Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Tuesday | Dec. 23 | Your News & Comments

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49 comments:

  1. Craig Dubow stated that Gannett "might" be interested in buying TV stations in markets where they already own a station...
    Here's a comment on that-
    This is nothing new from Gannett, which has had opportunities in the past to purchase Tribune and Hearst's TV properties but didn't want to pay the multiples. They bought cheaply priced stations in Denver and Atlanta, to go with their NBC affiliates and that strategy has not worked well. They have gotten away from their core TV business and put a lot of pressure on their sales efforts by creating or purchasing web properties with limited value at the cost of their core business. Now they are cutting at all their TV stations in an attempt to maintain margins which no longer exist. Given this stocks recent history I see no upside in betting on this company under it's current management.

    MESSAGE TO GANNETT BOARD OF DIRECTORS

    IT'S TIME TO PULL THE PLUG ON THE TV GUY - YOUR GAMBLE IN PUTTING DUBOW RUNNING A COMPANY THAT GENERATES TWO THIRDS OF ITS PROFITS IN PRINT HAS BEEN A MONUMENTAL FAILURE...CUT YOUR LOSSES.

    LETS MOVE ON WITH NEW LEADERSHIP - BRING MOON OVER TO GET THE COMPANY MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION AGAIN

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  2. Too little, too late, 1215. And media mergers within markets are going to be more, not less, difficult under an Obama-appointed FCC -- thank God!

    Jim, where can we link to a list of the Gannett Foundation board of directors?

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  3. I've been checking the archives here, and can't find any reference to this - not sure if anyone's posted on it in the past.

    I just still find it interesting that the guy who wrote the article for CJR about Gannett Blog, Chris Yasiejko, was one of those laid off from Wilmington.

    Retaliation, anyone?

    http://preview.tinyurl.com/9b5x8v

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  4. I agree. The current model of digital emphasis on the TV side is more a ploy or smokescreen to make shareholders and naive analysts believe the company has found some kind of web karma.

    TV will face a major hurdle early next year with the conversion to digital (DTV) transmission to be accompanied by news stories detailing how some viewers suddenly cannot watch TV.

    But whatever short term pressure such stories may put on broadcasters....owning twice the bandwidth and distributing costs over two channels plus several digital subchannels makes a lot of sense.

    The TV stations, just like the company's print publications should be the cornerstone of their their web strategy.

    If you cannot compete against 4 TV stations. How do you compete against millions of websites?

    THIS GUY CANNOT EVEN RUN THE BROADCAST DIVISION. HE IS DILUTING TV ON A DAILY BASIS.

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  5. As you know, Jim, as both employees and shareholders, most of us are appalled by actions of the current GCI management. Not only because they appear to be running the company into the ground, with no discernible strategy for coping with the recession, but also because of their demonstrably unethical actions. I'm not talking only about Dubow here, either, but he is the most visible.

    The problem is, there is almost no way for us to raise our voices against this mess without fear of retribution -- except for the shareholder ballot.

    Jim, can you explore the possibility of getting an item up for vote at the next annual meeting, one which condemns current management and asks the board that Dubow, Martore, and gang be replaced? Although shares held by rank-and-file employees are just a drop in the bucket compared to institutional and top-brass holdings, having 30,000 shareholders voice their disapproval is sure to attract attention, if not action.

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  6. I need to get a count on RANDY HAMMER now publisher of the Asheville Citizen-Times.

    First:

    How many over 40 and overweight women has he fired nationally?

    Second:

    How many were not fired but quit because of a hostile work environment?

    Just wondering. It would be interesting to know.

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  7. I just read in USAT that the CEO of FedEx is taking a 20% reduction in salary. Perhaps CD should do the same and more. He could live off of the increase in his stock options. Maybe that would provide some motivation.

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  8. 8:58 am: I will look around, but I think the deadline has passed for shareholder resolutions.

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  9. 8:01: There is no link to the Gannett Foundation board of directors; guess I'll have to create one.

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  10. Given institutional investor’s overwhelming control, it’s doubtful any shareholder resolution pushed by employees - even if all 100% of them agreed, would ever pass let alone get the boards attention to act. Plus, few employees would feel comfortable going on record as being against their bosses.

    Best bet: Jim, with our help, keeps bringing Gannett’s many ethical lapses and abuses to light, enough so that things change. At a minimum, it shines light under the rocks where far to many of this company’s assholes reside.

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  11. RE: Outsourcing Printing in New Jersey.

    If you look at a map of New Jersey and mark off the locations of the 6 Gannett Papers and Secaucus & Voorhees printing plants of AFL Printing Co. and put the Gannett Freehold Printing Plant in the Middle, you can see how Gannett could eaily sub-lease the Freehold facility to AFL and have the northern & southern papers printing at AFL's plants.

    That would get GANNETT/NJ out of the printing business.

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  12. One of the biggest scams on college students continues to be journalism schools. Former newspaper people, many who have been fired, are teaching these students skills that no longer are marketable. It's a big lie to lead these students on, letting them think they will be hired in traditional newspaper jobs. Where's the ethics?

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  13. 10:24, and westchester could print in secaucus, too. don't know why gannett didn't pursue the idea further other than some preliminary feasibility study a year ago.

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  14. How they give pension information when you have already filed the paperwork:

    1. You phone the number, which is not an 800 number.

    2. You ae treated courtesouly and told that you are in the system.

    3. You are told that they will call you back later in the day.

    4. You express gratitude because they have been helpful.

    (Repeat Scene Daily for Six Days
    and No return cals)

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  15. Westchester won't print there because USA TODAY is still on two presses in Harrison.

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  16. Isn't newspapers getting into TV and such, like the hamburger joint who made great burgers, then went in to hotdogs and chicken? Next thing you know the burgers just don't taste as good as they used to.

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  17. Filed for unemployment in NJ 12/14 - got my forms today - no check. Anybody know if they hold a week back or are they waiting til my severence runs out? (I put the dates of severence pay in when I filed)
    And for anyone out there who thinks I'm double dipping, please remember the HIGH cost of living in NJ - we're not even having a "Christmas" this year! But the spirit is still there and isn't that what this holiday is all about - not the presents! I would just like to pay my rent and have a nice Xmas dinner. And I'm very actively out there in this wind chill below 0 degrees looking for work doing anything!
    Hope and pray all the others who were laid off are finding something and doing well! Merry Christmas to all and a Very Happy and healthy New Year!

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  18. Anyone out there - still no word on the finance consolidation? Still can't believe they have no dates set for the poor over-worked, stressed out, who don't know what lies ahead for them, people in those depts nationwide! Can't anyone shed some light on this!!! Someone has to know something and are just holding out! At least let these people have a stress free and possibly happy holiday week! It's really inhumane!

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  19. The comments here point out the root of the problems. Most of you that post here still have the philosophy that Gannett is a newspaper company. You have missed the point in that its being transformed into an information company with many platforms. (paper, TV , web, mobile etc)

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  20. Maybe that's because almost all the money in the company still comes from the much-maligned newspapers.

    Let's not forget that.

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  21. 12:00 - I heard several months ago there was a memo written with an end of Q1 target - not sure if that was company wide or regional

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  22. 12:06 PM -- True, however lacking on information.

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  23. 11:53 you will have to call on the date specified on the form you recieived, the blue one. After you spend at least a day and a half calling to make your claim, dont do this online it wont work, your check will arrive or be direct deposited. Good Luck!

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  24. Wonder who is paying the bills at Gannett. Second power outage in the Crystal Palace in several weeks.

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  25. Actually 12:06 PM, most do understand that Gannett is a communications company. The issue is how Gannett is getting there. Instead of building off its core, Gannett prefers to raze its properties to the bones to pay for it. And, in the end, they’ll be little of any real value left.

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  26. 10:41 - I used to ask that question often before I left newspapers earlier this year, and many of my older colleagues gave me shit for it. But I agree with you that whatever is being taught in most J schools these days is deplorable, because I still meet fresh grads who think just because they've been taught some random "multi-media" skills, they'll be okay and will be able to find steady jobs within the industry.

    Boy are they in for a surprise...

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  27. 10:41: I can't speak for others, but when I teach, no wool is pulled over any eyes. See http://moorparkmedia.blogspot.com/

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  28. 12:06

    In their transformation they will replace dollars with cents on the revenue side. Unfortunately a necessary evil.

    This is the root cause of the cuts.

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  29. I don't think this is new, but I just saw it on a sports blog written about Iowa college sports.
    “The Newspaper Iowa Depends Upon.” "Jason Hancock of The Iowa Independent reports that the Des Moines Register will eliminate several annual special sections, most notably the RAGBRAI preview and RAGBRAI campground editions. The rest of Hancock's story: This also includes most sports special sections, with one exception being the Iowa-Iowa State football game. The paper will also cease publishing its Clive community paper. The other nine community papers will continue to be published as usual. Several special publications produced by the Register will be affected, with “Mind and Body” being eliminated and “Des Moines Women” and “Baby Magazine” reduced to a quarterly publication schedule. The Register’s entertainment guide, “Datebook,” will be smaller. At meeting with newsroom staff Register Editor Carolyn Washburn said Gannett Co., which owns the paper, hired an economist to look at the coming year and help plan the company’s next move. Based on that economist’s worst-case scenario, Gannett formulated the 10 percent payroll cut announced in October. Asked by one staffer if there would be more layoffs, Washburn said that if 2009 turned out worse than the economist’s worst-case scenario there will be more layoffs. "

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  30. Any word about the next round of budget cuts - office closings, layoffs, etc?

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  31. 12:23: Are you sure the Crystal Palace power outages aren't actually all the burned out ceiling light bulbs that haven't been replaced?

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  32. 3:21, you are right and some of the older Gannett workers think they will last because they learned how to do an entry level web skill. It might be enough to impress the clueless managers but will it be enough to get them through the February layoffs?

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  33. Let's start a rumor! Jim Brady is leaving as the boss of washingtonpost.com; he already was a big muckety-muck at AOL, so that leaves....USA Today, where nobody's really been in charge of the website since Kinsey Wilson's left.

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  34. Re: Outsourcing printing in NJ

    The AFL printing site in Voorhees, NJ is located nearby Cherry Hill, NJ (the two towns are adjacent). The Courier-Post prints currently at its site in Cherry Hill and is a unionized shop. It's the same union as at the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News. Sure seems highly unlikely that Cherry Hill would move to an outside vendor which is non-union. What would make sense is for the Courier Post to have their paper printed at the Inquirer and Daily News printing plant in Philadelphia and have the unionized Inquirer truck drivers deliver the Inquirer, Daily News and Courier-Post into NJ since the Inquirer already runs trucks into Southern NJ to distribute their products. Such an arrangement would eliminate the expenses of running a printing plant (union) in Cherry Hill and maintaining a unionized trucking operation where the Philly papers go already. Again, the same union(s) dominate the Philly and Cherry Hill papers at this time. The current Teamsters contracts for many at Cherry HIll will expire this coming summer. The Vineland Daily Journal, a non-union paper, already has their products printed by Asbury Park and have done so for several years. If Asbury Park and other northern NJ Gannett papers go to outsourcing such as AFL, their paper could be printed in Voorhees which is much closer to Vineland than Asbury Park. Anyone else have any feelings about this???

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  35. @12:06, Yes, Gannett is a company with many platform. But that is a problem when all your platforms are mediocre at best.

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  36. 4:21
    Probably won't help them because their design ability is old school. Not that there is anything wrong with that but it will not jive with the new Gannett plan.

    That is unless you are at the Asheville paper where allegedly, advertising directors could not draw a box much less think outside of one. LOL

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  37. The executive editor just announ ed the Poughkeepsie Journal will be cutting the newshole, including losing one of two weekly real estate sections, the Friday Life section will be folded into Enjoy (Friday entertainment supplement), Sunday Business section will become part of section B on Sundays, the Sunday TV supplement will be cut from 16 pages to 12 pages. Other trims include eliminating the once-weekly For Kids page, cutting the weekly teens page to 1/2 page, eliminating the weekly gaming page in the sports section, placing ads on the national news and towns pages.

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  38. 4:31
    I think Vineland was moved to Cherry Hill so the CN could take that spot at APP in 2007.

    Not so sure about CP's moving printing to Philly...there's bad blood there...Frisby and his crew used to work at the CP.

    Don't think the Union matters to Gannett. It doesn't.

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  39. Asheville Citizen-Times will cut its Living section starting next month. Check here for dets:

    http://ashvegas.squarespace.com/journal/2008/12/23/breaking-sources-say-asheville-citizen-times-will-chop-livin.html

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  40. Misery loves company.

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  41. The executive ed. at the Poughkeepsie Journal has single-handedly driven morale into the ground since he came back there, and I think his latest move won't do much to improve things. His poor leadership is astounding. Is this typical of Gannett managers?

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  42. I just heard that Tara Connell is going to be promoted to the president of Content One. Did anyone else here this?

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  43. Hey 4:21, the older Gannett employees learned all the skills they have ever needed to survive all the changes over the years and still stay committed to journalism as a profession, not just 'hits' on the Web.

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  44. Tara Connell's taking over ContentOne has been known for I think more than a month.

    The question is: Will she leverage that new editorial service to take over a big chunk of USA Today's reporting team?

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  45. Another sign of the times. From the Washington Post: Editors from The Washington Post and Baltimore Sun said yesterday that they have agreed to begin sharing certain stories, photos and other news content.

    The deal comes as both newspapers, like the rest of the industry, struggle to retain readers and cut costs as the economics of the business shift.

    The agreement takes effect Jan. 1 and primarily covers day-to-day news about Maryland and sports. Also, the papers can draw on one another's national, international and feature stories contributed to the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service. Previously, the papers were not allowed to use one another's offerings on the wire service.

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  46. Nobody makes Gannett shake in their boots better than you!

    To that, I say Happy Holidays, Jim!

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  47. What IS Content One?

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  48. Posted by Lauren Drablier on December 11, 2008 at 2:09 PM
    Gannett has just launched ContentOne, an initiative which will "upend the traditional thinking about content in our industry, both in how we gather it and how we sell it," according to Gannett president, Craig Dubow.

    The initiative is a "venture as a system for content development, sharing and information gathering, which is meant to eliminate content redundancies across its papers in order to better focus on deep local content," according to Clickz.

    In addition to ContentOne, Gannett has recently added Metromix to the QuadrantOne newspaper site network which is co-owed by Gannett, Hearst, The New York Times and the Tribune.

    The changes highlight Gannett's focus on digital growth and online ad revenue streams.

    Source: ClickZ

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  49. Dear 8:16 p.m.:

    Obviously you haven't worked for Gannett long enough to know that it is bursting with mediocre editors who don't know the first thing about managing humanely and wisely. Shinske decimated morale at the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill and was downright abusive. Only the managing editor who followed him -- and, mercifully, was laid off -- was worse. The current executive editor, who claims he came up with the term "car-jack," is clueless. Cherry Hill has always been a Siberia for bad Gannett managers, the last thing we needed in a highly competitive market.

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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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