Thank you for your candor. I will not use your name, so please don't worry. I have many, many, many readers just like you, and I've never betrayed their confidence.
I can certainly relate to your fear. After 20 years, I began to suffer from the corporate version of Stockholm syndrome. That's the medical term for a condition suffered by people who have been kidnapped (remember Patty Hearst?) and then become so brainwashed by their captors that they become one of them. Seriously! At one point, I had become convinced Gannett was the only place I could ever work. It was nuts.I, too, was afraid to hit the "send'' button on my computer: It was near midnight on Jan. 10 of this year -- my last day with the company before my buyout took effect. I had been keeping Gannett Blog anonymously until that point. Like you, I didn't think I could live with myself if I didn't identify publicly -- in my case, as this blog's editor. If I couldn't go public as an ex-employee, how could I expect anyone with even more to lose (i.e.: a current employee) to come forward?
But at that moment, I knew if I pushed one button on my keyboard, and added my name and photo to this blog, I would be forever burning a bridge to Gannett. I would never again be able to work for a company where I'd spent two decades. I cried a bit as I pushed the "publish'' button that evening. But, as you can well imagine, it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Many people continue with the company, and have fulfilling jobs they enjoy immensely. I think of my former co-workers who are not so fortunate.
[Photo: Newspaper heiress Patty Hearst, in a 1974 Symbionese Liberation Army publicity photo around the time she'd joined her captors in furthering their cause]
Jim, that's sad, in all honesty. It shows how much dedication and determination people have in a career.
ReplyDeleteSeveral of us, did, did grow accustomed of defending Gannett's vile, immoral, unethical, callous manner at times. I believe I had a big "G" on my ass. And a Gold Ring to boot.
But the reality, as quoted by your interview. Don't get caught up in that emotion. You have to stay neutral.
The door was opened for me to leave. I had to go. The shock does wear off. It will take time but life is bigger than any corporation.
There is no loyalty. Say it, say it, and say it over and over again.
I, for one, would like to thank you for going public with the blog. Until then, I was wary of even commenting, thinking it might be some elaborate GCI hoax designed to uncover troublemakers. After reading the many subsequent posts and comments, I see I was crediting them with WAY too much ingenuity.
ReplyDelete@2:57 p.m.: I don't blame you for being worried. In truth, I really only blogged for four months while still employed at USA Today; prior to September 2007, all the posts you see now remained in "draft'' mode; no one could see them but me. I didn't make them public until early September, when CEO Craig Dubow issued a memo that I thought needed to be highlighted.
ReplyDeleteStill, those four months of anonymous authorship were nervous times for yours truly. I never betrayed any USA Today secrets. But I worried about being found out before my buyout took effect. I knew one way management might uncover me. And who knows -- maybe top editors at USA Today suspected I was the blog's author, but didn't want to stop me? I may never know.
In any case, I worried about people just like you: Potential readers who worried this was some kind of trap. To this day, though, I'm surprised that there was no blog about Gannett before I started one. I wonder why?
Management knows about and monitors private blogs at our paper. Over the years, more than a few of my coworkers were spoken to about posting work related items on their blogs. Many times, they had to take posts down because management called them trade secrets. Even if it was just a post about working long hours because of a special section deadlining. I'm sure that's the case at other papers too.
ReplyDeleteIt's just too risky for a current employee to do a hard-core work related blog. Even if it's anonymous. At a small property like ours, you pretty much know who has the technical know-how to set up a blog. Plus, if you're a member of the newsroom you're very familiar with each others' writing styles.
Jim: I'm glad you have broken through the wall of fear that surrounds Gannett. Your brave work has encouraged others to speak out about the journalistic misdeeds and personnel abuse that can be found throughout the company. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I propose another contest for Gannett Blog readers: Name the company's biggest and most influential jerks. These are the folks, whether they put on a "nice" facade or not, make it difficult to do good, ethical work at Gannett.
Here are my nominees for the Gannett Jerk Hall of Fame:
-- Mark Silverman, for a decades-long record of abusive behavior that has stifled creativity and freedom of expression at newsrooms stretching from Westchester County, N.Y., to Rockford, Ill., to Louisville, K.Y., to Detroit, to Gannett News Service and, finally (God willing) to Nashville.
-- Phil Currie, for a decades-long record of brain-dead personnel decisions that include placing Silverman and others like him to top jobs and for imposing often inane formulas on Gannett's newspapers. It's these formulas that Gannett's journalists battle on a daily basis to produce good work.
-- Jennifer Carroll, for a decades-long career of inane ideas and political posturing that has, amazingly, elevated someone who couldn't write a competent story about a fire to a powerful position guiding newspaper content.
-- Gary Watson, for a decades-long career promoting the above-mentioned people and for instilling a deep culture of fear in Gannett.
C'mon people, who are YOUR nominees for the Gannett Jerk Hall of Fame?
Re: Gannett Jerk Hall of Fame
ReplyDeleteGary Sherlock is a first ballot inductee to this Hall of Fame. He ran the Westchester franchise into the ground while bullying employees and alienating the community. His crowning achievement was bringing in fellow psychopath Bob Ritter, who personally wrecked the news product.
The legacy of both of these jerks still lives today as circulation and revenue sink by the minute.
BTW: Phil Currie doesn't deserve to be mentioned with this group of jerks.
ReplyDeleteHe is widely respected and always showed great compassion for newsrooms, editors and reporters.
Let's add Roxanne (slice and dice benefits) Horning to this list. What kind of benefits does she have? I bet it's not like the rest of us worker bees!
ReplyDeletePhil Currie definitely deserves to be on this list, despite his "Uncle Phil" facade, because he is the instigator behind so many ridiculous top-down journalistic initiatives (Real Life, Real News, anyone?) that have sapped Gannett papers across the country of their individuality and energy. And anyone who can look at Mark Silverman and call him, as Currie did, "a great editor" is a dangerously powerful dolt.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely think Giallombardo and SCJ need to be added to the list.
ReplyDelete