Saturday, December 06, 2008
Saturday | Dec. 6 | Got news, or a question?
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88 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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Ah, Saturday!
ReplyDeleteDetroit - Today (Friday) we lost 14 DMP employees. Rumors are that the Free Press will be cutting jobs next week.
ReplyDeleteC.P. In Cherry Hill lost some good
ReplyDeletepeople. This week.Don't under stand
how some people that should have went didn't go. Not right ?.
anon 9:35 p.m.: I'm still at the C-P, too. the layoffs had nothing to do with abilities, dedication or the workers' value to readers/advertisers, etc. it was all about business. if you're among those laid off, i hope that's some comfort.
ReplyDeleteWhat's happening at the Gannett TV stations? Any word on how many people took the voluntary severance in Denver, Phoenix, or Sacramento? Will there be layoffs in broadcast too?
ReplyDeleteYeah, BUT, in Cherry Hill the same losers who are incompetent and not productive seem to stay on and on. Prime example of this is in the advertising/classified. There are a couple of administrative types who are so useless they qualify to be government workers. Yet they stay on. There are some "sales" types who are and have been the laughing stock of the place for decades yet they stay. The classified manager is probably the second or third biggest joke in the entire company. A lady who works for him and was there before the former classified manager retired was overlooked and this complete fool got that job. What the hell!!!!!! The publisher is viewed as a fool and blithering idiot because of this and other stuff that goes on here at this paper. Can anyone explain this????
ReplyDeleteHey Jim!
ReplyDeleteYou are doing a profoundly important service for present and former Gannettoids everywhere, keep it up!
I do have some questions...We have all seen great feedback on this blog about how the layoffs are impacting Gannett newsrooms...How are the press shutdowns affecting press workers? Are pressmen getting irreversibly laid off and/or they being transfered/reassigned to new press sites?
Also, how are deadlines affected for papers that now have to share presses with other sites? Are they being pushed up a half-hour more, an hour more? Are stories not going in the paper, but on the Web only because of this?
I ask all these questions because I used to work at a CHNI site where one press printed four small papers nightly on an insanely tight schedule. That could be the immediate future for Gannett papers that share print sites.
If you find out anything...let us all know.
Cheers, Tricia
I was laid off by a prominent GCI paper this week. And once my dealings with the company are over, around the time my severance runs out, I am going to spill the beans on a high-ranking editor, not for revenge, but simply because he should never be allowed to hurt anyone in the way he's hurt me and others ever again. I am not sure in what venue I am going to expose him and his actions, but you can bet it's going to involve more than a comment in this blog and I have plenty of evidence to back me up. If there are other Gannett managers/editors who improperly laid off good journalists this week, I would not be surprised if you see anything from magazine articles to kiss-and-tell books springing up in the next year or two. In some cases, there could be full-fledged investigations and law suits. This particular editor abused the system for too long and it culminated in him releasing me much to the horror of dozens of my respected colleagues. For anyone who knows anything about our newsroom, this decision didn't make sense on any level. Of course, the attorneys or HR people who reviewed the layoffs would have no idea about what his reasons really were. However, that doesn't not excuse them from being negligent.
ReplyDeleteSomeone needs to step forward and expose these types of managers. They do a disservice to the profession, company and ruin people's lives. I am not ranting about the layoffs in general as I understand business realities, but I do suspect some folks are in my position where their dismissal is bordering on criminal. Where a high-ranking editor needed to silence someone for personal reasons.
As for those still working in GCI newsrooms, I urge you to be more keenly aware of what is really going on all around you. Stand up, speak out, report misbehaving managers or relationships that seeming are improper or make no sense. If HR doesn't do anything about it, contact your attorneys. Don't become so scared of losing your jobs that you do nothing to fight back against abuses. Please don't rationalize it just for a paycheck. Managing editors with emotional issues should not be permitted to ruin careers and lives.
The papers need a better social network system than they have now with Pluck, or whatever it is. It should be modeled more like Facebook or MySpace and easier to navigate. The whole site really needs to become more easily navigational, and I sincerely hope they will do something with their server so that it doesn't take SO LONG to load the pages when you click on them.
ReplyDeleteWhat's sad is that you're probably talking about a different boss than I'm thinking of...there are so many toxic executive editors and publishers in the Gannett system, it's as if they breed them.
ReplyDelete10:01 PM: Will there be layoffs in broadcast too?
ReplyDeleteWord is January.
For TV...In Denver, about seven or eight took the early retirement offer. I know of 5 that did not. If it does come down to layoffs, and Gannett wants 10%, we're looking at about a dozen more employees to be let go. The people who took the offer are working until December 31st.
ReplyDeleteTonight was also the last night of broadcasts for KUSA's main anchor Bob Kendrick. His contract wasn't renewed.
10:10 Be careful. These guys destroy careers of anyone who interferes with their management activities. I know of cases of people who have been destroyed for fighting back.
ReplyDeleteThe longer a person in any level of authority is with this company, the more kool aid they drink and the more they are brainwashed.
ReplyDeleteI was a good Gannettoid for the first year, until I was offered the koolaid and I refused to drink. Sorry, been there and done that, and have the Tshirt. Gannett didn't own my soul. I guess they took offence to that. Hence I'm unemployed.
10:10 I once had a manager walk into our area and see a co-worker and I working on a project together and he greeted us with a "What's up f*ggots?!" He later came back and said he shouldn't have approached us like that, but he managed to survive the layoffs.
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the space you are providing for everyone to vent and share their Gannett horror stories.
But....
You could help clarify the number of actual layoffs, voluntary buyouts and elimination of open positions.
Don't you think you are being somewhat misleading by conflating those numbers?
12:04 am: Excellent idea. My data are much less complete, however. In about a week, I should have all the available numbers, and I can go back through and separate layoffs, buyouts, etc.
ReplyDeleteI've been keeping all this stuff in a Google Documents spreadsheet, so it'll be easy to plug in new numbers.
The 2 guys who run the news room in Cherry Hill are a joke.
ReplyDelete11:37: You said, "10:10 Be careful. These guys destroy careers of anyone who interferes with their management activities. I know of cases of people who have been destroyed for fighting back."
ReplyDeleteI think before these last few rounds I would have agreed with you 100%. Meaning, fear of these guys being able to destroy you or your career should be a major consideration. Lord knows I have seen what some of the jerks in charge of some of these Gannett properties can do when power goes to their heads. While you have a strong point to counsel 10:10 to be smart in revealing whatever info he/she has (I do agree with that out of professionalism), I truly think the tables have turned and will continue to turn here. The recent rounds of layoffs have revealed how much Gannett leaders have lost, and are continuing to lose, total control (supreme reign) of the company. I'm not sure they can really destroy anyone anymore. Jim's blog - and the nature of social networking that company leaders so "boldly" think they led us into - has changed everything because of the ability to expose things swept so far under the carpet before. There is no hiding anymore - neither Gannett's real motive behind initiatives, its lack of thoughtful planning or its leaders' bad practices. Even if they think they still have control over their info, that only reveals more how behind the curve they are. Gannett thinks it is ahead in the info and technological game. But, the recent layoffs and the bad management of their execution (bad word, sorry) have only further revealed how out of touch the company and its leaders are with the world we live in. Gannett's leaders can think they are cutting-edge, but the products, web sites and lack of real initiatives with APPEAL to current and future audiences is coming to light. And the unwillingness to acknowledge blogs such as Jim's is going to continue to bite them in the you-know-what. The power of the social networking that they so boldly think they promote is the very thing that Gannett ought to worry about. I think the "market" via social networking will judge who is allowed to destroy whom going forward. Gannett and its leaders severely underestimate what social networking sites have given rise to. And they continue to underestimate their workforce and their place in that world. In other words, I'd worry less for the person who will reveal info about former editors. I'm focusing more concern on a company that is continuing to kill itself through no fault but its own. This company and its leaders have no idea what they are headed into. Well won't this be fun?! Sadly, not.
From what I understood, USA Today was supposed to be eliminating positions, not people.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet on Wednesday, a fine graphics editor got the ax. On Thursday, one of his former co-workers was told she was being moved into his position to replace him. Word is that the managing editor had a long-standing dislike for the guy and he was looking for an excuse to fire him. This same ME bragged to his staff that "Ken has asked me for three names, and I gave him SIX."
If I read the words Cherry Hill in a post again I'm going to scream.
ReplyDeleteOne paper in the Gannett chain and you would think its importance outweighed all the major metros AND USAToday.
What's with you guys? I've read the caustic comments about how all your supervisors are boobs and that everyone who didn't get laid off are jokes. Is this an East Coast culture thing, to be unable to find a single redeeming virtue in your colleagues?
Is this a union mindset?
I mean, there are unlikeable people pulling down positions of authority throughout Gannett, but what's up with Cherry Hill that made CH posters so toxic?
I'm beginning to believe that the organization is less to blame and more that there is a clique of bad-mouthers ... not bad management, bad hires.
I'm weary of the complaints. The universe does not revolve around your workplace, chumps.
On my way out the President and Publisher of our very large region told me that there will be more layoffs in February 2009. He/She said that what everyone did this week will be small in comparison to the next round. This person said that Bob Dickey and his senior advisors were looking at another 5,000 to 6,000 people and this time that number won't include "to be hired" heads.
ReplyDeleteI am glad I am now gone and I do have plenty of stories to tell.
Good luck to my friends. I hope you all enjoy the holidays.
"C.P. In Cherry Hill lost some good
ReplyDeletepeople. This week.Don't under stand
how some people that should have went didn't go. Not right ?."
Was this written by a journalist? "Should have went"??? And this person kept his/her job? Scary stuff.
On a follow-up note, did the manager who offered up prayer during or after the August layoff do it again this time? I've been wondering what happened there. Can anyone update?
ReplyDeleteEveryone who has, is or will work for a Gannett site should read this column at this link:
ReplyDeletehttp://roguecolumnist.typepad.com/rogue_columnist/2008/12/the-chickens-come-home-to-roost-at-gannett.html
From Tim Chavez, www.politicalsalsa.com:
ReplyDeleteThe posts of people who have been laid off across the country have been moving and heartbreaking. Here in Nashville, a single mom with two young children, a copy editor on disability with Lyme Disease and another staffer with acute diabetes were laid off.
I felt some anger over what happened to these good people and 19 others in the newsroom where I used to work until my job was eliminated in Aug. 2007.
But it is important eventually to let go of the anger. It is toxic. I learned that while still fighting leukemia. I don't hate The Tennessean or its management at all. I feel bad for them. They are sowing the seeds of their own destruction.
What management has done will eventually come back to consume its members in even more massive reprecussion that unleashed on so many innocents.
I've written a few posts about the good people let go here and the reason to still hope and heal, even now.
Thanks.
Tim
Hi Jim. You're doing great work. I made a $10 donation!
ReplyDeleteSuggestion: There's thousands of newspaper folk out of work. The publishing industry is on life support. Where are they all going to get jobs?
Maybe you should start a section of the site devoted to starting a non-newspaper career. What jobs are available in healthy industries that use similar skills? People could post their success stories on second careers. This might give some people good ideas and tips.
Just a thought. If this exists already and I haven't seen it, I apologize.
Signed,
Somone who has a much higher paying, lower stress job in their second career
How to survive getting cut in Brevard:
ReplyDeleteHave a special last name.
If I was the one with the special last name, I would leave in shame. Everyone is questioning why good sales reps were let go, and you're still here.
Jim,
ReplyDeletebuyouts were just offered at WUSA-TV in DC....I think the due date to accept is soemtime next week. The same as others 50+ and 15+ service years.
I expect some older, experienced, seasoned reporters will take the money and run, to be replaced by some 20 something with little experience, but willing to be a one man band, AKA "multi media journalist".
Welcome to the newsroom of the future, AKA "The Information Center".
First, I do not work for corporate.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I am not a top manager.
Third, I am disgusted and heartsick over the loss of so many hard-working coworkers both at my paper and others.
Fourth, I will be buried alive by the work left behind, as will most of my surviving coworkers.
BUT... Now that I have time to think this through reasonably and rationally, it is clear that once they decided how many cuts had to come out of each dept. and each paper, they lined up the employees with the same job descriptions and then they laid off the one with less GANNETT seniority. This perhaps is not the case in other parts of the country, but in Jersey it seems to hold true for most of the situations I am aware of UNLESS an entire department was eliminated.
That's why CP lost its ME but HNT/CN lost its EE. The CP EE has more years in Gannett, the HNT/CN ME has more years in Gannett.
It is certainly true in our newsroom. This does not make it right, but I do think this is how it went down.
Sorry to offer anything other than outrage out there - because believe me, no one is more outraged than me this week - but I do believe that's how the decisions were reached.
And now, back to work, the new reality of the endless workweek.
11:37 There is something truly sick about the management, particularly at USAT but at other properties as well. Remember the case of Tom Squitieri, who was caught making a silly damn mistake? What I found incredible was how management paraded him through the newsroom after they fired him. I looked at their faces, rather than at his, and saw they sort of enjoyed this, like it was some sort of hunt and they had caught their fox. It was terribly cruel. BTW, I hold no particular brief for Squitieri, and don't disagree with their decision. By parading him, it was clear management was declaring to everyone that we can destroy you like this, too. So be very, very careful crossing these people. I have come to the conclusion they are sick in the head, and they have both the time and the inclination to destroy you forever in this business.
ReplyDelete8:06 I can understand your sensitivity about Cherry Hill, but I also understand the feelings at that newspaper. I never worked there, but did visit and discovered a feisty paper sitting in the Philadelphia suburbs with the prospect of an incredible future once the Phila. papers collapsed. But these mindless cuts are destroying that future, and are an indication of how clueless these Corporate decision-makers are. Everyone knows the Phila. papers are on their last legs and when that happens, Cherry Hill is positioned to be the major beneficiary. But GCI has now cut it back so much, it won't be able to take advantage of its position. The screams you hear from Cherry Hill are not only those of outrage, but at at the sheer folly of destroying a newspaper that once had potential to coin cash.
ReplyDeleteAt Nashville ... did that idiot Silberman take part in any of the meetings at all? Or was he off with his buddies somewhere?
ReplyDeleteWhat a worthless excuss he is.
And one wonders why the circulation in this market is falling? This newspaper is sooooooooooo out of touch with its readers that it is amazing.
NOTE to Silberman - This is Nashville, in Tennessee .... NOT Detroit or New York.. Learn the difference!
12/05/2008 10:10 PM
ReplyDeleteWrote.And once my dealings with the company are over, around the time my severance runs out, I am going to spill the beans on a high-ranking editor. I urge you to be more keenly aware of what is really going on all around you. Stand up, speak out. Don't become so scared of losing your jobs that you do nothing to fight back against abuses. WHAT !!!!! LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT BEFORE YOU ARE WILLING TO EXPOSE THIS EDITOR YOUR WAITING UNTIL YOUR SEVERANCE RUNS OUT, BUT YOU WANT OTHERS WHO STILL HAVE THEIR JOBS TO STAND UP AND CALL THESE PEOPLE OUT! HAVE YOU? DID YOU? SHUT UP, TAKE YOUR MONEY AND GO AWAY. Nobody cares at this point. Get a job move on with your life. Geeez
10:37 Right? It is so f'ed up! This company is going to hell!
ReplyDeleteResponse to anon 8:06 a.m.
ReplyDeleteCherry Hill and NJ group are no different than any other Gannett site. They are populated by dedicated, hard-working pros.
To understand the hoopla, consider this:
Cherry Hill in particular started getting "bad press" when two venomous, incompetent people were shown the door.
Since then, it seems thay have become super-trolls who delight in stirring the pot. In particular, they attack the EE and the recently departed ME.
And, yes, they have adherents among the few slackers and malcontents that may still hold down jobs at Cherry Hill.
It's not too hard to guess who they are.
Cherry Hill is not the center of the GCI universe, it's a few delusional people who think they are who keep CH in the spotlight.
7:24. I know that graphics editor at USA TODAY. He was well respected, even by people who didn't know him well. His position was vital. And regardless of what personal dislikes the ME had for him, that ME should have put those things aside and made a better decision for USA TODAY. There was no way that graphics editor or his position weren't extremely valuable. The first day he was gone proved what a fiasco this was. A lot of people have lost even more respect for the man who fired him and that entire design department. I can't imagine how he must feel. I stopped by to say goodbye on the day he was fired, and he maintain incredible dignity. Made me wish I knew him better. He worked late and solved many problems for many people throughout the newsroom, often under tight deadlines, and did so with an ever-shrinking staff who I am told he supported to such lengths that it put his job at risk. As I said, I didn't know him well, but somehow his leaving has made me and others feel awful because we know why this longtime menace of an ME did it. I hope he lands on his feet, but I fear for everyone in this very tough economy. I also feel this particular layoff taints the reasons given for these layoffs. In a newsroom of over 400, and a design department of probably well over 50, this layoff was purely an evil act by an ME who has driven out equally fine people over the years. I don't know how this man lives with himself. His sense of reality is so warped that it's scary he's been allowed to be in such a powerful position for so many years. He is truly one of the most despised people at USA TODAY and has damaged his department by acts like this. But my heart really goes out to this fella who was thrown out like the garbage. All I can say is that if you are reading this, take care of yourself. A lot of people are wishing the outcome would have been far different. It was the design ME who should have been booted.
ReplyDeleteHow many media companies are using the current recession to make wholesale but unnecessary cuts? How many are just boosting the bottom line? The general public believes that newspapers have been losing money for years when it fact they were mostly just coming up short of Wall Street expectations.
ReplyDelete10:37 wrote: 10:10 Be careful. These guys destroy careers of anyone who interferes with their management activities. I know of cases of people who have been destroyed for fighting back.
ReplyDeleteIt's the prevalance of bullies and intimidation in Gannett newsrooms that have ruined them. The time is now to fight back. Work to the clock, OR, put in for any OT you work. And keep documentation of any discrimination or illegal work practices you experience or see. Then call them on it. Is working out of fear worse than freedom, and setting a new course for your life? Remember, we're educated professionals and deserve to the treated as such.
The USA Today graphics editor who was tragically let go was Mick Calvacca. The managing editor who let him go was Richard Curtis. Leaving personalities out of this, it was probably one of the most suspect decisions I've seen in all my time at the newspaper. Mick was the only remaining newspaper graphics editor -- a newspaper built partly on its graphics ability. Other managers had left Curtis on their own in the last two years. The move was so shortsighted that it caused more than just a logistical stir on the day after, there were some profound emotions stirring in everyone, even those who may have thought he was a bit gruff at times. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who Mick didn't help out at some point during his career. He wasn't just a visuals person. His background in journalism was broad, so he understood non-visual issues. He struck me as a newspaper man in the best sense, but clearly was technically skilled too. I always felt he was a straight shooter, which is far more than I can say for the man who let him go.
ReplyDeleteThe company and USA Today can't afford to keep losing people like this. I know he worked hard and witnessed it countless nights. He endured a lot of things and just was an honest guy who had a good sense of the difference between right and wrong. He wasn't into playing game, which is probably why Curtis got rid of him.
I hope Jim uses this comment even tough it has names. Jim, take out the names with my permission if you must, but please try to get it onto the blog in some way. I think it's important to note that at least one of the losses of a good man for bad reasons occurred and that a lot of people are very bothered by it. In fact, it needs to be remedied.
I second that, 11:36!!
ReplyDeleteThat fine graphics editor at USAT referred to by 7:24 was not only a good editor, but his job was the last "print" editor's job in that graphics department. How and why he was cut makes no sense except that it had to be a personal thing. We know the head of that department and his ways. But this was beyond what any of us thought he was capable of. I feel for the graphics editor and will never trust a single word ever again from the managing editor who fired him. BTW that m-e has several more of us targeted. He told us so as 7:24 mentioned. I for one am not buying into his folksy hellos and chats anymore. He is not to be trusted and corporate should investigate him and this layoff. The ramifications of the loss of the graphics editor is having an impact in every section. This was not the way these layoffs were suppose to go down! These were suppose to be positions that the paper could absorb losing. This clearly wasn't the case in this situation and someone needs to ask some questions soon.
ReplyDeleteJim, every December the Indianapolis Newspaper Guild Local 34070 sends its duespayers a yearly wrap-up newsletter along with a gift certificate to a local grocery store (it's not much -- $25). Before, during and after the Wednesday layoffs in the Star newsroom, we received a flurry of requests from coworkers through e-mail that they wanted to donate their gift cards to departing coworkers, which is a small act, but a decent gesture. And those e-mails continue to pour in. We also are planning a December get-together in honor of those who exited -- another great suggestion by membership -- and vow to stay connected with the 18 Guild members who were laid off -- with our goal to not simply "mourn" their departure, but to get them hired back. I toast all who have acted selflessly in the past few weeks.
ReplyDelete-- Tom Spalding, business reporter and interim president, Indy News Guild 34070
indynewsguild70@gmail.com
Hey, just a clarification:
ReplyDeleteit's Mark Silverman in Nashville, not Silberman.
I'm sure plenty outside of Nashville know his name and style...
At another paper the most productive salesperson was let go, position elminated. How does a company "elminate" positions that brings in revenue? Because the regional honchos we're afraid of ideas and opinons. Cookie Cutter is the Gannett way. There is no doubt that a portion of what happened this week had nothing to do with business and everything to do with personal revenge. The Kool-Aid was stronger than usual this time. And they are making a new batch for Feb-Apr 09. (not an opinion, straight from a GM's lips)
ReplyDelete11:27 AM wrote:
ReplyDeleteCherry Hill in particular started getting "bad press" when two venomous, incompetent people were shown the door.
No, I'd say the "bad press" started when people started taking craps on the floor ... wow.
"craps on the floor"......you cant be serious.....
ReplyDeleteI dont know about others here but I would love to read those stories if for nothing else than the sheer hilarity.
Any other drive by "crappings" this week in G land?
Most of us let go in Asheville were over 45. Some near retirement who have dedicated their lives to the paper. My co-workers were literally in tears while I was packing my box. My manager approached one of my co-workers, I thought to console her, when actually she was whispering in her ear to ask me questions about a particular task before I left. Unbelievably cold-hearted! I know that my manager was simply cleaning her closet of those that questioned her authority once or twice over the years. She was actually overly happy on Monday and gave me a 2009 calendar book that I use to keep track of my projects...knowing full well that she was letting me go the next morning. I hope she sleeps well. For those left in Ad Services, I'm praying for you and the terrible work enviromnment and horrible managers you have to endure.
ReplyDeleteGod Bless!
i know one thing file your unemployment claim right away don't wait until your severance runs out
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts and prayers are with those effected by the layoffs. I left the industry after only three years with Gannett after I found out layoffs were approaching in August. Took a job in corporate communications and am quite happy with the job and my decision to leave journalism. But I can't help but think about all those people who have given a good chunk of their lives to this business, only to have it snatched away. So my question is for the veteran journalists out there that recently lost their jobs. What Now? I feel fortunate to be able to have left newspapers while I'm still young and able to transfer my skills to something else and learn another skill. But what about those who have given so much to this business and are suddenly left unemployed?
ReplyDelete11:21 AM -- F'ed up is an understandment. It sends a great message to those left who are out day after day generating revenue.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a journalist and I've tried finding the information. Got lost in the legal and corporate wording of the documents I read.
ReplyDeleteSo --
How protected is our pension fund? If we can end up losing it, how?
Thanks in advance.
"Anonymous in New Jersey" sent the following in an e-mail:
ReplyDeleteI guess you could call me one of the lucky ones. I received a buy-out on Tuesday after almost 3 decades of service. I walked out smiling but sad for my friends. Sad for the ones who lost their jobs & even sadder for the ones who stayed. Is this the new American Dream? I feel this company has let go many people who were excellent at their jobs & cared about this company. Do they think they can ever recapture the loyalty of their employees after the awful carnage of this week? I think someone needs to take a good look at the "powers that be" at each newspaper very closely & they'll see the problems start at the top, not at the bottom.
1:34 PM wrote: "I dont know about others here but I would love to read those stories if for nothing else than the sheer hilarity."
ReplyDeleteYou can follow the "Poopergate" scandal by clicking on the "Cherry Hill" tag in the right-hand sidebar of this blog. Scroll down to Feb. and you'll see the whole saga.
Or here's a direct link to the start of the "Poopergate" scandal:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/5w7d7n
10:10...I hear ya on this. At the APP there were a few guys that were very perverted and actually viewed porn on company time. They would discuss female body parts and make comments on certain people. One of them left on his own, another one just got the boot, and the third one is still here. Here's a clue..."git er done". That's what he says out loud and he still has a job. Amazing, huh?! Not to mention he is a lead. Gannett is asking for a lawsuit!
ReplyDeleteI read this story in The New York Times today and think it would be easy to substitute 'Gannett' for G.M.':
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/business/06motors.html?_r=1&8dpc
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/081204/20081204005678.html?.v=2 I wonder what the story behind the story is for this move?
ReplyDelete3:41: We must wonder how clueless corporate oversight was on this latest round of layoffs. Here in Westchester we let go of some real talented and hard working people. My eyes would tear up later in the week thinking about it. But that turned to anger when I saw the lazy full timers that actually work about 3 hours a day. These people have no right still collecting a pay check, the only thing they do well is KISS ASS!
ReplyDeleteFirst, why do journalists post anonymously? What happened to on the record.
ReplyDeleteAs for NABJ's comment about diversity...
All those posters citing anecdotal evidence should take a look at the ASNE's diversity census of American newspapers. A look at the numbers will put to rest any complaints about discrimination against non-minority journalists.
As for NABJ, AAJA, NAHJ, etc. being "special interest groups." If you want to join, sign up and pay the dues. Membership is open to anyone, regardless of racial origin or ethnicity.
Given that NABJ has the largest job fair in the industry, attendance at the next convention might be worth the expense.
Afi Scruggs: The majority of this blog's readers are active employees of Gannett. They would almost certainly be disciplined if they were to sign their real names. That's why most choose to remain anonymous.
ReplyDelete2:42, regardless of how protected your pension is, if you were laid off take your pension and roll into an IRA or other investment, if you leave it with Gannett it will grow to no more than the current value. See a financial professional to get good advice.
ReplyDelete3:41pm
ReplyDeleteI used to work with the one at APP that was let go involuntarily and I'll have you know he not only talked dirty to me and others, he exposed himself to me. That in addition to speaking in a derogatory manner in matters of race and homosexuality. And what's worse is that managers have known about this all along, would speak to him about it, and then it was dropped.
How can you keep a new guy and let
ReplyDeletesome one go with twenty three years?. C.H.
1:39 Asheville
ReplyDeleteI'm with you. I knew once Ad Services was moved that our retail numbers would tank. And tank they did. The Ad Director spent all day kissing up to a publisher that got walked out door instead of listening to the people that made the Asheville paper money.
Hey, the world is brighter on the outside and at least you have not burned any bridges like some people in management. Be resourceful and keep your chin up. Think positive thoughts for your coworkers and stay in touch so you can tell them how much better it really is.
P.S. did you keep any of those black dust balls that shoot out of the vents. You know the stuff everyone breaths.
If that is true some body needs to look into that NOW wake up Cherry Hill.C.P.
ReplyDeleteI too worked with one of the people let go in the ADS department at the Asbury Park Press. He has always used racial, homosexual and sexist comments. Management always turned its head. I am glad he's gone.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to some Nashville questions:
ReplyDeleteSilverman did the newsroom layoffs himself in his office.
Tennessean converted Nashville Record to a Legals section in the Tennessean.
All layoffs were announced by the Pulisher at two meetings on Thursday.
I am not a Gannett employee, but I have been following this whole thing closely. While I have no direct stake in what happens to Gannett, a person I care about does. I am sickened by all this. From my outside perspective I see a company in its death throes and I am sorry for each and every one of you.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen a company so ripe for unionization as I have this one. I have thought that for years but now it's even more so. I find it so ironic that in my own activism I called upon the local Gannett paper to cover my work--and they did a great job--but meanwhile that very paper is run into the ground by its own mismanagement and greed.
The employees of Gannett deserve better. They deserve to have a say in where this company goes. They deserve to have a company they can be proud of and they deserve to not live a life of insecurity and fear. It sucks moosecock that people who've been working for the company for years and years are just shafted now.
Stand up for yourselves, people. You don't have to lie down and take this. At the very least, if you stood together you'd have a chance of fairness when it comes to layoffs.
GREYT NEW format, easier to read, easier to post. THX
ReplyDelete8:16
ReplyDeleteWhen there is another round of layoffs 1Q.09 (5k-6k?), seems like the smallest papers will HAVE to close down actual buildings/operations altogether and just freelance out local reporters and ad sales.
These small papers have no more people to cut and still get the paper out. Printing, circ, finance, delivery supervision & HR are already consolidated with nearby larger papers. Ad production is handled in India, COE handles delivery problems (i.e. won't bring your paper out if you didn't get it, only credit your account). The only good news about this impending doom is that when Gannett folds in some markets, there are really good people now available to start a truly local newspaper.
The demise of Gannett is a sad story but a common one when inbreeding keeps out free thinking. Irony here.......
Mr Spalding, with all due respect, it is admirable you are giving people grocery certificates but you've been taking their dues for years and years and yeas and you didn't save one damn job. Maybe you should give them two years of dues. Now that would be a Christmas president. But that is probably way too much to ask. Afterall who would pay the high salaries of the Union executives if you had to give back money.
ReplyDeleteYo 8:45, classy comment with "Moosecock." Name one job the union lemmings saved by being in a union. Superb, creative talent gets laid off because the contract says the person hired 20 years ago who stopped learning and stopped contributing 10 years ago must stay because they were hired first. You protect the lazy and throw out the talented contributor and in the end you didn't save any jobs. Oranizing is simply not the plan. It is a battle cry from a different century.
ReplyDeleteIn the United States in 2008, unless you work in a dangerous profession and for a company which flouts safety rules, there is only one reason to join a union: You are a lazy SOB and want to get paid without working hard. End of story.
ReplyDeleteCincinnati layoffs were mostly editors, some artists and one or two calendar/local-local folks who basically did data entry. No reporters, no photographers.
ReplyDeleteI doubt that will be the case in '09. That 5-6K estimate could be shockingly close to reality.
I suspect the grand plan is to drop print editions for XX number of days and try to shift subscribers to online. Look at the number of sites where press ops were shut down and sent to other papers. Isn't that a sign they expect to need less printing in the near future?
I think whatever happens in Detroit could be the template for the whole chain.
Be afraid, be very afraid.
@9:20 AM
ReplyDeleteAll due respect to "rogue columnist," but this chap says nothing followers of this blog haven't read many times before.
(Also: "Too dangerous for corporate media"? Bit much.)
USA TODAY needlessly lost a good graphics editor this week. As others mentioned earlier, this was a personal vendetta-based layoff. There is just no other explanation for it. It had nothing to do with the skills of the graphics editor (he seemed more than competent) or the position itself. The ME, known for driving good managers and editors out, had no honorable reason for removing this person or pretending his job wasn't needed. In fact, the whole newsroom in some way will feel the impact of this ME using the GCI layoffs to settle old scores.
ReplyDeleteMy dealings with the graphics editor were always professional. He had a challenging job. He appeared to take great pride in his work and in the newspaper.
I feel awful about this particular layoff. From my chats with this editor, he seemed like a person with integrity and I have seen the results already of his departure. How was this job not considered crucial to the graphics department? Wasn't this the last manager there not exclusively tied to the web site? It was important to many of us in the sections, so why the ME in that department did this is quite an eye-opener.
These layoffs weren't suppose to be about personal beefs. Yet, having known the ME in that department for many years, and having heard horror stories about him and having experienced a few ridiculous dealings with him myself, I can only add that this particular layoff stinks. GCI needs to look into this, talk to some people who work for or with this graphics editor. I bet he had the respect of a fair number of staffers.
It's this kind of layoff that breaks down the trust within the newsroom. The ME responsible for this firing (and that's what it really is) is notorious for not protecting his people, but this act not only ruins careers, it potentially can ruin lives. Not just the lives or careers of the victim, but also those who are professionally and personally connected.
I know there are others who probably feel similar injustices and bias in these layoffs, but believe me, this was unusually cruel to a valuable and dedicated editor (who probably had one of the tougher jobs at the paper), and destructive to the newspaper for multiple reasons that go beyond what I've stated here. The ME in that department has the makings a terrific con artist, but he might have crossed the line this time and exposed himself for what he really is. I hope someone high up at USA TODAY finally sees this and puts an end to it.
Jim, did you happen to know this graphics editor or ME while you were at USA TODAY? Just curious.
Greenville/Asheville
ReplyDeletePrint Consolidation
Does anyone know what the total number that will be transfered to the Greenville site.
"Mr Spalding, with all due respect, it is admirable you are giving people grocery certificates but you've been taking their dues for years and years and yeas and you didn't save one damn job. . . . . Afterall who would pay the high salaries of the Union executives if you had to give back money."
ReplyDelete12/06/2008 9:24 PM
9:24, i'm going to assume you are confused, rather than assuming that you are a troll, and give you the facts.
first, the union was involved in convincing the company to accept volunteers, which preserved at least 8 jobs of people who wanted to stay -- probably more, because the volunteers included high-dollar people like me (40 years). that also helped cut the layoffs from 95 to 52 overall (props to publisher michael kane, too).
second, nobody gets rich being a guild officer in indy. our officers are volunteers. (are you maybe confusing us with the teamsters under jimmy hoffa in the '50s??)
third, the guild filed a grievance after the august layoffs because the company did not follow the contract's requirements in laying people off. the grievance now is going to binding arbitration. in the most recent layoffs, the company again violated the contract, both in who was laid off and also in how much severance those "grandfathered" at more than 26 weeks are to receive. another grievance is in the works, and almost certain to go to arbitration.
there's no guarantee the guild will win, but the contract is very clear, and very clearly has been violated.
the guild contract also gives preference to those laid off in the (currently unlikely) event more people are hired.
compared to labor laws in other nations, the laws in the u.s. are very heavily stacked against workers, especially in an "employment-at-will" state such as indiana, and particularly after eight years of republicans running state and national government. but our local has helped people who were treated unjustly, and blocked gci efforts to force journalists to write advertorial matter.
indy v.p .ali zoibi seemed to see no reason why reporters shouldn't write advertorial; when the guild pointed out to him that it would violate even gannett's loosey-goosey ethics policy, he suggested that copy editors and photographers be forced to do it instead. the guild won that round -- and zoibi's now publisher in rochester.
and you also missed another point -- rather than the backstabbing and jockeying for survival reported here by people from other papers, our union fought for all of us (even the free riders) and our members volunteered to help those hit hardest by the layoffs.
i took a "voluntary" layoff after 40 years, but remain proud to be part of tng/cwa, and have offered to do anything i can to assist the union and its members, present and past.
Sorry, I lost all respect for unions the day the union at the paper I worked for (I was a new hire and a non-union employee) posted my salary in a list for the whole world to see because they were trying to force contract negotiations. My name wasn't attached to it, but because of the short time I had been there and the type of position I held, it was very easy to figure out it was me.
ReplyDeleteMY SALARY was nobody else's business, and the union had no right to post my private information. And when I raised hell about it, I was told I was wrong to be angry. F--- that. My privacy was invaded to further someone else's fucking agenda. It was bullshit then and it remains bullshit now. And unions lost any hope of ever convincing me that I needed their help.
First, shock. Then anger. Then self-pity and utter sadness and dejection, and then anger again. And grief.
ReplyDeleteA job loss is no different than the death of a loved one. It causes real heartache, the kind you can actually feel instead of describe in some metaphorical sense.
Some of us who were laid off do not have fallbacks--parents, a spouse who works. We will lose our homes, our cars if we don't own them yet. What about people with kids? Pets? Unemployment checks are not enough. And for all I know, it's taxable income so get ready for more bloodletting in April by the IRS if you got the ax.
This catastrophe is global and as hard it is to believe things could get worse, Dow Jones averages notwithstanding, things are going to get worse. The more people out of jobs, the less they spend and lack of consumer confidence and spending, and the real estate debacle, are the two biggest problems that all the billions in the world aren't going to fix. Unless they go to consumers, directly.
People need to keep their jobs for this country to turn around. How ironic is it that the companies who claim the layoffs are necessary to survive are in fact killing our economy by marginalizing the employees/consumers they laid off.
Through their own mismanagement, failure to have a vision beyond digital news, which isn't making money yet and may never, and slavery to the shareholder, Gannett and other big newspaper companies have shot themselves in the head and have added to the macroeconomic mess that began with real estate defaults.
That Gannett thinks it can turn itself around and build a stronger revenue base by layoffs, is a classic example of not seeing the forest for the trees. By laying us off, you have ADDED to the economic nightmare in this country. Fewer people with jobs means less spending, less revenue for your advertisers, less advertising. It's really quite simple.
Karma is a bitch.
Jim, if I'm guessing right about the ID of your "anonymous in NJ" (if so, super person respected 100% by everyone who has worked with him), he is someone in position to know and, from my lesser vantage point, I think he is spot on. Spot. On. So are you, Pam.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I'm thinking about: All the unpaid overtime I had to serve in a job that never should have been exempt. My boss considered me so indispensible I was required almost daily to work well beyond the 7.5 hours a day required on timesheets and I was refused vacation requests, and yet the ME and EE found my position dispensible to terminate. We were told the layoffs were not a judgment of us, just that the position was no longer needed.
How was my job so important Monday to require more than 10 hours of work, which someone surely recorded falsely as 7.5, but the job on Tuesday had no purpose? It's one thing to pretend the 7.5 hours they paid me for Monday was unnecessary busy work, but how can they say the 2.5 hours they wanted me to stay and didn't pay me for was busy work? If the work didn't really need to be done, why risk potential violation of wage-and-hour law?
The ME who made the elimination selections knew the hours required of each of us in our unit and never apparently corrected my boss on overtime abuse -- a tacit sanction of the unpaid overtime.
The layoff wouldn't bother me as much if the overtime issue didn't leave me feeling violated.
12/06/2008 8:30 PM said: Tennessean converted Nashville Record to a Legals section in the Tennessean.
ReplyDeleteVERY surprising. I would think that the Nashville Record as a standalone publication was making more money for the Tennessean. Some weeks there were 60 solid pages of legal notices. At times, $20,- to 30,000 weekly revenue on a paper with a paid circulation of 600 (six hundred) copies.
I know they moved the Nashville Record production out of Gallatin to cut costs a few years ago.
Perhaps the motivation of folding the Nashville Record was to charge more for these legal notices in the Tennessean.
As for Unions. Leave them to the mining business. When I worked at the Rocky Mountain news I remember the old guys sleeping at their work station nightly. The floor non-union manager was not allowed to wake him up, he had to get another union worker to do so. What a bunch of garbage.
ReplyDeleteIn 23 years at various papers in New Jersey and New York I never had one bit of problem getting overtime paid when I worked it. I am dismayed that some feel otherwise. But for the record I never had a problem.
ReplyDeleteHey Jim,
ReplyDeleteIn the next post where you keep the running tally of job cuts, would you mind also adding a column to show the profit margin? I think this would be an interesting way to look at the data. Right now, I keep jumping back to that old post to compare the numbers lost vs. the profit margin of the paper. Thanks!
Profit margin? What are you people looking at? It's going down, down, down. Look at Tribune, JRC, Gatehouse, Lee, McClatchy (wow, they are reeling), Media News. If things are so good why are these companies all close to bankruptcy. Profit margin, hopefully Gannett still has a positive one.
ReplyDeleteTo the person who thinks people in Cherry Hill are being ridiculous: You are either management or you are drinking the Kool-aid. Everything that was said is absolutely TRUE!! They have kept total idiots & let excellent people go. Has anyone mentioned the fact that the day before the layoffs (Mon. 12/1) the Advertising Director was interviewing for new employees. Tell me if this is going on at any other sites? How can Cherry Hill be taken seriously when these bizarre things happen everyday!
ReplyDelete