Friday, April 03, 2009
Friday | April 3 | Your News & Comments
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Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAny names on who was let go by the Republic in the past few days?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI get it we all suck.... YADA YADA YADA..... Any names on who was let go at the Republic?
ReplyDeleteOnce again, Gannett WON"T tell their employees what is going on. They just hide behind their curtain like in the Wizard of Oz. When the heck are they going to wake up and realize they have to let their employees know what is going on. I think it is totally irresponsible.
ReplyDelete4/02/2009 10:22 PM
The difference is when the Wizard is revealed as being just who he is, he actually shows a shred of humanity and does what he can to help. Unlike Craig and Co., who kick people to the curb with less respect than the dog shit you scrape off your shoe.
I get it Gannett sucks! Hide behind the curtain like in the wizard of OZ. Yup seen the movie. Irresponsible. Iget it it thanks for pointing that out. Who was let go at the Republic?
ReplyDeleteThe Republic laid off Dorothy and Toto?!
ReplyDeleteAnn Clark snuck out of Tucson on Thursday. No "buyers" showed up, but the charade continues.
ReplyDeleteShe's probably got more layoff memos to type up.
Readers in Ohio are getting mad. Someone at Port Clinton found out that an ME was fired and is posting comments on unrelated stories about it. Why don't these papers write about what's going on? Shouldn't the readers be informed why the paper is getting smaller and worse?
ReplyDeleteAdvertising was promised layoffs soon in Lafayette, la a week or two ago. Word on this??
ReplyDeletePensacola News Journal- no longer printing as of June.
ReplyDeleteWhich papers do a good job handling news about themselves and which are lousy? We've seen some of each.
ReplyDeleteWhich paper barely makes a mention and uses the Gannett-fed line about the worsening economic blah, blah, blah and which actually explain it as if reporting on another business.
I ask because that Howell, Mich., paper did a damn good job on that. Very un-Gannett-like, for the most part.
I've often said (some time ago) that this blog was well-edited, but I retract that for now. There's been a whole lot posted here by Jim lately just to incite angst (and what's with the Tara-Kate battle? Doesn't exist. Shades of National Enquirer.)
ReplyDeleteAnd tonight Jim deletes the comment about why he likes those SF buildings (VERY mild compared to comments made about others here; I hate homophobia, but that bordered on fair comment and criticism). Yet he leaves up the unsubstantiated remark that Pensacola isn't printing beginning two months from now?
Let's return to some standards and think about the effects of such a post on even the HEALTH of affected people.
Don't care if you believe the Pensacola post or not, it's new/fresh announcement, my source works there and was notified tonight. Guess you can read all about it tomorrow when the "print" version comes out.
ReplyDelete3:13: Battle Creek's covered it well. Maybe it's a Michigan thing.
ReplyDelete1:13--
ReplyDeleteDo you know for sure no buyers showed up? Since some have confirmed they're interested, we know some are interested. Whether thay are being treated like a dog and pony or not, i don't know, but is it possible they didn't walk through when they'd be seen, but they were there?
How do you know no buyers?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteRe: closing. If legitimate, it deserves a write-up, which he has now done clarifying the whole issue. Earlier post sounded as if the the whole place might be closing.
ReplyDelete3:47... let me provide a definition for you... "no longer printing" means they will no longer be printing the paper. Now, if I was announcing that the whole place was closing, it would have read "closing". Understand now. Please tell me you no longer work for the company!!!
ReplyDeleteDoes "I was in the room when they said we won't be printing our own paper anymore" substantiate things for you? Production moved to Mobile, AL as of June 2nd.
ReplyDeleteRe: 3:33
ReplyDeletePensacola would never print on anything negative about its paper. I bet you will not see this announcement in Friday's paper.
To all inside and out of the USA TODAY family, know that the departure of Craig Moon is an enormous blow to USA TODAY and to Gannett. "As USA TODAY goes, so goes Gannett" is a longtime standard that we all know is true across all arenas, including Wall Street. Ask any member of his Management Committee and they will tell you the truth -- Moon fought against furloughs, objected to Gannett One (which is already collapsing around Sedarkis, as Moon predicted), was constantly on sales call trips to bolster declining revenues, salvaged what was best for Detroit, completely restructured all the marketing functions to support sales in advertising and circulation, pulled USA TODAY back up to its feet with the Jack Kelley mess, grew the Weekend base, always sought new ways to extend the brand with everything from the Open Air Magazine to the different mobile platforms, attempted numerous times to have John Hillkirk named editor while Dubow refused, crafted a vision for USA TODAY Live to be a revenue-producing outfit with full support to the content and to advertising, instituted gallup training to ensure a better informed and engaged staff, and constantly warned Gannett that a demoralized workforce would find the first opportunities to leave and cripple the recovery of USA TODAY and Gannett. His contributions go on and on -- and to deny him that legacy is just plain ignorant on the part of any critic, including you Jim (and having worked for Craig Moon, you know he is a man of only the highest integrity and ethics).
ReplyDeleteWe all know the wrong Craig has been forced out of Gannett.
A different take on what is ailing the newspaper industry.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.slate.com/id/2215154/
So as long as Gannett see the news business as simply a cash cow to be milked for senior executives and large stockholders, and not a news business that needs investment, and realistic rate of return during a economic down cycle, Gannett will continue to strip content for the expedience of the latest financial quarter, instead of giving the public a true reason to buy the newspaper over the long term.
Important!
ReplyDeleteIf you're a past, present or (you suspect) future Gannett casualty, and you even remotely suspect it's because while at work....
(1) You got hurt/ill in the past
(2) You're hurt/ill now
(3) You filed (or plan to file) a Workers Comp claim related to being hurt/ill on the job
...then ASAP read the New York Times' three-part series "A World of Hurt," by Steve Greenhouse, which ran Tuesday (3/31), Wednesday (4/1) and Thursday (4/2).
He spent 18 mos. deep inside the Workers Comp system, going to hearings, reviewing cases, talking to lawyers, claimants, doctors and others caught up in the maze.
And how employers drive out workers like you -- and what can wind up happening to workers like you -- isn't something you can afford to ignore.
It's ugly and utterly necessary journalism, the kind we won't see for much longer in our papers -- or anywhere, for that matter.
But it's here now. Use it.
409 response to 347..I love it
ReplyDeleteYou all want gci to be nice to you, but you cannot even be nice to each other.
Speaking as a person that work swith typical a-holes like this every day at gci...
what 347 said did not deserve that response..just another example of yet another jerk employee probably not worth their weight in salt.
Seems Moon is cahing in too, No confidence in GCI going forward.
ReplyDeletehttp://finance.aol.com/company/gannett-inc-del/gci/nys/4/09729201/html/sec-filings
Any news on Leslie G from corp advertising role or corp advertising structure?
ReplyDelete3:27 The Tara-Kate battle does exist. It is real and it is bitter.
ReplyDelete8:23 Moon's legacy is a 10 percent decline in USAT circulation, and a 30 percent plus drop in ad revenue. He drove the paper into the dirt. As for Detroit, the wreck we see that has been left speaks volumes of Moon's ruinous legacy.
ReplyDeleteMy last delivery in the Circulation-Home Delivery Dept of Asbury Park Press will be May 3rd (we were notified yesterday).
ReplyDeleteIt is somewhat of a relief. I have planned for this day for a long-long time. In a way, I feel worse for those left behind. Their jobs will be eliminated in the Fall. Frankly, I don't think they will have that much time. By then there might not be severence.
Over the last 3 years, one thing I have observed during the formation & evolution of this economic-financial hurricane, with the exception of a few "nuts" like me, NO ONE -individuals, familes, businesses, governemnts (at all levels) has expected how severe conditions would be a few months down the road.
I wish all of you the best. The only thing of value I can offer you is my advice; based on exactly what I am doing with my family.
Cut you expenditures as much as you can, learn to grow food, pull together with Family & Friends to develop strategies to adapt to lower standards of living.
Watch the Pensacola News Journal web site for news on moving printing to Mobile, Ala.!
ReplyDeleteThe Pensacola News Journal announced today to its employees it is closing its downtown Pensacola production and trucking operations and outsourcing the work to the Mobile Press-Register.
ReplyDeleteAdvertisement
The newspaper’s other operations, including the newsroom, advertising, marketing departments, will remain at the downtown location. More than 200 employees will remain downtown. The newspaper’s delivery schedule to readers will not change.
A combination of 84 fulltime and part-time jobs will be eliminated during the transition.
The move will take place 60 days from today’s announcement. Employees who stay on during the transition period will receive a severance package.
“This certainly was not an easy decision,” said President and Publisher Kevin T. Doyle. “It is never easy to lay off dedicated workers, especially in this economic environment.
“It is my job to keep this company financially strong. The Press-Register has one of the most modern printing facilities in the country, which allows it to do the same work we do for less.”
The News Journal does not want to be in the manufacturing and transportation business, Doyle said. With today’s announcement, the PNJ becomes the ninth Gannett-owned paper to outsource its printing operation.
“What we do best -- and will continue to do best – is produce local news. Local news is very expensive to produce so we have to find ways to save money so we can continue to support our community and First Amendment efforts. I would guess our newsroom staffing levels are more than all of the local television and radio stations combined.”
Moving forward, the News Journal will expand its product blueprint by introducing PNJ Media Solutions. PNJMS will include its current product line including the PNJ, Pelican brand of weeklies, Career Builder magazine, Weekender, Flora Bama football, Bella and Home and Garden magazines, Gosport, Pensacola Business Journal, Find A Home real estate magazine and the area’s largest website – PNJ.com.
“The 'media solutions' is the area we will be expanding,” Doyle said. “We will be adding services as well as products. Services will include direct mail, zip code delivery, digital expansion, consulting, advertising creative, design services, website development and Search Engine Optimization. Our marketing operation has the best consumer research in the marketplace and we will utilize that information to assist our customers.”
8:23 ought to have some idea what they're talking about before they post on this site.
ReplyDeleteIt's hardly Moon's fault that USA TODAY circulation was built on hotel delivery and the economy has squashed domestic travel. Neither is it his fault that advertisers have cut back dramatically in light of the same economic problems.
If you're so damn smart, why don't you tell everyone how to fix those problems immediately in a practical way?
You're criticizing the wrong executive. Moon was the last of the brain power and he's walking out the door. You should be very sad about that, at least for your own sake.
Too bad Gannett HQ isn't in France. Look up the word "sequestration."
ReplyDelete10:13 COme on, now. Which publisher built USAT's circulation on the basis of hotel distribution? He got all sorts of kudos for perfecting this very inexpensive way of getting added circulation, and there used to be whoops when USAT's circulation figures came in.
ReplyDeleteThe flaw in that strategy -- and it was all Moon's -- was that in a recession, people stop booking hotel rooms. Duh. Why did Moon not think of that, and build other streams of circulation. No, he went the other way, abandoning Hawaii and Alaska, removing the street boxes, and abandoning the smaller cities. The big city, big hotel strategy has now blown up in his face. What a moron. No loss.
All you people blame these executives for the economy. Unemployment is up to 8.5 percent. Don't you realize if someone had the answer they would be a freaking billionaire. And quit blaming the damn economy and bitching about lowering your living standards to play into Obama's bullshit. If your a freaking dock worker or a delivery person, thats your own fault. Everyone wants to blame everyone else, if you spent as much time trying to find a new job and looking as you did bitching on this site you'd probably be fine. Jim quit that dump and made a success out covering it, and $24k isn't shit, especially in SF.
ReplyDelete10:27 Hey, I'm not the person pocketing $875,000 for steering GCI so successfully through these troubled economic times. Read what the board of directors financial reward committee concluded: these are great times at GCI. And I'm not the guy walking away with more than $3 million. As far as corporate sees it, there has been no economic disruption at all, and no reason at all that their perks and bennies should suffer. I don't blame them for taking this line, because they certainly made no provisions for the possibility of a recession. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
ReplyDeleteGCI second worst performer today on the stock market, CNBC now reporting.
ReplyDeleteMoon wasn't the one who created the USA TODAY circulation plan.It was Neuharth and the original gang in Pumpkin Center.
ReplyDeleteLearn your history; otherwise, just be quiet. It's better for people to think you a fool rather than proving it.
Gannett sucks, it does. But there have been hundreds of thousands of businesses that have failed, look at what they did, look at what all the other newspaper companies are doing. Is this really that surprising? These executives have contracts and are paid according to those, if you ran a multi-billion dollar corporation you'd make the same damn amount. 875k is less than a backup major league infielder makes. You unions have contracts and expect them to be honored and rub it in everyone's faces. Executives have contracts too, why should theirs not be honored? The amount of government intervention here is the most dangerous problem here. Giving government the ability to run businesses, set pay grades, warranty cars. They are setting the pay for executives what makes you think they won't want to set the pay for you "worker bees" too. Don't you realize 40% to 50% of people making that kind of money is going straight to taxes anyway? Tim Geithner and Barack Obama are not the answer, and the precedents they set today to save tomorrow are going to kill the future even more. Economics are cyclical, everything turns around, move on leave Gannett in the dust.
ReplyDeleteIt was the Pumpkin Center gang who came up with the idea of the street boxes that look like TV sets. The original plan involved street sales nationwide. It was Moon who took thousands these boxes off the street on the grounds it was so much cheaper to have hotel personnel deliver the paper. Talk to circulation and you will learn something.
ReplyDelete@3:45
ReplyDeleteOur newsroom's staffed about 21 hours a day. We miss a lot, bit I'd like to think that we'd notice some strange suits wandering through.
Ann Clark told employees that no bidders took up the invitation.
Speaking of the Pumpkin Center, where is the regular Friday Al tirade? Your readers look forward to these screeds.
ReplyDeleteOh, I see. You're into revisionist history. I suppose in your world Tom Curley had nothing to do with the hotel distribution program either, did he?
ReplyDeleteThe bigger issue here is that you've clearly bought into someone's attempt to pin all the problems on Moon. Sounds to me like you're pretty damn gullible.
Obviously, you don't know much about how the business works or can appreciate the pressure Moon must have been under to produce while the market was crumbling around him.
It's funny that you tag him as a loser when USA Today is still the largest circulation newspaper in the country.
I sincerely hope you're not a reporter or editor. If so, you must be a really lousy one.
Don"t blame Craig Moon for the current business downturn at USA Today. He was one of the few remaining executives who refused to be cowered by clueless Dubow or penny-pinching Martore. When Moon was in Nasville, he forged his own way, often times bucking the directives from Corporate. That pissed them all off but he remained untouchable because everything he touched turned to gold.
ReplyDeleteIs it me or does anyone else think its ridiculous to allow Dubow to choose the USAT editor?! WTF does he know about print journalism? Someone please give us a summary of his "news" qualifications. This is exactly what's wrong with Gannett. Those who are experienced and qualified to make key decisions like this aren't allowed to. So we get Dubow, Martore, and a weak kneed Dickey running the ship aground, all of whom will walk away with huge payouts regardless of their performance.
And another thing, anyone else see how lop-sided those company awards are this year? Three of the top four awards went to the broadcast division: manager, innovator and corporate staffers of the year all went to broadcast (USAT took the sales exec award). The broadcast division represents no more than 15% of company revenue but this year they grabbed 75% of the top awards. Guess Dubow is making up for all those years he felt the broadcast division was slighted by this event. This is what you do when you don't have the ability to run a company but you do have the power. I'm not saying this year's broadcast winners weren't deserving, just that they shouldn't have garnered 75% of the total top 4 awards. That smacks and smells of Dubow politics, and judges eager to kiss his butt. Nothing anyone can do because it's his game regardless of how poorly he has performed as our CEO. To the victor go the spoils...
Moon leaving is definitely Gannett's loss. How many more capable people do we have to lose before the board wakes-up and gets rid of Dubow, Martore and Dickey?
Anyone else read how in LA, Media News is taking away vacation accrual for three months? (laobserved.com) Will Gannett try this next to staunch the flow of red ink?
ReplyDeleteBlogger Jim Hopkins said...
ReplyDeleteThe Republic laid off Dorothy and Toto?!
The left the scare crow - now, if he only had a brain.
With all the bad going on within the organization, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Craig Dubow. As of today 12:00 est I have lost my home of 12 years not a big home but mine.Im a single parent and my son has no where to live. Im going to live in a hotel (cheap) for now. He can take the 45,000 salary i was making and go on another golf outing and take any extra, and put it as a payment aginst one of his family's car or somthing. Again Thanks Craig
ReplyDeleteName one innovation -- just one -- that Moon was responsible for. And don't count as an innovation the abandonment of overseas bureaus, the loss of the international edition, the retreat from Alaska and Hawaii, the decision to forget about small cities. I mean one innovation. Bet you can't, and that is the problem I have with the Moon regime. He was an uncreative nothing, and he won't be missed.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of awards given USAT reflects the way corporate looks at this operation. It is no longer a flagship, but a drag on revenues and a hindrance to GCI's prosperity.
ReplyDelete11 a.m. -- Economics are cyclical, but the upper class in America has been shrinking for years. Meanwhile, the middle class is disappearing and the lower class is growing.
ReplyDeleteBecause it takes money to make money and the upper class has no regard for the lower class, this trend will continue. Deregulation has allowed big businesses to buy up smaller ones at random, and when there's only one giant company dominating an industry they have a monopoly.
That means they can pay employees what they want, treat them how they want, and charge what they want for their products. We're where we are now because we haven't seen enough regulation. And that's because our politicians are beholden to big business.
And, for the record, the government does regulate what worker bees can make. It's called minimum wage, and everyone but the CEOs are getting closer to it everyday.
As for comparing Dumbo to a major league athlete, get a grip.
Very few people on the planet can do what even a backup NFL quarterback is capable of. They're just not that physically gifted. I can personally introduce you to numerous folks who would have been capable of devaluing Gannett by 90 percent.
Although they don't serve a vital purpose in the country, professional athletes are worth far more than most of these greedy CEOs. First, they have talent that puts them in a class by themselves. Second, they aren't laying people off left and right to protect their salaries. It's the idiot CEOs that you love who drove their compensation up and write the checks.
11:46
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry...I'll keep you in my thoughts.
To 11:47am
ReplyDeleteDid you ever wonder if Moon was compelled and pressured into making some of those decisions by a bean-counting Martore and know-nothing Dubow? I think Moon did his best to resist their influence but in the end got tired, gave up and took his big payout. At some point you grow weary of finance people driving operational business decisions, especially those who never once ran a profit center.
What needs to be fixed in this company starts at the very top. Things will stay the same and will probably worsen as long as these inept failures continue to manage the company.
Can someone report what sort of severance GCI employees are getting in this round of layoffs?
ReplyDeleteI'm curious if it's still one week of pay for each year of service or if the company has cheaped out and is offering only a two-week package. I keep expecting the severance to decrease.
Hey Jim:
ReplyDeleteHere's an idea:
Rent one of these, put a sign on it that says "GANNETT CEO" and set it up outside the Shareholder's meeting:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tattoodjay/2894934020/
If you do, I'll send in $20 to help defray costs.
They just did this in Boston yesterday for the KB Homes S/H meeting. It made AP.
To 11:47am
ReplyDeleteDid you ever wonder if Moon was compelled and pressured into making some of those decisions by a bean-counting Martore and know-nothing Dubow? I think Moon did his best to resist their influence but in the end got tired, gave up and took his big payout. At some point you grow weary of finance people driving operational business decisions, especially those who never once ran a profit center.
What needs to be fixed in this company starts at the very top. Things will stay the same and will probably worsen as long as these inept failures continue to manage the company.
Don't blame Moon for the Hotel program. Having been through the birth of USAT the original plan was single copy. WHen that didn't work the way Al pronounced it would 3rd party sales kicked in and then a completely screwed up emergency help the numbers ,expanded home delivery program. Does anyone remember the Datapoint system? There was also the failed "Florida Today" program that was a redeisgned USAT lookalike Brevard/Cocoa Beach that would go statewide with USAT that bombed. All under AHN's direction. The Hotel/ 3rd party sales are what saved USAT and made it go. Advertisers wanted those travelers. To blame Moon for the this program or its falloff during a recession shows ignorance of how it evolved and why it esists. The hotel sales program has been around almost as long as the USAT itself.
ReplyDeleteAs to how USAT goes so goes Gannett thats a crock also. USAT was an Al Neuharth ego driven product that cost Gannett Newspapers 'Billions' of dollars of cash flow during its first 15 years. When it did turn profitable it made less money annually than most of the Metro Division newspapers and probably some of the communities like Fort Myers. I don't believe it ever made it into the top five most profitable papers
Having spent a ton of time in Detroit since its purchase back in the 80's including the famous strike I can tell you that it has been a money pit since day one. Not even the JOA prevented that. I wish someone had the financials for the 20+ years of that mistake, While Gannett picked up several nice small papers and some broadcast properties the Detroit News and JOA were just a monstrous parasite sucking resources away from other Gannett newspapers. I was in a meeting one time when one of DNA's execs was bragging about the highest improvement in the company in NIBT year over year and one of the corporate financial people stated, thats nice, but you are still losing a ton of money".
I agree with the comment about Moon being the last brainpower leaving the company. The poster who mentioned the fights with corporate over budgets, staffing and layoffs was right on the money. Moon always argued for how he wanted to run his division. It must have driven him nuts working for a idiot like Dubow. I'm sure it toasted him that Martore, whose total onsite newspaper knowledge was garnerned from a 2-3 week tour to season her some years ago is calling the the shots on staffing, operations and marketing. A pure financial person who is running the business without any real front line knowledge is a recipe for product and staff disaster.
I have no doubt that the recession was the excuse to get Moon out of the way so that Craig and Gracia can gut USAT without the skeptic yelling at them that they don't know what they are doing nor the long term results of their actions.
Moon was a hard guy to get to know, an even harder one to like. It took time and performance for him to accept you. But once you had produced no one would take better care of you. He was loyal to a fault with staff from Arkanas and Nashville that had done a good job for him. The brain drain at the top is complete. The newspaper side of Gannett will never recover in either journalistic performance,quality or staffing.
12:07 -- Love it.
ReplyDeleteTwo were let go in the retail art department at the Republic. Not sure who else...they still have over 30 artists working in Phoenix. Down from over 50. Its a very tense atmosphere. People are stressed out. Does anyone think they will keep the 30 artists and take on more work from other failing newspapers? Rumors have it that the artists are sitting in order of how they will be let go. However this time it appears to be a last hired first out lay off. The artist was a GD2 and they have been letting the GD1s go. They will be missed. Their contributions to the 2nd floor well out weighed their faults.
ReplyDelete12:10 PM ...
ReplyDeleteWell said.
Amen.
Anyone, ANYONE who has had the privilege of working with Craig Moon will miss him.
ReplyDeleteHe isn't done yet and we know he will rise again -- and lead a multimedia company to substantial recovery from this economic downturn that no one could have ever predicted.
Unfortunately for us, Craig Moon will not be leading USA TODAY or Gannett into that recovery.
The outrageous and unfounded criticism and outright unjust contempt expressed on this site to Craig Moon probably does more to prove your frustrations and fears that you know this is the truth. The last of any Gannett executive brainpower is walking out the door.
Craig Moon dumps over 1.1M shares 34 minutes ago
ReplyDeletehttp://finance.aol.com/company/gannett-i...
Now that he's throwing in the towel and quitting/retiring, guess he needs the pocket change.
Bravo to 8:23 a.m., 12:10 p.m. and 12:18 p.m.
ReplyDeleteFor those of us with USA TODAY, our only hope is that Craig Moon will be able to work with Al Neuharth and others in buying this brand -- yes, BRAND! -- away from the clutches of Gannett (and wave good-bye as Gannett sinks without the calling card it has been bleeding dry for years now).
Its just a bad time to be working in retail print. All the people are great there. Its too bad we can't find a way to save the newsprint medium. I was talking to someone who was treated very poorly at Republic Media. The management was a big distraction there. Always swarming in and announcing this or that change.Always plucking people out of their seats and scolding them for small things....because they really aren't doing anything wrong. The artists are too afraid to do something wrong... Also management in retail art also would have random "will you meet me in the conference room?" meeting with individuals. Those meeting were just for HR so when HR did choose them to leave, it was in the records that they were talked to. But it was about everyday stuff and one time offense stuff..not about a repeat offense...One time they called a person in to tell them not to blind copy an email. Can you believe that? The person sending the email out was thinking of all the reply alls and did not want the receivers to get the reply alls so they blind copied. That meeting was really cruel and there were others like that. Telling someone not to blind copy is a wasted meeting. The artist working there only had the recipient's time in mind when they blind copied the email.
ReplyDeleteManagement sold out....Gannett should just sell out.
ReplyDelete"But it was about everyday stuff and one time offense stuff..not about a repeat offense..."
ReplyDeleteDoesn't matter - this is just corporate legal closing the loophole so someone can't come back and sue the company for illegal termination.
Cut the crap - Moon was no saint he was a clone of Gary Watson/Gary Sherlock era. He just didn't get out in time. Thanks for leaving the ship Captain.
ReplyDelete1:06PM
ReplyDeleteYou crack me up. Moon a clone of Watson? I think not.
Your comment shows that you obviously never met those guys.
Thanks for the laugh!
Who's the boss at Republic Media?
ReplyDeleteDoes Westchester need a lesson in geography or do they need to realize they have Gannett papers in Binghamton, Elmira and Ithaca. Stay tuned for more on this.
ReplyDeleteto 2:26 a.m. Port Clinton and Fremont are small close-knit Midwest communities - just the kind of places where word of mouth spreads pretty fast.
ReplyDeleteSo as the staffs have been whittled away as compared to their operations 10 or 15 years ago, the readers have definitely noticed.
But there really isn't anything northern Ohio residents can do about the situation. If there was, I'm sure it would have been tried long before now.
Who's the boss at Republic Media?
ReplyDelete4/03/2009 1:37 PM
John Zidich
1:54 p.m. - No, the Ohio community papers have all seen this plunge in quality and community involvement.
ReplyDeleteMost of them have either publishers and EEs/MEs who are clueless about the towns they serve since they live nowhere near them; or publishers and EEs who have been at the paper for decades and should have been fired long ago.
Regardless, these Ohio papers have been beaten into submission ever since they were bought in 2000.
The only ones left in management are worthless butt-kisers or Gannett drop-ins who will be gone in 6 months after ruining the papers.....
And the people in those towns HATE the papers. This is especially true in Chillicothe and Newark.
@1:37
ReplyDeleteCheck the link for the Republic Media Management staff
http://republicmediasolutions.com/our_team.aspx
I am familiar with a few of these people from my past and now I shall break out in hives. Ew.
Hey 1:06 p.m.
ReplyDeleteYou obviously never met either Craig Moon or Gary Watson -- you couldn't have two personalities farther apart.
I have to admire Captain Moon for leaving this ship -- he doesn't have the HEART to watch Craig Dumbo and Good Gracious Gracia sink it.
Who among us wouldn't jump ship as well, if we could!?
About the artist layoffs in Phoenix - Is Phoenix using 2adpro yet? If so, any idea of the weekly ad quota there?
ReplyDeleteRe: Moon and Detroit. Gannett is doing the right thing now with the new plan to keep BOTH papers going. But the original source of many of the problems of the Detroit JOA is Al Neuharth. He was the one who stupidly agreed in 1986to make the News the afternoon home-delivered paper, thus losing the Detroit Newspaper Agency at least 200,000 in circulation a day. The Free Press picked up NONE of the customers the News lost when it went to afternoons. And the JOA in its first years was very poorly run by Gannett.
ReplyDeleteIn 2005, Gannett FINALLY returned the News to mornings.
Folks:
ReplyDeleteQuit worrying and causing such a ruckus. Everything's going to be fine. The people running this company are much, much smarter than you, and they have many wonderful ideas for turning this around. Sure, some of you, maybe a lot of you, will lose your jobs, but that's the price of progress. Sad as it may be to say goodbye to people who have done nothing wrong, this will open up more opportunities for the rest of you to work even harder and smarter and earn more money for the people in charge. Things are getting better and better every day, and as soon as we can jettison, oh, about 25,000 more employees, everything will be just peachy.
http://finance.aol.com/company/gannett-inc-del/gci/nys/4/09729201/html/sec-filings
ReplyDeletehttp://finance.aol.com/company/gannett-inc-del/gci/nys/SCH%2013G/09731886/html/sec-filings
http://finance.aol.com/company/gannett-inc-del/gci/nys/4/09731920/html/sec-filings
FYI -
ReplyDeleteYou are all screwed. Everybody in Gannett is fucked. The ship has sunk, there is no returning to the glory days. Advertisers can more effectively and efficeintly place ads through other sources and as technology advances so will those sources. Grab your life vest, start looking for a new job. Take the best available option, get the hell out. I hate to be rude and crude but somebody needs to be brutally honest.
No, the Republic let Luke and Leia go.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the management of Republic Media retail artists has been really distracting. There was this one in particular that yelled at someone for writing instructions to an ARS to make sure they proofed the ad thoroughly. The artist had to retype alot and needed a second eye to make sure it was all good to go. The artist got chewed out for asking the ARS to proof the ad thoroughly. Also, the artist was called unprofessional. This should have been reported to HR. As a matter of fact its going to. (Anyway this is just one thing this boss did.) Another thing was he sat right behind the artists to make sure they were working. That is corporate terrorism at its finest. The ads have to be done no matter how management arranges the system. No matter how much terror and petty meetings they have. Management should roll up their sleeves and help make some money instead of pointing fingers at the lower paid artists.
ReplyDeleteCarlos Javier to the Rescue!!! Living La Vida Loca Baby!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete3:35 - Thanks Mom!
ReplyDeleteBuyers pass on Citizen visit
ReplyDeletehttp://tucsoncitizen.com/daily/breakingnews/113563.php
Watch your mail Gannett's people, this will happen to you. http://localtvnews.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/gannett-company-gal-gets-fired-in-a-letter-left-at-her-door-and-this-is-the-thanks-i-get/
ReplyDeleteTO > 11:46AM this is 9:46AM.
ReplyDeleteI am very sorry find yourself in such a difficult situation.
As I have said here over the last few months, my preparation for Lay-Off is centered around restructuring my Family's life around build a Sustainable Long-Term Economic Paradigm.
I am late on home payments, however banks are working with me as I am selling the house in New Jersey. During my furlough in February I found a 3-acre, 3 -bedroom foreclosure in rural South Carolina. My new property taxes will be $389.00 versus $9,000 in Jersey. Things will be tough, but we will be able to survive the extended un/underemployment this Depression will inflict on most people.
While in South Carolina I found repo mobile homes and used mobile homes for sale on Craigslist for $2,995....with monthly lot rent of $135--for 1 Acre with water. That would be less than the motel you're in.
If you have any questions about sources, feel free to e-mail me at tammjenanalytics@live.com.
Also you may want to check out a site www>TheSurvivorsClub.org
Take care
@3:54
ReplyDeleteAnd those are just SOME of the reasons I left a few years ago. When I was there, they threatened us with typing tests and as most people who do our job know, we are NOT high speed typists. It's usually type-movemouse-type-keycommand-movemouse-type. We always had the ad assists (that's what I recall them being called then) check our work with NO issues because we worked together and we were on real TEAMS. *sigh*
Give some of these art folks a wee bit of power and they become complete JERKS.
They also threatened us with spec quotas, stupid online training (that was AWFUL), and just over all threatening behavior. There were rumors of sending the ads to India then too.. looks like THOSE came true.
Again, I'm SO glad I got the hell out of there.
Hey 9:45. I feel your pain. I was at the 9:30 meeting. It's sad that the app has decided to slowly eliminate home delivery. You know as well as I do that pcf can not live up to our standards. Complaints are going to skyrocket, especially in the senior developement areas. GCI is basically killing home delivery. Many of the managers left have many, many years of blood, sweat and tears spent devoted to the company and we are basically being pulled by the nose and being kicked in the ass out the door.
ReplyDeleteMy advice to all staff members that are still there is to start looking for a new job NOW. I promise you that the severance package offered in the fall will be less than 1 week for every year employed. It's not a coincidence that not one long time DM was given 30 day's notice yesterday!!!
The Newark, Ohio sports product isn't too bad, especially by Gannett standards. The only thing they could do better - and I'd say a lot better - is more than a line or two on games they don't cover in person. But it seems like they've made a decision to cover as many games in person as they can, compared to covering one or two games at most and having roundups and lots of AP copy - Chillicothe and Lancaster paper especially.
ReplyDeleteI will agree that the Lancaster and Chillicothe sports products are not respected in their communities.
I've worked some games as a freelancer for a neighboring paper and have folks come up irrate because they think I am with one of those papers.
6:11
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if you're a nutcase or a genius...I guess time will tell.
Best of Luck to you and your family.
Answer to 12:09
ReplyDeleteSeverance remained one week of pay for each full year of service - minimum of two weeks/maximum of 26 weeks. Company benefits for next 30 days, unused vacation to be paid out. No mention of pre-established bonus pay for 1rst quarter.
They still read off a generic script...You (State your Name)are terminated! They still hide away everyone you've worked with for years while you hastily collect a family picture or two, and then march you out as if you'd been stealing from them for years. I must have been one of the really bad ones because I swear the security guard actaully stirred but then went right back to sleep.
If you think you're beat, you're beat. Use this time to reinvent yourself. It is possible. I know first hand.
ReplyDeleteLong live America!
I think APP had the right idea for circulation. I only wish Burlington would follow suit. The whole circulation dept there is a joke.
ReplyDeleteFrom: Bodner, Sherman
ReplyDeleteSent: Friday, April 3, 2009 6:07 PM
To: CNY-all
Subject: Final phase of consolidation
As I told you last month, Central New York recently received the results of our market research studies. Acting on that study, we quickly made changes in our portfolio of nondaily products in an efforts to be even more efficient in reaching and building audiences.
The final phase of those changes focuses on the dailies and includes the consolidation of Binghamton, Elmira and Ithaca into one newspaper with three distinctly different local websites.
These changes, with their reduction in printing and distribution costs, will make us more efficient while we become even more effective. More details will be coming in the next weeks as to exact timing. Please stay tuned. We’ll be notifying our advertising partners of these changes in coming days, so please keep this news inside the company for now.
Here's what I can tell you now:
* The working title of the new newspaper is The Press-Journal. This allows us to capitalize on two of our three most powerful brands, the Press & Sun-Bulletin and The Ithaca Journal.
* Our research shows that local advertisers will be more effectively served through our strong pressconnects.com, star-gazette.com and ithacajournal.com websites. That will not change. Local-local news and advertising content will continue to be delivered electronically through those websites. There are no plans to consolidate those websites into a larger portal for The Press-Journal.
* While we examine the results of the hybrid print/nondelivery experiment at our sister paper in Detroit, we are moving forward with plans to eliminate the Saturday newspaper. Our websites will continue to be updated 24/7/365 and The Press-Journal will drive readers to their respective local-local websites for game results.
I want to acknowledge all those who had a hand in daily production of the Press & Sun-Bulletin, Ithaca Journal and Star-Gazette. Today's fatal hostage situation, while tragic, further underscores the need for a strong daily print newspaper with companion online coverage. Each newspaper has been well-written and well-edited, filled with good advertising and have served their purposes well. Thank you for your good work.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteJim? What does this say about confidence in our company?
ReplyDeletehttp://finance.aol.com/company/gannett-inc-del/gci/nys/4/09731920/html/sec-filings
WELCOME BACK MOONIES!!!
ReplyDeleteThose of you who think this guy is some sort of genius savior of newspapers are so sadly, sadly mistaken. His entire career was in Gannett and he learned how to "behave" at the feet of some of the true giants of Gannett (is that an oxymoron?).
Moon was Doug McCorkindale's handpicked successor to Tom Curley AND he is best friend and vacation buddy to Frank Vega. (How was the skiing boys? And the ladies?)
The true sign of the newspaper apocalypse is not Moon retiring. It's people thinking that actually matters.
To 8:23
ReplyDeleteYou are so right. Moon leaving is indeed a sad thing. I hope something can come of this. We miss Curley and now we'll miss Moon, even if he was no Curley.
To 9:44
Can you seriously try to attribute the circulation and advertising decline to Moon? What a dumb ass. USA TODAY is in much better shape than all the local papers. You just showed how narrow minded you are. When you show a number at least place it in contaxt so the number makes sense.
What are the local papers decline in circulation and ad revenue? Much more than 10 and 30.
To 10:23:
Frank Vega built the hotel model. Moon was someplace else.
Curley very successfully piloted the ship for many years while the paper grew. Moon stepped in and the one thing he did I never liked was raise the price to .75, something Curley avoided. There is no way you can blame Moon on the circulation business model. Win or lose it was not his claim to fame.
And once again, another dumb ass that thinks they know the story.
To 11:01
Where do you get this crap? Moon did not take any boxes off the street. There are many still out there. Any boxes taken off the street were removed due to low sales. We have boxes out there selling only 1 copy per day. Hotel people deliver to hotels, not streets.
Another dumb ass.
To 2:46 pm
The strike is what did in the Detroit papers. They were never the same since.