I couldn't make this up if I tried. A reliable Gannett Blog tipster says Corporate sent a human resources representative to the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, N.J., yesterday after the Big Cheeses in McLean, Va., got a letter describing a serious state of low morale in the newsroom. OK: We all know newsrooms are hothouses of unhappy journalists, so what could possibly have happened to raise such alarm bells?In an earlier note, my tipster gives the backstory: "Two months back, it was discovered that someone defecated on the floor of the editorial men's restroom. It went 13 hours before being cleaned up, I might add. 13 hours. The 'evidence' was nowhere near any of the toilets, so one of the operations folks designated it an act of vandalism. . . . The event was christened 'Poopgate.' Fast forward to today when the same thing happened in the editorial women's restroom."
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[Image: this morning's Courier-Post, Newseum]
Rochester had a similar issue around a year and a half or two years ago . . . several episodes in one of the women's restrooms.
ReplyDeleteThe company spent more money on cleaning and disinfecting that year than they did on Christmas bonuses for the rank and file. Oh, wait, that isn't saying much . . .
I love the fact that it sat in the men's room for 13 hours. Sounds like even the janitorial staff has been pared down.
ReplyDeleteChristmas bonus? What's a Christmas bonus?
ReplyDeleteAn employee simply did what management has been doing to the paper's editorial staff and reputation for the last two years. There has been a mass exodus of top talent for over a year and nothing's been done to stop the bleeding.
ReplyDeleteAs for Christmas bonuses, it's a card from the publisher with his name stamped on it. It's touching.
There was a similar problem in Rochester? Somehow I missed that!
ReplyDeleteYes, janitorial staff has been pared down in Cherry hill. And the newsroom staff. And the IT staff. And the HR staff.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that some newsroom stars think their s**t doesn't stink, the restroom editorial comment likely didn't make much of a stir.
ReplyDeleteNow, if the offering had been left in the newsroom, on an editor's desk or in front of the publisher's office, THAT might have signaled some serious unrest.
Two more high-level editors have vanished
ReplyDeletenewsies there have been shitting ink on paper for years...no wonder that paper has had its ass kicked by the Inky, even in the years when the Inky has been losing circ it has grown in CAMDEN's back yeard
ReplyDeleteThere is so much more to this than the crap on the floor - which was not what brought the magi from McLean. As is often the case with this blog, it's missing the point.
ReplyDeletePoopgate? How about Extreme Makeover-gate. In the summer, the paper spent a week blowing out coverage of Extremem Makeover: Home Edition on the front page every day. That was the most steady ink the "Camden Courier-Post" has given to Camden in months, maybe years, a TV show being filmed. A nice event deserving of a few stories, yes. But front page every day for a week?
ReplyDeleteA source inside the newsroom there tells me the paper doesn't even have a Camden beat reporter anymore and no dedicated political/investigative reporter since their guy who did that bailed a few months back. She says the mood is really bad among the staff because of consistently poor journalistic decisions and too much being on everyone's plate because of steady staff reductions.
The truth about Cherry Hill is that it has long been a cash cow for Gannett, bottom-lined to death and, with very few exceptions, a journalistic Siberia for crappy Gannett editors. As a result, not even the mighty Inquirer, with its pre-downturn financial might, could hurt it. But the latest management, in and out of the newsroom, might just finish it off.
ReplyDeletepoor management has been bringing the courier post down for years. the employees are ruled thru fear and the average 2.5 percent raises are less than acceptable. bad morale is an understatement.
ReplyDeletethe courier has laid off a lot of people in the past year but they dont call it a lay off. they say "the position went dark." their not re-hiring when people quit either. the left over workers are expected to pick up the slack. not to mention gannett wants to start out sourcing their graphic design work to india. WTF!
ReplyDeleteHas anyone made the connection that the Courier-Post is run by the same EJ Mitchell who got demoted from the Tennessean a year and a half ago and sent to Cherry Hill?
ReplyDeleteIt was never made clear what caused his demotion, but there's plenty of stuff online about how poorly he ran things there. Apparently there was an exodus there too while he was there.
interesting.
ReplyDeleteThere's another connection between Silverman and E.J. Mitchell: They worked together for four years at the Detroit News. Silverman was editor+publisher, and Mitchell was his managing editor. Silverman gave Mitchell a tutorial on how to be a really bad manager and how to ruthlessly carry out Gannett corporate agendas. Mitchell was promoted to editor of Nashville. About a year later, Mitchell was sent to Cherry Hill and Silverman began his reign of terror and error in the Music City.
ReplyDeletebad morale in All Department's including production.
ReplyDeleteI was into this until I saw Cherry Hill was a cash cow. Wow. That's a new one. Cash loss is more like it, being one of several sites that are significantly below industry norms.
ReplyDeleteBad morale implies there's any morale at all. This is a common problem among NJ Gannett properties. At the Asbury Park Press things are similarly bad. Skip Hidlay is doing his best EJ Mitchell impression and screaming at the people who work hard and beating on the staff for daring to ask for overtime, yet expecting them to work significant numbers of extra hours to do web stories, write for the daily and blog. Reporters are expected to work 24-7 or damn close without so much as a thank you, let alone compensation. And because they've been investigated twice by Labor Department, they make employees lie on their time sheets, writing down hours that don't reflect their actual work days.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I sympathize with employees working under poor management, they're not indentured servants. There's always the door, and other options besides the rut they're in. Maybe some of these people need a fresh start?
ReplyDeleteThe above post is completely true.
ReplyDeleteBeen there, done that. The ones who can, flee, but its a much harder proposition when you're talking about a two-income family. Uprooting a spouse and kids, especially when you've invested a life's work at a place like Asbury, is extremely difficult. Unless your spouse has a job that's easily portable to another state, the options in Jersey are pretty limited, especially if you want to stay in newspapers.
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised somebody shit on Gannett property. Gannett's management and newsroom style has shit on so many good journalists they don't deserve to have as many 'news' properties as they do. I am a former staffer, will never be again and I do have an ax to grind. I was hired by EJ to work at The Tennessean, which turned out to be my admission into HELL. And no sooner was EJ moved to Cherry Hill that Tennessean Gannetteers (ick on the term) thought they were saved by severely more hellish (and mentor of EJ) Mark Silverman, a Gannett cracked egg if there ever was one. This is proof that this company TRAINS its management types this way. This guy is a mean-spirited, callous jerk who doesn't give a rat's ass about his troops. And Leifeld (TN pub) is not an iota better. She's turned 'news' into filler for ADS.
ReplyDeleteThis company, like our country, controls its people with fear. The Tennessean is such a downtrodden place to be people have been jumping ship for nearly three years straight. I did it, I survived and AM so glad I lived to talk about.
With the upper-upper management heading to Cherry Hill, seems like the shit is about to really hit the fan.
I blogged about The Tennessean on my own site, http://blog.llmetropolis.com
The entry is in Jan and called Ranting Validation...if interested in the scene there...
Watch out CP employees. Corporate's probably coming up to get DNA swabs from everyone. Poop does contain DNA!
ReplyDeleteif this is a repost im sorry but the day after they announced outsourcing to the advertising art dept., someone shit all over the bathroom in that dept. too. hummmm. poopgate part 2.
ReplyDeleteGannett stock went up since having it's employees take a 5% pay cut as of November 8th
ReplyDeleteThere is few fluctuation on Gannett stock.
ReplyDelete