Friday, February 27, 2009
Friday | Feb. 27 | Your News & Comments
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106 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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Frist!
ReplyDeleteUh, first...
Gannett sucks, btw.
Second
ReplyDeleteLarry St. Cyr to the rescue!!!!!!!!
Who the hell is Larry St. Cyr.? and what the fuck is he gonna rescue?
ReplyDeleteBill Albrect will beat him to the rescue first!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete11:49 PM
ReplyDeleteWatch your language little lady
"Jim Hopkins is so dumb ..."
ReplyDelete"How dumb is he?"
"Jim Hopkins is so dumb that when someone told him Rocky's last day is Friday, he said: 'Someone killed (blank)?'"
Our ad director was given a week's notice that he was going to be at corporate all week. He will be back Friday night. We have been told "This is routine-probably training!"
ReplyDeleteInteresting reading in Advertising Age:
ReplyDeleteIt's Not Newspapers in Peril; It's Their Owners
"The country's biggest newspaper publisher, Gannett, is rolling in layoffs and busily writing down its own estimated value. But excluding one-time charges such as severance and write-downs, its newspapers -- from big markets such as Phoenix to small towns such as Ithaca, N.Y. -- produced an 18% operating profit margin last year."
(Don't forget to get to the bottom for the corrections before saying anything about the Rocky Mountain news.)
today is going to be a great day!
ReplyDeleteA couple of weeks ago, someone posted about a 5 percent paycut. I overheard managers talking about this today, saying it would not be noticed by employees because the government is cutting federal witholding taxes on paychecks. Clever. GCI could squeeze money out of employees, but they would not really notice it because their paychecks would not change after April 1.
ReplyDelete2/26/2009 8:03 PM
Isn't this the date (or close to the date) when payroll is going paperless and we won't get physical pay stubs anymore?
http://images.craigslist.org/3ne3k23o8ZZZZZZZZZ92q821cbc48da89179d.jpg
ReplyDelete1:57 what does that have to do with anything of importance to our discussions?
ReplyDeleteJim Please remove this.
Joe Duffus to the rescue!!!!
ReplyDeleteKen Berry to the rescue!!!
ReplyDeleteThe Indians called, they want to buy Gannett for $24 worth of beads and trinkets.
ReplyDeleteLet's take that deal before they wise up.
Most sites have been paperless for more than a year. Ours went paperless early in 2008.
ReplyDelete12:16 Stallone
ReplyDeleteThe Rocky Mountain News did not have to fail....it is poor management that failed the paper, I have never worked there nor been in that city, but looking at the #'s someone could have made it work with creative thinking..any paper of that size can make it with creative thinking..including Gannett papers. Even if I am old it does not mean that old school always rules...this is a new time and if someone were to ask me, I could save the large papers millions of dollar per paper and still keep most of the jobs, each paper should think for themselves and not wait for Gannett to TELL them what to do, their is one paper that I worked at, where a few changes would save them 1.3 mil a year x the other 12 large papers in Gannett or $156,000,000 a year....the sad factor is that it is hiding right in front of each Publishers eyes. Please quit being fat dumb and happy. They need to look at their books and question it on their your own, nobody is going to do it for you other then Big Brother telling you to do so.....so shine now and get it done!
ReplyDeleteI know the economy sucks. No doubt about that. However, has the sad financial state of newspapers and media in general helped to make the situation seem worse?
ReplyDeleteIf your job is in peril (which it probably is) does it make reporters take a more negative approach to the news.
I'm a little surprised there hasn't been any mention of another Gannett decision this week that I think, all things considered, was a wise one.
ReplyDeleteKPNX in Phoenix is grounding its helicopter and instead pooling it with three other stations in town.
From the KPNX wikipedia page: On February 24, 2009 it was announced that KTVK, KPHO-TV and KPNX will share a helicopter starting March 1, 2009.
Maybe this will allow them to keep a reporter/videographer doing some local reporting.
Are other Gannett stations dumping their helos?
1:12 a.m. - We've been paperless for a while now too.
ReplyDeleteThis place is crazy. Morale what it is, people are going to start seeing visions and hidden signs in their morning coffee, if they want to.
Not saying things aren't shady, but 1:12 - don't read TOO MUCH into anything right now. For your own sanity.
COURIER NEWS CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT TO THE RESCUE......OOPS.. WE ARE ALL SCREWED. THE WHOLE CN CIRC DEPARTMENT HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN LAYED OFF.... C1 SUCKS AND C2 IS WORKING ON HER HUMAN BIDET SKILLS. Y'ALL DON'T BE SAD YOU DON'T HAVE A JOB, JUST HOOLA HOOP!!!
ReplyDeleteLarry St. Cyr is one of the smartest financial people in Gannett.
ReplyDeleteVP of circulation is out of the office for the week and on furlough next week. In the meantime, the rest of the circulation executives are afraid of making executive decisions, even to save money.
ReplyDeleteA couple of weeks ago, someone posted about a 5 percent paycut. I overheard managers talking about this today, saying it would not be noticed by employees because the government is cutting federal witholding taxes on paychecks. Clever. GCI could squeeze money out of employees, but they would not really notice it because their paychecks would not change after April 1.
ReplyDelete2/26/2009 8:03 PM
They would have to announce this, wouldn't they? I am looking forward to that $65 a month my family will get under the stimulus package. I don't see why GCI should get any part of it.
"KTVK, KPHO-TV and KPNX will share a helicopter"
ReplyDeleteThis will also keep them from running into one another... killing four people as it did.
It's liability issue, too.
GCI breaking through $3.50 historic low mark, and heading lower. Soon we will all be like the Rocky employees today, and out on the sidewalk.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the real scoop? Layoffs coming again? Any confirmation where/who/what? What are these meetings about in Virginia?
ReplyDeleteJim...help?
Moody's cut it's ratings on Gannett into junk territory.
ReplyDeletehttp://uk.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idUKN2654092320090226
Larry St. Cyr can't find a way to pull his head out of his anus!
ReplyDeleteDan Donaghy to the Rescue!!!! Now that guy is a winner (NOT!)
Re: Anon 9:51
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of liability, a true, funny, sad story.
When photographers from the AZ Republic had to fly on the KPNX helicopter for assignments they were forced to sign a liability waiver before the flight relieving Gannett of any liability in the event the helo crashed and they were injured or killed.
It was all boilerplate stuff and they always signed it but I can't help but wonder how enforceable it was. You're sent by the paper to fly on the company's helo and it crashes and you can't sue the folks who made you fly on it as a part of your job responsibility? WTF?
"Jim Hopkins is so dumb that when someone told him Rocky's last day is Friday, he said: 'Someone killed (blank)?'"
ReplyDelete...."a squirrel!"
Tara Connell to be named President of Content One. Does anyone actually believe she is qualified for role? I used to work with her at USA Today and they fired her and someone brought her back from the dead.
ReplyDeleteI know for sure, she won't get our support from the rank and file in USAT. I think we would all walk out.
Now what in the world would make Gannett think they even need a president for ContentOne?
ReplyDeleteRE: "Now what in the world would make Gannett think they even need a president for ContentOne?"
ReplyDelete1) Because this company is addicted to overpriced, under talented executives.
Add your reason to the list.
This company thrives on faulty logic. Why doesn't someone---anyone---just go through a job roster and ask two simple questions:
ReplyDelete1. What will the products look like without this position?
2. What will the stock price do without this position?
Gannett is making this way too difficult. Just set some measurable goals, articulate them clearly and then staff---once and for all---in ways that support success.
It's time to get beyond nimble and move into focus mode.
@10:39 Your suggestion makes too much sense. Which is why it will never be implemented.
ReplyDelete"Those who don't understand the past are destined to repeat it."
There's been plenty of incompetence in Connell's PR department; that says enough as to what type of a manager she is.
ReplyDeleteA tourist walked into a pet store and was looking at the animals on display. While he was there, a man walked in and said to the shopkeeper, "I'll take an A2 monkey, please."
ReplyDeleteThe shopkeeper nodded, went to a cage at the side of the store and took out a monkey. He put a collar and leash on the animal and handed it to the man, saying, "That'll be $2,000, please." The man paid and left with the monkey.
The surprised tourist went to the shopkeeper and said, "That was a very expensive monkey. Most of them are only a few hundred dollars. Why did that one cost so much?"
The shopkeeper answered, "Ah, that's an A2 Reporter monkey, he can attend a meeting, take notes and interview officials, and write a tight 15-inch story on deadline. It's well worth the money".
The tourist then spotted a monkey in another cage. "That one's even more expensive! $10,000! What does it do?" he asked.
"Oh, that one" replied the shopkeeper. "That's an A3 Editor monkey. It can instruct at all levels of reporting and writing at the beginner, intermediate and expert levels, and coach writers on special reports and in-depth investigative reporting. A very useful monkey indeed".
The tourist looked around a little longer and found a third monkey in a cage. The price tag was $50,000. The shocked tourist exclaimed, "This one costs more than all the others put together! What in the world can it do?"
"Actually," said the shopkeeper, "I've never actually seen him do anything but drink beer and play with his dick, but his papers say he's a Publisher."
10:39
ReplyDeleteUsing your criteria would you still have a job? Just asking, not criticizing.
10:13 here's one for you. Who's ever been qualified or educated for that matter to begin with?? Should take a look at our place in Jersey. I think the average on the business side is 12th grade.
ReplyDeleteWhere is Kate Marymont? Why aren't we hearing something, anything from her? Where is the journalistic leadership within Gannett?
ReplyDelete10:48 am and others on Connell: As much as her title, we really want to know who she will report to in this new role: Saridakis? Dickey? Dubow?!
ReplyDeletePlus, who will report to her, and how big a budget will she and ContentOne get, if this really goes down.
10:13. I think you are technically wrong. Connell wasn't fired. She quit, and with good reason from what I hear. I also think you are off base in assuming everyone disliked her. I am not at the paper anymore, but I always found her to be passionate about her work and communicated well with the folks she respected and who respected her. Problems arose when people wanted to get into petty turf wars. That has always been a problem at USAT. Probably still is. It's also the basis for many ruined relationships there. And there has always been WAY too many cooks in the kitchen at that paper. That's why I am kind of surprised USAT hasn't laid off more managers.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone looked into, or do you know, how the new COBRA law will work?
ReplyDeleteDo I have to get in touch with the HR department or will the insurance company send me information on signing up?
I was let go in November and turned down COBRA because it was a weeks unemployment.
Thanks
Also, does anyone know who to contact about pensions? No one in my (former) HR department knows and it's been 8 weeks since I sent it in requesting my money.
I concur with 11:15. There are too many managers at USA TODAY, particularly in the newsroom, and particularly at the DME or lateral(slightly up or down) levels. And all these managers seem to do is have meetings that get nothing accomplished or screw up things even more with horrible decisions and ridiculous "plans."
ReplyDeleteTo make matters worse, there are probably too few editors on the front lines, actually doing the work. Teaching, motivating, editing, thinking, fixing, etc.
Also, too few good communicators exist at USAT. Gosh, the inability to express a simple idea, let alone inspire anyone, is so prevalent in these folks that you have to wonder how they got where they did in this company. Not saying they are all like that, but the vast majority are seriously lacking.
The paper needs more organized, in-the-trenches editors and less of these 9-to-5 meeting hounds with virtually no talent or people skills. Things need to be fixed and the people in place aren't getting the job done. In fact, things feel much worse than they were just a couple years ago, and you can't blame it all on the economy or furloughs. Something has just become very dysfunctional at USAT, and it would appear the responsibility falls upon those in leadership positions.
Maybe it's just a matter of there being too many managers, or maybe it's a matter of the wrong people being in the wrong jobs. But something has to improve soon.
The pension problem is haunting me, too. There appears to be great inefficiencies with getting the payouts. It's somewhat random, I think. Hopefully the money hasn't run out! Some folks got their paperwork and money already, without having to pursue a thing with HR or corporate. But many are being stalled, given the runaround. I have had to call to get my papers. Then I had to call again for something else. Now I am getting another song and dance about why I haven't received my money. It really rubs salt into the wounds we all have. In my case, getting the money is going to take a minimum of four months, through no fault of my own, from the time I was let go. I did everything correctly, but Gannett is still dragging its feet for some unknown reason. If the money doesn't come next month, I am considering hiring an attorney.
ReplyDeleteSeems to me like the problems at USAT are the same problems we're hearing about at many other publications, just at a larger, perhaps more visible scale.
ReplyDeleteOh, God...don't get me started on pension payout delays! If anyone needs just one example of the incompetence and/or deceit that exists at Gannett, look no further than how so many of the former employees are being treated regarding their pensions.
ReplyDelete11:19 Anyone who declined COBRA coverage since 9/1/08 will be given the opportunity to reapply with a start date of 3/1/09. You will only be eligible for the 18 months (more in certain cases) starting from your original loss of coverage, but the first 9 months will be subsidized at 65% of the cost. The guidelines are a little unclear, but the assumption is that you will have at least 30 days following receipt of the letter to comply.
ReplyDelete"We LOVE OUR WONDERFUL NEWSPAPERS HERE IN NEW JERSEY" EXCEPT FOR THE STAR LEDGER
ReplyDelete1:12, I'm surprised you still get paper for your paychecks. I'm pretty sure that option went away when MNI bought us. With Knight-Ridder you could always look up anything you needed. With the MNI beanies, I was told you have to be IN the building because it's only on the intranet. How wanked is that? I can't even get my own pay information in my own home?!
ReplyDeleteIt looks more and more like Gannett will fold the Tucson Citizen next month.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that the bean counter are not counting the revenue losses when you cut your returns and routes that are profitable. If you cut retuns by 10% lets say 1000 copies at 13 cents daily to print you save $130.00 per day.You loose 335 sales per day at .37 cents wholesale $124.00 plus advertising loss?
ReplyDeleteChuck,
ReplyDeleteHere's some more breaking news.
Just kidding.
Yeah. Tucson. What's going there? Everybody getting the boot in a couple of weeks? Should they bring in their kids like some did at Rocky Mountain News? Will those losses of payroll in Tucson help avoid layoffs across the board?
ReplyDeletedoes anyone know math anymore? A 5 per cent cut is a lot more than $65a month.
ReplyDeleteCould someone explain how horrible papers like the Courier News, HNT, Gloucester County Times, etc. continue to survive in New Jersey?
ReplyDelete1:57 You must work for USAT. The witholding reduction only applies to those earning less than $95,000 a year, so USAT employees aren't included.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteUpdate on my pension situation.
ReplyDeleteI was let go in November, but waited until after the first of the year to sent in pension info.
I just got it today. 8 weeks from the time I sent it in.
Hey APP.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever get the feeling that the management in Neptune graduated from the "F-Troop" school of management??? Some with high honors!!!
And so the Rocky is gone. It wasn't the first, and unfortunately, it won't be the last. See http://herex0.tripod.com/ or click over to http://moorparkmedia.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteto Jim Hopkins - please delete @2:26. no-one needs this dork's opinion of 'ugly' women.
ReplyDeletethanks. great blog.
Adjusted for INFLATION $3.24 is lowest price since GANNETT went Public in 1967.
ReplyDeleteGreat work you smiling dolts....(Board & Executives - (great pictures annual report)). Phenomenal anticipatory management skills. Almost Jedi-like.
I stand by my assessment. If Mansfield hadn't been so embarrassed by what they had done that they yanked the photo gallery, I could easily prove my point.
ReplyDeleteIf you MUST run pictures of people competing in a striper pole dancing contest, at least confine the shots to those who would conceivably win said competition.
While some of the shots were estetically acceptable, some were best described as... portly.
Regardless, it was a crass, tasteless attempt at jumping page views on the website. and maybe draw advertisers??? Not very likely.
A 9 percent drop in GCI, setting an historic low of $3.24 and making the company now worth barely $700 million. That is $300 million less than two weeks ago. For God's sake, corporate wake up.
ReplyDeleteSomething to consider when we hear Craig and Gracia use the excuses about the "Economy" hurting Gannett;
ReplyDelete04-05-2004 GCI= $90.00
10-09-2007 GCI= $45.00
Decline of 50%
04-05-2004 Dow Jones Ind Ave 10,558
10-09-2007 Dow Jones Ind Ave 14,043
Increase of 33%
02-27-2009 GCI= $3.28
02-27-2009 Dow Jones Ind Ave 7,120
$10,000 In on 04-05-2004 would be worth today:
GCI = $364.44
Dow Jones Ind Ave $6,743.70
"Look at that Ohio paper doing a photo gallery of a striper contest at a bar! Bet that was fun, wholesome entertainment for the church-goers of Mansfield! Ha!"
ReplyDeleteMy God, a striper contest. How shocking!
"Look at that Ohio paper doing a photo gallery of a striper contest at a bar! Bet that was fun, wholesome entertainment for the church-goers of Mansfield! Ha!"
ReplyDeleteMy God, a striper contest. How shocking!
3.26/share ?!?! This puppy is almost gone. This is what you get when assholes run the company and hire aholes to run the community papers.
ReplyDeleteWe are all heading down the path to becoming the next Rocky Mountain News.
ReplyDeleteWe are paperless in Jersey,that is nothing to wipe with
ReplyDeleteSorry it hasn't really been articulated today, but NJ NEWSPAPERS SUCK and NJ MANAGEMENT SUCKS MUCH MORE!
ReplyDeleteBeing somewhat of a lady who has been asked to "accommodate" some of the male managerial personnel, most notably the Indian "gentleman" who is now gone, I believe that the ethics of management are as low as their morals. What I had to do to get my salary adjusted to slightly above minimum wage is scandalous. My minister fainted when I told him about it!
Had I not done what Boom-Z-Boom advised, I would be unemployed now.
BREAKING: New flagship launched.
ReplyDelete"Gannett Yesterday"
A retrospective of the people, papers and stock prices from days gone by.
Street price: $325M
Home Delivery: Not offered.
4:22 If you are paperless, what are those 4-ply deliveries the publisher gets each evening in his bathroom?
ReplyDelete2:15
ReplyDelete$65 a month is 5 per cent of $1,200a month, $14,000 a year. How many full timers in Gannett are only making that???
Hey, did Gannett hit the numbers for the Obama web page(s) last month?
ReplyDeleteSalary Info: People often ask what others make, so here's what one advertising sales rep made at the Cincinnati Enquirer in 2006 - $86,399.
ReplyDeletemaybe the $65 is 5% of their after-taxes amount. So if their takehome is 14 a year, add 20% (tax estimate) to that makes yearly $16,800. I think that comes out to about $8hr. While most positions are higher than that, I know for sure that there are part-time positions that don't even pay that hourly.
ReplyDeleteRemember, everyone coming to this site isn't in the newsroom, isn't full-time, isn't in the same situation.
Stripper gallery still exists:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=B7&Dato=20090225&Kategori=PHOTOGALLERIES&Lopenr=902250802&Ref=PH
Photo ten, baby!
Have a nice weekend Craig. Turn off the lights when you go.
ReplyDeleteWhen is GANNETT going to buy PHILA.
ReplyDeleteINQ. and DAILY NEWS.
6:03 p.m. - Wooooow! You are right... those pictures are still there. And #10, 15, 20, 23... wow, frightening commentary on the serious need for healthy living, diet changes and AA in Mansfield.
ReplyDeleteThe point I guess is that while this photo gallary and ones like it showing scantily clad but drunk girls draws hits, it certainly isn't what real journalism is all about... I guess.
Certainly while these, ahem, "portly" would-be dancers are pretty tasteless reprewsntations of their community, they ARE probably a good representation of this poor-quality, pathetic newspaper.,
6:36. Exactly how would GANNETT get financing for the acquisition of the Philly Papers? Who would lend the compnay money in this economy?
ReplyDeleteAnd why have one sick company buy an even sicker company?
"ROCK ON NEW JERSEY PAPERS ROCK ON"
ReplyDelete6:36 Why would they buy them. With Cherry Hill in the suburbs, GCI is sitting in the catbird seat waiting for them to die so it can take over. Unfortunately, management has crippled Cherry Hill so badly it may not be able to take full advantage of this opportunity, but no one -- not even GCI -- wants the Philly papers.
ReplyDeletePlus, note that Moody's downgrade. With its debt rating now at junk level, no one would be willing to loan GCI the money it would need to buy the Philly papers.
I, for one, am heartsick. I can't engage in gallows humor anymore.
ReplyDeleteWe're about to become a country without newspapers. They said TV radio would kill us. Then TV. Then the Internet. And now it's happened.
I grew up watching Lou Grant and all I've ever known is this job. I love my career. I don't want to be a PR. I don't want to become a teacher, not really. I just want to be a reporter.
No doubt that Gannett big shot empty suits in Virginia are reading this blog. We hear they are but for very obvious reasons they cannot participate or won't. With the strong possibiity looming for more staff reductions down the road, it might be helptful to those in Virginia if we at the sites provide lists (from our perspectives) of who they should get rid of. So, how about everyone around the country posting their site name by city following by a list using only initials. Could even break down by departments at each site. Many people believe that there is lots of revenue to save (overhead) by chopping out dead wood and big time losers from retail advertising and classified. Just a suggestion.
ReplyDelete8 PM
ReplyDeleteSorry to break the news to you, but they say it ain't over until the "fat lady" sings. All of them have sung all over NJ!!!!!
Remember, you need to try this experiment. Wish in one hand and crap in the other (kind of Cherry Hill style)-- and see which hand fills up first!
I just sent another check to Jim because I feel this blog explains a lot that I heretofore did not understand about working for Gannett. The revelations about business practices and employee policies is worth the price of admission. I used to wonder why I felt some sort of fundamental disconnect and now I know.
ReplyDeleteIs Sam S still running the ad sales operations in the NJ papers?
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your blog. I read it daily. I understand the frustrations, anger, sense of complete abandonment of many who contribute to this blog but please reflect on life's bigger picture.
Things are tough but let us all count the blessings in our lives. Sure, I have worked countless unpaid hours but I have two healthy children. Some of my unpaid hours were spent doing stories on families with children who were terminal. What would you rather have in your lives?
A week ago I was at the side of a very dear friend who was dying of cancer. He was only 58. A great man, a fine teller of jokes, a man of endless compassion and a man who always thought of others above himself. He died two days later.
I would like to share with you my favorite joke.
A University of Missouri journalism student needed to do a feature story for a class assignment. He knew from a classmate of an old timer that lived deep in the woods just across the Arkansas border and went there in the hopes of finding a colorful story.
He found the old man in his cabin and after introducing himself started his interview.
"Can you tell me about a happy time in your life?" ask the student.
"Well," pondered the old timer, " once Jed's pig escaped from it's pen. We formed a search party and we went looking for that pig. We looked and looked and found the pig. Then we screwed the hell out of that pig and went home."
"Why, I can't print that!" exclaimed the student! struggling for another question. "Tell me, what was the happiest time of your life?"
"Well," pondered the old timer, "once the neighbor's daughter was out collecting mushrooms and got lost. So we formed a search party and found her. We all screwed the hell out of her and went home."
"I am sorry, sir, but that just is not something I can print," said the frustrated journalism student. "Why don't you tell me of the saddest time of your life?"
The old man became quiet and teary-eyed. When he finally spoke he said in a quaking voice "Well, there was this time I went hunting....and I got lost.
Over the years, the city of Baltimore has lost two good newspapers: The News-American and the Evening Sun. The morning edition of the Baltimore Sun, now known as The (Baltimore) Sun, as if a name matters, remains but it is one of the Zell papers so you know what's happening there. And you may have watched HBO's "The Wire."
ReplyDeleteI do not think Gannett is going to close down newspapers like Scripps did today with the Rocky Mountain News. Not if the site is the only one for a significant geographical area, i.e. in Wilmington, Del. I always heard the Wilmington site was such a money-maker it was carrying its cousins over in Jersey.
8 p.m. Totally agree. But we killed us.
ReplyDeleteContentNone! Poor Tara, she'll never get any respect. HA!
ReplyDeleteI was just surfing Gannett news sites and found this most amusing poll question:
ReplyDelete"Do you care if your drive-through fast food orders are taken out of state and not by someone at the window?" --Lansing State Journal
Are you SERIOUS?!?!? The question should REALLY be "Do you care if your newspaper's ads are designed in India, if its accounting operations are handled in Indiana, if its photos are toned in Iowa, etc?" Just goes to show how absolutely hypocritical Gannett's newspapers and editors have become. GEESH.
5:06
ReplyDeleteThat is what they made in 2006, I doubt they made that this year. Let's see in 2007 I made 47,000 and in 2008 49,000.
Publishers got their bonuses this week.....wonder how they were calculated?
ReplyDeleteNot sure if Directors got them or not....Of course, there aren't many directors left....
For those of us with stock, I have a suggestion: in the next weeks you will be getting a ballot to vote in the board of directors. You usually have only the choice of voting for a candidate or withholding your vote. I suggest we all withhold our vote. If we can get some of the money market funds to vote the same way in protest, it will be noticed by GCI and by Dubow, who sits on the board. A vote of yes is a vote of approval. Vote withheld.
ReplyDeleteAre you SERIOUS?!?!? The question should REALLY be "Do you care if your newspaper's ads are designed in India, if its accounting operations are handled in Indiana, if its photos are toned in Iowa, etc?"
ReplyDeleteAnd the answer would be, in most cases: "No, I don't. I care about my newspaper getting delivered to my house. If you can't do that very basic task, I don't have any reason to continue paying for it."
Hey 8:49 The answer is YES, he is still around.
ReplyDeleteThis is why gannett needs to go bankrupt........it has become a giant in the newspaper industry that only rewards management and rarely rewards the true people , the worker bees, that are the main source of its rewards and profit. Gannett doesn't deserve to own all the newspapers it has taken over and cut and chased out the talent! I will say I will be sorry for the unemployed that don't have a job afterwards...........but Gannett is all about reagonomics and the money going up the pyramid and cheating and raping the talent. I think with this current economics we can finally see why "CEO'S don't deserve the pay they get and get their golden parachutes when the going gets rough!!! Shame on ronald reagon and shame on the past 29 years of wallstreet and washington giving corporate america the greenlight! After we hit the bottom or one day this year, hopefu;lly after gannett goes bankrupt, we will finally realize they never deserved to take over any of america's family owned newspapers...............the greedy bastards!!!!!And yes lets go back a to the day when individuals and familys owned the papers the hell with coporate america!!!!
ReplyDeleteTo 9:32 and 11:06 - Had you bothered to read the story the poll question referred back to, you would have seen it was about a McDonald's locally that is a test site for a "call center" approach. Drive-thru orders are relayed back to the McDonald's in Michigan from North Dakota. Considering the job market in Michigan, people are a bit fired up that McDonald's is outsourcing minimum-wage jobs. Please think before you speak.
ReplyDeleteMan, those folks in Mansfield have some mighty low standards.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Sam S is still running the show at APP.
12:35 - the McDonald's in MT have been using this approach for the past year or so. When you order your food at the driveup speaker, you're actually talking to someone in Denver(?), I believe they said.
ReplyDelete