Thursday, January 08, 2009
Thursday | Jan. 8 | Your News & Comments
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42 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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Always remember: It's nice to be important -- but it's important to be nice.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the Louisiana operations... if Shreveport is waiting on a new press, maybe they could take the 1994 MAN Roland out of Poughkeepsie. Then, they'd have enough iron to run Monroe and Shreveport. In fact, there might be many-a-press available for Shreveport to upgrade.
ReplyDeleteSo, Hattiesburg is the first to move to the new GM model (that I know of). Ok, let's be realistic here. If I am a publisher at a daily with a circulation of less than, say, 40,000, am I going to sit tight and wait for the phone call? Or is it time to start looking for work? If Gannett can convert 40 newspapers to a model where the strongest manager in the building signs the checks, they save $20 million a year.
ReplyDeleteDown with the company cars. Out with the expense reports. Gone are the country club memberships and free gas. Cut out the bennies and stock options. Not to mention the highest salary in the building.
Gannett will wait about, er - three weeks to see if Hattiesburg is working relatively well. And then start working on the GM plan with the added Cluster Publisher nearby for assistance.
Southern Louisiana has a publisher - GM set up. It's not new... but it might become more common.
ReplyDeleteI'm shocked, shocked! that no one posted the URL to the Non Sequitor comic strip for 1/6/2009
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/74bjpe
I've waited long enough for Larry St Cyr .........Krista Mueller now to the rescue !!!
ReplyDeleteWe've had GM's in some of the smaller Wisconsin papers for a few years.
ReplyDelete11:56 is correct, a benefit is that the expectations of a GM position's bennies are lower than a publisher's.
FYI...South Louisiana no longer has the publisher/GM setup. The GM in Opelousas was let go a few months back and has not been replaced. That paper also has no editors, one reporter and one photographer. If there are any rumblings about Louisiana operations, it wouldn't be surprising if Opelousas shut down or was consolidated with Lafayette.
ReplyDeleteThere is also no GM in Lafayette, just an EE, ME and various directors.
WHY DIDN'T I THINK TO DO THAT DEPARTMENT:
ReplyDeleteFrom the Dear Bev column on the MediaDailyNews.com website on the topic of how to get one last thing out of the boss who just fired you.
Bev says: Your ex-boss is probably feeling guilty or remorseful--or hey, just plain sympathetic. In another month, he or she is onto the next set of challenges and the window to ask for help may not be open nearly as wide.
Some things to consider:
*Ask for a simple letter of recommendation. Your ex-boss may agree to sign one for you, but chances are he/she doesn't have time to compose it--guilty conscience or not. Offer to write a draft that your ex-boss can edit. Keep it simple, short and to the point. The letter should be written on your ex-boss's letterhead and signed.
*Ask if your ex-boss is willing to be a reference. My advice is probe deeper than being satisfied with a yes. Find out if he/she would have any issues about giving you a positive recommendation. You want to have some indication of how you'll fare on the applause meter: enthusiastic endorsement or damning with faint praise.
*Ask other executives or peers in your company to be a reference. This is a good idea for multiple reasons a)you're not sure your boss will say the things a new employer will want to hear (positive words from others in your company will go a long way to balancing a lukewarm reference); b)your ex-boss is out of town and can't be reached when there's a deadline on your reference check; or c)your new employer may want multiple references from your most recent employer. Have them lined up in advance.
And finally:
*Ask for help. Your ex-boss (or possibly that person's boss) probably has a great professional network. Ask them to put it to work for you. Chances are, they'll agree.
Enough about ASHEVILLE today: We all know about the publisher and his to cronies from marketing.
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteAlways remember: It's nice to be important, but it's important to be rich and powerful and crush anyone or anything in your way...
In the departments of: We are Not Alone and We Feel Your Pain....
ReplyDeleteFrom the Guardian (UK) -- Newsquest Essex is set to cut up to 13 Colchester Gazette journalists, including the editor, as part of a plan to move the subbing and editorial management of the daily paper to Basildon.
The Colchester Gazette's editor, deputy editor, five subeditors, two picture desk staff and four admin employees are to be made redundant as part of the proposed changes, from an editorial staff of around 50.
Under the proposals the Colchester Gazette will drop from two to one daily edition, which will be overseen editorially from the Basildon Echo office, 40 miles away. However, reporters will remain in Colchester, which will effectively be turned into a district office.
"It makes no sense all: news editors will be in Basildon, while their reporting staff will be based in Colchester," a Newsquest source told MediaGuardian.co.uk.
The National Union of Journalists condemned the proposals, which follow hard on the heels of a string of other cuts that Newsquest, which is owned by US media giant Gannett, has made across the country in the last few weeks.
"The daily paper in the area will effectively be an edition of the Basildon publication," said the NUJ general secretary. "There are no public transport links between Colchester and Basildon. Our members in Colchester calculate it would take them two and a half hours to travel into London and out again to the Newsquest office on the outskirts of Basildon."
http://www.slate.com/id/2207912/?gt1=38001
ReplyDeleteinteresting post about newspapers and the web
az pressman
Anon@1148P: Shreveport is converting to Berliner format, thus the presses from Poughkeepsie won't be used at the Times.
ReplyDeleteLike the quote, however in the Gannett atmosphere, the "important" people are far from nice and those who are nice don't get very far. At Gannett, the only return you get on being nice is more work, more stress and people taking great advantage of you. Unfortunate, but true.
ReplyDeleteThe publisher in Green Bay wrote an editorial about how wonderful he was for not laying off anyone in news or sales. I wonder what he'll say in February when he has no other choice.
ReplyDeleteHow true, 12:08.
ReplyDeleteAnd those who are the nicest are the first to get laid off.
FYI the total cost of a publisher at a smaller community papaer is nowhere near $250,000 let alone $500,000 a pop. I'd expect that eliminating 40 community publisher spots would save $7-$10 million not $20m. After taxes bottom line savings will be $5-7m.
ReplyDeleteYour wrong - the Publisher package is probably close to $300,000(average) at the community papers - that includes all the perks. It's time to do away with them and save the money.
ReplyDeleteanyone want a director from Westchester? please? anyone? save us?
ReplyDeleteFound this on another Web site. Anything to it?
ReplyDelete"Gannett is predicting a third quarter upturn with plans to take "citizen journalist" to an extreme, replacing all staff with minimum wage citizens interested in becoming journalists.
"Who is on their board of directors and anyone know what kind of salary they get?"
12:54 The only people in the company that matter are in news or sales everyone else is treated like they are mindless idiots.
ReplyDelete1:27 People skills are not considered important in Gannett or how would we have ended up with the lack of inspirational leaders that we have. Dickey and Debow have no noticeable traces of personalities. They propagate milk toast management throughout the organization.
$300k publisher? Wrong company, bucko. Even if you add the free pencils they get at a small paper it's significantly less than that.
ReplyDeleteAs for first GM, there are at least 10 of them.
ReplyDeleteOff Westchester's internal site:
ReplyDeleteTJN doing single-copy delivery
for several newspapers
The Journal News has signed agreements with several area publishers to deliver their newspapers to area single copy retailers. We now deliver the New York Post, Wall Street Journal, Barron's and El Diario. USA Today and The (Bergen, N.J.) Record to select retail locations. The deliveries started Monday, Jan. 5.
This is good news for all of us at a time of declining business conditions. Not only does this stabilize staffing in our transportation and single copy departments, but we'll also be doing some hiring as some routes are split to ensure on-time delivery. In addition, we'll add a few support positions in the Packaging Center and Single Copy.
We also now print The Poughkeepsie Journal. That also started Monday, Jan. 5
I heard today that 35 more people are going to be laid off at the Pensacola News Journal.
ReplyDeleteAny Pensacola people hear anything about this? I was laid off in December. No big deal to me, but I know some very nice and hard working people who are still at the paper. I was out and about today, ran into someone who told me.
Any news on the Marymount conference call? Where are we headed?
ReplyDeleteI'm a former journalist and now in PR. I've got a job opening and wanted to post it here. I know how hard journalists work and that their skills translate to the PR field. Here's the link.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nwtf.org/contact_us/jobs.html
Publisher for a small newspaper at Gannett less than 40k circulation is around $175k to $250k.
ReplyDeleteGood lord! I just read Currie's farewell NewsWatch. It is perhaps the most corny, cliched glob of writing he's ever spewed. And if you read between the lines, it speaks volumes about how clueless GCI execs are about what it takes to produce a good newspaper.
ReplyDeleteForgive me for being ignorant, but what's the difference between a publisher and a general manager, besides the title? They're still in charge, right?
ReplyDeleteNot sure how many folks work in corporate roles at the mother ship in McLean, but with all of these cuts at the community newspapers one would think that they'd take a look at their corporate model and start trimming the fat.
ReplyDeleteI think DuBow is too costly of a CEO for such a relatively small company. Since he is doing such a horrible job and killing the business anyway, why not just promote someone from the ranks and pay them $1 million to be the CEO? That would save $6 million in salary, perks and stock. Does Gannett really need a public spokesperson? C'mon these are media folks, can't they just let one of the VPs do double duty and talk on the company's behalf?
I do think that there is "fat" left to trim at the community newspapers. Performance reviews need to be a factor in who gets booted. And, does a newsroom with 60 employees (over 20 of them classified as managers or supervisors) really need 20 copy editors? For that matter, wouldn't it make more sense to flatten the management ranks in places where there are obviously too many salary folks?
Don't directors, publishers and all of their bosses at corporate have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that shareholder value is not diminished by eliminating quality people which will in turn diminish quality of products and revenues?
I'm just wondering when the fiduciary responsibility catches up with all of these folks. Frankly, a lot of directors, publishers and corporate folks act as though they are playing with their own money.
yeah, well, I tried to facebook that non sequitor comic strip and that site is pretty clunky.
ReplyDeleteseriously ... do click on the link .... it belongs on a lot of newspaper bulletin boards
I worked at a Gannett paper for almost two years and never, ever once saw the publisher.
ReplyDeletePutting all the newspapers in one basket and demanding a totality of profits ignores individuality and individual markets. Any approach that shifts towards a profit-margin focus misses the real point about newspapers (media). Newspapers are a business BUT they also are a community asset and provide a service. When we allow Wall Street demands and demands for sustained profits regardless of market conditions, we ignore what newspapers really are. They are a business first meant to serve the LOCAL community above and before Wall Street or personal interests.
ReplyDeleteThey do need to remain profitable, but the level should be reasonable before the community it serves is diminished by a long-profiting entity unwilling to be flexible in its approach to individual markets.
Do not penalize one newspaper for another newspaper's fast decline. Each has to respond to its given situation, for the community's sake.
In the end, newspapers aren't a widget factory where profitability can be tweaked by turning the line up or down. It is an amorphous thing of beauty where the ebbs and flows of an individual market actual help the newspaper serve at a pace commensurate with what is needed. A community will support it when it BELIEVES the operation is focused on local interests and not profit margins. Communities do understand their local newspapers need to be profitable, If they actually knew the profit of some markets where cuts were made, they might have more to say about some of the cuts.
Jim, you're a tech-oriented guy. With all this Freedom Forum research, I'm still surprised you haven't commented on USA Today's new electronic product for the Kindle. iPhone too.
ReplyDeletehttp://tylerrealestateresources.com/writer-wanted/
ReplyDeletehave no idea if this is legit or not, came across it on craigslist
7:58 PM wrote:
ReplyDelete"I worked at a Gannett paper for almost two years and never, ever once saw the publisher."
Then I'd say you should consider yourself lucky!
You sure do talk pretty, 8:40 p.m., and I agree with every one of those pretty words. The problem is, the people in charge sneer at words like "community asset." And sentiments like these:
ReplyDelete"They are a business first meant to serve the LOCAL community above and before Wall Street or personal interests.
They do need to remain profitable, but the level should be reasonable before the community it serves is diminished by a long-profiting entity unwilling to be flexible in its approach to individual markets.
Do not penalize one newspaper for another newspaper's fast decline. Each has to respond to its given situation, for the community's sake."
Well, sentiments like these are absolutely true -- I believe to the core of my being that newspapers are to serve the local community above and beyond any other interest. The people in charge don't even know what you're talking about. As Upton Sinclair said: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."
The USA Today iPhone app is very cool. I dont see how it brings in money being that it was free and there are no adds except for one ad trying to sell another Gannett iPhone game app. Keep giving away the store and wonder where the profits all went. I dont care much though, I already quit and left that sinking ship. I feel bad for people with newspaper specific jobs. The rest of you should be finding another job if you have skills and are under 45. Dont just bitch and wait to be laid off just go find another job. Gannett sucks for sure. Every day its something new that sucks about Gannett. Why bother with it? F them!
ReplyDeletefirst of all there is no 8.40, 12.55 you must mean 8.52 he hit it right on the head but it seems like the journalists and news media of the 80's and 90's and before now , as he said, the profit margins and with the corporate people that need to make 300% compared to the common laborer raises has no time for excuses all they care about is the money going up the pyramid and are ready in gannett to compromise circulation and quality news articles on others people liveihoods and children, It would mean nothing to them to drive a newspaper in the ground , lay off numerous people , get a tax writeoff as all the rich people do and still get their golden parachute while the unemployed and the workers pay for their greed and keep the profits up on layoffs! Wake up!The past eight years wallstreet has raped the common taxpayer...............oh but your Are right democrats , according to the republicans always raise taxes but republicans , in charge for full 6 years have proven they rape the american wallet with scandels and deregulation that cost us trillions!!!!!! I wish their was an answer but CEO's are overpaid and there needs to be laws and regulations! Bring me back to the 70's with true and honest newspapers............please!
ReplyDeleteIf publishers are going, oh PLEASE GOD, take Kim Roegner from Fort Collins! All she is doing and has done since she got here is run this paper further into the red. Her decisions so far with the advertising department, (or what’s left of it) is killing us.
ReplyDelete