Tuesday, May 05, 2009

USA Today Confidential | Issue 05.05.09

A comments forum, exclusively about USA Today. (Archives.)

13 comments:

  1. Just curious, how many USA TODAY departments ever hold a regular Gallup Meeting where the Senior Director goes on a 30 SECOND RANT blurting about how a fellow employee in that gathering has "no talent?" Should that employee tell the Vice President? Smile sheepishly? Phone the Gallup organization? Pin it up on Gannett Blog?

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  3. As another commentator said recently, I hope the USA TODAY's new editor and publisher take a close look at the leadership in the graphics department. There is a lot of waste, inefficiencies and bad planning going on there. It didn't start overnight, but this new group has done nothing to resolve it. What has started recently is a decrease in the number of graphics in the paper and extremely poor editing on the front end of the process. I am talking embarrassingly bad editing. Maybe that department could use its own copy desk!

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  4. How about raise the issue at the appropriate time and not months or years later, when the manager in question is not around to present her side of the story.

    Amir, you amaze me. Can't you go stand in a dark corner somewhere and nurse your grudges without involving the rest of the world?

    Verification word: "Proopers" -- the small blobs of shit that Amir flings at other people on Gannett Blog.

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  5. Jim, I thought you were going to start editing out the personal attacks, whether from this asshat or anyone else?

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  6. 8:46. What has happened to the graphics dept. is a terrible thing. Most of us agree. Probably lots of people to blame for it. G&P was once a highly productive team. Whether you liked the personalities or not, they got things done with a fair degree of accuracy and speed, and the newspaper was better because of it. There are some remnants that still exist, some good staffers with skills and ethics, but overall the department has changed more than any other department at the paper. The info visuals in the paper have become pedestrian for the most part. Look no further than 1A to see evidence that the paper has given up on meaningful visuals. What happen to the innovative designs?

    Just appears to me that too much was lost in too short of a time and that some managers aren't up to the challenge of getting eye-popping graphics into the paper on any sort of regular basis. Then they wonder why circulation is declining. Can't blame it all on the economy. Price increases, giving away content on the web and other factors play into circulation drops. But so does ditching great visual journalism, particularly at a paper that was known for visuals.

    As a related side note, a friend of mine is a top designer with a West Coast paper. She asked me a few weeks ago about USA TODAY's apparent loss of top-shelf visuals. She was talking about visuals as a whole -- picture page stories, timely enterprise pieces and full-page graphics were three specifics she noticed were absent lately. I told her about how the paper cleaned house in the graphics department over the last year or two. She was surprised to hear the news of so many losses. She was aware of a couple people who had left, but didn't realize that the entire management team was replaced. So it is noticed, even on the outside, that something radically different has happened to the "graphics newspaper."

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  7. 8:47am: at least Amir signs his name to his posts; why won't you?

    And Amir, let go of Gallup. Everyone knew it was a fiasco the moment it was forced onto everyone.

    Heck, let go of USAT; it's evil - just like the parent company.

    You're much better off; heck, you could be like 8:47am!

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  8. Amir (and others): One reason it's just plain unhealthy to mention names and do-workers in a blog like this is that in truth, journalism us a very small business.

    A lot of people, including future employers from other organizations, visit here.

    To be posting that your former boss called you talentless and the rest us a two-edged sword. People like me, a manager, actually side with her. Gee, she wouldn't say that at a public meeting without some reason, I think. Whether that's a fair analysis or not, you end up looking like a problem employee and why would I hire you? Plus, there's your photo and all.

    It would be as if you put on your resume, reason fir leaving last job: I was called talentless at a staff meeting.

    Similarly, naming people as jerks, over their heads, etc., as us done so freely by many posters here, really does hurt those people who are named. Good! dome might argue.

    But please think about what everyone us saying about your colleagues, your bosses, your underlings. Being criticized comes with the territory of being a manager. But being eviscerated is something else again.

    No one ends up looking very good -- the target or the vindictive person doing it.

    And just as employers and schools check out Facebook and similar things, so to will employers potentially be looking here and elsewhere. Saying you were called talentless, unfairly or not, just doesn't seem a very good career move. Nor is bashing your boss, where you look like a problem worker.

    Just some advice to us all.

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  9. CORRECTING BLACKBERRY SPELLING (sorry):

    Amir (and others): One reason it's just plain unhealthy to mention names and co-workers in a blog like this is that in truth, journalism is a very small business.

    A lot of people, including future employers from other organizations, visit here.

    To be posting that your former boss called you talentless and the rest is a two-edged sword. People like me, a manager, actually side with her. Gee, she wouldn't say that at a public meeting without some reason, I think. Whether that's a fair analysis or not, you end up looking like a problem employee and why would I hire you? Plus, there's your photo and all.

    It would be as if you put on your resume, reason for leaving last job: I was called talentless at a staff meeting.

    Similarly, naming people as jerks, over their heads, etc., as is done so freely by many posters here, really does hurt those people who are named. Good! some might argue.

    But please think about what everyone here is saying about your colleagues, your bosses, your underlings. Being criticized comes with the territory of being a manager. But being eviscerated is something else again.

    No one ends up looking very good -- the target or the vindictive person doing it.

    And just as employers and schools check out Facebook and similar things, so too will employers potentially be looking here and elsewhere.

    Saying you were called talentless, unfairly or not, just doesn't seem a very good career move. Nor is bashing your boss, where you look like a problem worker.

    Just some advice to us all.

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  10. Why was the 7:08 am post removed? What was wrong with it? It was mine and I would like to know.

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  11. Thanks for the advice, 12:41. I'll try yoga.

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  12. Mr. Yesterday5/05/2009 3:22 PM

    Summer issue of 'Open Air" will not publish. Fall issue, allegedly, will.

    Any truth to that rumor we're hearing in Twitter?

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

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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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