Oh, the snarky questions!
- How much did Gannett spend to send Clark-Johnson to this boondoggle in Orlando, Fla.?
- Why didn't the company send an executive who's actually sticking around?
- Is the board of directors holding its two-day meeting in Orlando, too?
- What's the current temperature in Orlando -- and how's that compare to the temps in, say, Cherry Hill, N.J.?
Snarky, cheesy and totally unfair. Sue is PRESIDENT of the NAA. Should she blow it off?
ReplyDeleteWhat was I thinking? I should have included this question, too: Why does the Newspaper Association of America have as its chair a woman who served in a top Gannett leadership position during a time when the company lost billions of dollars in stockholder equity?
ReplyDeleteYou know Jim something has happened to your approach to your Blog in the last two weeks. You are sounding more and more biased and angry. If folks are going to take you seriously you are going to have to develop a sense of balance. What happened to no axe to grind? I've enjoyed the Blog up to now but if this keeps up I can go to the GUILD website and listen to them complain about anyone who has a management title.
ReplyDeleteHere's one more, for those of you working in the Corporate Tower: Since Clark-Johnson announced her planned retirement, how often have you seen her at the Virginia offices?
ReplyDeleteI think you might be right about bias, and certainly about the anger. But honestly, that's been a reflection and a reaction to the Cherry Hill situation -- and the many, many comments and e-mails I've gotten from employees at other GCI papers who cited similar problems with unpaid OT. Plus, I saw this stuff during many of the 20 years worked for the company -- making me extra-sensitive to the issue. Plus, plus: I was out of the country for the past 30 days, which made it difficult to post on much more than the news right in front of me. And day after day, that was Cherry Hill. My blog traffic and comments received have never been higher, suggesting that I'm not the only one interested.
ReplyDeleteThat said, it IS becoming kind of a grouchy read, isn't it? I try to strike a balance for the simple reason that I write for really smart people who want variety. They know, and I need to be reminded, that there's a lot of good work being done at Gannett papers. Not all work is bad.
I always says: I'm not anti-management. I'm anti-BAD management. And I'm not anti-union. I'm anti-BAD union.
Well said, Jim. Many current and former Gannett employees are tired of upper management not being held to the same standards as the rest of the company's employees - receiving compensation far beyond what is comensorate for GCI's performance.
ReplyDeleteIf anything, Debow, Matore, Williams, Horning, Van Lare, etc. should have taken pay cuts, and received a $0 bonus and no stock (or options) for their efforts in 2007. Any publisher in the field who had a similar level of performance would have been fired.
Meanwhile, the front-liners who admirably perform their jobs each day - and remain loyal - get 1% and 2% merits raises that don't offset the increase in health care costs.
The country wants changes - and not just in the political leadership. It's also demanding change in the leadership of its CEOs and senior executives. Sadly, Gannett employees are not getting any form of leadership from their top executives (those in McLean, Va.).
There are some great publishers in the field who can't move their property forward because of the restrictions implemented by those at Tysons Corner.
Keep blogging. And, yes, keep it fair. Maybe, eventually, the senior executives in Gannett will start treating employees fair as well.
I'm a former Journal News in White Plains employee and there is a big problem there with people working overtime and told by certain manages that they can not put in for overtime. Many were too afraid to report and speak up against this practice in fear of losing their jobs. Corporate saying that they will look into this matter is a joke. They have received numerous letters from current and former employees and nothing seems to result in it. The manages are still there and some have been promoted and have more employees under them.
ReplyDeleteTalking about driving revenue down, did you see that Giallombardo won an NAA award for Sales and MArketing Executive of Year? For what? The worst revenue performance in the history of the entire company? She should retire with Sue and let real advertising executives lead and get the work done to drive revenue.
ReplyDeleteGiallombardo won and they had high paid execs spending their days calling around begging people, or threatening them, to come to the award ceremony. Why? Because they were afraid no one would show up. She's an idiot. No one understood why Clark-Johnson brought her back in the first place. She has now done to the entire company what she did to Nashville.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on Giallombardo. I've heard the NAA awards ceremony where she was being honored had MANY empty tables.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see what happens when there is no one to protect her. She needs to go away. Far, far away.
I'm surprised Sue Clark-Johnson bothered to show up at the event, given her penchent for submitting prepared statements -- they call them "canned quotes" in PR -- to the press when she's asked to comment on anything about the company. She sucks.
ReplyDelete"What was I thinking? I should have included this question, too: Why does the Newspaper Association of America have as its chair a woman who served in a top Gannett leadership position during a time when the company lost billions of dollars in stockholder equity?"
ReplyDeleteShe is the president because the NAA board is made up of PUBLISHERS (and equivalents), not lower-level employees. She was elected by her peers well before she announced her retirement.
Gosh, it's amazing that Leslie Giallombaro got an award. Surprised - no! As the chairperson of the NAA Sue Clark-Johnson made it possible to get her an award so that her non-performance in front of Bob Dickey doesn't look soooo bad. That award was promised before she made her trip to Orlando! Hey, before Sue retires she wanted to make sure her pet gets her reward. Just figures!
ReplyDelete