I'm seeing more and more ad-production folks speaking out in comments, and in my in-box, too. And I'm very glad to see them. We run a big tent on Gannett Blog; it's not just for the newsrooms!So, pay attention, everyone. This is life for some employees in a post-2AdPro Gannett: "I work in a Ad Production dept in one of the soon to be outsourced art depts in a central nj paper. Some 40+ people are working hard every day, knowing that we are to be replaced by cheap labor half way across the world. It is very depressing for creative people like us, to know this and still be pleasant to sales and each other! And still produce quality work, that we have been doing for years! If only our advertisers knew what was going on at Gannett. I guess they will when the quality goes down hill, after we are all gone. Such a damn pity."
Um, when do they start moving the copy desk jobs overseas?
Join the debate, in the original post.
Corporate journalism RULES!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone else find it interesting that of all the Gannett owned newspapers, not a single one is any good??? I mean every news company has a great paper, Tribune, Landmark, etc...Gannett has no great newspapers...
ReplyDeleteThe copy desk jobs are not going overseas. Gannett has a better strategy: when people quit, say that times are tough and we can't hire anyone, make the remaining copy desk workers do the work of the person who quit, rinse and repeat...
ReplyDeleteGannett has a lot of newspapers that USED to be great. Louisville and Des Moines are the two most prominent examples. Louisville was great by any measure. Des Moines was a great regional paper.
ReplyDeleteThe Gannett plan was to buy a great paper for its marque value, rides its coat tails and Gannettize it. When they're done no one recognizes the paper for what it once was.
Yeah. Like those great papers at Knight Ridd ..., er, nevermind.
ReplyDeleteGannett is like an insidious virus - it transforms everything it touches into a hollowed-out, unreadable sheaf of shit.
ReplyDeletei LOVE this blog...it's the only thing that gets me through the day. It cleanses me of the Gannett disease that infects my body every morning when I walk in...oh yea, today i find out that my cell phone reinbursement has been reduced and is now taxable!!!! Sweet! Thanks guys....
ReplyDeleteWhat department is next to be outsourced to India or to a regional center? Is it graphic artist on the news side? It would make sense, they are in design limbo. They are being told by GCI that they need to develop Flash skills for the web but they are very weak and slow to learn those skills. The reality is they will be next to be phased out and graphics will just be done through the graphics department at Gannett News Service
ReplyDeleteAd production designer are being outsourced to India. Yes, we were told by our vice pres. of production that this was starting up (told on Feb. 27) May, June 2008. They would be eliminating 300 hours, that is 8 people from the dept. We would all eventually be eliminated when the 2ADPro is in full swing. When? not sure, but they would start with 5% of the total ads submitted to our dept. and then go on from there. Of course he did not say that outright, but suggested to start looking around and not hesitate taking another postion in or out of the company if the oppty arises. Everybody is on the edge. My co-workers & I all have 13-22 yrs with the company. This is so terrible for us.
ReplyDeleteWhat city/state is your paper in?
ReplyDeleteThe paper in question is The Asbury Park Press, Neptune NJ.
ReplyDeleteGosh, by the time they are done only cleaning personnel is left at Gannett to clean up the corpses!
ReplyDeleteHow can these suppose to be people in charge let this happen?
Jeez,we try to keep our personal bills in order and get upset to talk to a company in the U.S. who outsourced and the results are terrible or cannot be resolved.
People loosing their jobs and at headquarters they are dancing at the annual Christmas party.
Friends and fellow co-workers - be assured not everybody at headquarters was dancing on employees graves! A lot of them stayed away because of the way employees who lost their jobs would look at it.
The majority that showed up where the brown noses who were generously rewarded for their callousness in the first place. Maybe they got a President's Ring for being the biggest idiot in Gannett employ.
Oh,I forgot: We reward the people who do nothing, know nothing and even promote them when they come up with the worst idea since inception of the newspaper!
Hey there... I stumbled upon this site looking for news on whats happening in the world of Gannett's shipment of design Jobs overseas. Just curious if anyone's heard of the next round of newspapers to do likewise. I work at the Louisville Courier Journal and am wondering when the axe will fall. I heard rumors a year ago that the design jobs would be combined at one of the area newspapers in our region, but haven't heard any more on that. Will all of Gannett's design jobs go to India and 2AdPro?
ReplyDeleteAlso, curious... about 5 months ago we were switched from Advertising to IT. We all thought that odd, and figured something was coming down the pike... Any insight would be appreciated...
Not just the Asbury Park Press, but the Home News Tribune and most likely the other NJ Gannett papers. The APP and HNT ad production art depts are closely related. They just recently posted a ad trafficker position to handle the work that will go to 2ADPro.
ReplyDeleteThis position requires no more than a HS education. With so many talented college educataed graphic designers its no wonder that no one inside the company has applied!
ReplyDeleteSome info on who is running the show on this now.....a couple of folks have shifted roles. Christine Wardlow, who helped set up the outsourcing plan has left Gannet and word is she is now working in a consulting firm unrelated to Gannett...Brian Ambor, who was the Production Director and involved in this, too, has gone to the Rochester Democrat as VP Operaitons....Toni Humprhries, who came out of Des Moines (same place as the VP of Production at Gannett) is directing the Regional Toning Centers (another debacle) which tone the editorial photos using a GENERIC press curve and she's filling in at corporate on some projects....They are doing 2adpro there...I have been told they have had to hire folks to correct the errors from India....Ears of Corn is returned as Ears of Porn, Warm Weather Plants become Warm Weather Pants.....etc.....
ReplyDeletePlease keep posting stories on
ReplyDelete2adpro!! They are too funny! We were told "They Speak English! As for RTC, they also do all the photos for the advertising depts. How long before Gannett will realize 2adpro was a bad idea? HaHa!
Does anyone have a figure of how many artists have been elimiated from all Gannett papers? What are the opinions of their work? Will Gannett continue to completely eliminate ALL designers? Or will this ridiculious off-shoring collaspe in the months to come?
ReplyDeleteGannett consolidated ad design and classified advertising for Lansing, Port Huron and Battle Creek all into Lansing - the PH and BCE folks were laid off and all the work was dumped on Lansing - with no additional staffing, actually less, as people aren't being replaced as people quit in disgust.
ReplyDeleteHowdy
ReplyDeleteLikewise across the pond in sunny ole England Gannet is shafting everybody with the 2adpro dildo.
Started in Stourbridge nearly 6 months ago and is still as piss poor now as at the beginning. It's the most badly thought out thing I've ever come across, the geezers in India might be able to speak English but they sure as f**k can't spell it or understand sentence structure or meaning. The ads take hours and hours to come back and when they do they look s**t or are full of errors, usually both.
And the management just continue to make excuses and say 'it's getting better'. It's obviously not going to get better, but this is about short term money saving by manipulating the wage bill and so it doesn't matter how crap the ads are or how long they take to come back, it's going to go through.
We have tons of free for errors going through, sales reps pulling their hair out, losing their bonuses and eventually leaving.
They've made a bunch of people redundant but won't let them go because they're needed to mop up the mess all the time.
It's a joke. If you're expecting it to be kicked out, don't, if anybody with any balls was looking at it they'd have kicked it into touch ages ago. It's production first, then artists, then page make-up and then anything else they can shuffle out the door will follow. And then hopefully the papers will fold because they'll be the sorriest looking rags you've ever seen.
Did I ramble on a bit there?
More exciting news to come from Blighty soon.
Pip Pip!
The Asbury Park Press is actually one newspaper in the "NJ Newspaper Group." So the job elimination in production due to outsourcing extends beyond the Asbury Park Press and the same VP of production that informed those folks of impending doom also informed the other paper(s): the Home News Tribune and the Bridgewater Courier News.
ReplyDeleteI agree with another comment I've recently read in Gannett Blog: STRIKE! Not just the NJ papers, ALL the Gannett-owned papers! And not just the production people, ALL Gannett employees!
This is one of our RIGHTS as AMERICANS - let's exercise it!
We have started the outsource process in Phoenix as well. The current artist have been told that 70 ads per week will be sent to India. The ads that come back look terrible. Logos in the middle of the ad, crazy clip art that does not make sense. I sure hope our "loyal" Republic reader will accept the fact that we are outsourcing to India. A talented team will no longer be an asset.
ReplyDeleteFunny story about the Asbury Park Press. The VP of Production started out as an ad designer. Through an endless line of VP's of Production quitting, promoted or fired, he became the VP because no on else in Gannett would take the job working for the former publisher (whom shall remain nameless). Now he's involved in laying them off. Kind of like eating your children, don't your think?
ReplyDeleteThis VP of Production (Asbury Park Press) has just been awarded his Presidential Ring! Announced the day after the ad designers were told layoffs were to begin very soon!
ReplyDeleteWhy should the former publisher remain nameless?
Almost every time I mention his name, Jim doesn't allow my post. It's not hard to figure out. Here's a hint; SOB RTC.
ReplyDeleteTo Anon@7:01 p.m.: LOL!
ReplyDeleteLet's not be too hard on him! Remember: this wasn't HIS idea, he's following orders from corporate. However, it's not too late for him to exercise his Presidential ring and come up with an alternate plan to cut production costs. Maybe cut some of the multiple layers of managers and supervisors? Maybe pare-back and/or consolidate like departments in combined newspapers? How 'bout it, VP, any ideas?
ReplyDeleteJust following orders?! Did he openly oppose the concept? Has he expressed any doubts or reservations publicly or with his management? Not saying anything is as good as giving it your stamp of approval. It's the same old Gannett crap. Executives, many without the education or experience that should be commensurate with their responsibilities and the positions they hold, make (or allow support of) stupid decisions based on incomplete or erroneous information. And in this VP's case, remember he became the exec because no one else would take the job. VP by default. Would you bring a lot of attention your way by making a stand? Courage and smarts are not big in the job descriptions at that level.
ReplyDeleteYou're suggesting something that Gannett can not do; work in a collaborative environment where the best ideas come from the people who know the job (this also implies respect for the people in those jobs, another missing trait). Gannett is the polar opposite. They think that they know what needs to be done, even when they have no clue of the true impact of their decisions. Management is top down and lock step.
I hate it when management gets a pass while everyone else takes the lumps!
Hey Asbury! Come'on tell us how its going with 2Adpro. Good quality stuff or what? HAHA!!!
ReplyDeleteWe at the Asbury Park Press are loving it.
ReplyDelete