April 4 update: I neglected to make clear in the original version of this post that Gandhi also left as publisher of the Courier News in Bridgewater.Earlier: Something's afoot in northern New Jersey. The Home News Tribune's website now lists William C. "Skip" Hidlay, as acting president and publisher of the newspaper. That follows a couple tips I got today that Ketan Gandhi might be out. (Corporate's official page for the paper still shows Gandhi as publisher.) I e-mailed Gannett spokeswoman Tara Connell about Gandhi earlier today, but have not heard back.
(Poopgate watchers will wonder: No; you're thinking of Cherry Hill, N.J., about an hour southeast of East Brunswick.)
Hidlay is still listed as the not-far-away Asbury Park Press' top news executive on Corporate's page. And Asbury Park's site says the same thing. So, I throw this to the masses.
Staffers in East Brunswick and Asbury Park: Can you tell us what's going on? Use this link to e-mail your reply; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the sidebar, upper right. Or leave a note in the comments section, below.
[Image: today's Home News Tribune, Newseum]
Ketan Ghandi was president and publisher of the Home News Tribune AND the Bridgewater Courier News. And STILL you make no mention of that humble newspaper in Bridgewater! Management simply informed us in typical Gannett style, that Ghandi was no longer with Gannett Corp. We'd LOVE to know whether he left of his own volition or got canned...AND WHY!
ReplyDeleteThe best way around any corporate snooping on your worktime surfing is a web proxy. I use http://www.pagewash.com.
ReplyDeleteHow about some investigative reporting here. Shouldn't the shareholders know if there were any improprieties?
ReplyDeleteTime will reveal all. But ooh, the story is so so scandalous.
ReplyDeleteHe obviously didn't leave on his own. People were in his office boxing up his stuff yesterday.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he was drafted by the Edison Cricket Club? I heard the old boy had quite the cow shot and bowled a mean frog in the blender.
ReplyDeleteStay in step all of you, kiss the arse of the ones you love, get to the Big Show...the Lonely Hearts Club Band of the media congloms.
ReplyDeleteKey word is "glom."
Hope that Zell has big pocketbooks...Newsday and then Gannett.
Ledger reveals so before Gannett:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nj.com/business/ledger/index.ssf?/base/business-9/1206509756119660.xml&coll=1
Ketan Gandhi refused to comment = there is something more to this story.
ReplyDeletedelicious!
ReplyDeleteI know that Ketan is a reagent for a non-Gannett investment company. could that have anything to do with this?
who cares! just glad to read he was tossed on his butt. could not have happened to a better candidate!
Cheers!
(Happy ex-Gannett employee)
We'll never know the real story, but I bet it has something to do with that sorry excuse for an advertising director. Sure the economy ain't so hot but advertising revenue has been down for a while. What's up with that?
ReplyDeleteAll: I have received a number of anonymous comments offering very, very (very!) interesting tips on why Ghandi left so suddenly.
ReplyDeleteBut I have not published any of these, because they involve allegations of you-know-what. So, please: Send these tips to me in an e-mail from a non-work address, so I can contact you with any questions I have; I can't respond to anonymous comments because there is no way to reach the authors with follow-up questions.
Jim,
ReplyDeleteyou have got to post something that people are reporting!! I have my money invested in the company.I wanna know the real story.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteDinner at an Indian Restaurant: $20
ReplyDeleteAdvertising in THNT: $100
Tickets to a Steelers game: $200
Ketan Gandhi and Bob Donovan playing Apprentice: Priceless
Maybe they ought to follow-up Ghandi's removal with a general house cleaning. There are a lot of managers in place at both papers that have been in position for way too long. Let's get some fresh and competent managers and supervisors in place and see if we can turn our local newpaper around.
ReplyDeleteGET RID OF THE DEAD WOOD!
By the way Skip Hidlay is a DOLL! He is a competent and a decent man through and through. Let's take away the "Acting" from his title and and call him "Publisher" of CN and HNT!
ReplyDeleteInvestigative Reporting says that Ketan Gandhi is talking to a lawyer.This one is gonna get settled in court.
ReplyDeleteI had a Ketan encounter this past Sunday. well, almost encounter... once he realized I was behind him in the supermarket he all of a sudden became quite interested in the tops of his shoes.
ReplyDeleteno big shock there since this guy could not care less who you were in the HNT office unless your tahs were hanging out (cough sales department cough)
Was he bagging for you?
ReplyDeleteLOL! "Tahs hanging out". I know exactly who you mean. She used her charms whenever it would further her career!
ReplyDeleteWhich "she" was using her charms? No name just a location and title will do!
ReplyDeleteHe was shopping at the supermarket for cinco de mayo party. Its part of his "Resignation" package with gannett. I have an invitation and it says i am not invited.
ReplyDeleteI am wondering if he still has that spot in the parking lot "Reserved for Ketan Gandhi"..gonna remind myself to check in the evening.
ReplyDeleteSkip is all about himself. Anyone goes under the bus except him. He will do anything to make sure you are at fault and not him.
ReplyDeleteAxing Ketan Gandhi isn't gonna change anything. Aladdin's lamp is still there, just different hands rubbing it :)
ReplyDelete5:24 pm 4/14 - sounds like ass-kissing has begun!
ReplyDeleteregarding the parking spot, Ketan's sign was cut down the very next day. thus, another indication that it was not a friendly departure.
ReplyDeleteand yes, I could not agree more that that company is more screwed up than just putting it all on Ketan's shoulders. but that has more to do with the papers being run like any corporation, than actual newspapers. it's the problem with the industry, not just Gannett, but it is slowly killing the medium. everyone go buy one of those expensive amazon.com hand helds, it's your future!
Let's be fair about Skippy. He came to his postion by working for Bob Collin's. 'Nuff said.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Skippy throwing people under the bus, that is nothing new for us in our department in Bridgewater. Now we will be smelling fumes from a double decker bus!! In regards to Ketan disappearing due to incompetence, as refrenced by a former poster. IMPOSSIBLE, there would be NO directors left!!!All the director's should be flushed down the Courier Post toilet.
ReplyDeleteThat's kind of like blaming all your faults on your parents? Give me a break.
ReplyDeleteNo. It's more like holding your executives accountable for their lack of vision and skill. They bred an environment of top down, lock step, don't question me or else management. The reason competitive companies don't work like that anymore is because they know something Gannett does not know; it doesn't work!
ReplyDelete3:18, I was being facetious. I totally agree with you. 'don't question me or else' doesn't work and some of us are subjected to it all the time. Demoralizing and ultimately affecting productivity and creativity. Biggest problem is that those higher-ups that are at fault are the last ones to admit it or work at improving their management skills. They are too involved with their own personal self-fulfillment. Very sad.
ReplyDeleteThe Bridgewater property has been in trouble for a long time. Again, perhaps corporate should clean house of ALL directors, managers, whatever "title" you want to give them, on the advertising side, including production. They've all been at their posts for too long and we see what the result has been!
ReplyDeleteLike with all Gannett properties, the problem is the constant cost cutting. You come up with expense cuts to hit a quarterly number (as assigned by corporate) and then you can't get the money back when you do the next years budget. The dollars are lost forever. After years of this backward thinking, you are cut to the bone, with no money to grow the business. Blame corporate, not the local managers whose hands are tied.
ReplyDeleteThe Bridgewater property has the worst leadership ever. The directors in Bridgewater are a bunch of self-loathing, non-productive MONKEYS, who have no clue how the motivate their staff. Does Gannett offer a director refresher course????
ReplyDeletelet's not get too far off from the real subject at hand; what happened to Ketan? Although this discussion is interesting, I do not want anyone to let up on what really happened here. It's not just morbid interest either. As several people have posted on this subject, this is a company with alot of shareholders who are probably interested in knowing what kind of lowdown business was taking place at several of the NJ papers. Also, there are alot of employees who are still taking direction from bosses put in place by Ketan over the years. What do any of them have to do with this, if anything at all?
ReplyDeleteGannett seemed to feel it was real important to exploit the fact that Ketan was the first Indian/Desi publisher for a family newspaper in the USA, why is it that the media is now so "hush hush" about that same publisher somehow screwing himself out of that same gig just over a year later? It seems if the first news was so important that it had to reported everywhere, then certainly Ketan's removal should be just as important, if not more so.
The Bridgewater location has one director...I won't mention her name. Here is definition that fits her well; crock, a worthless person. Compared to a chipped or cracked vessel or to a chamber pot. Also a mass of lies; bragging or nonsense; just full of plain old stinky B.S.
ReplyDeleteto the above blogger, I think you made a mistake. Shouldn't it be a Mast of lies??????
ReplyDelete"ONE director...I won't mention her name"...
ReplyDeleteclue here being "ONE"..i think you just gave the name
I smell a cat fight :)
Hey, get it straight: it's not just the director, it's the other so-called managers as well. Only ONE of those managers was put into place during Ketan's reign. So how does it figure that advertising's numbers just aren't there? Sure, sure the recession, the internet, whatever. Let's review production's lack-luster performance for years and years. The quality of the ads coming out of there stinks as does the number of errors. Credits written right and left and the problem never addressed by the so-called manager who, by the way, doesn't even have a college education but requires all new-hires to have a degree! Gee, I wonder why no one wants to advertise!
ReplyDeleteMy mantra - "the meek shall inherit the earth". It's the only thing that keeps me going.
ReplyDeleteOMFG...i had to read through 42 comments just NOT to find out why ketan gandhi got fired :)
ReplyDeleteIt's all right there! Read between the lines because, thanks to Jim not wanting to be libelous, that's all we have. Anyone working at the NJ properties can pretty much narrow it down to the WHO and any other Gannett properties (who probably aren't even interested in this story anyway) can figure out the basic facts as well.
ReplyDeleteIn ref. to 4/21 at 12:33 -
ReplyDeleteKetan, is that you again?!
no, i think thats his wife...ketan never uses those words.
ReplyDeleteHere we go again in Bridgewater. When Ketan came to turn our lives upside last summer, he said changes would be made quickly, but not too quickly. In days, the Features department was gone. Right after, the art department. For 10 months, many of us were told we had jobs one day, then didn't the next, then had a job (maybe the same one we started with, maybe a different one) again the next day after that. We lost talent in the upheaval and kept the not-so-great talent. Newsroom staff had to apply for their coworkers jobs or to reapply for our own! Every day was a struggle. You could arrive one day to be demoted, the next to be promoted. This week, we're starting to see it again. Sections, pages and jobs are going to be cut, and it seems the poorest performers are the safest; the hardest workers are wondering what they'll be doing tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteFor all you directors out there living in a world called "it's all about me", watch out and remember...What comes around goes around. Oh and one more thing KARMA is a bitch!!!
ReplyDeleteK for KARMA
ReplyDeleteK for KETAN
Coincidence?????????
And the meek shall inherit the earth? Just so long as there's no Gannett Corp. in the deal!
ReplyDeleteI am new to Gannett. Have never met or talked to gandhi. But since nobody has anything good to say about him, i think it was good that he was let go.
ReplyDeleteyeah, it's also "good" that you have no idea why he was let go. it's even great that Gannett allowed him to resign with a nice package instead of tossing him out on his butt. new to Gannett? it shouldn't take you long to realize that Ketan was just apart of the bigger machine, and that Gannett's problems are far worse than anything initiated by one clueless NJ publisher.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...allowed to resign? Let's expand on this a bit more. Where did you get this information, or did you make some assumption?
ReplyDeleteKetan talks to a "big time" news source:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.maynardije.org/columns/dickprince/080326_prince/printable/
"going to look at different options"????????????
ReplyDeleteOnce a chocolate teapot, always a chocolate teapot.
yeah but that's old news (look at the date of the publication) where is he now and what is he doing? has a lawsuit been filed at the middlesex county courthouse?
ReplyDeleteWell since he went low profile..i will say his lawyer asked him to do that. Just sit tight and wait for the headlines "Ketan Gandhi sues Gannett"
ReplyDeletesue gannett??? what could he possibly ask for??
ReplyDeleteMore money!!!
If Ketan finds out i posted this he will fire me....oh wait he can't !!
Gannett fires people? man, I tried like crazy and they wouldn't bite; they were perfectly content to have me spread my evil in the office for a few months just so they didn't have to do it. lol what a joke...
ReplyDeleteThen you know what buddy, you are an idiot. Why spread evil and make others people unhappy. In the future, just take your bitter immature butt elsewhere or dig a hole and climb in.
ReplyDeleteSpreading evil and making people unhappy (and pocketing the cash)...isn't that what Gannett trains its' managers for?
ReplyDelete5/02/2008 1:39pm it's called sarcasm. I was a dedicated employee that took too much pride in the work I did for that god awful company. as soon as I announced I was leaving it became management's job to put the heat to my feet to get me to leave before the time we discussed. anything that came out of my mouth after my last meeting with management was no different than how anyone else spoke of the company in EB or Asbury park. the only difference is I had an out. I'm self employed now and a hell of alot happier than you could possibly be. next time you're bobbing on your boss's knob, give a pull for me! cheers
ReplyDeleteMaybe now that Keaton can go back to his own country and start teaching them not to urinate and defecate in there own drinking water. Oh sorry don't think he learned that here since He kind of did it metaphorically to a the hand that fed him all these years.
ReplyDeleteKetan is a good example of how you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
ReplyDelete"hey come on! don't let this die, gang! let's hear the dirt!" (in the high pitch Ketan voice)
ReplyDeleteMarch 18, new VP of Finance is announced. March 24, former VP of Finance is gone. What took so long?
ReplyDeletedoes anyone have any progress on this..is the case in court yet?
ReplyDeletedoes ketan have a new job?
yeah..he is drafting for the NFL..just can't make up his mind between Steelers and Giants
ReplyDeleteAs a former Gannett (Bridgewater) employee, I have seen so many incompetent and downright stupid people receive promotions for reasons unknown. I must say that part of the amusement of watching these promotions take place was the on-going joke "one of these days, they're going to run after someone with a toilet bowl brush and tell that person that they've just been promoted".
ReplyDeleteShouldn't directors be even just a little bit smart? Apparently vindictiveness in a director will get you everywhere at the Bridgewater location. Not only did an incompetent "thorn" in everyone's side at Bridgewater, take an entire department and run it into the ground, but that very director has also been given reign at NB as well. This "thorn" would be better off in running the land of misfits. Under her direction, many many very talented people have bolted from Bridgewater to other non Gannett newspapers. Gannett is so very oblivious to the fact that all of those very talented people have taken their revenue making skills over to other papers, thus creating a decline in revenue for Gannett while boosting revenue for the competition. This "thorn" in one's side is an incompetent fool who is just one more cog in the Gannett wheel that helps to make the company what it is today! A JOKE!
Dolts, hip-shooters, paranoid delusional psychos, megalomaniacs, bootlickers, loose canons, deadwood, and window dressing; these people all need a place to work. Why not Gannett? Preferably management, but best suited for executive positions. It's like a form of diversity..let's embrace our dysfunctionality!
ReplyDeletePattio's post reminds me of my first few years in East Brunswick. I'm sure this was/is true at most Gannett papers nation wide; our paper was the training grounds for the Star Ledger up in Newark and a few other week periodicals in the area. Meaning, people would get their first shot in the newspaper biz, and then move onto real gigs that paid somewhat decent wages. I recall one fulltime reporter from East Brunswick going into some kind of training program at the Star Ledger. She was making more money there than her fulltime job at the Home News Tribune. and knowing what my lousy paychecks were like a year ago, I do not doubt that story for a second.
ReplyDeleteAnd worse yet, that thorn in everyone's side has managed to put sub-managers into place that don't deserve to be there and continue to do nothing as far as encouraging sales. That thorn also continues to support and defend anything and everything that worthless production manager wants and is. Why doesn't the publisher(s) see this? Year after year incompetence and non-productivity is the norm. Is there no one who would be willing to shake things up a bit? Try a new formula. Stick some new numbers into the old equation and lets see what we get. It's worth a try!
ReplyDeleteHello everyone,
ReplyDeleteGuess who is my new publisher? He is now working for Broad Street Publishing in PA which is part of the Inquirer. This should be interesting.
Interesting???????? i think it will be devastating.
ReplyDeleteSomebody there better keep an eye on the numbers. We'll send a sympathy card.
ReplyDeleteNo news? No announcements? I can see how excited they are to hire him!!!
ReplyDeleteA publisher and his money are soon parted!
ReplyDeleteGandhi just surfaced (5/21)as the publisher of our Pennsylvania newspaper company. His predecessor had talent, skill and compassion for his employees. The word I'm hearing around our place is that Gandhi is just another finance man -- gee, and the corporate suits wonder why journalism is dying. Reading these posts is depressing. Gandhi would be wise to address them with his new employees, rather than encourage them to climb aboard the Ketan Express when more and more of them are discovering this blog and reading nothing but complaints of his ineptitude and shallow personality. It all is very troubling.
ReplyDeleteThe sympathy card is in the mail. Suggestion for you guys; don't believe him. Also, watch out for the pushback. He'll be looking for weaknesses. If you stick together, you may have a chance, but if he gets you worrying about your job, game over. Work like you're dead already. I know it sounds bad, but better you know and get the benefit of other's experience. Remember too, his success will be rewarded, and your sacrifice will pay for it.
ReplyDeleteAlso if he gives you the "so called advice"...just do the opposite. 9 out 10 times you will be right.
ReplyDeleteKetan goes in and cuts expenses, cuts people, cuts everything he can. Reduces people to shreds. He doesn’t care how he speaks to anyone and can say things that leave the company open to exposure.
ReplyDeleteAnd for any busty women in the office, think of this as an opportunity for advancement. If you got 'em, flaunt 'em. We know that smart takes a back to seat to say....the back seat?
ReplyDeleteCould it be that a busty woman who was QUALIFIED got the job and you're all reading into it? Even busty women have brains sometimes.
ReplyDeletebusty? ahhh, the cornerstones of success under Ketan. a push up bra and a profoundly fake high pitch voice worked for some (okay, one person in particular, but you get the point).
ReplyDeleteyeah i think ketan was better off taking her with him as well. Both of them were real PROFESSIONALS.
ReplyDeletein all honesty, I thought what got Ketan in trouble with Gannett was his big mouth and how he used to talk to women in the office. profoundly inappropriate on so many levels, but my favorite was suggesting that one of his sales reps should be a go-go dancer. that's quality leadership at work, folks!
ReplyDeleteHe is Reformed and Rehabilitated at the new position. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks, after all.
ReplyDeleteOr, he has to watch his butt until his trial period is over.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe they only hire flat-chested woemen there.
I don't think you'll have any trouble with Ketan in Philadelphia. This was a hard lesson to learn, but I'm sure he did learn something from it. He probably reads this blog and is surprised by how many people are aware of his fascination. He'll behave from now on.
ReplyDeleteHe'll be good.... for awhile. He wants lull his victims into a sense of false security before he begins screwing them.
ReplyDeleteTo 7:41: What do you mean, "screwing them?" Are you talking figuratively, or literally? People should know by now that it isn't a good way to get ahead in any company.
ReplyDelete91 Comments!!!!
ReplyDeleteDoes that make Ketan a Diva??
Do i see 100???
Do i see 100???
At our Philadelphia newspaper, word just made it through the building that Gandhi laid off the circulation director so he could cut costs by giving the paper's distribution to an outside company. This employee is highly regarded by just about everyone and has been with the company for 13, 14 years. We saw how very upset she was. The shameful part was that Gandhi made the decision and didn't even give her the bad news himself. He had the company controller do it. Talk about no balls! Day by day, as all the departments compare notes and see what a zero this guy is, he is despised a little more.
ReplyDeleteI agree with whoever posted above. For years our circulation director worked hard under very difficult circumstances. I don't have any real contact with Gandhi, but after seeing how he handled her layoff, I don't care to. How can you respect a guy like that? From what I keep hearing, he doesn't have much respect anyway at our place. I am appalled by this blog and the number of unflattering posts. If I weren't a lady, I'd really write what I think about what he did to our circulation director. Whoever hired this guy ought to be run out of Philly.
ReplyDeleteCan you say Mark Frisbee? Welcome to Gannettland.
ReplyDeleteThis is just about when Ketan smiles the secret smile.
ReplyDeleteI would expect more buyouts on the way.
I loved the director but this guy is a MANIAC.
So run baby run baby run baby run
Baby run. (Courtesy sherl Crow)
History repeats itself...
ReplyDeleteGuess what's next???
What's next? I don't know this guy so I'd like to know what to expect. Is he just going to start laying people off left and right? Does he know he doesn't work for Gannett anymore? Does he seem comfortable at his new job or is he realizing that he's not all that liked?
ReplyDeleteJob Security Tip:
ReplyDeleteLast day for semi annual sale at Victoria Secret.
Don't let this go loose (pun intended).
I don't think that he'd make that mistake twice.
ReplyDeleteAsk Ketan and he says it wasn't a mistake the first time. He is not sorry. He is sorry he got caught.
ReplyDeleteWhat did he get caught doing?
ReplyDeleteDid anyone else get laid off?
ReplyDeleteJust curious as the same is happening at Gannett.