Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Wednesday | Feb. 11 | Your News & Comments

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87 comments:

  1. New Jersey is FIRST

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  2. Anyone know when the board of directors meets this month?

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  3. My editor's in a daylong conference call Wednesday. Assuming this is companywide, anyone know what the subject is?

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  4. "Ask NOT what Gannett can do for you. Ask what YOU can do for Gannett."

    So, so, SO glad I no longer work there.

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  5. conference calls are about the coming round of heads rolling

    EE here too

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  6. Just wondering was Dubow captain of the Navy ship that ran aground?

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  7. More like the Exxon Valdez

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  8. Binghamton, NY Press & Sun is said to have layed off at least 4 in the advertising dept Tuesday (2 sales reps, 2 assts.), maybe more, number not comfirmed. Elmira & Ithaca bracing today. As in a previous post Elmira & Ithaca's graphic's depts will be moved to Bing with 7 positions lost in Elmira and 5 (?) in Ithaca. This must be the Feb round spoke of in Dec. So lets keep our advertisiers happy with the crap that comes from AdPro with no one to fix the problems in AdPro graphics.

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  9. Intermittently there are posters here who chide readers for being negative and blame them for causing the stock price to go down. I've been thinking about that. I don't think it is possible that institutional investors give a flip about whether Gannett employees are happy campers or not.
    However, it seems to me that the dissatisfaction problem rests with corporate. No matter how site managers, editors and publishers try to pump up morale, the ingrained secrecy and apparent lack of positive leadership takes its toll on the people doing the work. Gannett has always treated employees as mere cogs in the wheel, informing them on a need to know basis. Demands for employee input into upcoming initiatives always seemed half hearted and when people did try to get on board their suggestions were largely ignored. And woe be to the employee who might ask if a dark position was going to be filled or resources might be boosted if performance improved.
    Early in Gannett ownership of various papers the desire to do better has never been encouraged. Workers were isolated by the annual review system which killed any sense of teamwork that may have otherwise flourished in the newsroom.
    It is hard for any talented editor or publisher to grow enthusiastic workers in a toxic environment.

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  10. In Brevard, publisher had a rah-rah meeting Tuesday and it was all happy talk. WTF???

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  11. Metromix, er, Ripple 6 will save us!

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  12. Just took a beating on my taxes. Getting that pension withdrawal will affect your federal taxes in a big way.

    I needed the money, but make sure you're aware of the tax implications of a withdrawal.

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  13. Jim, great new smiley mug but reshoot without your earphones.

    Makes you look like you have an eyeglass chain but forgot to attach the eyeglasses.

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  14. 8:24 please elaborate

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  15. 1:01 AM, you hit the nail with your question, "Just wondering was Dubow captain of the Navy ship that ran aground?"

    In the Navy (and similarly in other branches), if there's an accident or disaster, the first ass in the fire is the skipper's. It doesn't matter if he's asleep after three days straight and the perpetrator is SA Joe Bag O'Donuts, first week on ship. The buck ALWAYS stops with the senior officer in command, unless a subordinate willfully disobeyed a lawful order, which led to the trouble.

    At GCI, and most of corporate America, that trail of ultimate responsibility has been upended. Top execs are rarely (and never, in Gannett's case) held responsible for poor performance, while workers down the chain, who are executing well given the dribble of resources and goofy strategies they've been furnished, are paying the price for poor planning and no leadership from the top.

    Given current performance, continued employment and lavish compensation of CO Dubow and XO Martore is tantamount to criminal negligence by the Board. I just wish that some of the large shareholders cared about the company enough to do something about the situation, rather than voting with their feet as is already happening.

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  16. Gannett has never been one to motivate to begin with. Toxic workplace's have been a mainstay of Gannett. This isn't something new! No one is asking anyone to motivate. The people I work with have worked hard, generated ideas yet are treated like shit. Employees seek decency. You'll get alot back if it's given. Is it that hard??

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  17. 9:05
    I am reminded of the case of the captain of the USS Indianapolis, who committed suicide in the 1960s more than 20 years after his ship was sunk by the Japanese and hundreds of his crew died (many eaten by sharks).

    The Navy held him responsible for not zig-zagging and hence giving a Japanese submarine a better shot at the heavy cruiser.

    As in the Gannett case, there are many extenuating circumstances and I am not suggesting Gannett management should hang together in any diffferent sense than they already are.

    Nonetheless, one would hope Gannett's board would recognize the ship is sinking and the folks at the top bear the greatest responsibility.

    But what's the old saying about there is no honor among.... no, I won't use the word.. It would not be fair.

    But if the ongoing butchering is the best the board can do, then God help us all as a nation when Donna Shalalalalalallalalalala gets back into the federal government.

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  18. To help people sort through the malicious liars on the board, there is no companywide conference call of executive editors today, daylong or otherwise. This is complete fabricated bullshit designed to make people more anxious. Things are tough enough without asshats like 12:58 piling on.

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  19. New Jersey papers are the "BEST"

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  20. New Jersey papers and their employees ROCK!!!

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  21. Dubow, Martore need to get out of Gannett.

    Seriously, I know this blog is anti-Gannett, but how can you not be? These leaders have fucked up this company in ways that you cannot imagine.

    I heard Craig Dubow talk about our problems being caused by the "cyclical" downturn in the market and that we will all be fine when it comes back. Bullshit, does he not see that classified ads are never coming back to newspapers? Has he called into local advertisers and ask them why they won't advertise with our papers? Of course he hasn't. If he did, he would see that even the smallest local advertiser we have is never going to advertise in newspapers. They now have Google and other local websites.

    Newspapers are dead. I cannot believe I would say that as I have worked for Gannett for over 20 years!!!! And I see what is going on in the front lines.

    This is not a cyclical problem, this is a secular shift. People are moving away from print and moving toward digital devices like laptops, iphones, blackberry's...

    So the solution for Gannett is to modernize our executive team and change the leadership from bean counting to product development.

    Sorry Mr. Dubow and Ms. Martore, you both need to go. It is not the economy stupid, it is YOU!

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  22. Gannett please let each site run on its own products/ ideas. And be creative.. because what works in Nashville may not work in Palm Springs. What happen to being local.

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  23. Interesting story in the APP this morning about a major cleanup job in Surf City. "The cleanup became necessary after offshore sand pumped onto the beach during a federally funded beach-replenishment project in early 2007 was found to contain munitions from previous wars." One of the readers' comments was something like "Come to Surf City and have a Bang Up time!" NJ comments are a little different than what I've read from other Gannett sites.

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  24. 10:05 hit the nail on the head. Local control of the product is key to the survival of this company. Cookie-cutter journalism doesn't work.

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  25. by the way--
    congrats on getting the bigger ads!

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  26. 10:04a... Amen! It is time for Martore and Dubow to go. I think this blog has exposed enough evidence of their incompetence and i can only imagine what we do not know.

    Craig Dubow and Gracia Martore. Your time has expired. Please go.

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  27. 7;34 I guess stock analysts read this blog, but it would not feed into their analysis. Rather, they are looking at revenue figures and industry-wide business results. So I do not think this blog plays any role at all in the fluctuations of the stock price. That price reflects angst over whether GCI is going to produce enough revenue to pay its debt payments and make the dividend.

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  28. St Cloud MN rocks.

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  29. Someone asked yesterday how does Michelle Krans justify her over inflated salary by being the right hand of Dickey? She does not have to as they are good friends. We can barely afford to have someone take the trash out at our paper while she makes a shitload of dollars for what?

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  30. On 8:24 and the taxes: If you take your pension payment in a lump sum, you're going to owe taxes on it (and presumably a penalty, too). HOWEVER, you can roll the payment *directly* to an IRA and avoid all of that.

    Some folks, though, have to take the pension money because they've got bills to pay.

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  31. I should have shorted the stock...a 2nd time.

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  32. Your new profile mug is too toothy and too DARK!

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  33. Jim,
    Your new picture is almost as scary as that of Gracia Martore's stock photo on this blog.

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  34. Is The Courier Post any BIGGER today?

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  35. My EE doesn't know about any teleconference.

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  36. "Cookie-cutter journalism doesn't work."

    It doesn't - it's just a knee-jerk reaction - an attempt to save on across-the-board expenses. It's a completely irresponsible approach if you have the vision to look past the current economic situation.

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  37. Hey Walt are you in today or does you tummy still hurt?

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  38. In Jersey it all started when we took over the APP. We're what they call their "flagship" It's been cookie cutter galore. Lets run stories in all the papers. State wide sections that didn't work. Thought being taken away from the core product. Anyone with half a brain realizes this doesn't work. This was their choice the brilliant decision makers. So Gannett you get a double wammy. The economy has changed and you weren't prepaired for it. You were busy putting together products that didn't work. No thought no results.. enough said.

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  39. Their cookie cutter reasoning didn't work. You can't undermine readers. Do you think it's really not going to catch up with you?

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  40. I concur with the cookie-cutter notion. What I've never understood is why the company doesn't see all the various papers in their diverse markets with their diversity of talent from location to location as a sort of "laboratory" for trying new things.

    The model I have in mind here is much like the United States itself, where each of the states is free to create and enact ideas. The good ones spread to other states and, sometimes, to the whole nation via federal legislation.

    True diversity is the diversity of ideas. It could be good for the company, but apparently it's not in the DNA.

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  41. Gannettblog -vs- stock price...

    If you were an investor, would you invest in a company when a greater portion of its employees have very little positive to say about it? I think it would be an inhibitor.

    A close friend of mine, and Gannett employee had an occasion to call back to the main office in Virginia ten years ago or so. Who he was talking to I do not know. The conversation turned to Gannett's stock and this person was shocked to learn that my friend did not buy company stock. "It's a great value", he was told. My friend said, "I know how they make their money." There was dead silence on the line.

    The boiling pot of employee resentment has been simmering for many years. Gannett has, up until this blog started, been able to keep the lid on tight. Add to this a recession, advertising slump, circulation figures down and a top brass that is oblivious to how to run a company when it's not the only game in town... I see a train wreck coming and an employee base that just a soon see it happen.

    We're asked to sacrifice now, to share the burden, save the company, save our jobs. The cutting continues. "Furloughs" to stave off further layoffs, but the layoffs never stopped, never let up for one minute. Profitable newspapers in the chain are being hammered just as the handfull of unprofitable ones are. Is it any wonder employees have grow disillusioned with management and could give a fly'n flip about what happens? It's been many years in the making. The lid is off, the pot is boiling over unabated.

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  42. 10:19

    I've work for 5 publishers in my career at Gannett and I have to say I was very good friends with each one of them. As a matter of fact the majority of friendships are started in the work place. Your comment holds no merit.

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  43. Well I've worked with 6 Publishers in Gannett. The Publishers with journalism degree's are much different then the one's today.

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  44. We're glad your good friends with them. Let me know how you make out in the next round of layoffs.

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  45. I think the question should be. Why do you need to be "good friends" with your publisher? Shouldn't everyone be treated the same? I guess your really proud of that. It's disgusting if you ask me

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  46. Your the one with NO "merit".

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  47. Just got back from my tax adviser. The $27,000 outstanding loan I had from my 401K when I left Gannett will cost me about $3,500 in extra taxes this year...Gulp! The price you pay for freedom, I say.

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  48. I remember almost 30 years ago a very brief conversation with Phil Currie. I was just out of J-school, working at a non-G newspaper and came across him at a convention. I had interned with a G site, so knew who he was. After telling me what I was doing, he started out the conversation by asking my how I liked my "assignment."

    At the time, it didn't dawn on me that the mentality of "assignments" was how the G management team treats most of its employees. The domino effect of moving all level employees from one site to another has been both a curse and a blessing. To be sure, it's allowed pretty talented people to move within the same company to better opportunities. On the other hand, it doesn't let you put down roots in a community. No one was ever assumed to refuse a transfer, because that was a kiss of death. So, talent moved from site a to site b and so on. Never making a connection with the readers, sources, advertiers, etc. We've created a transient culture that is hurting right now when we can least afford it. The new folks can't connect to the local markets they're in. In many markets, I'm sure we can't relate to those local advertisers whose business are suffering because we have no relationship with them. Reap what we sew ...

    Friendships with publishers are a silly debate. How many of our employees can leverage a strong bond / relationship with our loyal customers, readers or sources?

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  49. "How many of our employees can leverage a strong bond / relationship with our loyal customers, readers or sources?"

    I never got the impression management where I worked valued source development like I did.

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  50. Dear 7:47,

    That's because the publisher hasn't got a clue as to what's going on. Late press starts, numerous stops, insertion that can't get a subscription card in without gumming up the works. It's a wonder anything gets out the door at all much less sells. I'm sure he's seeing what he needs to see and hears what n he needs to hear, but I've yet known him to show up at the production line or the loading dock when the paper is actually being put out. Of course he'd get the relevant excuses, or possibly there wouldn't be any problems.....that day!

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  51. NEW JERSEY PAPERS SUCK! All the higher ups only care about themselves,funny how a lot of them get caught with there hands in the cookie jar,taken bribes,cutting safety just to make corporate think they are doing there so called jobs

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  52. 12:17

    I was friends with many from all departments. If you think that is disgusting I feel very sorry for you. Good luck in life.

    12:19

    I said your comment has no merit. I did not say you had no merit. Learn to read.

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  53. "NEW JERSEY" PAPERS "ROCK"

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  54. 12:31 - You are correct about the Gannett "rotation system" HOWEVER - you have the biggest point wrong -

    You called these people "talent."

    I strongly disagree. Not ONE of these musical chair EEs or publishers I have seen was worth having at the papers.

    "Talent" is not the right word for these idiots - from Metzger to Borgoni to Callahan. Worthless.

    They come into a community, wreck havoc, then leave after two years. A community newspaper ruined.

    But, I suppose that level of incompetence does take "talent."

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  55. My aggravation other than lack of staffing is the lack of space. Our papers are ridiculously tight. It is only a matter of time before readers stop reading because of it.

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  56. 12:58... another gladhander.

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  57. 1:34 Your right! The readers have stopped reading obviously.

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  58. New Jersey has run itself into the ground.

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  59. 9:31 - EE is STILL in the conference call. Stick that in your asshat.

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  60. 11:45 I am an investor, and I will tell you the last thing I look at before deciding to put money into a company is the morale of the rank and file. I am down about 20 percent, which is much better than the broader market, and of GCI istelf. I doubt many investors in GCI know about this blog.

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  61. Thank you, Mr. Investor, that is very comforting to know.
    Good luck with your stocks, when it turns around I hope you prosper.

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  62. After years in the business, I already know journalists are the biggest whiners on the planet, but this blog sets a new standard for self-pity and self-absorption. Put your rage and bitterness aside for an hour and stop by your local pediatric ICU some day, see how much you feel like whining then. Or, better yet, focus your energy on getting on with your life. It works.

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  63. MOST NEW JERSEY PAPERS SUCK. GIVE YOURSELF FOUR MINUTES TO READ EACH ONE OF THEM.

    MOST NEW JERSEY EMPLOYEES ARE INEPT, SCARED AND KIND OF DUMB. OTHERWISE, THEY WOULD NOT STILL BE NJ EMPLOYEES.

    ALL THE POSITIVE SELF-AFFIRMATIONS IN THE WORLD CANNOT SAVE THESE PITIFUL HUMAN BEINGS.

    THINK OF THE LEADERSHIP (past and present) WHICH HAS BROUGHT THE CN/HNT TO THE BRINK:

    HIDLAY GANDHI NUTT
    GRZELLA MAST COOKE
    THORNE DI SANTO DITTY/DITTY
    CODDINGTON STAHOSKI FRIEDMAN
    FREEMAN ALEFF CANACCI

    BRING BACK BOB ROANE TO ANALYZE THE MESS AND SAVE IT.

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  64. As a stockholder why don't you DEMAND a better performance from top management and the Board of Directors?

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  65. "Get a grip" you can’t expect more from a journalist, after all, journalists are some of the dumbest college educated people on the planet.

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  66. New Jersey papers rock. New Jersey rocks.

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  67. Hay 3:23 lets no forget
    Cavone,Collins,Lorencca,Abadomarco,any more names?

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  68. Dear get a grip,
    You need one. If you work for Gannett, you should know you barely have time for a life other than work.
    While sure those who continue working must be grateful for a paycheck, why is it wrong to note (or whine, as you put it) that a lot of employee wealth has been wiped out with the stock-price and general-market demise?
    It's not like the workers, who mostly toil hard and follow directions despite disparaging remarks that show up here, caused either situation.

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  69. Hundreds of U.S. corporate fraud cases possible: FBI
    February 11, 2009 11:26 AM ET





    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of corporate fraud and bank impropriety cases under investigation could grow into the hundreds from 38 now, and involve significant companies that 'everybody knows about," an FBI official told Congress on Wednesday.

    FBI Deputy Director John Pistole, in testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, compared the investigations to the probe into the collapse of the energy firm Enron Corp. A U.S. Justice Department official said agency was considering forming a national mortgage fraud task force -- similar to that which investigated Enron -- which the Bush administration had considered unnecessary.

    (Reporting by Randall Mikkelsen

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  70. HIDLAY GANDHI NUTT
    GRZELLA MAST COOKE
    THORNE DI SANTO DITTY/DITTY
    CODDINGTON STAHOSKI FRIEDMAN
    FREEMAN ALEFF CANACCI

    ...

    If that's a poem, you need some verbs.

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  71. JIM KROEZE ROCKS!

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  72. So, what was the finally count of sales jobs lost in Elmira and Ithaca this week? And, did Binghmaton lose more than four as previously shared?

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  73. Texas Judge Forces Topix To Unveil Info About Anonymous Commenters



    http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090210/0337353715.shtml

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  74. Canacci does NOT belong on any such list. You clearly don't know him at all. And this listing of people is nasty, small-minded and so counter productive. Ironically, the person you are bashing would be the first to offer to help you if you needed it. That's the class act and the journalist that he is.

    Formerly a coworker, always his friend.

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  75. Well, as an investor I've looked at the data and the company is addressing issues, performing well (stock isn't) but doing the things it needs to do to be successful over the long run.

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  76. Who was the ex-Bergen Record reporter who ended up as EE or publisher of the Daily Record in the late 1980s? Neil?....forget his last name.

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  77. had to be better than the EE at the DR now

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  78. Our industry has changed for sure. But when you look at the people Gannett has allowed to remain in high profile jobs it's unreal. I can't but shake my head.

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  79. 8:01
    Binghamton lost five total: three in retail, one in circ, one in classified.

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  80. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  81. Josh Resnick to the rescue!

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  82. I wonder when the end is coming. I see the empire collapsing, with Gannett selling off newspapers like a mother dropping off her children at the orphanage door.
    That could be good news in most markets. Local investors will buy most of the papers and they'll do well.
    The key for the new owners will be their dedication to the print product.
    The wiz-kid Gannett geniuses have used the internet to undermine the real product. Advertisers want printed advertising in as many homes as possible, but when newspapers give away news content on the net, circulation dwindles.
    Gannett has also stopped actively serving small advertisers, when newspapers represent the only vialble, effective and affordable advertising medium for these businesses.
    The Gannett epitaph should include the word "implosion" near the top.

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  83. "After years in the business, I already know journalists are the biggest whiners on the planet, but this blog sets a new standard for self-pity and self-absorption."

    Great post, get a grip. Many of these people have been whining and bitching while crapping and pissing on any effort to accomplish anything in the workplace.

    Also -- yes, this post is anonymous. Now that tiny, spineless little Jimmy says "you agree to relinquish any claims," things have changed. Of course, this also negates what he's trying to accomplish with said statement.

    So to little Jimmy: You suck. Anything you might have accomplished with this endeavor has since been destroyed with your pathetic attempts to incite fear and paranoia.

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  84. We are many of us angry and disappointed. I loved much of my first career as a newspaperman. It's gone. It ain't coming back. But I can't just forget 20 years of my life.

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  85. Amazing that as soon as someone has supervisory duties, you're not allowed to have friends at work. The people you eat lunch with turn into Cronies or Suck-Ups. But not friends.

    Every one of your motives gets questioned. Even when you are trying to do something the staff wants, the announcements are met with rolled eyes and snide comments.

    I'm lucky - I've been able to grow a staff that knows how much I respect their talent, and they see me as someone there to help them, to run interference. But I still eat lunch alone. I know that wall has to be there. The great American pass time is bitch-about-your-boss.

    What I don't get is the level of hate and assholery so many commenters here aim at the management. For the most vociferous of you, take a pill. Guess what-- Dubow, Dickey, and the entire list of New Jersey leadership don't know you and they don't care how you feel about them.

    Better for your health would be to go for a walk and see that there is life beyond your keyboard.

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  86. 5:55 -- They have no ideas and no solutions. All they can do is roll their eyes and complain.

    It's a sad attitude.

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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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