Sunday, January 04, 2009
Sunday | Jan. 4 | Your News & Comments
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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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I have finally navigated the maze known as signing up for COBRA insurance coverage. It ain't pretty.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I log on and see something about my site, I'm stunned at the negativity.
ReplyDeleteIt is what it is. Read the front page of the site. It's a collection of links and stories. I think of it like my google homepage has my links and rss feeds of stories from a few favorite sites. This is my Gannett version.
For people saying the site just links to other people's work, yeah. Some would think it's convenient to have it in one place rather than 50 places you have to find.
It doesn't attack anybody. It just lists some things.
When I was checking Jim's blog every day leading up to Dec. 3, I thought the two things that would be useful were more links of other sites covering the industry (a few were well-outdated) and the organization of some information. That's not a negative about this site. That's the blog format. I very simply plan to compile a few things, the section cuts being the perfect example. On here, people post items one day, then more another, then there's some posted on another thread another day. I'm grouping that stuff together simply so it's all grouped together.
If I had EVEN ONE SINGLE AD anywhere on my site, or asked for donations, or attacked any group or person, or put up a message board, then I could understand people being suspicious. But I've done NONE of that.
If you think it's worthless, fine. I'm not forcing it on you. I'm still working on it. Soon, I hope to have links that are relevant to each Gannett daily property, such as the one focusing on Indy, and another directory to blogs covering the media in general, or whatever seems of interest. The site is really what I envision as useful to me, and I thought maybe it would be to a few others as well. Not for my gain (which is why I stay anonymous), simply for organizing a directory of information.
I've only responded on here because I'm stunned at some of the posts. People saying I'm pro-Gannett, others saying I'm too anti-Gannett, people saying I'm just trying to get ad-revenue (my favorite since there's no ads) and people calling me Tara Connell. Each time it's been more laughable and I've responded thinking it'd be the end once I make it clear the site just is simply what it says it is.
About me being anonymous, that's simply because it proves the point it's no big deal and I'm not trying to gain anything. Remember, Jim ran this site anonymously at first.
Jim does not know me, but he does know who I am. If anyone seriously thinks I'm either with Gannett PR, or am a well-known anti-Gannett person, Jim can at least confirm I'm neither of those and that as soon as the site launched, I e-mailed Jim and said the site was not one bit intended as competition to his blog.
From now on, I will try to avoid posting anything on this blog. I only did at first to encourage people to share what section cuts they know of. Gannett obviously isn't publishing a list of that, but I think it's interesting and wanted to encourage people to submit what they know. It's not as important as compiling the layoff numbers, but I still think that, and future stuff, is relevant enough to compile.
I really didn't expect this much interest.
Thanks again for the space, Jim.
Anytime, Gannettoid! As I've always said, we run a very big tent on this blog.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Arizona Republic:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/01/04/20090104Randyletter0104.html
Asheville Citizen Times closed its production facility today.
ReplyDeleteThe Mountain Express (asheville), Assevegas.com, and WLOS 13 ABC, showed up.
The remains of the ACT newsroom showed up as well.. but looked like a lost troupe of highschoolers
Ok, gannettoid, why is their now a disclaimer, on your site, saying that your not with Gannett? You say Jim dos not know you but knows who you are.Well, I believe does not personally know Little Al, yet it is strange right after Jim's story on Freedom Forum, and babies, your site appeared. Tara, is not the only PR person, that worked for Gannett. A couple of years ago, according to local station,s in D.C. Gannett, got a delivery of white power. It turned out NOT, to be the A. One wondered, if your the one who sent it.
ReplyDeleteMethinks Gannettoid protesteth too much ... at ease, dude!
ReplyDeletePeople dis everything here ...
Just because we find your site superfluous is no reason to take it personal.
BTW, regarding the adoption agency getting Freedom Forum money, probably under the "free spirit" department, my question is why does it cost $30,000 to adopt a child from them? Exhorbitant fees, if you ask me.
Has anybody had the privledge of using our health insurance for 2009 yet? Well I am and it royaly sucks! For a company with the amount of employees we have left you would think it would be close to if not the best out there?
ReplyDeleteIt's my understanding that Gannett is "SELF INSURED" which means they don't have to follow alot of the laws/rules governing insurance companies and that they are making money off the employees for health coverage by along with paying for a portion of the coverage we have a premium we have to pay.Maybe somebody should start looking into this as another money trail,that's if I am correct about how they run it?
I have empire bc/bs and my premiums went up but my coverage went down....
Gannettoid, I wouldn't pay attention to any of the criticisms here. I find your site useful. I suspect that most of the posters here who are denigrating your work are the same people who can't figure out how Google and Yahoo can have high-traffic news sites by aggregating content from other operations and not doing any original journalism of their own. That is, you have a lot of online-challenged print folks here. Take their criticism with a grain of salt.
ReplyDeleteAs for our friend "rmichem," I assume that he meant "powder" and not "power." I'm still trying to figure out how anyone can mail "white power"... ;-)
Get a life, Sharon. Move on.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile back in New Jersey ...
ReplyDeleteToday's C-N reran the "Note to readers" from yesterday with an obvious correction. Removed from the TV pullout were the cable conversion chart, the cover story, most Sunday listings and most Saturday listings. What remained in the TV pullout?
7-day listings, 6 PM-midnight (OK)
Weekday listings before 6 PM
(pointless for most readers)
Philadelphia stations (pointless --
the C-N area gets New York TV)
Additional sports listings
(not necessary and often wrong)
ID'ing programs that are closed-captioned (duh) and "In Stereo" (pointless)
Not ID'ing shows that are in HD (DUMB!)
As a bonus, the C-N listings ID the ABC, CBS and NBC stations but not the Fox station. Why? Gannett does not own any Fox stations -- and Fox is one of the Big 4 networks.
I get it, Gannettoid. Don't let the haters bother you.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know if the Asbury Park Press fishing editor, the one who was the resurrected Christ from Marketing, was laid off or is still employed?
rmichem:
ReplyDeleteConsidering how your posts read, I sure hope you're not a writer. And if you are, I hope you got fired. Oh, wait, I forgot that with Gannett that "good enough" is the mantra. Sorry. Carry on.
Is this hiring frenzy going on? So far this year, seems Gannett has posted 13 jobs for the publishing division, 4 for USAT and 2 for coporate. Of course these openings are in addition to the 6 for the Shared Services Center in Indy. Those were posted in December.
ReplyDeleteChanges at Indy Star starting Monday, a sidebar to publisher's column:
ReplyDeleteGUIDE FOR READERS: CHANGES STARTING MONDAY IN THE STAR
Starting Monday, you’ll see several changes in the daily organization of The Indianapolis Star.
• The first section, now called the News Section, is in two parts. The first emphasizes national and world news, business news, daily opinion pages, weather, and the Buzz page or entertainment/people news and overnight arts and entertainment reviews. The second part will include Metro + State and obituaries.
• The second section is Sports, where we will continue to provide daily coverage of pro, college and high school sports.
• The third section, called “Extra,” contains all of your favorite daily features — comics, TV, puzzles, advice columns — combined with thousands of classified advertising listings. We've increased the size of some comics and puzzles in response to your requests. Also, the format for the features in this section will remain the same throughout the week.
• Four days a week, our new Extra section will have many of the expanded features that you currently enjoy. On Wednesdays, we’ll focus on food in Extra/Taste. Extra/Healthy Living moves to Thursdays, while Go! continues to get you ready for the weekend on Fridays, and Extra/Home & Garden continues on Saturdays.
Note: The "Extra" section is a rehash of a features section with the same name when the Star and News merged in 1995. What this means is, they can run lots of wire and news-from-you crap without using local writers.
The Tennessean combines sections, cuts TV logs, etc.
ReplyDeletehttp://tennessean.com/article/20090104/COLUMNIST0113/901040361/1007/OPINION
What the earlier AzRepublic poster might have been trying to link to is the online version of Randy Lovely's letter to readers about newspaper shrinkage:
ReplyDelete-- The Sunday Viewpoints section beginning today is now 4 pges in the back of Valley & State.
-- The TV book is reduced in size.
each Sunday.
-- "Tuesday's paper will display the most notable changes. The paper will be constructed similar to the Monday newspaper with Business content - four pages, including the market summary - placed inside Valley & State. The classified ads will run in the back of the Sports section.
"In the end, you will receive the same amount of content, just packaged in fewer separate sections."
For your own look:
http://tinyurl.com/94kddl
10:56 AM
ReplyDeleteYou might place me in your online- challenged print category since I'm up there in age. That's your problem---not mine.
Just have to ask you this: What aggragated news from Gannett oulets are you finding on Gannettoid that you didn't or couldn't find on topix?
anyone know specifically how content one will differ from gannett news service ?
ReplyDeleteword is some papers including Louisville are cutting their recent pathetic mileage increases due to falling fuel prices.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the deal with unnamed sources? The Pensacola paper has had unnamed sources in two stories in the last five days, maybe more. Since when is this SOP?
ReplyDeleteSo, Jim, tell us how much your monthly health insurance bill will be? I'm told that others GCI dumped are facing $500 a month or more.
ReplyDeleteYo 9:14 shut up. Medical costs are the scourge of the nation. Focus your anger on the sleazy lawyers that sue for every bullshit problem that comes up. Hell in California they recently had a guy sue because he got capral finger while using his Blackberry for work. I mean come on! Your premium pays for that bullshit. Congress is worried about steriods in baseball but the runawy costs for health care is not important. Your costs will continue to go up until lazy asses like you stop worrying about Gannett and start putting pressure on the politicians to put and end to this nonsense. Of course that would take work and you are too busy scratching your ass to get off the couch and actually do something about it.
ReplyDeleteOkay people it is 2009. Can we stipulate New Jersey sucks, the managers in NJ are all stupid, the reporters are all smarter than anyone running their site or the company,the fishing report was teh best thing in the paper, it is perfectly okay to crap on the floor and the newsroom all works overtime but have no balls to actually put it on their timecards. Ok didn't that feel good. Now can we have a year with no mention of Jersey. Lets ahve a Jersy-free year. Jersey folks, take the next 365 days to crap on the floor and then call your supervisor's stupid! See you in 2010!
ReplyDeletePh and don't forget to get pithy and write, "Thanks for stopping by Craig."
Jim why don't you tell folks how much you will pay on COBRA vs what you had taken out of your check as an employee. I bet folks will stop their complainign when they see how much the company actually pays. Or is that too positive for this BLOG?
ReplyDelete12:46-It's not aggragating the stories, it's giving a quick summary and some links. Like the person said, it is what it is. And I don't think it's bad.
ReplyDeleteYeah Jim what is the difference between your employee deduction and your COBRA rate?
ReplyDeleteJim, happy new year and continued success; but I've decided the constant harping, whining and disinformation of some of your posters is just too much to endure in 2009
ReplyDeleteThe ridiculous tirades about Gannettoid finally pushed me over the top
It is ironic, but I'm sure the same folks who carp and put people down on this blog are aghast and run to the editor when someone -- a reader -- dares to say something they don't like on their story chat.
It is further amusing to see the same people who attack others for grammar or spelling mistakes do so in a post that has both.
And talk about out of touch. The snotty notes about the papers reorganization to smaller editions! What would they say if all the papers continued to publish 6 or 7 sections a day with no plans to economize.
So, I fear that Jim, you too, will soon tire of babysitting this blog and keeping all the malcontents in line.
You have a future as an internet reporter for sure -- good work on the FOI Freedom Forum issues.
Good luck,
4:29 pm et al: I should have included that with my original post on what I pay for COBRA. I'll dig up the exact figure later today.
ReplyDeleteBut I think I'm paying right around $400 a month, which includes dental and vision -- the exact same coverage I had before. I also think my office visit co-pay stays the same ($20). But it might be as high as $100; Kaiser Permanente is still sorting this out.
Now, that $400 is for me alone; Sparky is covered on his own plan. Plus, we don't have any dependents.
Bottom line: With COBRA, my monthly medical costs rose to $400 from $150, which was my health insurance premium when I left USA Today a year ago.
Wow, the things you learn on the way to other information. What our British Gannetteers are up to, according to a BBC report:
ReplyDeleteHed: Newspaper faces industrial action
"A County Durham newspaper group is due to be hit by industrial action over feared job cuts and a pay freeze.
"Editorial staff at the Northern Echo in Darlington voted 90% in favour of industrial action, which is due to start on Monday.
"The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) claims the paper's owners, Newsquest, withdrew a negotiated pay rise and imposed a wage freeze.
"Staff are to hold protest meetings over the next three days.
"The union claims at least 17 jobs are under threat with proposals to close district offices.
"Printing jobs are also due to go after the company said it was shifting operations to Teesside and Bradford. ...."
The whole story:
http://tinyurl.com/7zvubf
1/04/2009 11:29 AM
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
Get a life, Sharon. Move on.
Who is Sharon? Nobody has ever heard of her. Please keep the topic on and about Gannett and not individuals nobody else knows. Plus you can't even identify yourself!
One day last week, I saw the most disgusting of all comments posted by a USAT reader. I hit the report abuse button, but checked back later and it was still posted.
ReplyDeleteIt was a direct attack on a child---namely, one of Obama's daughters--and made reference to sexual activity predictions.
Thanks, Jim, for sharing the Cobra details .. but to 3:37 p.m., ooooh, we must all be soooo grateful to the Gannett gods who lured us to come to work for them with promises of wages/salaries as well as "great" benefits. They're part of the the whole package, like the now-frozen pension.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind those papers that remind employees every year or so about just how much the benes add up to, but for goodness sake, they promised them when we signed up.
Hopefully, for those of you still working there, Gannett doesn't follow the footsteps of some strapped-claiming media companies and suspend 401k matches.
I just got my COBRA information in the mail. I would have to pay $1,000 per month for COBRA for my family (2 adults, 1 kid.) I was paying $230 per month through Gannett for health, dental and vision. Someone suggested http://www.ehealthinsurance.com and sure enough, there are some excellent deals.
ReplyDeleteto 3:35pm. piss on you again.
ReplyDeleteEast Brunswick had one reporter working on Saturday and no editor on duty. We. Are. Doomed.
ReplyDeleteYO 3:29 ! You sound like you have been really hitting the koolaide hard. The excuse your using sounds like the same bullshit that the media god's are feeding us about the reason were in trouble is because it's some one else's fault. It has nothing to do with the greed right !!! Go have a few more shots of the cherry flavor
ReplyDeleteLouisville's cuts begin with Monday's papers -- Business section, normally 4 pages, becomes two pages in the back of the Metro section. No Monday biz pages. The Extra section -- a Friday tabloid -- becomes a pullout inside an expanded Friday Features section. Some space cuts within features daily and some tightening of Sunday features sections. No classified section on Monday or Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteAt first glance, reductions don't seem as radical as in some places, such as Cincy.
This letter to readers appeared on the website of The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette (Louisiana) today:
ReplyDeletewww.theadvertiser.com/article/20090104/NEWS01/901040304
6:47 you must be from Jersey, they crap on the floor and you want to piss on me! Sorry if you lemmings can't stand the truth. Youmay not like what you pay but the company does pay the lion share. Our share goes up, their share goes up. Heh an just to get you a little more excited, I appreciate my job, I appreciate my boss and I have great benefits. But then again I am not from Jersey. Now get pithy and talk about the koolaide.
ReplyDelete3:35 here. One more thing. I don't work at corproate but I do know Gracia Matore and she is one of the nicest people I've ever met. So all you haters out there that have NEVER met her should shut the hell up in 2009. Hate her decisions but stop hating the person. And Tara...well you got to do something about the hair bun in 2009. Enough is enough. Let the locks flow baby!
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why the APP kept their State House columnist, rather than keep one of the four SH reporters who were let go. If the SH editor can't cover a press conference or news event, the columnist won't.
ReplyDeleteHigh Cobra costs reflect the support NOT given to other family members - so Sparky's would be much higher than Jim's if he had been included on Jim's old plan.
ReplyDeleteLooks like someone tried to send the link from Lafayette. Here's the text of Leslie's note to readers [still trying to figure out how "challenges at the national level still affect us."]:
ReplyDeleteBeginning Monday, a number of changes will occur in the daily and Sunday editions of The Advertiser. These changes are a response to difficult economic times. While our local community has been spared some of the worst effects of the recession, the challenges at the national level still affect us.
Most of these changes allow us to be more efficient in the use of paper and ink - two of the most expensive parts of producing a daily newspaper - while allowing us to remain your primary source for the news and information that are important to you and to Acadiana.
To that end, we have taken a close look at our priorities and will make the following changes:
Each day:
The lottery numbers and Acadiana Deaths will move to Page 2A.
We no longer will provide a half-page of national political commentary next to our opinion page. We will have local opinions and commentary as well as some national commentary on the opinion page, and plenty of commentary online at theadvertiser.com.
The Mallard Filmore and Doonesbury cartoons will be on the "Columns" page with Dr. Gott, the TV Grid, Everyday Cheapskate and Dear Abby.
Monday and Tuesday editions:
Classified advertising pages no longer will run in the Monday and Tuesday newspapers. Classified ads will publish at theadvertiser.com every day of the week, 24 hours per day.
The Monday and Tuesday newspapers each will be a single section. The "fronts" of each section - Accent, Growth & Business and Sports - will appear within that single section.
We will not have a dedicated page for Nation & World news on these days, but will ensure that important national and international stories appear in the newspaper.
The Sudoku puzzle, Celebrity Cipher and Horoscopes, which normally are in the classified section, will appear under the weather map or in the Sports pages on these days.
Wednesday through Saturday editions:
The Columns page will appear in the Growth & Business section, rather than the Accent section.
The Comics page will move to the Sports section.
Classified advertising will appear within the Accent or Sports sections on Fridays and Saturdays instead of as its own section.
We no longer will have a page of daily calendar listings and "Scrapbook" items, but are revamping the front of our Accent section to highlight major community events. We will publish your scrapbook and celebratory pictures as space is available; however, we also encourage you to post your own scrapbook items in our Get Published section at theadvertiser.com.
Sunday edition:
We are merging the L Sunday section with our regular Sunday Accent section. Here, you will find weddings and engagements, anniversaries, social pictures and calendars as well as the Accent features you are accustomed to reading on Sundays.
Our commitment to using our space as efficiently and effectively as possible means that we occasionally may make minor adjustments in the placement of your favorite features. Please be sure to look at the index on Page 1A each day if you have difficulty finding something.
This type of change can be difficult, and we appreciate your patience as we try to find the best way to respond to the challenging economic climate while honoring our responsibility to the community.
We also want to emphasize that newspapers are not going away. We believe these changes will keep us strong as we move forward.
We appreciate your loyalty and concern during this difficult time. When the economy improves, we will revisit some of these changes, based on our circumstances and what we hear from you, our customers.
We welcome your thoughts. Call our Information Center at 337-289-6397 or e-mail executive editor Denise Richter at editor@theadvertiser.com. We look forward to your feedback.
Leslie Hurst
I just noticed that Gannett has taken the daily and Sunday circulation numbers off of its corporate operations web site listing of every newspaper. Jim... your site no longer has the DB numbers... that I can find anyway.
ReplyDeleteMore changes at the Republic
ReplyDeletehttp://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/01/04/20090104Randyletter0104.html
4:41 -
ReplyDeleteWhat papers do you know of that publish 6-7 sections a day? You must be at a major metro, because those numbers just don't compute.
Before the recent changes, my site - Wilmington - ran five sections on a daily basis. That's A, Local, Life, Sports and Classifieds. It ballooned to six only twice a week, for the health section and the entertainment magazine (and the latter has since been trimmed substantially).
Now it's down to A, Local/Life and Sports/Classifieds half the week. Life stands alone only on Sundays. Five sections, maximum, any given day of the week, and often only three.
Changes to the Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY) to "save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in newsprint and production costs," according to the publisher:
ReplyDeleteBeginning Monday:
The Business section will move from the Sports section to the Local section, Monday through Saturday. On Sunday there will be no changes to the Business section. We will debut a new Living theme "Living with style: Your guide to making the most of your life" every Monday. Our full-color weather report gets a new home on the back of the Sports section Monday through Saturday, moving from the back of the Local section. We will no longer publish the New York Times Crossword and Word Sleuth puzzles, Ask Amy column and the Rex Morgan comic strip in the Classified section. On Mondays through Thursdays, our employment, rentals and real estate listings will be found on our growing CareerBuilder.com, Apartments.com and Homescape.com Web sites.
Beginning Thursday:
Changes include the merger of our Thursday Living section into our Weekend magazine. This means that on Thursdays, the comics, puzzles, horoscope, bridge column, Dear Abby and Dr. Donohue columns and television listings will appear in Weekend. Our Classified listings get a new home each Thursday on the back of the Local section.
While I understand that you may miss certain features and reading habits, I hope you'll appreciate our explanations and understand the need for these changes. We're very proud of our award-winning journalism and we work hard each and every day to cover the top stories in our community. These changes will help us continue this critically important work.....
-- Ali Zoibi is president and publisher of the Democrat and Chronicle.
Link to his full column:
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20090104/OPINION0108/901020353/1008/OPINION
6:39: Oh yeah, great deal on insurance if you want to pay thousands in deductibles. I'll stick with COBRA unless something more affordable comes along.
ReplyDelete@12:15 Could this be due to locale? I found an excellent plan with low copays and $1,500 deductibles.
ReplyDelete