Saturday, April 18, 2009

Saturday | April 18 | Your News & Comments

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59 comments:

  1. A major policy that illustrates what's wrong with this company is the status quo to layoff newer hires with exceptional ONLINE talent to avoid firing incompetent people with 15 years of "experience" because the company fears a lawsuit. The newsroom is bleeding out and we who are left are left holding the body ...

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  2. Here is a good question that we can debate.
    As Debow and company invest all this money into digital why do we still have so many meetings that require travel? Most of these meetings can be easily done via a video conference phone or something. It would be a lot less expensive then hotel, flight, food, entertainment, etc.

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  3. I see the rumor/start of no classifieds Mon. and Tues.? And Sunday only will have help wanted?

    I remember when looking for work, Monday was the day to look for new help wanted ads, not Sunday. Another genius move by Gannett?

    Isn't Monday's paper thin enough?

    I still wonder, do newspapers want to die or are they being told to commit suicide?

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  4. first!
    never been first before. was up at 4:50 a.m. doing homework for my career-switching master's. would rather be headed to a newsroom, at any pay level.
    Jim, ask about how Gannett adheres to federal WARN act provisions for notification of large layoffs. the WARN act is being violated all over.
    and what about job-training money for all thee layoffs/buyouts. this is a brutal employment market to be dumping middle-aged people into.
    ask about that, please.
    love the blog.

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  5. 3:50, learn how to read big shot. I never said "profitable," I said "are not down 60%"

    4/17/2009 5:54 PM
    _________________________

    Allright big shot. Dance around the question if you will. You should be a politician.

    Let me rephrase: since there are so many that are not down 60% please name me 20 of them to support your position.

    There, does that work for your pea brain? And I'll copy this to Saturday as well so you don't miss the follow up.

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  6. 6:43 did ask a good question regarding job training. If Gannett really cared about its employees it would do all it could to assist them in their job search, including providing retraining assistance.

    There was a textile business in the Northeast that burned down some years ago and the owner contiued to pay his staff during the rebuilding even though they had no work to do. Talk about an outstanding loyalty building gesture.

    Gannett could learn a lot from businesses that treat their employees in such a positive manner. But they won't because the stockholders come first. Sigh......

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  7. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  8. 4:34,
    It's no rumor, it's true several Gannett papers have eliminated Classifiedsd M$onday and Tuesday and the rest will follow soon. Actually, it makes good business sense. We continue churning expensive newsprint for Classified private seller ads that barely make money anyway. And sorry, but people aren't reading Classifieds during the week anymore. We have to stop clinging to old ways.If doing this saves some jobs or allows us to reinvest in digital then it's a good thing.

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  9. "...people aren't reading Classifieds during the week anymore." Are you nuts? It's that type of thinking that continues to drive this company further in the hole.

    The only way they'll stop reading it (in Gannett newspapers anyway) is to keep taking the opportunity away from them to do so.

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  10. 10:54, sorry, surveys show people aren't reading them early in the week. Do you really think we should hang our future on print Classifieds? Only if we want to go out of business.

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  11. The Gannett stock price has stabilized. Proof: Even with the horrible results announced for Q1 this week the stock did not waver too much. Jim's spin on it would be that the investors must not be paying attention or "don't care" when he should be celebrating Gannett's achievements. Thats why this blog will continue its death.

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  12. 11:34 am reaches a new low in desperation:

    "Jim's spin on it would be that the investors must not be paying attention or 'don't care' when he should be celebrating Gannett's achievements."

    So, now you're going to put words in my mouth? You're the one introducing a negative spin -- not me.

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  13. 11:35, keep on wishing that this blog will die. Whether it's $2, $3 or $4, Gannett's shares are down more than 95 percent from their $90 high in January 2004, and this company is a breakup in waiting. What did our high-paid, smart leaders to to offset the decline? Bought print papers, invested in God-awful technology, let the legacy papers go to hell, ran up debt, bought back stock at way-inflated prices, paid out excessive exec compensation, proved continuing ineptitude at innovation and/or investment in platforms with a future (Facebook? Twitter? Not here.), yet maintained a culture of ass-kissing, back-stabbing and gross underachievement. Gannett would prefer to keep workers in the dark and use ambush-style tactics. This blog has helped me immeasurably in bracing for the next move.

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  14. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  15. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  16. Jim reached a new low in desperation when he allowed anonymous idiots to make up lies about Gannett and post them on this board daily.

    He must have been asleep during ethics training and most of his alleged career.

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  17. 4:34 AM wrote: "I see the rumor/start of no classifieds Mon. and Tues.? And Sunday only will have help wanted?"

    Already happened at MANY GCI sites. Where you been?

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  18. Look at what has happened to the stock price since corporate brought Sergio on board. I told you he is HUGE.

    4/18/2009 12:10 PM

    -------

    Seriously, no one gives a shit. I bet that blog has about 15 readers.

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  19. 12:19 If you feel that way, I have a solution: don't read Jim's blog. Some others of us find it quite useful.

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  20. A major indication of a newspaper's success is a strong transient classified section. When I would apply for a job for a newspaper, I would always look at the classified advertising. If it was strong I went ahead and applied, if not, I ran.

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  21. Enough about USA Today's new martial arts blogger.

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  22. 12:30 p.m. - I'm sure that was once true but not anymore.

    12:30 p.m., 10:54 a.m., 4:34 a.m., Let classifieds die a peaceful death. Craigslist has killed them.

    As a seller, why pay an outrageous fee for 20 words with no pictures when I can post a long, detailed description and post multiple photos of my product for FREE?

    As a consumer, Craigslist is much easier to read and find things. It's simple, organized well and I get detailed descriptions and photos most of the time.

    Good bye classified section. You had a good, but annoying run.

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  23. 10:54

    I so agree. Saving the newsprint is minimal compared to the value the reader receives. Cutting would further cut page counts and readers/subsribers will not see the value anymore. That is why circulation numbers continue to decline by double digits.

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  24. The stock price is up because of ..... wait for it .... Hollis Towns.

    Hahahahahahahahahhahaha

    Er, barf.

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  25. WARN act provisions were easily ignored by Bush admin. lackeys.
    how about some change we can believe in and some enforcement from these feds?
    job retraining? transparent COBRA deal? personal financial consult, one-time, two hours: explain taxes on severance, pension status, tax writeoffs for job hunt expenses (save receipts) and maybe a tuition voucher for comm. college?
    something? anything?
    the WARN act calls for advance notice of mass layoffs.
    Obama - are you awake here?

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  26. I think it would be interesting to know the number of reporters vs. editors in the newsrooms now.

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  27. Saying goodbye to the classified section is saying goodbye to newspapers. The classified would bring both new and old readers to the paper. It accounted for a lot of single copy sales, too.

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  28. Here in Detroit we dropped classifieds on Monday and Tuesday with the exception of classified automotive advertising as part of the Griffon project.

    I'm not sure what to make of this but I heard around the office last week that they are thinking of bringing all classifieds back on Monday and Tuesday.

    I don't know why this is coming up after only three weeks under the new model although I suppose that they may want more content to fill up the papers or due to reader or advertiser demand.

    Since readers purchase the paper for its content, maybe dropping classifieds on Monday and Tuesday is not the answer.

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  29. I love these Gannett Digital pricks who swear they are the second coming and saviors of the company (somebody actually said that to me). I asked one of these dooshes a couple months ago what was the big "hot" project they were working on- he said they were working on getting a Wii and pool table on the fifth floor. Digital is great and all and should have maximum resources put to it, but account for more than 20% of the company's revenue before you start getting jiggy with it.
    Probably already common knowledge, but I learned that many Digital people in McLean are former AOL'ers. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. That's who's going to "save" the company? Because that worked out really well.

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  30. Nothing is going to change until the publisher's at each individual paper along with the departmental VP's(especially the profitable ones) stands up to corporate and say's enough already.

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  31. Rumor has it by start of Q3 some properties will stop printing papers Monday and Tuesday. Has anyone else herd this?

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  32. I just want to note that a couple of weeks ago, I noted that with the departure of Craig Moon, USA Today was coming under the tender personal wings of Craig Dubow. Others said no, there would be another pub. So here we are at day one with no USAT pub, and with the prospect of none coming anytime soon. This is going to make for a very exciting week ahead at USAT, when Dubow will be able to do some things he has been unable to accomplish in the last two years.

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  33. 3:25 We have been hearing Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays are going Web only, just like Detroit. But we have been unable to pin this down as being something concrete, or just a rumor based on what has happened in Detroit. If ad revenues continue to be dismal, I would expect something along those lines, and not at a few papers.

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  34. Furloughs should be one of the last things done to control costs.

    The company needs to take a look at all the subsidizing it does for employees. Paid parking for employees, paying for iPhones when a cell phone would do, VPs traveling when a phone or video conference would work just as well.

    There simply cannot be anyone in any finance department of any Gannett property that has any ounce of ethics as long as these things continue. There are smarter ways to cut costs. Reaching into the employee base is just reactionary laziness.

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  35. Rumor has it that Jesus is coming back...AGAIN.. and this time he's pissed.
    Y'all are funny, both sides, and make for some good entertaining reading. A few newspapers will survive, just as a few steel mills have survived, and a few carmakers and a few of everything else that has seen it's heyday and retrenched. So, keep up your funnin' commentary and the outraged responses and many of us will keep on reading. Not donating, cause I really don't need to pay since it's all free (ever hear THAT before?)

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  36. 4:09 p.m. sure hope you're wrong on the Web only days, at least at our site. We're sure to have at least one misspelled or ass wrong hed a day, and quite often the wrong information box runs with a story. Or we pull a story from another state site and readers say WTF to that story.
    We have lame blogs and the story chats are crude. And no one has time to check that stuff out and restore order.
    Our Web "guru" is a twenty-something who knows how to Twitter. But not how to edit. And it shows and if the Web is our future we are sunk.

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  37. Anon 3:25....Detroit is not online only Monday Tuesday and Saturday. Still print editions daily _ only home delivered on Thu, Fr and Sun. Other days are avail single copy or by same day mail.

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  38. The reality about this blog is that it has lost credibility regarding pending layoffs/furloughs, etc.

    Since many of us came here in the first place for that information, the bogus "I have surefire knowledge of impending doom" entries have rendered it useless.

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  39. 5:01 you are so right!

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  40. I can confirm hearing the rumor. But if it is true or not, I do not know. I have heard other rumors, too. Some of them became true, others did not.

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  41. 5:01 That Jesus is coming back is not a rumor. I can point you to a book where you can read all about it, if you wish. Please do not mix religion into this. We have enough problems with maniacs in this company to have religion thrown in as well.

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  42. 5:01

    That attitude is helping kill newspapers. People who keep expecting something for nothing will eventually get what they pay for - trust me. It's only a matter of time.

    Argue all you want about refusing to pay after Gannett reduces and waters down content. Go ahead, say "I won't pay for this horrible stuff."

    The bottom line is, no bucks, no stories. That includes stories that some Web sites love to link to that have been AHEM "borrowed" from newspaper sites.

    Sorry, I don't work for free.

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  43. I can see the argument for losing classifieds on some days. I'm responsible for putting together the classified section. The section has gotten miniscule, and sometimes the real estate, announcements, and job ads are all done on the first page. I've sometimes had to use two and a half pages of filler on a four page section. There are days where it would be smart to either kill out the classified section altogether, or fold it in with the main news sections.

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  44. You know, for all you wankers crying about credibility, jumping the shark, who sucks, Jim stinks, gossip and false rumors - there's one 'metric' which to me proves Jim's still providing a valuable service here.

    When I heard the stock price had jumped a bunch, I came here to find out why. There was already two Jim posts about Ariel's investment, plus a bunch of interesting (if not necessarily informed or correct) comments.

    When I want local news, I go to my paper's site. When I want a job, I go to CareerBuilder. When I want national news, I hit USAToday. If I want the best info on Gannett, I come here.

    Are there errors, omissions, corrections and trolls on all these sites? Spotty coverage, out and out lies? Sure.

    But being big girls and boys mean we can evaluate several sources for veracity on a particular item.

    Seriously, who goes to the seashore and yells to everyone that the water is too cold? It's the same people who comment here that this blog is useless. My god. Stay home if you don't like the neighborhood.

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  45. Our paper did it months ago. Sunday is usually the biggest classified section of the week, never Monday or Tuesday. I see nothing wrong with it. I think it was worse when there was only one column of employment ads.

    4:34,
    It's no rumor, it's true several Gannett papers have eliminated Classifiedsd M$onday and Tuesday and the rest will follow soon. Actually, it makes good business sense. We continue churning expensive newsprint for Classified private seller ads that barely make money anyway. And sorry, but people aren't reading Classifieds during the week anymore. We have to stop clinging to old ways.If doing this saves some jobs or allows us to reinvest in digital then it's a good thing.

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  46. 5:26 pm: Those weekday Detroit print papers are abbreviated versions of what had been bigger editions before the reduction to home delivery on just three days: Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

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  47. Most ads are posted online at most Gannett papers in addition to print. You can post, I think, up to five photos.

    As a seller, why pay an outrageous fee for 20 words with no pictures when I can post a long, detailed description and post multiple photos of my product for FREE?

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  48. I find that I am spending less time on line lately. I find the hole internet Twitter/ MySpace thing boreing. What a waist of time. I would much rather read the News Paper. Talk to friends on the Phone instead of IM's. The internet is getting old fast. I hope people wake up soon before it's to late. Heck why do we need schools anymore? Why doesn't every child attend school from home on the internet? Some day the whole thing will come crashing down by some computer virus from China or Russia. Then what are we going to do?

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  49. 7:01pm
    Are you serious?

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  50. I want to know where 4:52 works. At the Republic, we pay for parking in a garage that was built by the previous owners and long paid for. The parking fee is pure profit. Now spaces in the garage are also being rented to college kids who live downtown and employees of the hotel build around (literally) the newspaper building.

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  51. 2:31
    We are getting a wii and pool table on Digital's 5th floor? Excellent! Do you have a way to confirm this rumour? I have been waiting for this day to come since I left AOL!

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  52. Wilmington did it a while back. It actually made for less embarrasing class sections - you know, when you have only a column and a half of help-wanted ads, and two of the ads are for job training programs, with another two hiring newspaper carriers.

    Now we run help-wanted only later in the week, when they're part of the stand-alone class section. On Monday and Tuesday, class gets pushed into the back of Sports.

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  53. 12:19 What the fuck! Why don't you post your name? What a fucktard.

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  54. 7:01 PM No offense but its pretty obvious that you are old. The internet is extremely usfull. You know, its what you are using to read and post here just for starters. You find the internet so boring that you spend a saturday reading blogs and activly posting. Strange.
    Also, gannett will not survive in the internet age if they plan to keep hiring internet programmers at below poverty salary. (Read earlier posts that show gannett's florida paper trying to hire a web programmer to take over thier website for 30 grand a year).

    Last, Gannett stocks have stablized? I hope for your sake that you dont use that misconception to invest in GCI. It will go lower. Trust me on this. Just take a look at the company. No direction! Good luck stock holders.

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  55. 10:40 and 11:07 -- Let's get rid of classifieds altogether then.

    With Craig's List why do we need them?

    In fact, let's get rid of our papers. Studies -- and dollars --show that readership is down. And with bloggers why do we need them?

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  56. 11:34 -- I'll join you in celebrating Gannett's achievements. The stock has stabilized at a price that very few serious investors even consider.

    Let's drink a toast to becoming a stock that people play games with. Let's cheer the fact that GCI still hasn't come up with a viable 21st century business model despite having years to develop one.

    Nobody's buying newspaper stock anymore and for good reason. It isn't a growth industry.

    On top of all that Gannett publishes horrible papers. At least McClatchy -- at 60-some cents per share -- can claim a modicum of journalistic integrity. So, while we're at it, let's drink to the success that is dumbed-down news.

    The sooner the profitable GCI papers sell to local investors or fold, the more likely it is that this profession will stabilize and quality will make it's way back into community papers.

    Success indeed.

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  57. @9:03
    That whole parking situation down there has always been a complete JOKE.

    We want you to drive your butts downtown Phx to work here and oh, btw, you pay US to park here..ya know to WORK.

    I remember having to park on the side lot and make damn sure we got validated so we didn't have to pay to go downtown for their lame, non-productive meetings.

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  58. 7:01 has got a point, though. There comes a point where all the crazy graphics, killer aps, weird photos, and angering stories just blend into one and the internet just gets boring. I mean, once you've seen the eww, read the huh?, argued the whatever, and watched the cool a thousand times, it's just ewwhuh?whatevercool again.

    Maybe we've moved past the generation that myfacetube pages their life. Seriously, how long can Twitter last? At some point, you just don't care about someone else having a latte with too much foam.

    I'm 37. I have a phone with web access, and I'll pop into the internet to check a fact or date during a discussion with friends. I'll visit blogs, update my facebook page, watch a missed 'House' episode on Hulu.

    But if I don't turn on my computer for a few days, I haven't missed anything. Not so with my paper. Five minutes after delivery deadline I'm calling a COE somewhere to bitch if I don't have it.

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  59. 10:10 Wrong to make assumptions about me. Not on here much only catching up. Not very old just old enough to know better. Not Saturday night on the West coast. You may be one of Gannetts Digital heads. Sorry

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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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