Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Tuesday | April 14 | Your News & Comments
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93 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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First post! I predict the stock goes down today. I'll say to 3.25 a share. Since the old flagship took a direct hit from the Marriott battleship late in the day Monday.
ReplyDeletethis blog is dead.
ReplyDeleteFree Kate Marymont!
ReplyDelete11:42 Give it a couple of days. If what I am hearing turns out to be correct, it will get quite lively around here soon.
ReplyDeleteOooh, 12:09 weighs in with the nebulous and nonspecific prediction of doom and gloom. Todd has early competition this week for defending his Gannettblog Dumbfuck of the Week Award.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what the stock will do today, but I do predict that the stock continues to trend upwards. Esp, if the rumor that Google is interested in Gannett is true. I doubt its true but it is interesting. Has anyone else heard that Google is interested?
ReplyDeleteI havent heard anything about Google wanting to buy gannett but I have heard that there is some interest in Gannett by some outside parties. I think those rumors that we keep hearing is just about Ariel investments and their huge stock purchase. Who knows.
ReplyDeleteGoogle interested in buying Gannett??? Jim is this just BS? Have you heard anything? Anyone else heard anything?
ReplyDeleteWhy in the Hell would Google want anything to do with Gannett? Get real!
ReplyDeleteGoogle buying Gannett would be huge for this blog. I would predict 500 posts a day. You can bet that there is not truth to those rumors though so dont get excited. I doubt that the anti trusts would allow it anyway. What woudl they do, change USA Today to Google Today? lol. I guess yahoo is going to buy New York Times lol.
ReplyDeleteLarry Page and Sergey Brin to the rescue!!!!
ReplyDelete1. It would give them content.
ReplyDelete2. It would solve the problem with the content agrigation issue. They would own content one (GNS).
3. It would give them access to local channels to sell ads.
4. Gannett is still profitable.
5. Gannett is at an attractive price.
Its not totally crazy.
1:12 AM:
ReplyDeleteYes it is crazy. You are a moron. People, please dont believe this silly crap.
Also, Kate Marymont to the rescue!!
1:12 -- "It would give them content"? Content generated by whom? GCI has stripped many of its newsrooms of skilled journalists. I know our community GCI paper is filled mostly with wire copy and syndicated crap.
ReplyDelete12:33---Get real, and bite me. If you think that Gannett is soaring because of Ariel Investments increasing their stake in GCI--WELL continue dreaming. I'm glad that you think I'm dumb--we'll see in a couple of days. By the way Google interested in purchasing Gannett--NOW THAT IS FUNNY.
ReplyDeleteThis blog is dying. Look at the metrics. Fewer posters, means no one is interested in this thing anymore. We are keeping track of all posts and the numbers of them.
ReplyDeleteJim claims that his visitor count is increasing and staying at such high levels, BUT the amount of "posts/comments" per visitor on a daily basis is very low.
I think this blog has jumped the shark. Looks like Jim will really need to find a REAL job.
Now that you stock geniuses have gotten your morning hugs out of the way...
ReplyDeleteIf ContentOne does create a marketing channel with USAToday cachet, there very well could be interest out in the marketplace.
Google gets rightfully slapped for cut and pasting other's work. If they can fix that with the gravitas provided by 83 (or so) daily newspapers, plus a 'we write the news the way you want it' marketing arm, and a huge chunk of CareerBuilder? That's not the dumbest thing I've heard yet today.
Considering where we are in the league of newspaper chains, our debt is lower, our properties stronger (sorry, Michigan) and we have USAToday, still the national newspaper, no matter how much of it we give away for free.
Jim, can you say if you have heard any rumors of Google buying Gannett? I just dont see it.
ReplyDelete7:37 am: Kewl! Thanks for keeping track of the posts; I can use all the help i can get!
ReplyDeleteIf you aren't already, please consider logging them in a spreadsheet (I use Google Documents), so that I can look for any trends.
Google buying Gannett? Haven't heard it, and don't believe it will ever happen.
ReplyDeleteGannett May Be First to Benefit as Economy Recoups, Ariel Says
ReplyDeleteBy Greg Bensinger
April 10 (Bloomberg) -- Gannett Co. may be among the first media companies to benefit once the economy recovers because its USA Today newspaper is best-positioned to weather 2009’s drought in advertising sales, investor Ariel Investments LLC said.
Ariel more than doubled its Gannett stake to 28.8 million shares, or about 13 percent, last quarter, according to a filing yesterday. It’s the publisher’s second-largest shareholder, according to Bloomberg data.
“USA Today is going to be a survivor,’’ Jason Tyler, a senior vice president at Chicago-based Ariel, said in an interview yesterday. “The first place companies will start spending again is advertising and the newspaper’s reach will make it very attractive to marketers.’’
Newspaper publishers have been cutting jobs, trying to sell assets and halting printed editions after ad sales dropped 17 percent last year. The U.S. recession exacerbated cuts in print ad spending as more readers sought their news on the Internet.
Gannett shares slumped 73 percent in the first quarter, after declining 79 percent last year. Yesterday, the stock jumped 39 percent to $3.75 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the biggest gain since at least 1980, after the filing on Ariel’s stake.
Gannett’s decision to cut its dividend by more 90 percent in February and enforce two weeks of unpaid leave on almost all of its workers “showed it is willing to make the tough decisions to preserve jobs,’’ Tyler said.
USA Today is the largest U.S. newspaper by circulation. Maintaining a 4-cent dividend, rather than halting the payments altogether, will probably help Gannett attract new investors, Tyler said.
“There are investors that will only put money into a company that has some quarterly dividend,’’ he said.
Tara Connell, a spokeswoman for McLean, Virginia-based Gannett, said she had no comment on the Ariel investment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Bensinger in New York at gbensinger1@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: April 10, 2009 14:00 EDT
Looks like USA TODAY will help the company succeed, even without a 100% program at Marriott. And Marriott may find their customers aren't happy.
Go for it Jim, bash away on this one and stir that pot!
"Look at the salary for this job! "
ReplyDeleteBwhahahahahahaha!
They must be trippin'.
30k/yr for a SQL/PHP programmer with Flash and Photoshop background in a dying industry and for a company that is laying off people in order to stay alive.
Right.
Based on the previous post it looks like Gannett won't be for sale. It's a shame someone other than Jim had to share this Bloomberg version of the news with us that was dated last Friday.
ReplyDeleteI do believe Ariel recently laid off a chunk of its staff. Obviously they have not always been right.
ReplyDelete8:55, you must be so happy with yourself for posting that. Wow, that is great for USAT, but how many GCI community papers will not survive or continue to put out a piece of shit product with a skeleton staff.
ReplyDeleteGoogle will never buy Gannett. But it is interesting that the people from Google visited Jim to watch him blog for 90 minutes about a month ago.
ReplyDeleteAnyone think that they could have been investigating? I'm just sayin.
9:17 Get with the program. Who cares about community newspapers? If you haven't got the message by now, they are yesterday. Look at what policies the Crystal Palace is carrying out, consolidating and cutting. You may not like it, but you don't run this company.
ReplyDeleteIt's not google going after Gannett it's Craig Moon backed by Neuharth and hedge funds going after USAT. Get some info from him, Jim, since Moon is still hanging around after he "retired."
ReplyDeleteLet's just see what Gannett and Craig Dumbo do after they lose their flagship.
After doubling down, Ariel seems to be trying to talk up the stock.
ReplyDelete"Ariel seems to be trying to talk up the stock."
ReplyDeleteBingo. My thoughts exactly.
Day after they invest heavily, the Marriott drops USAT. Gotta be egg on someone's face over at Ariel central.
8:11 AM - In the same area, another local company if offering $50K+ for basically the same job. A much smaller company at that.
ReplyDeleteYou get what you pay for.
10:00 and 10:03 my thoughts too. Why WOULDN'T they talk up the stock after their purchase? Geez!
ReplyDeleteDoes everyone (laid off) know that we have to 'enroll' for the Health Insurance subsidy? Were you successful in enrolling & how is the payment already made being adjusted? For how long? Thanks for any input.
ReplyDeleteI saw $50K-$70K reporters at our paper replaced with $35K reporters, so why would they not attempt to dumb it down on the digital side.
ReplyDeleteMany of us have yet to get the COBRA subsity enrollment packeges from Gannett as is required by the terms of the program.
ReplyDeleteMany of us probably won't get them either, as Gannett has lost a huge number of HR people who are supposed to be handling this, and they are way too busy right now dealing with the layoffs and consolidations.
There may be cause for a large scale complaint, but I'm not an employment attorney to know for sure.
Ooh, Todd stakes his title defense on his own nebulous and nonspecific prediction of disaster. To his credit, it looks like he learned last week that getting too specific leaves you looking like a Dumbfuck. But you've got to hand it to him. It takes some stones to go out on a limb and predict that, at some uncertain time and for reasons he won't explain, a company's stock will experience a decline in the midst of a global economic crisis. Warren Buffet should hire Todd.
ReplyDeleteWho cares if this blog is teeming or taking a rest. Most of that has to do with the day's news, and we all know there are hot and cold news days.
ReplyDeleteWhat's most important is that this blog even exists and serves as a conduit for information cutting across all levels, locations and departments within Gannett. When Gannett transfers a hatchet man manager from one paper to another, the workers at the former will be able to apprise the workers at the latter of what to expect. When layoffs begin, we all get the Paul Revere heads-up that Gannett brass and local management won't give. We find out about papers ousting and not replacing publishers, consolidating business functions and regional VPs, Gannett execs playing golf after telling people they're about to be canned, Gannett execs using Foundation money to support schools outside the scope of the scholarship program mission. On and on. Just disregard the mindless chatter and pay attention to what's important. Above all, share what you know and hear.
10:03: you nut cases that need therapy always look for the worst in any situation. I don't know why you don't just cut your wrists now and be done with it all.
ReplyDelete1) Google would be wise to buy Gannett. But after reading this blog, they have to be frightened of the intelligence level of employees - and their refusal to even try to understand their company or their business.
ReplyDelete2) If Gannett was smart, we would start maxing out the USAT brand attaching it to EVerything we do. It has incredible value. I'm in USCP, not with USAT, but with Moon gone, we should break down the wall and make that happen. Craig? Bob? Please GO for it! This is the most valuable asset we have - that brand. When I tell people I'm with Gannett, they are clueless. When I say we own USAT, their eyes light up. Why can't we see this?
3) Our stock nearly doubles in value, but this blog administrator only responds by stirring up readers about top management benefitting from that? We ALL benefit from that and should be cheering.
How unbelievably childish.
Arial made a big investment in McClatchy just before that company's stock price imploded. I'm not sure Arial learned the appropriate lesson, but if they're right, great for us.
ReplyDeleteAnd, uh, check out the price of GAnnett today, folks.
DONT BUY GANNETT STOCK ITS A BEAR TRAP !!!!ARIEL WANTS TO RECOUP PAST LOSSES.
ReplyDelete"1) Google would be wise to buy Gannett. But after reading this blog, they have to be frightened of the intelligence level of employees - and their refusal to even try to understand their company or their business."
ReplyDeleteAnd their refusal to learn how to write or spell.
The Google thing is interesting. Why would a mega-aggregator like Google want to buy a mega-media company like Gannett? It can already steal all the news that's printed -- everywhere and by everyone. But if the move toward censoring aggregators picks up steam, then what for Google?
ReplyDeleteI'm no digital expert for sure, but it seems possible that Google could show Gannett how to make money on the Internet. Google and Gannett would share online ad revenue. It could enter into some kind of partnership and avoid being busted for aggregating. What would be any other upside for Google? I'm sure Brin and Page could figure it out.
7:37 is just a rabble-rouser. This blog is the talk of every Gannett newspaper and television organization. Get real. You provide a great service, Jim.
ReplyDeleteMaybe weekend and Monday traffic slowed because of Easter and Passover and God- or no-God-knows- what else brought people together with families and friends and put company turmoil on hold a day.
ReplyDeleteComments are sure back on track today.
speaking of turmoil, this AP story is on E&P (and elsewhere):
ReplyDeleteBy MICHAEL LIEDTKE
Published: April 14, 2009 10:11 AM ET
SAN FRANCISCO Gannett Co., the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, is scheduled to report its first-quarter results before the stock market opens Thursday. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period.
OVERVIEW: Coming off two consecutive years of declining revenue, Gannett's slide is believed to have accelerated in the first quarter as recession-weary advertisers trimmed their budgets and shifted more spending to less expensive online alternatives.
Unless there's a dramatic turnaround, Barrington Research Associates analyst James Goss expects Gannett's revenue to plunge by about 15 percent this year to $5.7 billion. Before the dramatic downturn began in 2007, Gannett's annual revenue stood at $7.8 billion.
Most of the pain is concentrated at Gannett's 85 daily newspapers, including USA Today. But the McLean, Va.-based company's 23 television stations also have been pinched by the recession.
.....
(word verfication cuteness: qualm)
GCI at $3.11
ReplyDeleteMust be a big sell off, volume is more than double of daily average.
Whats gonna happen by week's end with more bad news?
Jim: I would pay you $10 a month to know which Gannett executive morons post on this blog telling how we should stay on task and be happy to be employed.
ReplyDeleteHere's a thought: pay more than $30k a year for your top web producer at Florida Today. At least pretend you give a crap about the product.
1:16:
ReplyDeleteNo one gives a shit what you would pay $10 for.
The post at 7:37 a.m. is true. Jim needs to spend less time providing an outlet for crazy people with no credibility and more time doing something productive. He must have some spare time when he's not banging balls.
I predict some layoffs at several Gannett papers in the next 120 days.
ReplyDeleteJim:
ReplyDeleteYou live a life most of us dream about: four or five month long vacations in Spain, weekend trips to Palm Springs, and you live in San Francisco which is one the most expensive real estate markets in the country. You obviously don't need the income. How do I know my donation is not going to your lavish lifestyle?
2 p.m. -- Thanks for taking time out from "banging balls" for the insightful post.
ReplyDeleteI only wish I could be more productive and sane ... like you.
In other words, you're like the guy who hits "reply all" to chew out a spammer.
All Ariel is doing is trying to cut its losses by averaging its investment in GCI stock.
ReplyDeleteAriel bought a bunch of stock in recent years at much higher prices than last week's. By purchasing more, the average price per share of its investment is much lower.
Trust me -- if GCI stock ever should rise to near Ariel's new average price, Ariel will dump it.
Share price changes on Friday, yesterday and today are generally a result of rejiggering of an unusually large share of GCI stock held by short sellers. The whole traditional media sector is not being viewed positively at the moment; any sustainable change in share price will probably occur only when the economy (and credit markets) truly begin to thaw. That improvement (when consumers begin to spend more normally) hasn't happened yet - and like unemployment - is historically a lagging indicator.
ReplyDeleteUnless you are a particularly gifted day trader, watching and reacting to daily changes in the market and individual stocks is kind of a goofy exercise at the moment.
That said, there will probably be some sort of market reaction to 1st quarter results. That reaction will mostly depend on whether investors believe Gannett has taken costs out as rapidly - or more rapidly-than the sector as a whole. The company is generally viewed as the best managed publishing company and by recently pushing out short term debt a few years it is also viewed as one of the few companies (Washington Post, now primarily analyzed as an educational services company (Kaplan) rather than a publishing enterprise is also one) that can actually weather the current economic storm until recovery actually begins.
I still have quite a few friends and colleagues in Gannett (and I have a relatively small position in GCI stock) so I certainly hope for the best when markets and individual stock prices move from short covering and momentum trading to actually betting on strategy, balance sheets and operating results.
The one thing that is quite clear to both those in and outside of the newspaper/OTB television industries is that the old business models will not work in the future and leaner operations will not be an option but a requirement for survival.
Beyond the somewhat understandable anger and angst brought by a lot of folks (many who have lost their jobs or are anxious about losing one in the future-including the blog operator) on this blog, this site would be a lot more interesting for me and other former Gannett employees if there was more bouncing around ideas on what the evolving business model should, or might look like.
2:08 -- If Jim leads a lavish lifestyle -- and it doesn't seem that lavish to me -- he's not doing it on the less than $24k a year that he makes on Gannett blog.
ReplyDeleteHe said earlier that the Spain trip was booked long before he took the buyout. Also, if you live in California, a vacation to Palm Springs can be inexpensive.
Also, clearly he is taking some of the money you donate to support his lifestyle. The blog doesn't require much money ... just a lot of time. If you believe that journalists -- digital or otherwise -- should be paid for their efforts, then your donation is in good hands.
If you don't like the blog, don't pay.
I sent Jim $4 with my thanks. I worked in Brevard (Fla.) and also Boise.
ReplyDeleteGannett sweatshops both, with prison matron she-man bosses and dopey plaid-sport-coat male pubs.
Yuk.
Eating dirt is better than Gannett. Thanks Jim for the funeral reports.
Glad to be off on other career paths now.
Love ya Jim!
2:13 I, too, want to look ahead. But we are still in the midst of the destruction phase, and the reductions of staff and marginally profitable segments has not yet been completed. When it is, I think we will have a base from which we can work. Until then, people are too busy saving their jobs than thinking about the future newspaper platforms (or local TV platforms, too).
ReplyDeleteTo add to what 2:13 wrote:
ReplyDeleteIf you don't like the blog, don't freakin' look at it!
2:26 p.m.:
ReplyDeleteIs the "prison matron" you refer to now in Phoenix?
Great description. Truly, she is the worst of the worst and a poster woman for everything that is wrong with Gannett. She is stupid, has no journalistic instincts and micro manages her charges into the ground. But, she will never tell the emporer he has no clothes on, and that is all that matters in Gannett.
Does anyone else get the impression Jim does anonymous posts on his site to get the pot stirring when the only news is good or no news for the day?
ReplyDeleteClever boy, Jim, but you need to be less transparent in your posts.
I like the idea of Google buying Gannett, whether the rumor is true or not. The content thing would be solved. Google knows better than anyone how to make money on the Internet. Gannett and USAToday are established names in news gathering. It seems like a match made in heaven (or some other munificent place).
ReplyDeleteThe benefits to Information Center employees would make them giddy! And the grouches who lost their jobs and want everyone to join them in wallowing in their misery will replace that attitude for envy.
4:23 You gotta be kidding. Google is a company that came from no-where to a multi-billion concern by using other people's information, not paying for it. If it bought GCI, it would be paying for it. Why should they pay, when they get the current use free? Not only free, but they make oddles of money from it.
ReplyDelete3:43 pm: Completely, utterly false. I have signed every comment since I first added my name to this blog on Jan. 11, 2008.
ReplyDeleteBTW: You are playing a dangerous game in commenting anonymously here. The SEC takes a dim view of officers at public company doing that; just ask Whole Foods's CEO.
Tara Connell and I covered this ground already.
"If you believe that journalists -- digital or otherwise -- should be paid for their efforts, then your donation is in good hands."
ReplyDeleteThat makes no sense. He does nothing to ensure any of those things. If anything, he's a detriment. He gives a voice to the loonies (like you) who have no business commenting on the activities of any business.
You know nothing and are nothing.
3:43 pm: Completely, utterly false. I have signed every comment since I first added my name to this blog on Jan. 11, 2008.
ReplyDeleteBTW: You are playing a dangerous game in commenting anonymously here. The SEC takes a dim view of officers at public company doing that; just ask Whole Foods's CEO.
Tara Connell and I covered this ground already.
Nice try, Jimmy, but no one is going to fall for it.
Now -- go back to greasing up the foil, and leave the thinking to the thinkers. You are obsolete; your bid to appear otherwise has failed.
Whaaaaaaaaaaa Happened???-----------------------------------------------Gannett Shorts Get Squeezed?
ReplyDeleteThe headlines haven’t been printed, but expectations for newspaper publisher Gannett (GCI: 3.26*, -0.80, -19.72%) had investors anticipating bad news, making Monday’s double-digit jump something of a surprise.
Shareholders of the country’s largest newspaper publisher appear to be in the midst of a short squeeze after McLean, Va.-based Gannett last week was able to refinance $1 billion worth of debt at higher interest rates, but on a longer repayment schedule. Pessimists had earlier suggested the publisher of USA Today and dozens of other newspapers could face possible bankruptcy.
“It sort of takes away the drumbeat saying Gannett is going to get into financial trouble,” says Edward Atorino, an analyst at Benchmark. He said Chicago-based Ariel Investments last week increased its stake from about 6% to 12%, adding that such a move could be making short sellers nervous.
About 30% of Gannett’s stock is held short, according to the web site shortsqueeze.com, which means investors expect it to keep going down if they’re going to profit. Unexpected good news, or, in Gannett’s case, less bad news than expected, forces short sellers to buy shares and get out of their short positions, often as prices rise rapidly.
Atorino doesn’t expect Gannett’s troubles to disappear, adding that the entire newspaper industry remains hobbled by plunging ad revenues and declining readership.
“Gannett’s first quarter,” he says, “is going to be absolutely horrendous.”
Bottom Line: Sell
Take advantage of the rapid rise and get out with some gains.
1:16 PM -- At least someone else knows what we have lost at Florida Today. The management sure the hell hasn't.
ReplyDeleteto poster @2:51.
ReplyDeleteyes - Phoenix! you have a speedy mind at work.
the prison matron in question has landed with a whopping demotion - like tanked career - overseeing "data" which includes the community calendars. she had a lot of Gannett stock - ooops! dang, hate when the career dies and the net value does also. bad hair day - another one!
maybe those prison yards are hiring after all. she'd fit right in, would maybe have to loosen up a bit. can you see her in an ankle-grab. nice mental image!
tee hee.
I have googled any news about a proposed Google and Gannett merger/buyout/take over and I cant find a thing. Maybe all this is just rumor and has not truth, but I would love to see it. Maybe thats why Arial put in all that money.
ReplyDeleteThe more credible rumor -- but still extremely doubtful -- is that the two Google founders might push for their charitable foundation to buy The New York Times Co.
ReplyDeleteSergey Brin and Larry Page are officially politically non-partisan, but their interests tend to lean left. If they're going to save any company, it'll be the NYT -- to keep it out of Rupert Murdoch's hands.
But NYT would have to enter bankruptcy, I'd imagine, before those two smart guys bought out creditors.
Thanks to Gannett, this blog has a life. It's here where we discover company-paid golf outings, Gannett Foundation money being used as personal piggy-banks for those who can well afford to pay their own way, layoffs, buyouts, furloughs, the timeliness of pension payouts, COBRA benefits, etc. Blog traffic is driven by events/news. Holidays would naturally slow-down the volume. Those posters suggesting this blog has "jumped the shark" are engaging in wishful thinking. Keep dreaming and the rest of us will continue to "tune-in" for news that GCI management trys to bury.
ReplyDeletePoster 5:12.
ReplyDeleteYou are a bit behind in your info. Boise Potato Woman/Prison Matron is now in charge of ALL of Metro and all the bureaus.
Data time ended and like a phoenix (no pun intended), she rose and is now one of Randy Lovely's "girls."
***Stranger then fiction*******
ReplyDeletein the near future gannett could be in the position that they loose top web programmers to pizza delievery. In florida, Gannett pays web programmers $15 per hour(thats around 30 grand a year) and Dominos pays $17 per hour to drivers. I guess that is a big Fuck you to technology from Gannett management.
***********************************
I love gannett's plan to move from a traditional newspaper on pourch business model to a modern content on web model with an army of minimal wage programmers. So you have a college trained programmer with at least 4 years of buisness programming experiance making less then a guy from White Castle. This guy is going to run a major newspaper's website?? WTF is going on in florida. I know times are hard but you have to spend money to make it. I made more money then that during college working a co-op. Give me a break!
This is proof that Gannett is still stuck in the 70's way of thinking. Most companies value their computer programmers and IT people. Most companies know that in the digital world, it will be the IT and programmer people that will lead the way. But in gannett they still think Green Screen and punch cards. I can just see it. A room full of 60 year old ex reporters turned newspaper managment;
Washed up manager 1: Hey, I think we need to hire another one of those intra-web computer guys.
Washed up manager 2: Cant we just buy a book or something and give it to a desktop suport guy? How hard can programming be?
Washed up manager 1: Brilliant Idea Washed up manager 1, I know who will be getting his 20th presidents ring!
[Both Washed up managers laugh at Washed up manager 1's clever joke]
Washed up manager 1 continues: Actually, lets just hire soneone to be our programmer. Since programming is so easy and anyone can do it, there will be several people out there to hire. I would say 15 an hour would be more then enough. Well that takes care of our website, lets go play some golf.
Washed up manager 2: Sounds great Ol'Boy. Lets go to the links!
Gee, didn't realize officers weren't supposed to post anonymously. Tara Connell better inform them all because I'm sure we've seen some of their comments posted here, sans names. What a bunch of losers, except Saradakis, Wimmer, Davidson, and Lougee. Nearly all are fairly new to their jobs so their performance scorecards are as yet incomplete. The rest of them are wholly responsible for butchering this company. And that includes Dubow's predecessor, McCorkindale.
ReplyDeleteI like to read our local paper Gannett has really let down thier customers. They have removed some classifieds sections during the week they have cut out much from the business section. The TV magazine is a joke. No morning listings at all, or afternoon listings Monday thru Friday. Yet they have raised the copy price. They have stopped redelivery so when you don't get your paper, you don't get a paper at all. What is up with this company. And no I don't like the website. It is no substitute for my daily paper.
ReplyDeleteThe rumor in Denver is that Gannett wants to buy the Denver Post. Anyone know anything about this?
ReplyDeleteWe (rochester) evidently are going to unveil a Website that will require paid subscriptions. Our editor Karen Magnuson announced it last week and our digital editor Traci Bauer has been showing it to groups and training people. It is for news only and it is not on the corporate system. It will be called Roctoday.com. I think it will go up late in April or early in May. It has been a quiet project until now.
ReplyDeleteAnd now for today's lesson as quoted by Gore Vidal:
ReplyDelete"The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western world. No First World country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity, much less dissent".
No truer words were ever spoken. How can we reverse this insidious truth at Gannett? Start by cleaning house and since we're getting real good at firing staff, let's start with these: Dubow, Martore and Dickey. Then put a seasoned news guy in the CEO's position and appoint Saradakis President. That's change I could start to believe in.
I was on furlough and came back to the greatest news. Bendheim is moving on to Asbury. I felt bad for the Courier crew when they arrived but it gave her some new ears to make bleed with all the whining and bitching – one bad apple and all. Yippeee! Feel free to share in the joy. And of course we wish her the best.
ReplyDeleteThe Gannett paper in my area is absolutely detested by the community. It's very unfortunate because they have some good people working there. They can't help ridiculously early deadlines and lack of resources and/or space. The paper's 'redesign' to make the paper smaller and the type bigger looks terrible.
ReplyDeleteIn re: Denver. Why would GCI buy Denver? Singleton is hanging by a thread as his empire heads towards bankruptcy court. It would be easier and cheaper to pick up the Denver Post from bankruptcy. I hear that is the path GCI will also take in Seattle, where the Times is also tenuous. A few more months of this sort of ad environment and there will be a host of potentially lucrative prospects in bankruptcy. But I should note that I also hear that GCI has come to the realization of this recession that the days of the big metro newspapers are over.
ReplyDeleteJim can I get some acknowledgment on my 3.25 stock prediction??? I was off by 1 cent!!! Closed at 3.26.
ReplyDeleteit's always interesting to see crystal palace executives showing the terror in their little hearts when its showtime for investors. they'd like everything to return to the pre-gannett blog days when investors and employees had no real clue about how much gannett execs were winging it and hiding their incompetence b/hind the palace wall. but there's no getting that cork back into the bottle! jim u rock!
ReplyDeleteWow, I make up reports of a "rumor" about Google buying Gannett, which was the most absurd thing I can think of, and get posters on this blog to spend the day discussing it as if it were real. Neat experiment, unsurprising result.
ReplyDeleteWith every thing so hush hush,no time to wait. quiet upper management is not a good sign. Get the resumes out then wait for the calls to come in not the pink slip.....Does anyone have any further updates on aflprinting takeover and/or carriers buying contracts to own their routes ? As I saw previously, the Titanic is about to sink without enough lifeboats.
ReplyDelete7:11 and 8:44 - Both your comments sounds like the little paper in Ohio, Chillicothe, which is hated by its community.
ReplyDeleteEight pages three days a week, no classified and no class....
Unfortunately, though, your description could be many of the Gannett community papers.... decimated by corporate - all the profit carted off to Virginia ... staffs cut... centralized everything...
Dropped-in publishers who are clueless....
what a waste of good newspapers.... er, formerly good newspapers.
6:54 PM - LMAO! Sad but true story -- Request from info center, please install perl on XXX's workstation with mysql support so XXX can create some databases, perl cgis and web pages for the web site. IT knowing this was going to be a cluster, installed as requested. Couple days later, info center calls -- Where is the perl we asked to be installed and could IT show XXX how to use/program in perl and create databases!
ReplyDeleteIT laughed their asses off at the stupidity of the 1st and 2nd request.
11:34/9:14 - So what's it going to do on Wednesday???
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ReplyDelete"Wow, I make up reports of a "rumor" about Google buying Gannett, which was the most absurd thing I can think of, and get posters on this blog to spend the day discussing it as if it were real. Neat experiment, unsurprising result."
ReplyDeleteI've made up rumors here, too, and people have fallen for them. Some of them are still alive and kicking at this blog.
Jim is too clueless to stop them, and the people here are too dumb to separate them from fact.
Ah, yes: We now have two prime examples of management at its most Neanderthal (big word, yes; look it up in a dictionary). Here's another word to look up, because it applies to you two: Losers.
ReplyDeleteJim:
ReplyDeleteMany thoughtful people in the company can multi-task: they can be support their company, and also be critical of the way it is run. It troubles and disappoints me that you brand anyone who posts something you don't like as "management." The company, its employees and GCI's future are very complex. I suspect you would find lots of folks in "management" who would agree with you on many points. And disagree on others. We don't know WHO is making up stuff here, do we? Why take the "either you're fer me, or agin me" stance?
9:53 am: Good point; I'll try to be more sensitive to that in the future.
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