Saturday, December 13, 2008

Saturday | Dec. 13 | Got news, or a question?

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47 comments:

  1. Hello! How can I provide you with excellent customer service today?

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  2. Make people and advertisers love the newspaper again! Motown setting a bad precedent. So, if I am in Detroit, a major American city, in a few weeks. I wont be able to get home delivery of a newspaper? That laid of cartoonist in Iowa should draw a cartoon of the titanic going down but the ship is made of a folded up FEEP paper.

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  3. Jim, has gannett ever replied to your requests for information?

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  4. Gannett is cutting off its nose despite its silly looking face

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  5. Here's another approach on the Moms site. Our site manager steals provocative posts from other Moms sites and places them on our local site. If this manager sees that a post on the Pittsburgh area Moms site is getting a lot of traffic and response, the manager reposts it on our local site. Most moms in our area have no idea that they are talking to somebody halfway across the country and this has led to some confusion. This is all unethical and misleading, but nobody is taking action to halt it because our posts have increased occasionally - but not always - because of this practice.

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  6. Gannett has, indeed, responded to my requests for information. But those occasions are rare.

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  7. Jim,
    Someone mentioned this before, but I thought I would add more color. Regarding the Detroit changes, Craig Moon and Dave Hunke hired IDEO to come up with this innovation solution. IDEO is the same consulting firm that comes up with chair designs, mouse pads, calculators, etc.

    Then Craig Dubow appointed Michael Maness as Moons lap dog to work with IDEO and Freep.

    Michael Maness then outsourced his part of this work to Laura Ramos (who is Maness's lap dog).

    Ramos,btw, who has never read a newspaper, was dictating what the outcome was going to be. Everyone in Detroit was disgusted by her immature behavior in the end.

    Apparently Moon and Hunke spent a ton of money with consultants who do not even read or write for newspapers telling them to abandon printing for several days a week and force people to go online to read the rest.

    I can tell you that all of us in Detroit is still wondering why!

    Is this to save some money? Is this the new newspaper model? Is the rest of comunity publishing going to do this?

    Has Gannett given up!

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  8. In these hard times...layoffs every 3-6 months, ever dropping sales, lower ads, you'd think newspapers would be doing everything they could to get out a great looking product early enough to reach people in a timely manner. I'm almost convinced that ain't so. Take our paper in particular. The press, almost never comes up on time, then has to stop anywhere from 1-4,5,6, or more times a run. Then insertion can't put through a full zone much less a full run without stopping every 10-20 bundles, 2-4 on Sunday. And circulation wonders where all the sales are going to...a good many more than from "current attrition". Maybe some of the good pressmen and people who know how to set up and run an inserter, and care to do it right, would offer their services to Brevard's paper. Goodness knows they need the help.

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  9. This is an outrage. Imagine, using information from one Moms site to another. That's terrible. It would be as if newspapers used content from outside their areas to draw readers.

    What's that....oh, they do? Someone reads something juicy from Chicago and actually uses that story, or a re-write, in Denver.

    Well, that probably only happens once in a while. Except on every radio station I know the "news" is a rewrite from that day's paper.

    Opps.

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  10. It looks like were not going to get our APP sweat shirts for the holiday's, But someone got a new refrigerator to store there wine in....

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  11. We need a place to discuss what's really going on with the Moms sites, Jim.

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  12. Jim, someone should gather the top execs salary for the top media companies to see the comparisons. If you compare Gatehouse execs salaries to Gannetts you would be very surprised.

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  13. Word is that the online editor was laid off in Salisbury, Md. Reporters and photographers are now being asked to post directly to the Web, with no intermediary. Talk about a formula for disaster.

    And yet the paper continues to feature a local food columnist, who is the public information officer for the county school system.

    Oh, yeah... she also happens to be married to the managing editor. No conflict there, right? Nope, nothing to see, move on.

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  14. Jim,

    It looks like your fund raising for the Gannett Blog is not producing the desired results that you had hoped for. Are you going to shut it down in January. I don't know how you can afford to administer this blog each day.

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  15. 6:53 AM and 1:54 AM
    It looks to me from studying what's on the Ripple 6 site that that may be whole idea of the moms sites. I could be wrong.

    Do the moms know this is research? If so, what are they telling you?

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  16. I hate my life. Everyone else is responsible for my problems. Think I'll try to make everyone else miserable too and grind some axes. This looks like a good place to do that.

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  17. 10:01 and 10:19, thanks for the push! I'm going to cut a check for $25 to Jim right now.
    Thanks for all your hard work on this site, Jim! It is appreciated.

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  18. Community Outreach and Event Coordinator? Why would a company that supposedly reports the news want to hire contracted help for a job like that when it's laying off sales and newspeople?

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  19. Service is the exact topic to raise Jim.
    People who want to start getting the paper can't get it. People who love their paper have talk to robots about stops and service issues. Home delivery departments are ghost towns. What do we expect? We'd all love to believe the shape of the newsroom determines our fate, but customer service and credibility on service are the most pressing issues our company faces.

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  20. Sadly the Gannett evaluation system has no component that takes an objective look at the product (paper-TV-web) from the user or consumer prospective.

    I cannot believe that the people in Farmington, Novi, or Ann Arbor want to do without a paper.

    Why can't Gannett find a system that can deliver the high quality editorial content to the user?

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  21. Except on every radio station I know the "news" is a rewrite from that day's paper.

    Yes, and you think that's lame, right? I know that when I hear my local news radio station pluck a newspaper story, pull a key paragraph and slightly reword it for the air, I think, "I've read that already! Sheesh, can't they do their own reporting?"

    It's the same with all of this repurposed Gannett content. It's insulting to readers, particularly if they're getting more than one Gannett publication.

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  22. In Springfield, Friday was the last day for the 3 newsroom folks who took voluntary layoffs. Those 3 combined for 60+ years of service at the News-Leader, but not a single public thank you was said to them.

    I'm told they simply cleared out their stuff and left on Friday. It saddens me that these three pillars of the newsroom -- all wonderful workers with tremendous skills who always gave the company their everything --- were let walk away without some type of thanks.

    I left there a year ago for a new career and now I'm out of state, but they were my friends and mentors. So to JD, RP and JP -- I say thanks for all you taught me.

    Did any other long-time staffers that took voluntary layoffs get this same treatment at other sites?

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  23. Come on JS, I mean 6:06, give it up. Everyone knows it is you. We get it you and Mikey are no longer friends. Move on already. Get a life. You've crossed over to boring!

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  24. You know, 95% of the time, this blog bugs the living shit out of me. People whining about hours being too long, about hating the company and their jobs, or even how this for-profit corporation, which has never been known for anything but pursuit of larger margins, is suddenly unconcerned with the quality of its journalism.

    Give me a break. If you don't like your job, your coworkers or your company, get the hell out. No one's chaining you to your desk. And, to the asshats who've leaked the Detroit plans, thanks a whole fucking lot. You people wonder why management doesn't share as much info as you want? There's your answer.

    All that said... I just donated $5 to Jim. The posts about abuse of Foundation funds, and ridiculous executive compensation in the absence of any perceivable leadership or strategic plan, are just spot-on. They don't seek to destroy the company, but rather shine the light on people and practices that are fostering the destruction.

    That is good journalism, and it's worth paying for.

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  25. You gotta love the New Jersey group. C-N front page today has a story about a major storm and flooding.

    There's a redundancy in the lede ...

    Heavy rains this week in Somerset County dumped about three inches of rain ...

    a continuity goof ...

    Hillsborough, Millstone and Montgomery also had numerous road closures throughout yesterday.

    As a result, Mayor Carey Pilato urged residents not to park their vehicles on streets.

    a county name misspelled ...

    Rain also struck hard elsewhere in New Jersey, including northern Burling, Camden and Gloucester counties in south Jersey. ("Burling" is actually Burlington County)

    and two place names misspelled in graphics ...

    French Town (actually Frenchtown, a borough in Hunterdon County)

    Black Wells Mills (actually Blackwells Mills, a causeway that floods easily)

    When the public gets smart and stops taking the C-N, I guarantee it will do like the Freep and cut back its print schedule.

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  26. I am absolutely stunned by the amount of information on GCI I get off this blog. I feel there are activities of this company that I would never know about, were it not for Jim's efforts. Yes, 11:15 there is a lot of garbage to wade through, but buried in that heap are real nuggets. When that Detroit plan was first unveiled, it was ridiculed in my office as outrageous hype and ridiculous. We should know better in this business not to automatically discount a story.

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  27. REGARD DETROIT SITUATION:

    Home Delivery Here.....

    Unfortunately this action will intensify the self-reinforcing feedback loop of: Lower Circulation >>> to Lower Carrier Compensation >>> to Decline in the Number of Carriers Willing to Deliver >>> to Poorer Reader Service >>> to More Cancelled Subscriptions >>> to reduced Circulation & Ad Revenue >>> to Lower Pofits >>> to MORE LAY-OFFS >>> BACK TO LOWER CIRCULATION .....and the ceycle continues.

    The "Real" Papers will Die faster than any ONLINE VENTURE will be able to pick up the slack.

    GANNETT LONG TERM STOCK VALUE >>> (to quote Dean Wermer from "Animal House," "ZERO...POINT...ZERO."

    This crushing economy is not Management's fault, but over the years they could have taken organization strengthening actions and instituted better feedback (and thus morale & cohesiveness building) systems to help GANNETT survive bad times. It's really very Sad to watch the company (through the eyes of those who really built & mantained it) die.

    Good Luck Everyone

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  28. Gannettsters: How many husband-wife employees were kept on during last two layoffs? Were there token layoffs of a wife or husband to blur this nepotism?

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  29. This just in: A good source says the announcement of the changes in Detroit will be made at 11 a.m. Tuesday via e-mail. Staffers have been told to have their e-mail accounts open no later than 10:55 a.m.

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  30. Yes, many (if not all) Gannett sites pay people to "seed" the Moms sites. Why? because no one would use these useless forums otherwise!

    Yes, these paid users grab ideas from the most popular topics on other sites and repost them to theirs. Why? Because despite the shell game, the real women on these sites have real lives to attend to - they ARE moms, after all - and don't want to waste what little free time they have chatting it up on these stupid Moms sites talking about all the asinine crap they're prompted to respond to.

    Gannett is taking a shotgun approach in every facet of their operations right now because the best they can hope for is that SOMETHING might hit.

    There is no leadership. There is no vision. What we're watching are the mad thrashings of a person drowning before they slip below the surface for the final time.

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  31. "...the announcement of the changes in Detroit will be made at 11 a.m. Tuesday via e-mail. Staffers have been told to have their e-mail accounts open no later than 10:55 a.m."

    I'm sorry, but seriously? Who the heck doesn't keep their email open all day long? It's not like you are holding a modem line open.

    My guess is that the note to everyone to have their email running was printed out on a mimeograph machine and sent through vacuum tubes all over the building?

    Cripes, join the 90s, Detroit.

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  32. 1:13pm

    In NJ, a very nice couple. The wife is a manager at the CN and her husband is a pressman at the Freehold plant, formerly employed at CN as well. Both are Gannett properties. He originally lost his job at the CN when they shut the presses down, but was a "shoe-in" when they opened up 2 other positions at the other location. Both are in their 50's with no dependents.

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  33. Actually, the moms on those sites are nutcases. They create nutcase mom blogs.

    Worst idea ever.

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  34. A thought to keep you awake at night? With newspaper going digital the question is> "IS A NEWSPAPER,A NEWSPAPER WITHOUT USING PAPER?

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  35. Regarding Springfield's treatment of those leaving Friday. Is anyone surprised?

    Wyatt, the EE, has no emotional or professional connection to those in the newsroom. His loyalties lie with the publisher and the company, not with those who put in the hours and sweat to keep him from looking like an idiot everyday.

    He is just an overseer who wouldn't get hired as a copy boy at a real newspaper. He hides inside Gannett knowing that no one else would take him.

    Everything he touches turns brown.

    He and the publisher have turned the newsroom into a death camp where those with the talent are used and abused. Those he doesn't like are railroaded out with false claims at evaluation time. He forces his managers to trump up claims against those he doesn't like. He alienates people with his "I know everything" attitude when he could tell what is news if it bit him on his ever-expanding ass.

    I know all those people who left Friday. I was proud to work with them. For Wyatt and the managers of that newspaper to say nothing is beyond words and tells you how management there cares so little for what those people did to make the paper what it was.

    Unfortunately, Wyatt and Bookstaver undid everything those people worked for so maybe it was best Wyatt and Bookstaver kept their lying mouths shut.

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  36. I met my wife on the job, and every girlfriend I've had since we've been married has also worked here. :)

    Not every husband-wife team has jobs that are nepotism-based. If your spouse can bring real skills to the table, why not give them a job?

    Though it's rather touchy - I've seen way too many EE's and AD's with wives who thought they were great writers or marketing geniuses - and who's going to tell them no?

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  37. Let's see ... people in Detroit are still giving us money for their daily newspaper?

    What can we do to train them to quit wanting and needing it?

    Brilliant.

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  38. Nobody noticed when Bookstaver left Appleton. It kind of freaked us out when Leifeld actually came out of her office and talked to people.

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  39. Re papers employing husbands and wives:

    This is nepotism? I fail to see how. There are a lot of us who meet our spouses at work. I certainly did. I had been at the paper for 10 years. What were they supposed to do, fire me for marrying a co-worker?

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  40. Anon 6:06am - since you're so good at calling people out by name, how about signing your name to your comments. I bet you would not talk about lapdogs to Moon, Dubow, or Hunke in person. Would you? Nor would you say what you've said about Michael or Laura to their face. They are no one's lapdog. It's obvious you were firmly sitting on one when you wrote this post. What do you know about what the consultants from IDEO read or what Michael or Laura reads? Just an FYI - IDEO does a lot more than design calculators - perhaps you should do some research here: http://www.ideo.com/work. Our company hired IDEO to help people like you get a clue about how innovation really works and perhaps come up with ways to help some old innophobes like you keep some of your jobs.

    It's about time our company hired people outside our company to offer real insight about consumer's information/media use behavior and present fresh and new ideas about how we can develop products and services that will actually solve problems for these consumers. No IDEO consultant needs to have read a newspaper or write a word in one to help our company find more and better ways to solve our consumer's problems. It's obvious that some (not all) of the people writing for Gannett newspapers (like you, I presume) do not have the intelligence, business sense, or creativity to come up with anything new or game-changing. You'd rather sit around and write 100 column inch stories forever and post the same crap online.

    You should know by now that Gannett needs to change - period. I think it's a very gutsy move on Hunke's part to push this idea forward. The business has changed and we're still playing catch up.

    Here's some advice for you - that is - if you are an employee of the Free Press or News. If you do not like what's happening there...If you feel overwhelmed with all of the Innovation going around and all of the new ideas invading your space, find something else to do. It's simple. Leave. Gannett does not want or need you. The easiest and best thing you can do for everyone else at the Gannett company is leave and take your negative energy with you.

    There are a lot of people who working hard on many projects to help move this company forward. To see people anonymously call-out people (who they do not even know) on this blog with negative untrue information sickens me. The only reason I read this blog is to make sure we put these people in check because it's people like you who are ruining the progress of our company.

    So, how about getting back on your lapdog and let this post sink in for a while...

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  41. Anon 6:06am - since you're so good at calling people out by name, how about signing your name to your comments. I bet you would not talk about lapdogs to Moon, Dubow, or Hunke in person. Would you? Nor would you say what you've said about Michael or Laura to their face. They are no one's lapdog. It's obvious you were firmly sitting on one when you wrote this post. What do you know about what the consultants from IDEO read or what Michael or Laura reads? Just an FYI - IDEO does a lot more than design calculators - perhaps you should do some research here: http://www.ideo.com/work. Our company hired IDEO to help people like you get a clue about how innovation really works and perhaps come up with ways to help some old innophobes like you keep some of your jobs.

    It's about time our company hired people outside our company to offer real insight about consumer's information/media use behavior and present fresh and new ideas about how we can develop products and services that will actually solve problems for these consumers. No IDEO consultant needs to have read a newspaper or write a word in one to help our company find more and better ways to solve our consumer's problems. It's obvious that some (not all) of the people writing for Gannett newspapers (like you, I presume) do not have the intelligence, business sense, or creativity to come up with anything new or game-changing. You'd rather sit around and write 100 column inch stories forever and post the same crap online.

    You should know by now that Gannett needs to change - period. I think it's a very gutsy move on Hunke's part to push this idea forward. The business has changed and we're still playing catch up.

    Here's some advice for you - that is - if you are an employee of the Free Press or News. If you do not like what's happening there...If you feel overwhelmed with all of the Innovation going around and all of the new ideas invading your space, find something else to do. It's simple. Leave. Gannett does not want or need you. The easiest and best thing you can do for everyone else at the Gannett company is leave and take your negative energy with you.

    There are a lot of people who working hard on many projects to help move this company forward. To see people anonymously call-out people (who they do not even know) on this blog with negative untrue information sickens me. The only reason I read this blog is to make sure we put these people in check because it's people like you who are ruining the progress of our company.

    So, how about getting back on your lapdog and let this post sink in for a while...

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  42. Michigan has some messy complications with its weak economic situation, now compounded by the auto industry woes.

    So the newspapers have several issues to deal with all at once.

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  43. 10:11 and 10:25, aren't you being a bit hypocritical saying that 6:06should not post anonymously when calling someone out but yet you do so when calling them out? Do what you expect others to do!

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  44. I've been out of touch for a few days. Did I miss th eupdate on the Dickey meeting two Wednesdays ago? Was it a reorg or something more ominous?

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  45. I smell the troll...
    Hint - any poster complaining about anonymous posters - old. Ignore it.

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  46. 1:20: I never got any details of that Dickey reorg meeting. I'd still like to see them, though.

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  47. Anyone bother to check Currie's NewsWatch this week celebrating Kate Marymont's career path that led to succeeding him? Reads like the pope nominating someone for sainthood!

    Let's hope this was Phil's last NewsWatch and that Marymont's may actually serve as a useful and truthful medium.

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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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