Thursday, March 05, 2009
Thursday | March 5 | Your News & Comments
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79 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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Number uno...........big deal thats what gannett stock is shooting for with the clowns in charge!!
ReplyDeleteFinally First!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jim!!
We are reaping what we have sowed.
ReplyDeleteGannett has badly mismanaged the change to an electronic news and information platform. To that point, I ask this question of advertising folks:
Why would a Company buy add space in a publication that supported the individual hell bent on destroying their business?
As a Journalist, I backed the liberal choice in the race, and lost by his win.
We all helped the Teleprompter Jesus get elected. He is the instrumental hand in a process that will kill the very machine that provided him with a voice.
Obama has shown his true colors. He is forcing a radical, big government agenda on the hard working investors and business interests of America.
Gannett will not survive.
We can only hope that the true leaders of this Country, the small business people, will rise up and crush this leftist movement and save our economy and the News Industry.
Long live true, local, active and accurate journalism!
Thanks for your blog, Jim.
Local! Local! Local! I've fought this battle since I worked in circulation 20 years ago. The Editor used to demand "local news of interest." I argued that the mantra should be "News of local interest."
ReplyDeleteIf you want to be chicken dinner news to an area of 2000 square miles, then you are local to maybe 5 people; to others, you are useless trivia. People are not going to pay for the daily trivia. The mantra of local means that as a medium, we become more and more irrelevant to the average reader.
Hey 1:56 AM
ReplyDeleteReading the ranting of a so-called journalist with fascist tendencies never fails to amuse me. You, no doubt, would have been a star reporter in Germany during the 1930s, penning propaganda in the guise of journalism for the then rising star of the right, Adolph Hitler, as he fought against those damn "socialists."
What's even more amusing is you and your kind's blindness (mindlessness) in refusing to acknowledge the failures of conservative economics with its allegiance to unfettered markets and deregulation, and the consequences we are all now suffering as a result.
Where did you get your journalism degree? Oral Roberts? Liberty University?
3:01 AM
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree with you more.
Every chicken dinner promo that consumes a journalist's time---even a few minutes of it---is time that could have been spent giving readers real news.
Readers aren't stupid. They know what's being left out of the news, and I think that's why they are turning their backs on the traditional media.
There's a big difference between news and content. Unfortunately, I'm not sure Gannett gets that.
The Anointed One can't save Gannett.
ReplyDeleteJim, do you have ad sales numbers for February for Gannett and by newspaper? These numbers could be an indicator of a need to implement more layoffs and or furloughs. Thanks for what you do.
ReplyDeleteThe ad numbers for February are extremely poor, however, February has always been a tough month for advertising.
ReplyDeleteIS THIS GOING TO BE THE FUTURE OF ALL GCI NEWSPAPERS?
ReplyDeleteThe Poughkeepsie Journal seeks correspondents to cover events and issues in Dutchess County towns, particularly North East, Amenia, Washington and Dover. Writers must be able to find and develop stories on what affects peoples' lives in government; cover news and community events. Flexible schedules, computer skills, excellent writing ability and a good grasp of grammar required. Experience preferred but not necessary.
Send work samples and a resume to Local Editor Kevin Lenihan, P.O. Box 1231, Poughkeepsie, NY 12602 or klenihan@poughkeepsiejournal.com. Please include information on any special training or skills, such as photography experience.
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200903041423/NEWS01/90304017
"The Anointed One can't save Gannett."
ReplyDeleteNeither could the previous idiot that held that office.
"IS THIS GOING TO BE THE FUTURE OF ALL GCI NEWSPAPERS?"
ReplyDeleteYep - they're looking for high school grads with good english grades that know how to use a camera and post stories to the web (basically all of 'em). In an effort to cut costs, any HS graduate will now become insta-journalists.
Expect articles to contain more references to "dude".
Cool.
Layoff news, anyone? anyone? Anything?
ReplyDelete1:56 a.m., why are you attacking Obama? As Gannett employees we've got enough to worry about without coming here to read your political clap-trap.
ReplyDeleteTHE FUTURE OF GCI
ReplyDeleteWhy are reporters getting screwed by this company? I look around my building and can't believe certain people and departments still exist. We still have full time graphic artist that have about two assignments a month. But in the last round of cuts we lost well respected hard working journalist that contributed every day to the print and website. Who really decides who stays and who goes? Corporate, wake up!!
Can someone explain to me what the big deal is over the stock price. I dont get it.
ReplyDeleteThe investors have obviously not supported the stock price so they deserve a dividend cut.
The company still has many millions of cash flow and is not even close to being insolvent.
I JUST DONT SEE WHAT ALL THE FUSS IS ABOUT.
9:15 The company may, as you say, have millions of dollars in cash flow. But does it have a future? That is what Wall Street measures with stocks. Stocks are a bet that a company will have those millions of dollars in cash flow in the future. You may not think it is a big deal, but essentially Wall Street is skeptical that you will have a job for much longer in the future. That is why the stock price means something to do. It is a gauge that shows your future.
ReplyDeleteThe stock price is a really big deal because it is a measurement of the health of GCI. Right now, it is showing GCI is a really sick company, and that makes it virtually impossible in this climate to borrow money it needs for short-term or long-term problems. As much as everyone celebrated GCI at $90 showing the strength of the company, GCI at $2 shows its weakness.
ReplyDeletepeople keep asking about future layoffs? YES- there will be lay offs in the 2nd quarter. Plan for it. Sorry
ReplyDeleteJim ... I know you haven't used this blog to spout your opinions as much as you could, but I have a question I wonder if you'd spout on:
ReplyDeleteIs there any way Gannett ISN'T going to layoff 20-50 percent of its employees this year? How can it possible remain profitable with, say, 1,000 people in Cincinnati? It makes no financial sense to me, seeing as the market has priced the company as basically a Web play.
I'd love your thoughts on this. I'm not a Gannett employee, and have no stake in the company. I just can't imagine how Gannett has any other options here but to do mass layoffs. Just like MediaNews, NY Times, etc.
Why 8:58? Because Obama's plan raises taxes and adds long-term costs at a time when we should be reducing debt, all of which will reach down far further, right down into the very pockets of those who actually buy the goods and services that advertisers pay this company to help them sell.
ReplyDeleteAnd, if you haven't learned anything by what this company has done to retain profits, and what individuals are doing to converse cash (reducing consumption, cashing out stocks for cash,etc.), then you're really missing the picture of what will happen if Obama's plan wins out....we'll lose more.
Did anyone notice the article about furloughs on USATODAY.com this morning?
ReplyDeleteHope the Gannett lawyers aren't on furlough when the court date arrives for this...
ReplyDeleteWIAA files suit against Gannett over broadcasting of postseason games on Internet
http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20090305/APC0101/903050491/1979
Hey, 6:47 ... typical leftist response ... fight logic with an ad hominem attack.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you "earn" your journalism degree -- 10th grade?
Hey Obama bashers, it's interesting how you choose EVERY venue you can to bash him.
ReplyDeleteWill his ideas work? Not necessarily, but maybe. There's no way to be sure.
Is his planned spending a concern? Of course it is.
But the bottom line is this. We are facing SERIOUS issues right now and need SERIOUS efforts to address them. What did GWB do to help? A tax cut? Whoopee, the problem was quickly solved! NOT! Say what you want about Obama. But at least he has the balls to really attack the issues strongly and immediately. I truly believe a lot of his ideas will work. Will all of them? Of course not. But give it a chance before you automatically bash him.
Remember, he challenged corporate bigwigs to take a substantial pay cut to help address the economic situation. I hope the GCI multi-million-dollar golfers heed his advice. If ALL of them did, just think how much money the company could save.
To 8:46 TOU HAVE GOT TO READ THE NJ POST!LOLOLOLOLOL
ReplyDeleteI have heard some rumblings about April 1st layoffs. Any truth to that?
ReplyDeleteSorry, I could care less about the previous administration. My singular concern is that less money in people's pockets and less in the pockets of corporations like Gannett (who are owned by people) will reduce jobs and ultimately, the engine that drives this company and country - consumerism.
ReplyDeleteHey 10:08, calling 6:47's post a "typical leftist response" is more than a little ad hominen itself.
ReplyDeleteTouche!
I always thought a corporation's No. 1 obligation is to its shareholders. Right now, a share of GCI stock is pricing at under $3. The dividend is 4 cents per share. So to this novice, it looks like Gannett has let down its shareholders at the same time it has deflated morale throughout its newspaper domain by layoffs, furloughs and threats of more so-called cost-cutting measures.
ReplyDeleteRemember how "big" has always seemed more important to Americans than "better"? Huge cars, huge homes, huge second and third homes, huge diamond baubles, huge egos. Huge private jets and yachts. Huge stock portfolios. Huge profits. Everything for some people was just huge.
Gannett is a huge company. Along the way, its strategic vision had to take a 360 turn and focus on something huge: The Internet. Somewhere along the way, Gannett and may other newspaper giants failed to figure out how to MAKE HUGE MONEY in the digital world.
Now, Gannett is going to have to start shrinking. It has already tried shrinking its workforce. It shrunk its employees' income with furloughs. Is shrinking the workforce even more going to turn this huge company around?
OMG lol,lol,lol
ReplyDeleteIf the WIAA lawsuit was filed in 2008, why wasn't it included in that year's annual report? I could be mistaken, but don't they usually include pending legal action in those things?
ReplyDelete3:01 I also agree with you. Local, Local is killing circulation. Folks can get all their little local news from the freebies that come out around here. It is local news pertinant to their township. The audience for this kind of local news is not large enough to keep a newspaper alive - at least in the east. Maybe it's doable in the midwest but the markets are so, so different around the country. Why a corporation doesn't see this is beyond me. Where are the marketing executives at corporate? sleeping?
ReplyDeleteHas anyone picked up anything about a merger of Binghamton, Elmira and Ithaca?
ReplyDelete95 percent of Americans will get a tax cut. That includes just about everyone who posts to this site.
ReplyDeleteIt is basic macroeconomics that during a deep, prolonged recession like this one, that government should step in and spend to produce and/or save jobs and to stimulate the economy. If no one else will spend, the government must.
The biggest concern among many mainstream economists is that the bill passed last month isn't big enough. There might have to be another spending bill in a few months -- so those of you who think Milton Friedman and his acolytes were anything other than useful tools for plutocracy can fulminate some more then.
All: Political debate is fine -- so long as it remains sharply focused on Gannett. If you're writing a comment about the company and politics, please reference GCI in your comment. Otherwise, I may remove it, to avoid the off-topic flame wars we've seen here in the past. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThis blog is supposed to be about GANNETT and its employees, not politics!! Keep your political viewpoints to yourself bloggers, please.
ReplyDeleteAny info about more furloughs or paycuts for next quarter?
Take your political commentary to The Huffington Post. Thousands of people vent there every day and it makes them feel better.
ReplyDeleteWonder why USAT and the Gannett papers in Mississippi aren't doing more local, local, local reporting on the Stanford investment problems and legal woes. I would think this could be local, local, local at its finest since there are two Gannett papers in Mississippi, home of two of the three Stanford top people.
ReplyDeleteLocal news does not equal chicken dinners. That's community news, Neighbors section stuff, and, indeed, it has its place. Local news is cops, municipal boards, state and county decisons of local impact. Local means running the )hopefully rewritten and enhanced) press release from the community college before the latest update on the octuplet mom. I had an editor in another chain that insisted readers did not want yesterday's news of what happened in gobernment buildings, or caops and fire news. Rather, he said, they wanted regional news with an impact. So all the zoned local sections started running out-of-zone regionasl "news of interest" and circulation tanked. Local sells more than ever today. But it needs to be local news that matters in addition to the community activities.
ReplyDeleteINDIANA alert!
ReplyDeleteAnyone know more about whether there's truth to the rumors of plans for a universal copy desk for Indiana papers, to produce a single common "A" section, based in Indianapolis?
After watching the Kentucky - Georgia game last night, I checked the websites of the UK hometown McClatchy owned Herald Leader and GCI's Courier-Journal in Louisville. The C-J was almost instantaneously on the web and beat the Lexington paper by more than 10 minutes with a headline and story. Go C-J.
ReplyDeleteThere is some new consolidation plan underway. I don't know the details, but it seems to involve regional sections and desks. Stay tuned.
ReplyDeleteI must say, as an avid reader of this site, I'm getting a bit fatigued. When will this saga/company end, already? I suppose this is simply an extension of how most of us are feeling about the domestic and global economies. I wonder how we'll all feel when this is resolved (either GCI goes under or somehow stays afloat).
ReplyDeleteIt is like a bad soap opera, it never ends. Days of Our Lives.
ReplyDeleteto Joe on March 5 @ 12:02 p.m. - you make an interesting point sending people to Huff Post to make political comments. this is part of what murdered print journalism. the new and exciting digital world turned out to be slogging copy for an ego-maniac socialite who pays less than $200/story, or much less. She gets a lot of stuff for free.
ReplyDeleteSending people to Huff Post, which I boycott, is darkly symbolic of the shift to online "news" that is glorified blogging. While I know many here are not news/editorial, the heart of Gannett was newspaper revenue. And people filling up web sites for lunch money and ego gratification is a big part of what ails us. killed us, actually.
rest in peace.
former Fla Today and Boise writer...
@1:39 PM: I'm not sure how it can 'end' in the company staying afloat. Until Gannett starts to see prosperity again, we're in constant danger of more layoffs, furloughs, merges, etc. It could be another year or two before the company is solvent. And even then, how do we know it's over?
ReplyDeleteIt's not like they're going to put out a press release saying, "Okay, guys, we're making so much money now that all of you get to keep your jobs forever!"
No, this will only truly *end* when the company tanks, or in five years when we think back to this blog and say to ourselves, "Oh, I suppose it's over."
So, 9:40 a.m., is it one word or two?
ReplyDelete"people keep asking about future layoffs? YES- there will be lay offs in the 2nd quarter. Plan for it. Sorry"
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Murdoch will finally buy Gannett when it hits rock bottom!
ReplyDelete12:34
ReplyDeleteYou are so right.
In depth info about local events. Heck, even do a "what the chicken and noodles dinner raised money for".
I'm also in favor of the community calendars. I know so many of you think of it as filler info. I'm sure most people don't read them on a daily basis. But if we get people used to knowing they can ALWAYS pick up the paper and find those listings we are valuable.
But I feel as tho it's too late.
Lookie at Ft. Worth Star Telegram: a five-day furlough in the second quarter, PLUS a wage cut of from 2.5 percent to 10 percent.
ReplyDeleteI'm really worried about the pension. Am I right to worry? Can anyone shed some light?
ReplyDeleteWe should all be worried about our pensions. A suggestion: ask your HR people to obtain an accurate up-to-date accounting of your personal pension account. Do it now and have that document handy and keep it! If HR tells you they can't get it, then bull--it...they can by making the request from Gannett. Do it ASAP everyone!
ReplyDeleteWell, I know what I have on paper, I got that when they froze the pension last year, but is the money going to be there? What if the company goes down drain? I saw what they did with the severance at one of the chains that declared bankruptcy recently - they stopped paying it.
ReplyDeleteI know of someone who was dumped during the last bloodbath and finally got the pension $ but it was less than what was on paper back when the freeze took place. Anyone else seen this happen?
ReplyDeleteTo the extent that an assumed GCI stock value was used to support part of the pension - and they did not hedge against that - then it is a issue. Not sure how much the unfunded liability is.
ReplyDeleteAnon@8:41AM: Gannett is hiring in Poughkeepsie because Journal Register Co. folded its Dutchess County weeklies last month.
ReplyDeleteAnon@12:45PM: No dice -- Journal & Courier (Lafayette) is Berliner format.
Jim,
ReplyDeleteHow about some investigating on the pension fund. How safe is it? How underfunded is it? What would it take to lose it?
I'll send another $10 if you do.
It's Joe from 12:02 p.m. responding to 2:00 p.m. re Huffington Post and my observation that thousands vent there every day. Yes, 2:00 p.m., sites like Huffpo have been part of the "murder" of print journalism. My point, though, is the enabling of people to vent at will in a largely unfiltered way, unlike "letters to the editor" in the good old days, most of which ended up in the trash and never saw print. That content may be garbage in and of itself, but these kinds of sites are succeeding because they serve as forums in a generally unrestricted way. Whether the rants are read is anyone's guess, so I suppose from a mental health point of view HuffPo and like sites are performing a valuable public service.
ReplyDeleteFurlough is the way to go. It has to save them a ton of money. And I would rather see a furlough, let's face it, we can all use another week off, and you can collect, than loose your job. C'mon Gannett.......bring on the "furlough" AGAIN.
ReplyDeleteFrom AP:
ReplyDeleteThe Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that its owner, Hearst Corp., has made offers to some staffers to participate in an online-only version of the newspaper.
The paper says an unspecified number of the P-I’s roughly 180 employees received “provisional offers” to work for the online venture, if the Web site is approved by Hearst’s senior management.
After Gannett’s “Miss a Day, Miss a Lot” Campaign, I find it ironic that yesterday’s missed delivery resulted in a credit rather than a paper. Did I “miss a lot”? Doubt it. Will the company be around next year when it owes me an extra paper? Doubt that too. So what happens to all that subscription money if this ship tanks?
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteI second the call to investigate the pension situation. Many of us who are still hanging on have received that notice last year when our pensions were frozen. Mine says that my benefit is payable to me when I leave Gannett. Hmm.
Community calendars are one of the saving graces of newspapers. But most that I've worked for have indeed treated them like filler, shoving them inside and not making any attempt to cultivate a broad base of submissions and sources.
ReplyDeleteLocal journalism doesn't just mean stenography of what happened at the town council meeting, or endless minutiae about the school board's debate over snow days. It means keeping an eye on local trends and events and issues and personalities, and writing about them when they do make news, or when all that behind-the-scenes little stuff is actually going to have a big impact.
I can generally tell when a story in a community weekly isn't worth reading when the headline writer can't figure out what's important. ("Town council debates issues," for example.) That's not what we should be shooting for.
Gannett still has lots of good reporters, many wasting their time on big narrative projects, real estate pornor trendy CAR journalism. While there may be a time and a place for those, now is the time to get back to stuff that really, really matters to people. We can reinvent ourselves. Or it may be too late.
Joe @12:02 and also 7:21 - this is your chatter. I dislike the Huff Post for the way it steals people's time (the writers I mean) but I see that vents are fine.
ReplyDeleteNot for me to pass judgment on what people do.
I do judge the strip-mining of our newsrooms as a tragedy and mourn the loss of a solid paper in every city and many towns.
the skelton they publish in my city now (a trib, co,paper) is a sham. nobody I know takes it.
meanwhile the Huff Post rolls on, stuffed with good work from good people paid $125.
that is my beef.
Hey 2:04: I remember having to work with pricks like you always corrrecting everyone's speech or writing. Gannett is full of people like you. People make mistakes, get used to it. It's a blog, not brain surgery.
ReplyDeleteI doubt too many people posting here really care about you're obvious command of the english language.
Get a life!
They are ALREADY doing this with Metromix. They give them a free camera and let them take photos of drunken people and some skin. All the photos look exactly the same from site to site. How is this any different than facebook?
ReplyDeleteIt is so sad what Gannett has become.
I cannot imagine the New York Times or Wall Street Journal even selling their souls for cheezy pics of 20 something people getting drunk. No wonder our stock is going down the tubes.
Yep - they're looking for high school grads with good english grades that know how to use a camera and post stories to the web (basically all of 'em). In an effort to cut costs, any HS graduate will now become insta-journalists.
Expect articles to contain more references to "dude".
Cool.
Ho Hum — I'm bored. Does anyone have anything of value, that is fact, related to our jobs. What is happening? Nothing truly earth stopping has happened since December.
ReplyDeleteJim, do you have any info or are you hiding out?
9:07 you are kidding around arent you
ReplyDelete9:07 you are kidding around arent you
ReplyDeleteOf course, what else can we do.
8:43 P.M.: You're my new crush.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right about our indulgence in vanity narrative projects, CAR projects and the like.
They have their place - indeed, they're the height of our craft when well chosen and done to get vital stories to the public (not just win an award that we can brag about to corporate).
But I have spent the 5 years since I joined Gannett fighting for reporter time to cover the stories that matter day to day, only to be labeled a hack editor who doesn't care about "real journalism."
Seeing how few Web hits, letters to the editor and little community chatter many of those big thumbsucker projects generate validates my point of view (to me anyway). But being right doesn't pay the rent.
Why can't this company save the big reporting investment for the truly big stories? Why have we convinced our staffs that they somehow write for a literary magazine or scholarly journal or only to win awards from peers while being shunned by the readers we purport to serve?
When did we all become prima donnas instead of reporters, reporters of the NEWS -- what's happening today, what's being talked about now, what's going to have an impact tomorrow and six months from now?
It's an ego stroke. A company full of mental masturbators. And dying ones at that.
There is a basic problem with the Gannett model delivering local news and that's hinted at in one of the posts. But, the back and forth reminds me of Gannett discussions -- the local news vs. news of local interest. Gannett bogged itself down in bureaucracy. For example, the Real News, All America, quarterly contests were anchors on the news and life rafts for those who sought benchmarks that had nothing to do with selling newspapers in the real world. Gannett is not alone in the downturn, but it is proving itself unable to turn on a dime and devise new strategies to meet the current crisis. The key might be to let local properties sink or swim on their own without corporate guidelines on the news content. Let local staffs develop what sells. But, that would be a great leap for a company that prided itself on managers who aren't in tune with communities. The management model at Gannett is based on managers with brief stays in communities. How about new ideas for keeping local newspapers alive? How about keeping local people employed? Struggle to do that and the advertiser on Main Street will see his customers are working at the local newspaper. Quality? The older NYT leader Punch used to say his company should give communities the newspaper they can afford. That's a sound concept. Does the average weekly newspaper surving this downturn count its black and white faces? Probably not. They are likely hearing directly from their customers about such issues. They aren't hiring a corporate staff to monitor such issues and they are using that savings to keep the ship afloat. The bottomline is whether the ship stays afloat. Right now, it looks like the Gannett ship is sinking and I'll bet the corporate types are still counting the chairs on the deck and haven't noticed the water washing up on the deck.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the pension, while I haven't received the check yet, the amount is the same as what I was quoted last year when they were frozen. After many calls, letters, and emails I finally received my paperwork last week. We'll see how long it takes them to process it. They stated 3-5 weeks in the letter. 10 business days to process the paperwork and 5 more business days to receive the check. You can bet that in 3 weeks and a day I'll be calling Northern Trust and Gannett everyday until the check shows up. (They claim that it takes 90 days to process the calculations after you leave before you even get the paperwork)
ReplyDelete8:40. Hmmm what? Ah McFly, you don't get the pension until you leave the company. Duh, it's a pension.
ReplyDeleteThere is a basic problem with the Gannett model delivering local news and that's hinted at in one of the posts. But, the back and forth reminds me of Gannett discussions -- the local news vs. news of local interest. Gannett bogged itself down in bureaucracy. For example, the Real News, All America, quarterly contests were anchors on the news and life rafts for those who sought benchmarks that had nothing to do with selling newspapers in the real world. Gannett is not alone in the downturn, but it is proving itself unable to turn on a dime and devise new strategies to meet the current crisis. The key might be to let local properties sink or swim on their own without corporate guidelines on the news content. Let local staffs develop what sells. But, that would be a great leap for a company that prided itself on managers who aren't in tune with communities. The management model at Gannett is based on managers with brief stays in communities. How about new ideas for keeping local newspapers alive? How about keeping local people employed? Struggle to do that and the advertiser on Main Street will see his customers are working at the local newspaper. Quality? The older NYT leader Punch used to say his company should give communities the newspaper they can afford. That's a sound concept. Does the average weekly newspaper surving this downturn count its black and white faces? Probably not. They are likely hearing directly from their customers about such issues. They aren't hiring a corporate staff to monitor such issues and they are using that savings to keep the ship afloat. The bottomline is whether the ship stays afloat. Right now, it looks like the Gannett ship is sinking and I'll bet the corporate types are still counting the chairs on the deck and haven't noticed the water washing up on the deck.
ReplyDeleteRight now, Gannett corporate people are sitting around asking why if the online people tell them they're getting 50 gazillion hits per second the whole company's still sucking wind.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 9:03 asks why reporters are getting screwed. Come to a paper in the West and see who is getting screwed. So far we've lost a librarian (who retired) a photographer (who retired) and 2 members of the reporting staff. 40 plus other positions were either sent packing or done away with (that were already open)and they weren't in news. And we're a small paper by most standards. Our accounting department is down to 2 full time and 2 part-time (and one of the full time covers the switchboard and front counter). Our circulation staff has been split and is down to 1 full time and 1 parttime "customer systems techs" an Opns Mgr and 2 DSM's in the city a parttime SC Clerk, a Single Copy Recovery person, Oh, and the two DSM's cover numerous miles outside the city. This is what's left of a staff of 11 full timers. Online from 2 to 1. HR from 2 to 1 parttime. And you say reporters are getting screwed. It's the consumer getting screwed with no more local customer service, no more local accounting to solve billing issues, no more local newspaper....just a newspaper owned by a corporation who could probably have avoided some of this problem by trying to do everything in a one mold fits all style. If it works in Cinci, it'll work in Hattiesburg or St. George. It works in Louisville, it'll work everywhere. Someone else mentioned different papers are different everywhere. Thats based on the people of the area, but it doesn't appear Gannett cares about meeting those needs, simply the "shareholders" wishes. Wouldn't the shareholders be a lot happier if they were making money taking care of customers....and Advertising customers are getting it in the shorts as well. In reality everyone is taking a beating just different in different locals.
ReplyDelete3:01 and 10:31 am: I couldn't disagree with you more. Local local is the answer, but daily newspapers can't deliver. Not enough people, not enough news hole. Even if they were to go totally to the Web, they still wouldn't be able to devote the staff necessary to compete with top-notch weeklies.
ReplyDelete