Saturday, February 28, 2009
Saturday | Feb. 28 | Your News & Comments
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62 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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Hey Jim and Gannettland...
ReplyDeleteWant some good news?
KUSA-TV in Denver was awarded the Photography Station of the Year for the 11th time yesterday from the National Press Photographers Association.
This was a huge win for us. We've gone through all of the cuts and furloughs like everyone else, and yet we are proud enough not to let our quality suffer. We've lost our news cars, had to multitask in different ways, and have taken the furloughs. It's been really tough. But when people find this as a challenge, and want to rise up to it, good things can still happen.
Also, Gannett station KARE 11 in Minneapolis was also a finalist for this award.
So, even though it's tough out there...we can find a silver lining!
9News Photojournalist
For those getting GCI stock proxy ballots in the next weeks, vote "withhold" not "yes." If they see a huge withhold vote, we could push the board of directors into ordering leadership changes.
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!!!!
ReplyDeleteBonuses were given this week....
ReplyDeleteJim, anyway to calculate what publishers got?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to everyone at KUSA and KARE!
ReplyDeleteFood for thought Canada's biggest newspaper owner and tv owner is going kaput....yes bring on Gannett! Bloomy off wit dem heads!!Bring back the pride of being a newspaper employee!!
ReplyDeleteI worked for the philadelphia Inquirer for numerous years and really had pride in the professionallism that they maintained especially back in the 80's when they won a journalism award for reporting the "what happen to the savings and laons banks and the greed of the 80's! Yes reagon was president and it just seems to me that we were raped again as taxpayers by the rich people and had to bail out the savings and loans. But back to the subject that the philadelphia Inquirer was a very good newspaper that was owned by "Annenberg" a person who gave back to society with arts centers and scholarships and so forth. Gannett is about theives and bogus money and stealing from theior own employeee! I would rather see the philadelphia Inquirer cease to excist than the crumb bastards from Gannett ruin another proud newspaper. I worked there for 13 years and have nothing but good feelings aboout the times when Knight ridder owned them and I even walked a picket line for 46 days and that was the longest there ever. COuld you imagine make that kind of a statement to Gannett. They would "Scab" the place out. Nothing but ill feelings towards gannett. Please god........."Good riddence"
ReplyDeleteInvestigative reporters that was called...........wtf is that now with Gannett? God bless the rocky mountain news and our other soon departed brethern!
ReplyDeleteI must admit that this rash of newspaper bankruptcies along with the Rocky's closing just makes me one angry and frustrated journalists. Don't work for Gaynet anymore. They booted me in December. Good riddance.
ReplyDeleteDespite what those management hacks write on here I am still a journalists and still feel I have a right to be involved despite my lack of Gaynet employment. Please don't get offended with my name for Gaynet, I'm gay myself.
I earned my stipes and feel like I have the right to be plain angry and frustrated about what is happening to journalism. I feel like we don't have any venues (other than GaNnet blog to voice our opinions). Editor & Publisher pretty much has its legs between its tail ... No major newspaper (except Time) is willing to write about the state of this industry, however if we were a bank just imagine the coverage ...
It looks like Gannett has filed more SEC documents that shows how much stock each executive receives. It appears that, based on these allocations (500,000 shares for Dubow, 200,000 for Matore), that they have favorites.
ReplyDeleteIn NJ, AT re-structured her sales staff - again. Our poor advertisers never know which sales gal will come a-knockin! I hear time and time again how irritated our advertisers are with the constant changing of sales reps. But I guess she knows what she's doing because because year after year she keeps her position as ad director and one of NJ's least profitable papers!
ReplyDeleteGannett filed SEC Form 4 documents late last night (nice one Dubow, you think we wouldn't catch it?)
ReplyDeleteTake a look:
Dubow = 500,000 shares!!!
Martore = 200,000!!!
Dickey = 120,000
Saridakis = 96,000
Williams = 96,000
Lougee = 85,000
MOON = 65,000 (ouch!)
Do you think they are trying to tell Craig Moon something? Does Craig Dubow deserve 8 times MORE options than Craig Moon??? Or 4 times more than Dickey or over 5 times more than each of Saridakis, Williams, Lougee?
In fact, Dubow has more options granted according at 500,000 than Dickey, Saridakis, Moon, Lougee COMBINED!!!!!
Does Gracia Martore, the "bean counter", deserve more than 2 times more than most operating group heads (save Dickey)???
You can clearly see that the Board still likes Dubow and Martore disproportionately.
If I were Moon, I would see the writing on the wall. Looks like Dubow is trying to tell him something.
I can't wait to see the bonus figures and the total compensation these morons gave tehmselves.
Btw, I did not see any press release that Craig Dubow has NOT received a bonus for 2008, nor did I see him DECLINE any bonus (but wait, that good news might come out on Monday!)
If the Board wanted to send a statement to the investors it would have done to Dubow the same that Dubow has done to Moon.
This is the exact problem with this company. If this shit occurs at the top level, imagine how we peons feel at the lower levels.
A poster yesterday asked, "So whats the answer here? Extinction, or evolution? If evolution, what would it take?
ReplyDeleteBack to basics, I think. Let newspapers do what newspapers do best: Report the news. Yes, there is competition with the internet (which is probably why Gannett management is going through such contortions.) But I can't help but feel the path Gannett, the industry leader, has chosen for us all, further cheapens an already degraded media. Gannett also needs to a very un-Gannett-like thing; loosen the purse strings. It's killing us. I was the one who mentioned yesterday that a "grand readjustment" is happening within our company. The only question is, will Gannett realise this? Or will they take us all down with them?
Mostly newspaper folks here but there are big things happening on the tv side. Look for competing local tv operations to pool their resources -- instead of 3 stations sending reporters to a presser, only 1 reporter will go and the coverage will be pooled to all 3 stations. This just started in Philly (no Gannett stations involved) but it is expected to become common practice before long across the industry. While greater coordination can theorectically lead to better uses of reporting resources, expect the resources will be reduced through attrition (and hopefully not layoffs.)
ReplyDeleteWhat does not make sense to me during these times while advertising sales continue to be in the toilet and declining is why our paper keeps so many staff in the retail and classified departmtnes. When you look at our retail advertising department you see many of the same people there who have been there for decades and the majority of them are not productive. Rather, there is this click that keeps on and on under the protection of our current and clueless advertising director. It is very demoralizing for the rest of us at our paper to see this continue. Do other community newspapers have the same thing going on? It would be interesting to know. Is this isolated to our paper or is it the way it is based on direction from Virginia. If it is just here why is Gannett allowing this to continue????? Very frustrating and confusing.
ReplyDeleteIf NJ rocks, it should be "stoned."
ReplyDeleteIN NJ - So what if a manager restructures his/her sales staff? The important point is that someone is knocking on doors.
ReplyDeleteStop your whining and concentrate on getting YOUR job done.
11:13am
ReplyDeleteHow do you know that many of the ad staff are doing Nothing? Are you working or just observing what others are or are not doing? How do you know all the particulars of a certain job if you are not in advertising? 98% of sales is pr and believe me it's often hard to defend a newspapers policies.
TWO WORDS FOR CORPORATE: LOCAL CONTROL
ReplyDeleteIn our sales dept there are quite a good number of them who spend great amount oif time socializing in the office and wasting time on complete nonsense. I'm not talking about the ones who go out on the road every day but the ones who are inside the building all the time. JUst like the earlier post I too see this stuff going on day after day after day no different now than 5 years ago and it is the sme ones so I ask the same question why are they kept while so many people have lost their jobs in the news rooms and in other places. By the way I do work my rear off as always while I am at work
ReplyDeleteIs Gannett on some kind of hiring frenzy? Look at all the posting that popped up the past couple of days.
ReplyDeleteLET EM THROW STONES AT US !
ReplyDelete"NEW JERSEY "ASBURY PARK PRESS" ROCKS"
I find it somewhat ironic that the options issued in the Form 4 filings - posted last night on www.sec.gov - were for $3.75 / share and are therefore, currently, worthless.
ReplyDeleteStill, the gesture is offensive given the company's performance in 2008.
FYI ... these options vest over a period of four years and those receiving the awards have up to 10 years to exercise them.
Maybe the ones who get the most are hitting goals and others are not
ReplyDeleteThey should have just handed out a BILLION options to the corporate clowns...since they'll never be worth anything.
ReplyDelete11:16am
ReplyDeleteKnocking on restaurant doors right around lunchtime but they need a free lunch if their to continue their day shopping in the local clothing stores I guess their stimulating the economy.
I empathize with everyone both reading and writing to this site. The economy today presents challenges for everyone.
ReplyDeleteChange must happen – businesses cannot operate in a “non-internet” world anymore. Very few industries will remain untouched in the future by this new mentality. People must accept that or suffer the consequences of being left behind. Connectivity by every device imaginable will eliminate paper products. Think about how many people today who have never touched a newspaper. Why should they? By the time they get to page 2, they are reading old news.
Gannett’s management has proven that it is far behind the times. It has been left behind and is trying to play catch up by flailing its arms in so many directions that it is strangling itself. 20 years ago, businesses flipped their paradigms and believed that the “little” people – employees on the front lines and yes even a receptionist could contribute in helping a business succeed. Using ideas to brain storm and become innovative is not a new business idea. But it is to Gannett management. The people at the top did not want to give up control in the past; they didn’t need to because they had a commodity in which people saw value and were willing to pay for it. Gannett’s management still wants to be in control today and it can’t. There is now a “free” world of information out there and the Gannett upper echelon seems to think they are immune and don’t have to pay attention.
When the news, of consolidations and layoffs, was “leaked,” damage control consisted of numerous emails and meetings held with employees to talk about “open door policies.” Those doors in reality turned out to be revolving – open for employees’ comments and then hitting them in the derriere as they were led out of the buildings. The ideas and feelings expressed in this blog by Gannett employees, ex-employees and others are clearly being ignored. That’s great CRM! It would appear that management thinks this will all just disappear by ignoring what is actually going on – which is that “free” world of information being shared. You can’t stop it and you can’t ignore it – you have to deal with it! Comments will not stop at this blog. They will blog to another and another. Soon that “free” information network will spread – all paid for by Gannett’s advertisers found on other sites! This is reflected in Gannett’s stock value today.
No one is immune to losing his or her job today. Not the journalist who can render pictures with words, not a security guard whose greeting can make you smile, not a manager or director who cannot survive the day without an assistant - no one can say they are indispensible! Gannett’s upper management should understand that this applies to them also.
How many times do I have to tell ya APP. NJ SUCKS.If you are there,PLEASE BY ALL MEANS take a look above the print shop door,it might still be there.A sing that said ARIA 51.because I put it there.I did this because,APP Gannett to me,is just like the GOV.with cover ups.it really happens but even our local GOV looks the other way!
ReplyDeleteSo please do just a little research before you tell me how they ROCK.THE UFO GUY!
I stopped my local Gannett paper on Friday morning.
ReplyDeleteI called the office to tell the circulation department that I wanted my subscription stopped after Feb. 28.
She took my information and thanked me. She was polite and helpful, but she NEVER asked me why I was stopping the paper.
That was a requirement for years. We even have the forms to fill out: 1. Content. 2. No time to reaad. 3. Cost. etc.
She never even asked.
Amazing.
Is Gannett looking to pick up some of the distressed Journal Register papers? The Trentonian would be an ideal fit, georgraphically and editorially.
ReplyDeleteHey 11:27 PM: If you're going to trot out the tired class-warfare rhetoric, at least learn to spell "Reagan" correctly.
ReplyDeleteLooks like we're getting a heavier-than-normal volume of stupidity in the posts today...
11:14 - congratulations! Must feel good.
ReplyDeleteYes 11:14 indeed they should be stoned,flogged tared and feathered!and by all means,check Aria 51 printshop you might not like what you find.UFO GUY
ReplyDeleteHay 11:59 stones might not be the only thing that hurt you there at the old Asbury Park Press.The UFO GUY !
ReplyDeleteCan you tell by now that I am going to make Gannett my disclosure project.THE UFO GUY
ReplyDelete8:26 am, and anyone else curious about that big round of Forms 4 the company filed at the last minute on Friday:
ReplyDeleteI've now spent a fair amount of time looking at those filings, and related ones. But I've come up with a much different conclusion: Jack Williams looks like the real big winner -- and Craig Dubow may actually have taken a big hit.
Hope to post more on this by tomorrow.
Has anyone heard the rumors that Saridakis is leaving? I have now heard this from multiple sources and I am throwing it out to this blog to see if Jim or anyone else has heard the same thing.
ReplyDelete5:37 pm: I've heard nothing about Saridakis leaving.
ReplyDeleteif "gannettland" only knew of the waste at usat. look at circualations education, blue chip and subscription departments. more people than warranted along with bonuses. lindquist is a con man. moon lets all his departments run unchecked
ReplyDeleteHOLLIS TOWNS TO THE RESCUE!
ReplyDeleteSaradakis only came to Gannett to become CEO. Since the board is incapabable of holding Dubow accountable he's outta here.
ReplyDeleteits all about whose sleepin]g with who and who has the bigger boobs. reality and sickening.
ReplyDeleteAmen 6:50 AM!! THe same thing happens in MO. BY the time we actually figure out what they expect from us after one restructure, they go off and restructure again!!
ReplyDeleteIn our advertising department, a lot of employees have been let go. Almost all tenured employees are gone. THey brought in an entirely new group of youngsters. Barely anyone over the age of 30.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way 11:16-in my advertising department we are working our asses off knocking on doors but it also gets discouraging because you work harder and harder each day to get a new customer and when you finally get the sale, you learn that you won't get the revenue because oh guess what?! we restructured and you weren't supposed to be calling on that customer anyway!
I know it is good to get revenue for Gannett but once in a while you would like an amount to contribute towards your goal so you can make money!
They want you to knock on doors. They want you to knock each other over. The problem is simple. You can't gain a customers confidence if you keep changing reps. It's bad enough the industry is bad. Why make it worse? Besides Gannett doesn't want you to make money. They want you to make them money. Take a poll? How many have made the out-landish goals?
ReplyDeleteHollis Towns to the rescue?
ReplyDeleteSounds like the APP has discovered what Cincinnati knew all along.
The goals set for advertising reps are so high that they make sure that you do not achieve your goal and not making any commissions! FUCK GANNETT!!!
ReplyDeleteIn NJ (again) I couldn't care less about the ad staff politics but man I sure wish our reps could maintain whatever relationship they have left with our advertisers! SOS
ReplyDeleteSaridakis has to be the biggest mistake Corporate has made in the last year, and so I welcome news he is gone. This sort of bald spying on people using Moms sites and other activities violate people's basic privacy rights by creating profiles that include each person's real name, their address, and their online purchase histories. I was at a party recently where some Moms users were complaining some of the questions they got on this site seemed to aim at ferreting out password-related information such as grandparents maiden names, etc.
ReplyDelete6:02
ReplyDeleteHow many people are there in education, blue chip and subscriptions at USAT? According to you, how many should there be? Why is Lindquist a con man? I work in field USAT circ and don't know him that well, but in my few dealings with him, he seems like a top notch leader.
Our beloved New Jersey group does it again. Check out the C-N sports section today ...
ReplyDeleteGolf tournament in California: Big story and picture.
Horse racing: Story.
NFL free agents (signing period opened Friday): Nothing.
Which is the biggest of the 3? The NFL -- in the C-N area the Jets signed LB Bart Scott from Baltimore. Lead sports story in the NY Post and Newark Star-Ledger, back-page blurb in the NY Daily News. (The NYDN added that the Jets were trading for Philadelphia DB Lito Sheppard).
If your sports editor thinks minor sports are more important than major news from the NFL, fire the sports editor NOW!
The goals given to the adv sales reps are not consistent or fair. Some reps are making their goals and getting their commissions because certain "favorites" have goals that are lower than others to make sure they are catered to. And, it has nothing to do with keeping the good people. There is petty favoritism going on out there metered out by incompetent "management" because these people want to keep the ass kissers around and surrounding them to protect their incompetence. There is business out there and there are advertisers who must use newspapers because they cannot afford TV, radio or cable especially in the larger more dense regions. One of the problems is that Gannett keeps raising ad rates while circulation tanks and the advertisers (who are not stupid) no it. We also lie to the advertisers and potential advertisers about the circ numbers while the papers have less and less content of a local nature and/or much of anything of interest to the readers.
ReplyDelete11:27 makes me sick, and so does every other knuckle-dragger who licks their lips in hope that Gannett fails. I am a journalist and an employee, and I don't want to see newspapers die. I don't like everything that Gannett management does, but people like you are as poisonous to this company as the managers you dislike. Disgusting. Please, get out and stay gone.
ReplyDeleteI'm still thinking about how low GCI stock has gone. Jim, you were a biz writer and still are for that matter. So I'm asking you and/or anyone else out there who can make some sense of this instead of just talking about it as a fact.
ReplyDeleteHypothetically, who would want to buy GCI now if the dividend is only 4 cents a share? Would it be the real gamblers playing the market who think the turnaround is coming by this summer and thus, ad revenues will rise?
Would hedge funds buy any media stock? Would pension funds touch it? Who's going to want it enough to buy it in large quantities so the price jumps?
I just don't get it.
There used to be an argument that putting together newspapers in groups or chains made for powerful economic units. But this deepening recession is showing these chains are now weaklings. Scripps just pulled completely out of Denver, giving the Boulder paper to Singleton after folding the Rocky Mountain News. McClatchy is sounding death rattles, Copley is almost gone but can't sell the San Diego paper, Lee and the Journal Register are not long for this world, and GCI is failing. The chains have become the weaklings of the business and, as the biggest, GCI is now heading for a huge fall.
ReplyDelete10:04 I would not count on GCI coming back. It is a little simplistic way to look at it, but the economy and business resets in the middle of a recession, and emerges from the economic downturn weakened and operating at a lower level. I am sure the Crystal Towers are deluding themselves thinking it will all come back some day, but the fact is that it won't. We have not yet finished this round of recession and have many months to go. Frankly, I fear that the big thinkers in McLean have something really big in store for us that we will hear about very soon, and before the end of March.
ReplyDelete10:04 pm: I concur with 11:09, and I would add the following:
ReplyDeleteThe question is more than, what is the stock price at which investors would buy back in? After all, share prices are symptoms of larger ills.
Any big investors in newspapers ran away when they saw what happened with the Chapter 11 filings of Tribune Co., and the private investor groups in Minneapolis and Philadelphia.
In addition to the right stock price, investors also want to see industry revenues stabilize -- they want to know where the bottom is -- and they need the credit markets to reopen, so the can get access to financing.
I am so glad I found a new job and sold all gannett stock in 2006!
ReplyDeleteThat's great. And we are happy for you and that you left. Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteHey 6:02..or should I say "moron" -LOL
ReplyDeleteYou clearly are misinformed or have a pea for a brain...here's why.
Lindquist is a wise, charasmatic, fair, driven, and smart leader. I think the world of him. Note the track record of Circulation! As for "fat" in the departments you mentioned, what is your baseline for UT being overstaffed? If you are going to take a "shot" at someone or areas of UT, how about stating fact vs. an opinion. The Circ dept has been decreasing in FTE's over several years (can you say..."proactive and smart"
by upper mgt)...and revenue YOY has been increaseing each year. But I'm guessing you don't know that!
Heh 11:27, those families that owned newspapers are the same peopel that sold you out, took their millions and ran. Yeah, lets go back to the good old days. Do you have a Fonze poster on your bedroom wall as well?
ReplyDelete