Golly! It's sure interesting to see Senior Vice President Phil Currie apparently authorizing a reprint of Tallahassee Democrat Executive Editor Bob Gabordi's remarks on further newspaper cutbacks.Here's Gabordi in the just out-issue of News Watch, the weekly company newsletter to newsrooms: "This is the right time, in my opinion, for investment in our business, not cutbacks. You cannot sustain a business model that relies on cutting over the long haul. You have to figure out new revenue streams and be willing to try new things. Some will work, some won’t, but you have to try."
Has Currie cut back on the Kool-Aid?
[Image: this morning's Democrat, Newseum]
Holy Shit! There's a brilliant idea.
ReplyDeleteThis debate reminds me of the old stock market saying: You always get the investors you deserve.
ReplyDeleteGannett's investors expect enormous profitability and large dividends every single year -- because that's what they were taught to expect by Gannett's actions over decades and that's why they bought the stock -- and they're going to cry like babies unless/until they get it. They're not in it for any other reason.
So, as a corporate exec, if you're serving those stockholders and want to keep your job, what do you do? Do you invest, spend money, take chances...or do you drain the cash cow dry, then jump off with a severance package?
At this bare-bones point in the business, every additional cut provides the obvious answer.