have the time.
ReplyDeleteAs a non-Crystal Palace employee, I'm noticed the mention of popcorn in numerous comments. Is this an inside joke?
ReplyDeleteIf you close the cafeteria, what about the single parents who bring their kids to work for the subsidized meals?
ReplyDelete1:28 thanks for the chuckle :)
ReplyDelete1:53: No joke. That's why the fire department stops by the Crystal Palace for burning micros every so often.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the softball field is still there. That new building is in the next lot over.
ReplyDeleteIt may be the case that the deal to buy the softball field fell through. But whatever, it is still there.
I also believe that those who complain the most are not courageous truth-tellers, but instead are, um, complainers. There is a lot wrong with Gannett. But how far you have to walk for food? Kids in the newsroom? EVERY boss is no good? Etc.?
Chronic whining 101.
1:47 is on point. Gannett has an awful reputation and will stain your resume. If a job opening is between you and a person that never worked for Gannett you are screwed.
ReplyDelete@1:53 p.m.
ReplyDeleteRE: Popcorn
There is a popcorn machine that is occasionally wheeled out -- because in the Emerald City, NOTHING can boost spirits like a tiny bag of greasy popcorn!
On that thought ... you know, the news of layoffs would probably go over much better if the masses were fed sheet cake EVERY DAY for a week or so leading up to the announcement.
1:22 p.m.: I posted the Kiwi video for the benefit of late-night readers, which is why it's now down.
ReplyDeleteBut you can still watch that animated short in the "favorites" section of my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/gannettblog
- Let people do what they were hired to do and tend to do best instead of trying to convert everyone into something they aren't
ReplyDeleteIt was this, I believe, that led to the demise of my career. The further away from my writing strengths that my editors pushed and prodded me, the less successful I became. And it seemed as if my goals and assignments would change just about the time I mastered a new beat or assignment. In the end, I was a peg that didn't fit any of the remaining holes in the information center.
@1:31 - - Unfortunately I cannot tell you who I am, but I can assure you that my information is 100% accurate. If you don't believe me that's fine. Just wait until the first week in December. I was just trying to give everyone a heads up since these layoffs are a lot larger than anyone was ever told about. Good Luck. Be Safe. God Bless. I will try to find out more. Just consider me a friend.
ReplyDeleteCafeteria? Well la-ti-frickin-da.
ReplyDeleteWe just got jacked another nickel for Doritos in the vending machine. I've got a case of Diet Coke under my desk and I rummage through the ad reps desks after they leave at five and swipe all their food.
People are getting desperate, a lot more faces gathering around the Information Center huddle hoping to get noticed and saved. I would rather stand on the unemployment line then stand around the IC huddle.
ReplyDelete3:32 PM or anyone else...any news on the Wisconsin group?
ReplyDelete3:41
ReplyDeleteI know you are a liar cause the ad reps don't keep food in their desks---they can go thru a drive thru anytime they want. :)
9:54PM
ReplyDeleteUsually, comments such as yours don't deserve a reply; but I hope that Jim will allow me to express msyelf openly and without reservation.
You are about the cruelest bastard I have ever read on this blog. I cannot imagine what kind of job you hold that makes you this much of a rodent. Gannett people are suffering and being treated like utter garbage by scumbags like you.
When most of us chose a career in journalism we did so with the plan to become a positive voice in our communities, earning a fair wage for an honest day's work. Being treated with some degree of respect was a resonable expectation. No one, I am sure, expected to be at the point of begging for humane treatment. We had some mistaken notion that our efforts would be met with professional treatment and some ability to have pride in the collective effort to provide information to our communities. WE HAD SIGNED ON WITH GANNETT AND SAW THAT WE WERE PART OF A FMILY DRIVEN BY A COMMON GOAL/DREAM.
What has happened to us is the result of corporate greed, a breakdown in the concept of work ethics and the quick realization that the Gannett "family" has made us unwanted orphans.
Being told one month in advance that there is a major job cut on the way is the cruelest tactic I have even witnessed from Corporate. Initial maneuvers such as making this kind of an announcement on a Thursday and saying that the ax would fall on Tuesday simply didn't create enough anxiety and fear. No one has committed suicide (helping to get the budget down) so the monthly slow death approach was put in place.
9:54 PM has to be a sadist who sits by and enjoys watching his fellow employees suffer day by day. I cannot imagine a more despicable excuse for a human being still haunting our hallways.
In our present day economy it is a sure bet that "what goes around comes around" and 9:54PM will get his/her just reward. It's very disappointing rhat he/she did not give us a name or location. There just might be incorrect speculation as to this vomitous person's identity! It would be astoundingly inappropriate to blame one individual when the sentiment of 9:54PM is so singularly EVIL.
Sleep well tonight, you pitiful excuse for a human being!
4:19 p.m.: Wow, over dramatize much? It's a job, not a person. We all love our jobs, but EVIL? Nah, just probably bitter.
ReplyDeleteWhile I thought 9:54 p.m. was an idiot, I hardly had the reaction you did.
If you don't like what Gannett is doing, leave. It's that simple. You are either going to get laid off, or end up staying and wondering if you are going to get laid off in 2009.
Otherwise, don't worry about it, do your work, I would say at this point NO ONE should be doing the company any favors.
I know before I left, I claimed every single hour of overtime, even if it meant getting a lecture.
Anyway, take it easy, there are jerks out there, but I would hardly call 9:54 evil.
What percentage of GNS in McLean was cut, or how many are still there?
ReplyDeleteAnd how safe is USA Weekend - is there any talk of Parade taking them over?
Until the pay curve is flattened, I don't see any exit for this country's death spiral.
ReplyDeleteBy that, I mean that the difference between the top and bottom rungs of every company's pay scale need to come much closer together. For example, CD makes more in a day than many of the Gannett employees make in a year. That's wrong, any way you look at it. It is especially despicable when the company has lost 90% of it's market capitalization. I believe it's become a blame game: "Well, XYZ Company pays their CEO $5M, so I should get that too."
Hundreds of other examples like this exist in the business world. Enron, Lehman, Home Depot, even McClatchy, whose stock has gone from over $70/share to under $2/share in less than 3 years. Yet their board gives their CEO a vote of CONfidence?
I think you could have paid a monkey in bananas, and their stock wouldn't have lost 95% of its value.
Donna Shalala, are you listening?
Has anyone heard about the call centers? Classified and Employment? Are they consolidating this too, with papers partnering up?
ReplyDeleteWOW. A cafeteria? What's that. Do you put quarters into it?
ReplyDelete5:05 PM
ReplyDeleteHow true.
$7,78 a share. That seems to say it all. The firing (oops......layoffs) should start at the top, not the bottom.
ReplyDeleteJust wondering if there are any MOJOs being layed off. Also wondering where are they these days?
ReplyDeleteCheck out the new posting for administrative assistant to VP of circulation in Indy. Looking at all the responsibilities makes me wonder just what the VP is supposed to be doing.
ReplyDelete5:45 PM
ReplyDeleteNow THAT'S funny. :)
That's $7.78 a share, and the recession has only begun. Econommists meeting at a recent session of the American Enterprise Institute sketched out a recession that will last well into 2010, meaning for Gannett even more contractions of revenue, more cost-cutting, and more layoffs. In the middle of this, for Dubow to buy Ripple6 (at a price that has not been disclosed) is criminal. Tracing the Internet activities of Moms who discuss BJs online is not journalism, and really not the way to raise new revenues. Someone recently berated commenters on this blog for being too critical of innovative ideas. If that is innovation at GCI, we are out of business before this is all over.
ReplyDeletesome circ people in wilmington have been told they may be laid off in Q1 09.
ReplyDeleteThe softball field etc. was sold for $90mm or so, according to an old 10k. The new owners are having trouble attracting financing to build. Looks like someone made a good deal.
ReplyDeleteThe softball field is indeed sold.
ReplyDeleteJim
ReplyDeleteCan you start another thread for folks who have left -especially those who were laid off or bought out - to share advice to the rest of us, on how to act that day, how to deal with former coworkers, how to get out of bed the next morning and soldier on, whether they filed for unemployment or chose to freelance/do whatever they could find before landing a new job, what fields they have entered or are exploring, any advice at all from the spiritual/psychological to the extraordinarily practical and everything in between. Thanks.
3:32 Thanks for the warning. What about the art dept?
ReplyDelete