Monday, March 16, 2009
Monday | March 16 | Special Proxy Watch Edition
We remain on alert for the 2009 proxy report, disclosing annual pay to CEO Craig Dubow and others; it's due any moment. Please post proxy and other comments, below, in this open forum. (Earlier editions.)
91 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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ReplyDeleteIs there a deadline for when the proxy MUST be filed?
ReplyDeleteIt is the start of another work day and week. Wonder what today and the rest of this week will bring? More chaos?
ReplyDelete10th? 12th? 20th?.....whatever Let's have a good day in Gannett land today....stock may inch up a bit today and for a first I didn't sell my 401k match....you just never know..lol
ReplyDeleteGood Morning
ReplyDeleteFrom this day on.............If no one has anything that isn't intelligent to say about gannett, then don't say anything at all!! Acording to jim! Take all the wind out oF all the sails!
ReplyDeleteTo think this used to be a fun blog to post..........I agre with abusive, Oh well let the nerds win again. I am done!
ReplyDeleteSo now we have the russian press.........we will wait till after Jim gets up from sleeping before he edits and deletes what he thinks is abusive and non_relevant. His asshole just tightened up like a twenty year olds and I have to wonder if he could of lived under the same restrictions if , as a reporter, he had to live by these rules too.
ReplyDeleteChicken littles, winney complainers and sometimes true to heart people........thats what you have. Also disruptive but sometimes funny unrelated that readjusted the thought process between next comments. Now we are going to be firm and serious? Remind me not to check back as often! I only agree with half the assholes anyway and now you take me down to a quarter?
ReplyDeleteThe blog has just majorally became constipated with the new guidelines.............good grief!
ReplyDeleteThe exorcism of the blog........ I rebuke you! In the name of the father the son and the holy ghost!! Damien oh damien why do you do this to me? Deleted me before but I guess you never watched the exorcist?
ReplyDeleteUse to be a daily maybe I will go to weekly.........with the "just facts" crap.
ReplyDeleteI think by killing the playful "First!" postings, this blog is sidestepping the mainstream internet culture, where such entries are fairly normal and benign.
ReplyDeleteCheck the comment threads on all the most read blogs: First happens and is allowed.
That allowance is a statement of open-mindedness.
Actually, the sophomoric comic relief that used to be shown on this blog was just befitting the Gannett culture. Taking that away will not really enhance this blog. Sorry but I'm not crazy about this new censorship. Just my opinion.
ReplyDeleteEvery news organization has gate keepers. Get over yourselves, people. Jim's blog, Jim's rules, it IS that simple. If you don't like it, go troll somewhere else. It's amazing how people can overanalyze something to death. Those "first" postings are totally annoying and do nothing to further the mission of this blog. Their removal, along with other abusive posts, is called editing.
ReplyDeleteMarch 16, 2009 9:36 AM EDT
ReplyDeleteUSATODAY.com, a Gannett (NYSE: GCI) publication, had more than 13.4 million unique visitors in the month of February 2009, a 27% year-over-year increase, according to Nielsen Online's combined Home/Work panel. USATODAY.com had the largest year-over-year increase in the national newspaper competitive set.
The Tech section of USATODAY.com had the largest audience growth in February with a 100% year-over-year increase to 1.9 million visitors. USATODAY.com's coverage of the economic stimulus package, the Octuplet Mom, and Rihanna were some of the most viewed topics in the month of June based on internal analysis of traffic data.
Gannett Co., Inc. operates as a news and information company. It operates in three segments: Publishing, Digital, and Broadcasting. Publishing segment publishes daily newspapers, weekly newspapers, magazines, and trade publications, as well as classified business Web sites.[SM]
The second news leaks out about layoffs or furloughs, people who don't like Jim's attempt to keep HIS blog that he created for US focused, will come roaring back to read, read, read.
ReplyDelete"Every news organization has gate keepers. Get over yourselves, people. Jim's blog, Jim's rules, it IS that simple. ...
ReplyDelete3/16/2009 10:07 AM"
Twenty-five percent of the population are willing followers of authoritarian leaders.
The rest of us, not so much.
Then go somewhere else, anonymous. It's that simple. Use your freedom of choice.
ReplyDeleteIn agreement with 5:35 a.m., is there a deadline when the proxy MUST be filed?
ReplyDelete10:47 -- If you work for Gannett, you're one of those followers. GCI has some of the strictest gatekeeping policies I've seen.
ReplyDeleteNot only does the company often refuse to tackle controversial stories in my market, they don't even let you start a story unless it speaks to this demographic or that demographic.
And, yes, following just because you need a paycheck is still following. I know because I'm forced to do it every week.
The e-mail I got a week ago said that the proxy report was due on or before March 17, which means either today or tomorrow
ReplyDelete5:35 am and 10:54 am: I do not know when the proxy report MUST be filed. But the SEC presumably sets a minimum number of days between the report's publication, and the annual meeting; the report, after all, contains the meeting's agenda.
ReplyDeleteGannett has published these annual reports every March, going back at least to 1994. In that time, the latest a proxy got filed was March 29 -- in 1996. That report's publication came 39 days before that year's annual meeting.
As I post this, there are 43 days before this year's annual meeting, scheduled for April 28, so there may be more time to go.
So much for transpariency?
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteFill us in. We know something is going down.
Congrats to USAToday.com.
ReplyDeleteThat's a big bump in visits!
(I'm happy to get 65,000 a month to my blog.)
Dear Gannett Employees:
ReplyDeleteAgain this year, in a continuing effort to reduce the cost and impact on the environment of producing, distributing, and mailing the Company's 2008 Annual Report and 2009 Proxy Statement, we would like you to view these materials over the Internet instead of in printed form.
Gannett's proxy materials will be posted on the Company's website (http://www.gannett.com) on or before Tuesday, March 17, 2009. The following week you will receive an e-mail notice from the Gannett Law Department containing an electronic link to these materials, along with instructions on how to vote online or by telephone the Gannett shares you own directly or through Gannett's 401(k) or Employee Stock Purchase Plans. If you would prefer to receive Gannett's proxy materials in printed rather than electronic form, you will have an opportunity to make that election when you receive the e-mail notice.
If you also own shares of Gannett stock through an outside broker (e.g., Merrill Lunch, Schwab, etc.), you will receive voting instructions from your broker for those shares because they are processed separately.
If you have any questions or problems accessing the proxy materials online, please contact Todd Mayman, Company Secretary, at 703-854-6846 or by e-mail at tmayman@gannett.com.
Thanks for your support in helping Gannett reduce costs and our impact on the environment.
Todd Mayman
What can we do to take away the defeasted attitude that seems to be passes on by the company and blog. We have tons of loyal customers that but the paper and will never look at it online. These folks buy the advertisers products. If the ecomony ever turns the newspaper will still be the best place to advertise. what can the company do to show support for this idea. You keep overpricing and cutting your information you will be in a mess worse than we are in now.
ReplyDeleteUnder new Rule 14a-16, a company may make its proxy materials available over the internet in lieu of
ReplyDeletemailing them. To do so, it must follow these steps:
The company must mail a Notice to stockholders, at least 40 days in advance of the meeting, that
its proxy materials are available online.
■
Here are some facts:
ReplyDelete1. Proxy comes out tomorrow afternoon (March 17).
2. Furloughs will be decided upon this week. Most likely after tomorrow's big "executive" meeting in Mclean. We are looking at one week minimum and two weeks the average.
3. Layoff's are absolutely happening and I have seen numbers in the range of 3,000 plus for USCP.
4. Content One is falling apart as Dubow is on the fence with his nominee Tara Connell.
5. I was on furlough last week and found a new job and will be resigning from Gannett after 15 years of service! I can't wait to tell my boss!
Good luck to all of you! I hope this blog lives on, but I agree with other posters here, too many rules and too many posts getting "removed by blog administrator"
Peace
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ReplyDeleteDid anyone hear that Tara Connell is getting fired? I was speaking to someone who claims to know her well and she said Tara was leaving Gannett.
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ReplyDelete12:42: What do you mean "one week minimum and two weeks the average." Are you talking about possibly 2 weeks furlough next quarter? Are you upper management/corp and know this for sure?
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ReplyDeleteOn 12:42's comment: I cannot verify its accuracy. I would observe, however, that it is very detailed -- in dates, figures, etc. Doesn't meant it's correct, of course.
ReplyDeleteJim, sorry about any comment that may have upset you. I'm a little new to the blog thing.
ReplyDeleteI WANT TO GO BACK TO WORK!!!!! Being laid off sucks
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ReplyDeleteNo problem, 1:21 pm: I meant to write this note, bringing you up to date.
ReplyDeleteI've just started moderated this blog's comment strings more aggressively, to keep them more tightly focused on Gannett and the subject at hand. You just happened to walk into the middle of that.
Please keep coming back!
If Tara Connell is, indeed, leaving GCI, voluntarily or not, will that mean that Kate Marymont has won out over her?
ReplyDeleteSeattle P-I going to web-only publishing ... effective Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteNot a problem, Jim. Any word about Indy's press? Anybody?
ReplyDeleteIs it wrong to watch Oprah, naked, with Cheese Puffs in 1 hand and the phone in the other waiting on Gannett to call me back?
ReplyDeletemateme is my word verification....how funny!!!!
Jim, I congratulate you on ejecting the trolls from your blog. People who insist on using other people's web creations as their own little fun-house mirrors are just plain obnoxious. They're the net equivalent of mooks who think they can yell, throw food, walk over seats and spray-paint the screen in a move theater.
ReplyDeleteThe best and most vibrant online commentary community alive is Television Without Pity, where they ruthlessly enforce rules against time-wasting, trolling and the like. It's the only way to keep intelligent readers coming back.
More layoffs and more furloughs??? How does management expect anything to get done if they let more people go and tell those that are left to not come in for five days (or more.) If this is true, the quality of the product will suffer some more.
ReplyDeleteSomeone needs to remind upper management that it is important to keep the readers and subscribers happy. Because if they are not reading, the advertisers won't spend their money to advertise in a product no one is reading. And without advertising revenue, the papers go away
1:50 pm - You are confusing Gannett with a newspaper/media company that actually cares about the needs and concerns of readers.
ReplyDeleteThat stopped dead a year ago... maybe further back.
Anyway, Gannett does not care if readers leave because quality is poor - that is irrelevent to the present equasion.
There is ONLY ONE concern - maintaining the profit margin approved for each newspaper's budget last year. If it can't be done by revenue, it will be done by expense cutting!
That is all this company cares about. Matter of fact, this is one of the few things Gannett shares with most other media companies today - hunger for just maintaining a bottom line at all costs.
Couple of days ago I asked people to name a constructive idea that they has suggested that was not listened to or implemented. The only response was from Jim, who said that 14 years ago he told Gary Watson that we needed to embrace the Internet. Anyone have any others that are from the more recent past, within the last year or so? Would love to steal some good ideas.
ReplyDeleteCNNMONEY
ReplyDeleteSeattle Post-Intelligencer halts print edition
The 146-year-old newspaper will continue publishing online.
Last Updated: March 16, 2009: 2:01 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The Hearst Corp. announced Monday it will publish its last print edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Tuesday and shift the operation of Seattle's oldest business wholly to the Internet.
"Tonight we'll be putting the paper to bed for the last time," Editor and Publisher Roger Oglesby told a silent newsroom in Seattle, Washington, Monday morning, according to a posting on its Web site. "But the bloodline will live on."
The newspaper said delivery would be halted to more than 117,600 weekday readers.
"The company, however, said it will maintain seattlepi.com, making it the nation's largest daily newspaper to shift to an entirely digital news product," it said.
The New York-based Hearst had put the Seattle P-I up for sale in early January, when it said the paper would stop printing if no buyer was found within 60 days.
"Despite community concern, no buyer emerged," the paper said, adding that it lost $14 million last year.
The 146-year-old newspaper is the latest to take drastic steps in the face of declining readership and advertising revenue.
0:00 /1:33Bad news for newspapers
Last month, the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colorado, published its final edition after nearly 150 years.
The dramatic decline in advertising dollars in a brutal economy has led some newspapers to cut costs by firing cartoonists, columnists and others, leaving many of them searching for jobs in a struggling industry.
The News' closure left Denver -- like most American cities -- with one daily newspaper, the Denver Post.
That will now be the case with Seattle, where daily newspaper readers will have only the P-I's rival and business partner The Seattle Times.
What's going on in Tucson? How many people are being let go?
ReplyDeleteRe; 2:07
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that the Citizen folks are told, they hear from E&P! Based on that article, sounds like the Lee AZ Daily Star and Gannett Citizen swap in the JOA may be in play as was expected. At least 60+ jobs in the newsroom, possibly more in the JOA. Do you need a president of a JOA when there is NO JOA anymore?
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ReplyDeleteThis was announced today. It will be interesting to see if it works ...
ReplyDeleteA group of Rocky Mountain News journalists with support and backing from three Denver entrepreneurs launched a subscription drive Monday for the online news site INDenverTimes.com.
Their goal is to get 50,000 subscribers by April 23 — the 150th anniversary of the first edition of the Rocky Mountain News — in order to launch the full site by May 4.
INDenverTimes is an effort to reinvent the newspaper for the Internet age, featuring many of the reporters, editors, designers and other journalists that the Denver community has come to depend on for coverage of local and national news, sports and the arts. News will be free, but the subscription will invite readers inside the newsroom as never before through news analysis, insight, online chats and other features.
Former Rocky staff involved in effort so far: Sam Adams, Tom Auclair, Lisa Bornstein, Mark Brown, Tim Burroughs, Mary Chandler, Mark Christopher, Kevin Flynn, Tillie Fong, Steve Foster, Scott Gilbert, Chuck Hickey, Cindy House, Kevin Huhn, Kim Humphreys, Jay Lee, Aaron Lopez, Gary Massaro, David Milstead, John Moore, Alex Neth, Melissa Pomponio, Bill Scanlon, Hank Schultz, Marc Shulgold, Ed Stein, George Tanner, Chris Tomasson, Bob Willis and Mark Wolf.
To learn more about INDenverTimes or to subscribe, visit INDenverTimes.com.
anyone in a regional newspaper (not wash post, NYT, WSJ or USA Today) is a dead person walking.
ReplyDeletenewsroom head count is slated to be slashed over a 10-year period by 75%.
go on poynter for the links to these predictions. the collapse of the biz model is gaining speed and imploding.
people should not count on freelance or teaching - those jobs were snapped up by the first rates off the ship.
retrain for something else. take a buyout to have money to learn something new.
do not get left at middle age with nothing to offer an employer, who would prefer a 27-YO anyway.
take the money and jump.
this is going to get ugly, fast.
I am getting a teaching cert. in a critical need field, gaining a fellowship making it almost free. I will have a job, income, benefits, security and pension. and summers to dabble in what is becoming a hobby, not a career. journalism
Jim -
ReplyDeleteThe Seattle PI is going to online only after printing its last edition tomorrow.
Just FYI
http://www.kirotv.com/news/18941041/detail.html
I disagree.
ReplyDeleteI think community newspapers are going to survive in some capacity. I work at one, I'm familiar with our financials, and we'd be fine if Gannett's demands (overhead) suddenly became moot.
Some people will lose jobs, yes, but we're not talking about a cataclysmic combustion. Just some changes. Good reporters with new-media savvy are going to be fine.
Book it.
3:39 --
ReplyDeleteI suspect we will see that 75 percent cut within the next two to three years, not within ten.
Journalism -- the art of communicating information -- is what you make of it. Yes, it will be much more difficult for people to succeed in the future. The need for freelance help is booming at the present time. Those who are genuinely good at what they do will succeed in that world; those who were average or below won't. A lot of the people who rose among Gannett's ranks simply due to brown nosing, hair color and other similar attributes might not be so lucky with their future endeavors in this regard. Who really knows?
Jim is an example of someone who is making himself productive and useful. It hasn't paid off for him yet, but it eventually will.
Gannett might be dying but there will always be a need for the talent that was/is behind it.
http://biz.yahoo.com/zacks/090316/18247.html?.v=1
ReplyDeleteIs this correct? I thought the page views increased, but don't recall reading anything about an equal increase in revenue. Could have missed it I guess.
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ReplyDeleteI've just started reading this blog to keep up on rumors. That's all they may be, but it's great to have some kind of early warning system. So thank you to all that are able to share that information. I'm very happy to see the junk weeded to keep the blog on topic.
ReplyDelete@6:21
ReplyDeleteget your pecker out of your hand.
So the blog is going through some growing pains. It just so happens that many discussion groups and blogs go through similar phases. Usually it's the successful ones that have to deal with it. I'd call this the envious troll phase. It will pass. Like the Monkey that exited your mothers womb on your birthday. Remember that day? you poo flinger?
Rumor that Tara Connell is leaving is confirmed NOT to be a rumor! She has been offered a reduced role, but has declined to take it and she has accepted the buyout offer.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I was not privy to see the note related as to who would take over Content One, but it is clear that she is leaving Gannett.
Reading this blog used to be a much more enjoyable experience before it was transformed into Pravda San Fran.I can understand personal attacks/libel being deleted but the rest of the stuff is just heavy handed censorship.True,it is Jim's blog and he has the right to be supreme dictator just as we have the right not to visit.I think that most editors are afraid of the truth if it doesn't fit their viewpoints or agenda....sound familiar Gannett??
ReplyDeleteBTW.
ReplyDeleteI've decided that the more troll poo that gets flung around this place, the more I will click-thru any and all of Jim's Ads.
Look at it like this. The more you troll, the more successful this blog will become.
I appreciate this blog Jim.
Shreveporttimes.com reporting their editor moving GA.
ReplyDeletei sure would like to have a job. laid off in sept. from gannett site and not even getting interviews. last job, more than 500applied. sigh. never been in this situation and money is running out.
ReplyDeletei support jim editing his blog. i have been logging on a lot less recently due to the un-needed negative air within comments. will read more often now.
ReplyDeletethanks jim, you do a good job.
why do executives get bonuses when they do not succeed in meeting objectives. never did at he gannett paper i used to work at...before i was laid off.......
ReplyDeletehttp://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003951837
ReplyDeleteJOA will continue and Gannett will still take their 1/2 of the profits!
posted today at the Ville Voice blog in Louisville...
ReplyDelete"Sad News: Herald-Leader Cuts Next Coming Week
March 16th, 2009 · 1 Comment
Multiple sources at the Herald-Leader contacted us this afternoon to share the publisher’s announcement. Next week 20-25% of the newsroom will be cut. If the staff agree to a 5% pay cut and one-week unpaid furlough, it’ll be 20% or 14 people. If there’s no agreement, it’ll be 25% or 19 people canned.
So, brace yourselves. This is bad news for Kentuckians who depend on the H-L for news.
But if you lose your job and want to continue covering politics and investigative journalism, we’ve kept the position of Assistant Editor open for applications just for you."
USAT has a posting on Craigs List to fill an IT position.
ReplyDeletehttp://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/sad/1068931541.html
As a fairly new employee to Gannett I find this blog interesting. I left a New York Regional Newspaper paper which is worse shape than Gannett by far. So far grass is alot greener on the Gannett side of the fence. I just hope for me, it stays that way
ReplyDelete7:21 p.m.:
ReplyDeleteYes, Shreveport Times executive editor Alan English is moving to the paper in Augusta, GA. Non-Gannett paper.
So now we're wondering whether the writing was on the wall for the executive editor's job here and he got out while he could.
Darn, I never get good verification words.
Many Gannett layoff victims are beginning to sink financially, emotionally and in other devastating ways. It's a real shame seeing some very talented and once proud professionals go down like this. A few were good friends. A few fortunate ones have rebounded, but not many. Try to remember these folks, please.
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ReplyDeleteIs the craig's list post from 8:14p for real? or is that just a cruel joke on how poor newspaper classifieds work and b/c GCI shouldn't be hiring anyone...
ReplyDeleteAs a fairly new employee to Gannett I find this blog interesting. I left a New York Regional Newspaper paper which is worse shape than Gannett by far. So far grass is alot greener on the Gannett side of the fence. I just hope for me, it stays that way
ReplyDelete3/16/2009 8:22 PM
Depending what department you work in, I'd venture to predict that you are in the balance. On one side you are new and so therefore you aren't paid the same rates as your more experienced co-workers. On the other side, you are low on the totem pole and so may be more easily cut to save the company the severance should there be a % of payroll cut mandate regardless of headcount.
In the most recent year, there has been little that is consistant to ALL sites in regard to who is set out to the wilderness of this forsaken economy.
Some sites laid off for one reason, others the reasons were for another. Some sites that had few heads to begin with, constructed terminations where could save the most payroll by hiring other less experienced people at a much lower wage in their place.
Nothing is for certain in this company anymore and it's each rouge EE or GM or a combination, to deal out the mandate of the almighty Crystal Towers.
If it's 10% of payroll, it's 10%. No matter what it does to the integrity of the site and it's readers or advertisers that it loses along the way.
I had a dream last night that I was in a newsroom on a Sunday. The newsroom didn't look familiar, but I was there to help put the final touches on a story for the next day's edition. I could smell the ink from the press and feel the same old rush of adrenaline about getting a good story and telling it to the world.
ReplyDeleteWhen I woke up, I realized I haven't felt that way in a long time.
I wish Gannett could have figured out a way to make their classifieds as easy to read as Craigslist. CL keeps growing more and more; why would anybody use a newspaper classifieds in the next year? Seriously.
ReplyDeleteEasy to post, easy to peruse. And the majority of Gannett's sites? Awful.
I'm on furlough this week, and today I figured out why Craigslist is a problem for us, competition wise. I had some junk that I needed to part with for space and decided to spend my afternoon working on that. I searched in vain for someone in my GCI paper's classifieds, which operated very slowly online. Then I tried calling the paper's classified number but couldn't get a live person, on hold quite a while. I finally went to Craiglist, and within five minutes, I had found someone who would haul off my junk and had them on the phone. Two hours later, the work was done.
ReplyDeleteCustomer service is truly an issue for us. If I am having this experience, and I work at the paper (just not this week), what's happening to those with no loyalty to the paper?
8:32
ReplyDeleteWhat is English being hired for at the Augusta paper? They just had a round of layoffs and were told not to expect the vacant EE position to be filled.
9:59 PM
ReplyDeleteI check the gannett career page regularly. Always amazed to see just how many jobs are posted in each of the divisions. I think if you look at what kinds of positions are posted, you'll get a good feel for Gannett's new structure.
"When I woke up, I realized I haven't felt that way in a long time."
ReplyDeleteShould we care? Did you drop some more acid afterward?