Saturday, April 25, 2009

Saturday | April 25 | Your News & Comments

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

43 comments:

  1. Jim, safe trip. And success.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jim,

    Keep up the good work. I, and I suspect many more, have your back.

    Show them who is the boss at the board meeting.

    Maybe your naysayers will figure out the success of this blog, that people are fed up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ClarkKentGannett@aol.com4/25/2009 12:44 AM

    Sorry, forgot to sign my name to 12:41 a.m.:

    Jim,

    Keep up the good work. I, and I suspect many more, have your back.

    Show them who is the boss at the board meeting.

    Maybe your naysayers will figure out the success of this blog, that people are fed up.

    4/25/2009 12:41 AM

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Awesome.

    Are you visiting the Newseum whils there?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Jim, I think you should bring back Elmira Confidential. Employees are all just a little shell shocked right now. You should give it more time. It is D-Day Sunday for Ithaca, Elmira and Binghamton.
    Their newsrooms are never going to be the same after the consolidation of the copy desks goes into effect.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Best wishes Jim.

    Give 'em hell.

    ReplyDelete
  9. From yesterday "Salisbury is now apparently asking merchants to stuff the inserts into Sunday's paper:"
    They talked about that here too. We quickly convinced them that stores won't even keep the papers orderly on the shelves, won't open bundles on Sunday, won't keep customers from reading them for free....what makes them think they will put Sundays together for the paper...for the usual small profit they get? Looking for another way to lose circulation...you found it!

    And for the rest who spout about papers dieing....it's only because newspaper companies (or their true owners) want it that way. Not everybody has an I-pod or carry a laptop around, or have all the bells and whistles on their phone. We just had a better than average sale day yesterday, probably because of local happenings. Gee....following some folk's ideas, all those who bought a paper for the info should have looked it up online somewhere.

    Sorry to the tech heads...Newspapers will always have their place, and if they went back to what they originally were...reporting news instead of either making it or twisting it, they'd still be the force they should be. The only thing killing newspapers are newspapers themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  10. T-MINUS 8 Days-0 hours-24 minutes until my LAY-OFF.

    I'm nervous (a little scared) but I think my termination for HOME DELIVERY (N.J.) is a perfectly timed Life-Inflection Point. I'll be like Dudley Moore at the end of Arthur in the wedding scene...."I won't be seeing any of you anymore, becasue ....I'm going to be pooor."

    I am looking forward to a new more sustainable Epicurian-Lifestyle to the South.

    Time to build a New Future with Good Memories; not just doing the same bullshit to barely get by.

    Today I'm going to a METS game for the first time in 20+ years. I never did that before I decided to "Liberate" myself from my too expensive house with too high real estate taxes.

    Good Luck Everyone

    ReplyDelete
  11. 9:13 the best to you in your new life. I'm right at that point too of packing it in and moving out of NJ. Scary? yes, but a person can adjust to just about anything if they want to. Go Mets! The new stadium is pretty nice.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anybody know what the "Big News" is that The Arizona Republic" says is coming on Monday? This isn't rumor, there are house ads on several section fronts today announcing some change.
    Anyone have details? or is it hype?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Perhaps this is the news from Arizona...:

    "We have exciting changes coming to your newspaper! We will be reducing sections to give you more news!

    "We will be cutting staff to give you more local coverage!

    "We will be raising your subscription rates and newsstand cost so we won't have to reduce the paper or cutback on staff!

    "WOW WOW ... aren't these exciting new new new changes for you all?" Of course they are.....

    Just don't read between the lines or too closely...

    Oh wait, you are, after all, our readers, and we consider you all idiots, so no need to worry about you seeing through the charade of cutbacks and corporate greed.....

    Pay no attention... move on, nothing to see here...

    ReplyDelete
  14. Circ numbers announced Monday. AZ will be up.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The news can't be too big as the The Arizona Republic's Monday paper's too small.

    After talking with several people at the paper the general consensus was "who cares".

    The recent bump in circulation was the result of the Tribune's dramatic cutbacks in delivery areas and days resulting in too many remaining people in Circulation and higher up lining up to take credit. The Circulation department has been so reduced they can't fully benefit from the opportunity, A clear sign management isn't concerned with opportunity. Retailers are unhappy with delivery service (late delivery, papers sold out... And Circulation "executives" with obviously no customer skills now calling on customers), advertisers can't find their ad reps (the ad reps may have been laid-off months ago and nobody told the client) and the writing has been reduced to wire reports and very minimal local "in-depth" stories. That said, "Big News Monday"...

    ReplyDelete
  16. The Circulation Department in Phoenix is less than half the size it was 9 months ago. There's some very good and dedicated people here. However, if you look at the overall trend, any increase is the result of the Tribune, not The Arizona Republic as someone else mentioned. A Sr VP and her odd little Marketing team have all taken credit for the turnaround although they've all been involved in the marketing end for years with no positive results to show. A guy who used to be with the Washington Post still talks about Washington as if it was yesterday and has taken credit for the turnaround. Okay, let them enjoy the credit they did nothing to earn, it will be fun watching them run for cover when we cycle of this time next year.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Constant doom and gloom. I seriously don't know how you people live with yourselves.

    ReplyDelete
  18. 1:44 So post something positive. All we get is declining ad revenues, declining circulation, declining staffs, declining personnel and declining morale. That pretty much is a true picture, as far as I can see. But I am willing to consider something else.

    ReplyDelete
  19. "Constant doom and gloom. I seriously don't know how you people live with yourselves."

    That's all they know. They never had any solutions to offer, and that's why they're being ushered out the door.

    The days of having a career and no skills are over. These people are struggling to cope with that.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Apparently Republic circulation managers are the only ones who aren't acknowledging the Tribune's troubles for the subscription bump. In the newsroom, it has been mentioned by higher-ups in several meetings.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Big news this Monday! A while back rack cards were in place throughout Phoenix announcing something like "never a greater value" shortly after raising the daily rate from $0.50 to $0.75. A client asked me if we offered 50% "more value" to match the "more price". I wish I had known about this Monday as I could have said wait until Monday, April 27th.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Gooooo... Jim! Can't wait to see you stir things up in McLean!

    ReplyDelete
  23. 9:13 a.m.: You will NEVER REGRET your decision to liberate yourself. The hardship you willingly embrace will be much easier to bear than the hardship enforced by bureaucratic functionaries.

    2:07 p.m.: WRONG as usual. The people who are being shown the door usually are the better skilled people who have earned their way to higher salaries and therefore become easy marks for money-saving purges.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Needs an Answer4/25/2009 7:08 PM

    Important Question: If a reporter is sent to do a story about a church and obtains a confidential report about the pastor from a source the reporter will not name, is this even ethical?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Jim,

    We know what you look like. Unless Sparky needs to add pics to his collection or can't bear you're gone we don't need to see your ``thinking man on plane'' or ``worried about time in a cab'' shots. Kinda lends creadence to an egoist, eh? Oh, and by the way, you'll likely get one question at the meeting, so it better be a good one.....I'm sure they're prepared for anything you throw at them.

    ReplyDelete
  26. 2:07 You are wrong.

    Quiet followers making less money is the ideal employee being sought. For you and everybody commenting about the negative comments, as mentioned- Say something positive with the specific detail as commonly used in the negativity. I have yet to hear anything specific that's positive

    ReplyDelete
  27. Jim:

    Hang in there. I know you're taking a lot of shit these past few weeks from corporate posters trying to throw you off your game. Your efforts are appreciated.

    wilford

    ReplyDelete
  28. 2:07, you're great at bashing Jim and others, but what, exactly, have you offered up to improve things? What ideas have you offered that have done anything to save a single job?

    And spare me the "I do my job" nonsense. I did my job and did it well enough to help build a section that was well-read -- try a 25 percent overall in the market, 40 percent among men 18 to 45 -- and brought in six figures in advertising. And what did I get for it? Treated like I was a problem child whenever I dared to suggest that having to work 55 hours a week was too much.

    I finally got out before I had a heart attack or a nervous breakdown. And now I watch as the same abusive management destroys more of my friends and more good, hardworking people.

    Sorry, but that's just wrong. And Dubow and the rest of them have to be held accountable for throwing away revenue by allowing and even encouraging these abuses.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Jim - Maybe you should check into whether your former boss is still being paid. Retirement? Maybe he got the same deal you did. I think you will be surprised at the answer.............

    ReplyDelete
  30. 4.11 a.m.,
    I second that.

    ReplyDelete
  31. 8:42:

    I can feel the tears welling up.

    What abuses? Got any proof? Got the spine to pursue the proof?

    Or are you going to be a pussy like Jim and wait for anonymous people to post all the details, then cry if they don't?

    ReplyDelete
  32. "4.11 a.m.,
    I second that."

    A dittohead. How touching.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Jim,

    We know what you look like. Unless Sparky needs to add pics to his collection or can't bear you're gone we don't need to see your ``thinking man on plane'' or ``worried about time in a cab'' shots. Kinda lends creadence to an egoist, eh? Oh, and by the way, you'll likely get one question at the meeting, so it better be a good one.....I'm sure they're prepared for anything you throw at them.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Hortense von Beaverbottom of NJ4/25/2009 9:37 PM

    Hold the phone! You have the balls to call Jim a "pussy" and then you remain anonymous??? How stupid is that?

    ReplyDelete
  35. Jim's activity log for today:

    First he made up a salary figure, then tried to get readers to correct his error.

    Later he posted a request for information that either already is available online or has not been filed yet.

    If a Gannett reporter had made these mistakes, he'd be pointing them out. He made both of them in a matter of hours.

    Jim, you should just hide in bed for the rest of the day. Give some thought to retiring the blog, and let the investigative journalists handle the hard stuff. Maybe you could park their cars or deliver food to them; you don't seem to be up to anything more challenging than that.

    April 25: A day that shall live in infamy for Jim.

    April 25: A day that proves the Gannett Blog no longer has much clout or credibility.

    ReplyDelete
  36. 9:37:

    Post under your real name with a link to a photo ID that proves you are that person, and then we'll chat. Until then, you have no leg to stand on.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Jim, did you fuck those dachsunds (note the correct spelling)?

    ReplyDelete
  38. I quit that fucking place 2 months a go and still get calls from former clients about shit. I'm going to send those bastards a bill for all the horseshit.

    ReplyDelete
  39. April 25: A day that shall live in infamy for Jim.

    ReplyDelete
  40. The spelling doesn't really matter, though. Jim still stretched their anuses.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Very offensive posts..Jim...please remove these.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Please remove your head from your ass.

    Also, it was pretty cool how that misspelling led to someone copying the info and posting it again.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Oh, and by the way, you'll likely get one question at the meeting, so it better be a good one.....I'm sure they're prepared for anything you throw at them.

    4/25/2009 9:35 PM

    Oh, we all are sure that they prepared for it with any lame excuses they can come up with. And here I thought you had anything meaningful to contribute.........

    I am sure you're one of the elite club - save your smugness for the meeting, I am sure you need it there.

    ReplyDelete

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."

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.