Thursday, June 04, 2009
Thursday | June 4 | Your News & Comments
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113 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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Hello.
ReplyDelete(echo)
Where the heck is everyone?
ReplyDeleteIt's not over til October!
We're here!
ReplyDeleteHas anyone at any of the other sites heard the same thing as the Arizona poster that said no more furloughs for this year with other things happening? We need feed back everyone!
ReplyDeleteCan't do this without you.
We need this. Keep posting guys. Once we go silent, it's easier to be micro-managed and controlled by HQ. This communication keeps us similar to a union by standing as one, but without the dues that get wasted on the salaries.
ReplyDeleteI heard confirmed there will be no third-quarter furloughs. Also heard they are undecided on fourth quarter for now.
ReplyDeleteCNY paper is in the dumps. Advertisers are not getting proof copies in time and the ad sales people are getting their asses chewed by the advertisers and screwed by the management. Not to worry as the CNY group just love writing credit notes. A ring for those folks in the billing department for the speedy credit notes.
ReplyDeleteCan I get a credit on that ad Carol!!
ReplyDelete"We need this. Keep posting guys. Once we go silent, it's easier to be micro-managed and controlled by HQ. This communication keeps us similar to a union by standing as one, but without the dues that get wasted on the salaries."
ReplyDeleteIt was already easy. Most of you are useless. You wasted this opportunity by being moronic.
Good riddance.
Good riddance to you. We have no need for your insame comments. We ARE a union here and if you don't pay your dues – your gone. If we had the control, your stupid useless comments would not be posted here. I know one of US will step up to the plate and take over this blog and we will make sure people like you are never heard.
ReplyDeleteIt was already easy. Most of you are useless. You wasted this opportunity by being moronic.
Good riddance.
Thank you for your input. Have you heard if anything else will take the place of furloughs or is this just it?
ReplyDeleteRumors have been centering around pay cuts. Has this been mentioned?
I heard confirmed there will be no third-quarter furloughs. Also heard they are undecided on fourth quarter for now.
How many sites have a digital sales rep which has sold less than $2500 in 8 months, will not do cold calls and is still employed?
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone outside of Gannettland realize how bland (not to mention mistake prone) USA TODAY has become? Whether you liked it or not, the flagship did have a certain wow factor from time to time. Now all I see is the same old crap, with little inspiration in graphics, layout, photos, story selection and enterprise reporting. Wondering if other people from other news chains have noticed. I know some read this blog...or did, before it became what it is now. Appear most Gannettoids don't even come here anymore. I agree, too many jerks killed this blog, and just when it was getting to the point of exposing the many sins of this company, which would have hopefully led to some positive changes on all levels. Too bad it ended this way.
ReplyDeleteI wonder wehre the poster in Arizona heard there would be no furloughs in third quarter but there would be other stuff. I work in Arizona and haven't heard this. Nor has my extended network of "sources" around the building.
ReplyDeleteNo furloughs in Q3, just "payroll cuts" (layoffs).
ReplyDelete"NEW JERSEY ROCKS" WANTS TO KNOW HOW P.C.F. PROFESSIONAL DELIVERY SERVICE IN NEW JERSEY IS DOING?? ANY ONE CARE TO REPORT ??
ReplyDeleteA digital rep that does 300 bucks a month? What a waste! Sounds right on for gannett.
ReplyDeleteJim, I know you're shutting down the site a few months from now, but that's still a while away, and like it or not, many Gannett employees are still turning to you, and this Web site, for some vision into a blurry future.
ReplyDeletePlease don't slack on maintaining this Web site just yet.
With the third quarter around the corner, and the threat of more layoffs, pay cuts and/or furloughs very likely, we still need you around.
Continuing an interesting conversation from yesterday, I asked the following of a poster who was critical of a former employee who still posts here ...
ReplyDelete(If your Gannett job is so great, why are you perusing this blog and taking the time to call out people who may no longer work for the company? Shouldn't you be basking in the everyday glory that is Gannett? Better yet, go buy some shit and stimulate the economy. If you're so happy you must be paid a boatload, and you're probably way too valuable for the company to cut.)
And he/she said ...
(To answer your question, it is simply because I enjoy my job and think some of the comments on here need to be monitored since the blog owner doesn't.
And I do buy some shit but balance that with saving and purchasing the shit I need and can afford. I wish I was paid a boatload, which is a very relative term and you may think I am paid a boatload or I may think YOU are paid a boatload. But we'll never know.
As for value to the company, well, that is always debatable. Who knows the value of me? I certainly don't. I could be dropped any day and that's where the savings come in. If I was dropped, the Gannett blog is the last place I would spend any time.)
Then he added a few quotes about why revenge is bad. Now, my response.
You are right that there is no real point to revenge. All I was saying is that some people are rightfully angry about the way they've been treated by Gannett, and it can be very hard to get over that. So they come here to vent. I know because I get more frustrated every week. Still you are right that such frustration and a longing for revenge is non-productive and, arguably, self-destructive.
I'm glad that you still enjoy your job, and it sounds as though you have a sound financial plan. I don't, however, think that's any reason to complain about people with legitimate gripes against the company.
I suspected from the tone of your first message that you thought there was no chance you could be cut. It doesn't sound like that's the case.
The trouble is, I have a hard time taking the company line on any issue because management has thrown thousands of productive, talented people out on the street while expecting the remaining staff to toil like slaves, often under the guidance of piss poor managers.
Be thankful that your job is good now. I, too, loved my job at one point and put in countless hours of free overtime. But all the joy was erased when a new corporate manager came in, eliminated every manager who was better equipped to do his job and simultaneously ruined the product that I worked so many years on. Hard not to be a little frustrated, no?
I hope you continue to enjoy what you do and that one of these soul sucking corporate goons doesn't pull the rug out from under you like they have so many before. But be sure to have a backup plan because this company will never again be the giant it once was.
Get ready folks. My Boss, a good source so far, is once again close to the mark.
ReplyDeleteBy mid-July, the largest layoff ever in the community publishing division will happen.
There will also be big cuts at USA TODAY, but maybe not at the same time.
A few cuts at corporate. Probably no cuts in TV.
Those let go will not get what others got.
By mid-July, the largest layoff ever in the community publishing division will happen.
ReplyDelete6/04/2009 12:21 AM
_____________________
So you are saying the numbers will top those from this past fall?
Think about all the "open positions" that are being posted that will be used as attricion numbers. Trumped up? Possibly...
Add some credibity to this...
All I know is that our executive editor told us there would NOT be 3Q furloughs. He couldn't say no layoffs, though.
ReplyDelete12:21 -- So, if you know something, as you clearly want us to believe, what will those who get laid off get.
ReplyDeleteThey haven't got much in the past, so why not offer some details and add to your credibility. Anyone could have made your post. I mean, we all know more layoffs are coming, don't we? It's the worst economy in recent memory and Gannett cuts corners in good times.
The only way a post like yours has any value is if you provide some details. More precise timelines, plans for severance, etc. Anything less and it's pure speculation.
So 12:21, does that mean they will cut part timers, or will they offer part time jobs to full timers, so if they decline the option, they walk with nothing?
ReplyDeleteLike 12:32 said, please add some credibility to the post.
No third quarter furloughs. Layoffs will be completed by the end of June. Cut plans will be submitted next week to corporate for approval.
ReplyDeleteAll layoffs need to be started before the end of P6, so that one-time accounting charges can be taken against 2nd quarter, not against a third quarter already facing nearly 2000 fewer auto dealers advertising.
I'm a director at a east coast paper who's been tasked to cut three FTEs. Fewer than I lost last time, but I understand protected departments then, won't be protected now.
To 1:06 yesterday. I've already stuck my finger into that wind and the drivers I know all are hanging on themselves. Not to mention the hoops one has to jump through now-a-days to get a CDL.
ReplyDeleteI still truely believe papers will survive, albeit smaller, but there is still a demand for them if only the papers themselves would get off the electronic kick they are on.
Besides...if we ever get into a big war again you know electronics would be the biggest/first target. what would all the E-geeks do then? Or would we not have anyone left who would know how to run a press?
9:46 pm take a look at whos newly in charge of your Ad department
ReplyDeletethat says a lot
lets put more people in charge that doent know what there doing
kudos to GANNETT for that
Has anyone at any of the other sites heard the same thing as the Arizona poster that said no more furloughs for this year with other things happening? We need feed back everyone!
ReplyDeleteCan't do this without you.
6/03/2009 9:21 PM
Anything you hear around this place will be pure rumor and idle speculation until it actually happens.
So just who confirmed the following rumor?
ReplyDelete"I heard confirmed there will be no third-quarter furloughs. Also heard they are undecided on fourth quarter for now."
6/03/2009 10:21 PM
I'd say 6:05's info looks pretty reliable. 6:05, any word on when an announcement of this plan will come?
ReplyDeleteI can confirm that there was a conference call with publishers Tuesday night regarding more layoffs.
ReplyDeleteAs previously posted, these layoffs must be finalized by the end of Period 6 (June), so that they can be charged against Q2.
Also, no furloughs in Q3.
Look for further consolidation of duties within regions. GCI is working toward eliminating more site specific director positions as it evolves to regionally managed paradigm.
Our Operations Director left the company last Friday to become the publisher of a small, family-owned newspaper. They are not going to replace him and we're one of the Top 15 (circulation / revenue-wise) newspapers in the company. I.T. is moving to Finance, PrePress, Press and Packaging will report to Circulation.
Big retailers saw a 5 percent drop in sales last month, which they now are telling GCI ad departments will be reflected in cutbacks in ads. Since that is amplified, it translates into a 10 to 15 percent cut in what already was a low level of advertising, and we are heading into the summer doldrums. This is going to be a truly miserable summer and Q3.
ReplyDeleteIt was a truly miserable winter for those of us cut in December. Joblessness, being broke as shit, losing hope, anger, bitterness ... they aren't seasonal. Hoping all the posted layoff comments are just stupid rumors, because I wouldn't wish what I've been going through after a wonderful career, to my worst enemy.
ReplyDeleteAny other sites pretending TIDE is the reason for ad sales and moving dollars to the marketing/new business manager's desk so it seems there's value to this position?
ReplyDelete"Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteI'd say 6:05's info looks pretty reliable. 6:05, any word on when an announcement of this plan will come?
6/04/2009 8:10 AM"
What a major crock of shit. What about this information looks reliable? The fact that someone named anonymous posted it? Or how about all the facts - who, what, when, where and how, we can confirm.
For a bunch of editorial employees that are supposed to be so good at using sources and verifying information you sure speculate on nothing.
This blog was already a shambles after the shareholder's meeting but now it has sunk to new lows of nothing. The first commenter today said:
"Hello.
(echo)"
They didn't mean no one was here (although they probably did mean that), they meant there is nothing here any more. Have fun.
No, the blog began getting into shambles when
ReplyDeletepeople like you tried to ruin it. We are not tolerating this type of behavior any longer. As you can see by the posts on this link – we ARE communicating again. There are too many people that have been posting for the last few months about June and or July that something will happen, and as in the past, these posts have become reality. No one is going to post exact facts on here. They are telling us what they can without losing their jobs themselves — and I thank them as do all the others that come here for information. Go somewhere else with your nasty comments. We have no need for people like you here. AND when you receive that email or hear it in your company wide meeting — you won't be so smug now will you.
This blog was already a shambles after the shareholder's meeting but now it has sunk to new lows of nothing. The first commenter today said:
"Hello.
(echo)"
They didn't mean no one was here (although they probably did mean that), they meant there is nothing here any more. Have fun.
"No one is going to post exact facts on here."
ReplyDeleteBecause they know nothing.
I have also know for a fact that our paper's classified ad department is moving to another site
ReplyDeleteeither by the end of June or July. People at our site will lose their jobs and they have already been told
this. No mention of any severance packages being offered to them. People have asked about them but no one will give them a straight answer.
I can confirm that there was a conference call with publishers Tuesday night regarding more layoffs.
As previously posted, these layoffs must be finalized by the end of Period 6 (June), so that they can be charged against Q2.
Also, no furloughs in Q3.
Look for further consolidation of duties within regions. GCI is working toward eliminating more site specific director positions as it evolves to regionally managed paradigm.
Our Operations Director left the company last Friday to become the publisher of a small, family-owned newspaper. They are not going to replace him and we're one of the Top 15 (circulation / revenue-wise) newspapers in the company. I.T. is moving to Finance, PrePress, Press and Packaging will report to Circulation.
"Too bad it ended this way."
ReplyDeleteThat happened because Jim flipped out at the Gannett meeting.
He also refused to post the performance evals he promised to share. Likely they showed him to be a non-performer who was a danger to his co-workers. I'm sure Amir had the same flaws.
Look, it only makes sense that more bad news is coming. We are girding for it at The Arizona Republic. What bad tidings will come, who knows--more layoffs, cutbacks on delivery, reduced salaries, forced shorter workweeks, whatever. The point is, the economy is still in horrible shape, and as the newspaper pointed out this a.m., Arizona job numbers are in the tank.
ReplyDeleteThe best we can do is keep doing our job--if we have one--and plan an exit strategy. Save, save, save all you can and get the resumes out there, as well as word to anyone you know or who you have met who might have a line on a job. The truth is, the only people who will be left at the paper at the incompetent upper managers who will finally see that they cannot run a newspaper alone. But it will be too late. The place already is toxic and it won't get better.
This blog is no longer about Jim — that is old news, so lets not beat a dead horse. The blog is back — and it is about us. Please contribute something new, not the same old thing. Been there, done that.
ReplyDelete"Too bad it ended this way."
That happened because Jim flipped out at the Gannett meeting.
He also refused to post the performance evals he promised to share. Likely they showed him to be a non-performer who was a danger to his co-workers. I'm sure Amir had the same flaws.
While everybody starts comparing information regarding layoffs and furloughs, has anybody heard anything positive from Management? Any plans the general workforce might appreciate? It's amazing in Phoenix where there's so much concern about gloom which I believe is warranted while the paper has been very visibly congratulating itself on circulation increases intended to drive advertising. Plus, the Sr VP just won another ring for her excellence. I worked in Phoenix where there's no shortage of poor execution. Sunday circulation is up, the message was all over the paper, I wonder how ad sales went with the dramatically reduced staff and the new magazine I received this past Monday (Congratulations advertisers, your ad was distributed on the lowest circ day!). Nearly 30 pages of ads in a free product. Here's an idea someone bought- Circ is up on Sunday, it's the best time to reach readers, let's divert ad dollars to a free magazine and distribute it on the lowest read day, that should produce results!
ReplyDeletePeople People:
ReplyDeleteJim's announcement of shutting down this blog Octoer 1st has run all but the most die-hard Corp goonies away and off to save own jobs. It's only those whith the hatchets in their own hands that are still posting crap here to further erode morale attempt to turn the attention away from people sharing information.
Seriously, who besides the sadistic upper Management would take so much pleasure in toying with the workers in fear of their livlihoods and the futures of their families and careers in this screwed up economy?
Does anyone know IF there will be PAY CUTS? What percent? Will unions get pay cuts too? This isn't fair to non-union staff.Gannett has to take that into account.I say get rid of the union slackers anyway.
ReplyDelete6:05 -- Any word on severance?
ReplyDeleteJust left a big pow-pow.
ReplyDeleteWhile not final you can look for one more furlough in the 4th quarter and a 15-20% pay cut unless yo make less than $50,000 a year and then it could be as much as 25%. Most likely a furlough in the first and second quarter of 2010. Detroit will cut a deal with the partnership and move the News to an on-line only version like Tucson. 401s will be eliminated and auto allowance will be reduced by 1/2. Most mid-sized metros will be placed inside USA TODAY. Medical coverage contributions will double but the coverage will remain the same. If you used adoption services in the previous five years you will be asked to return 50% of the benefit. All papers will move to a tabloid format with a nifty photo on page two. Lunch will be reduced from 30 mimnutes to 20 minutes and breaks down to five minutes. Smoking we no longer be permited in the press rooms. Ties will no longer be optional for men. The maximum allowable size for a rental car will be compact and all flights must be booked on prop planes only. Computers can only be used for 30 minutes of every hour and radios and TVs will not be allowed to be turned on in private offices.
I have verified all this information and you should trust me.
- Anonymous
The imbeciles insisting on admissable evidence to back up statements about company plans know better. They know the company rarely put anything in writing anymore, knowing that its emails and memos will end up in this blog or on Romenesko. It falls to in-the-know managers with a conscience to give everyone a friendly heads-up. At some point, the company is going to piss off the wrong person, and that person is going to spill his/her guts about Gannett's secret desire to weed out higher-paid professionals and those who aren't "team players," by virtue of their questioning the wisdom of company decisions.
ReplyDelete11:38 are you corporate? 25 percent paycut? That is insane!!!!
ReplyDelete11:38's post looks a bit crazy to me. 6:05 unfortunately is probably right.
ReplyDelete11:38 POST - Could this be for real? Or am I that gullible? I bet there will be pay cuts, maybe 10 percent but I think 25 percent, especially under 25K is ridiculous. Why cut low salaries so much? Are they trying to get people to quit?
ReplyDelete""""Seriously, who besides the sadistic upper Management would take so much pleasure in toying with the workers .... """
ReplyDeleteThe only ones toying with workers are you people. No one in upper management, or even middle management, is tormenting people here. Managers, believe it or not, are actively trying to fight whatever cuts are coming and are on the, as you call them, "workers' " side.
The craziness (like 11:38's 'satire'), is of your own making. Share information, try to find out what'[s happening, verify...all great.
But stop with the paranoid "they're out to get us" crap because believe it or not, we really are all in this together.
a manager
Gannett does not allow YOY increases in expenses. With furloughs last year (and this), they will need to find a way to not exceed payroll expenses in 2009. So, In each quarter of the year they will need to match or reduce last year's expenses. As many hard costs go up, payroll is one of the few that can be managed. A furlough each quarter equals an approximately 7% annualized decrease in pay.
ReplyDeleteThe question will be whether a cut in pay will satisfy quarterly reporting as all employees taking a furlough in a given quarter can't be offset by simple pay decreases with are annualized.
For the people posting how nobody know's what's coming, could you explain why there's so many closed door meetings and no announcements?
While 11:38's post started with an air of credibility, it finished with all the snarkiness of a veteran GCI employee.
ReplyDelete12:33 Your comments are correct except for one very important aspect which you missed- View the situation from "the workers" point of view.
ReplyDeleteIt's mid-day on a work day, what are you doing reading and responding to this blog? I'd suggest immediately going and spending some time with your team, listen to their concerns, spend a moment understanding their issues. Maybe even ask what's going on the their business world, possibly being unconditionally supportive after all, "we're all in this together".
Dear "A Manager" 12:33, Next time you call a meeting, do reviews, face your staff after another layoff or attend a closed door meeting without your staff, please think back to your absurd and insulting- "we really are all in this together."
ReplyDeleteWhile you might have had good intentions with your post, it unfortunately shows a significant problem within the company- You know how everybody should feel but really don't care about their feelings.
Gannett's prime directive is increasing profits. It's not about producing high-quality newspapers, TV stations or Web sites. It's not about providing people with a rewarding career or job. It is most certainly not about attaining best-of-class, best-place-to-work or most-admired-company accolades. It's all about sucking as much money as possible out of all constituencies to pay for the unnecessary overhead that is called corporate headquarters.
ReplyDelete12:33 the only reason we are hearing the "we're all in this together" routine is that this time around, corporate is saying that management is expected to take the lion's share of the layoff hits coming this month. The long expected middle management thinning is at hand, and so, yes, I guess we all are in this together. Welcome aboard and don't puke on the floor when the weather gets really rough.
ReplyDeleteJust heard one Gannett newspaper in the south to cut retail commission plans by nearly 50 percent.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, publishers will continue screaming for employees to do more with less while eating steak and lobster and staying in $200 a night hotels for pointless conferences and alienating the employees and community.
Heard one publisher ripped a page designer the other day - through a middle manager, of course - from what she thought was a bad headline. If she knew anything about grammer or ever cracked a stylebook, she would have realized there was nothing wrong at all!
With leadership like this, Gannett deserves a painful death. I just wish everyone could find another job before the ship hits bottom.
"The long expected middle management thinning is at hand..."
ReplyDelete_________
You mean sales managers might actually have to stop instant messaging each other, filing their fingernails, micro-managing their sales staff (what is left of it), quit playing on facebook or sending email to their long lost 3rd grade classmate and go out and make nice with some advertisers? Maybe then they'll quit shoe shopping on the company dime...
We are NOT "all in this together." Dubow, Dickey, Corp and VPs are in one place together and all the worker bees are in another place...
ReplyDeletetest, this blog shit the bed.
ReplyDeleteThis person thinks they are being amusing and trying to say “We will believe anything”. Ignore this ass – because this person could be next, although I did like this person's suggestion to make anyone over $50,000 to take a pay cut.
ReplyDeleteJust left a big pow-pow.
While not final you can look for one more furlough in the 4th quarter and a 15-20% pay cut unless yo make less than $50,000 a year and then it could be as much as 25%. Most likely a furlough in the first and second quarter of 2010. Detroit will cut a deal with the partnership and move the News to an on-line only version like Tucson. 401s will be eliminated and auto allowance will be reduced by 1/2. Most mid-sized metros will be placed inside USA TODAY. Medical coverage contributions will double but the coverage will remain the same. If you used adoption services in the previous five years you will be asked to return 50% of the benefit. All papers will move to a tabloid format with a nifty photo on page two. Lunch will be reduced from 30 mimnutes to 20 minutes and breaks down to five minutes. Smoking we no longer be permited in the press rooms. Ties will no longer be optional for men. The maximum allowable size for a rental car will be compact and all flights must be booked on prop planes only. Computers can only be used for 30 minutes of every hour and radios and TVs will not be allowed to be turned on in private offices.
I have verified all this information and you should trust me.
- Anonymous
"we really are all in this together." What a mountain of crap! If this person who wrote this (12:33 pm) is really in management he/she is just spewing the kool aid. Here at the courier post a clear line is in place between management and the "slaves." They make you feel that way and act like they are better than everyone else. "They" are not in this together. They are protecting their sorry butts because they are failures and incompetent. If and when management at our newspaper gets rid of the hangers-on and those who are not pulling their weight then maybe, just maybe, the staff will see that there is some real management going on here. But based on the past history (and you know what they say about history) there is little if any hope that things will change for the better. We are sinking slowly out in a bad sea. Closed doors and secrecy? That's the way it's been here for many years. This is the way "they" treat the people. Some years ago when the present publisher came he held these bullshit meetings asking employees to vent and discuss. Of those who did speak up, they were marked and blackballed and many were dumped over the recent staff reductions. If you have any ideas or suggestions you get a target on your back and you're finished. Yes, 12:33 "they" are out to get us and at some point, because what goes around comes around, you will get the treatment you've done to so many of us.
ReplyDeleteSay what you will nay sayers — Jim is still getting more hits than Gannett is and he is closing his blog down!
ReplyDeletePut that in your pipe and smoke it!
Jim puts things into pipes.
ReplyDeleteThat is the most insane thing I have ever heard. We need to increase revenue and we won't if that cut the salespeople's commissions.
ReplyDeleteJust heard one Gannett newspaper in the south to cut retail commission plans by nearly 50 percent.
If anyone truly does have concrete information concerning layoffs you should leak it to the media (obviously, not Gannett media).
ReplyDeleteIt will make corporate look totally out of touch with their employees. How much fun would that be!
6/04/2009 2:20 PM
ReplyDeletethats the truth.
Thank you everybody for recognizing the crazy "we're all in this together" comment made by "a manager".
ReplyDeleteWhat they clearly meant to say was "you're all expendable to save my butt".
In Phoenix, there's a group of middle and upper managers who do nothing but mimic the senior managers in meetings. I'd bring market detail, client needs and expectations to meetings and everybody would nod with the Publisher or SR VP nodded, smile when they smiled, frown when they frowned. That's the Gannett mentality, do what makes the boss happy. When did the world shift from bosses counting on subordinates being the eyes and ears with a hand on the pulse of the street?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, June 4, 2009
ReplyDeleteMargaret Buchanan named top publisher in Gannett U.S. Community Publishing
McLEAN, VA – Margaret Buchanan, Interstate Group vice president and president and publisher of The Cincinnati Enquirer, today was named the top publisher in U.S. Community Publishing, receiving the division’s President’s Ring. Buchanan also received the division’s Signet Award, given to 10-time President’s Ring winners.
“Margaret’s work in finding new ways to serve our advertisers and consumers in Cincinnati during a transition year puts her at the head of the class among our publishers. She is a top-notch publisher on all fronts, and a key player in the Group,” said Bob Dickey, president of Gannett U.S. Community Publishing. “Margaret and the other winners of President’s Rings today are great examples of the talent Gannett has in its publisher ranks.”
First runner-up this year is Rindraty (Ri) Limtiaco, president and publisher of the Pacific Daily News in Guam. This is her second ring.
Andrew Oppmann, president and publisher of The Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro, TN, and The Leaf-Chronicle in Clarksville, TN, is second runner-up. He also is a two-time winner.
Other winners, in alphabetical order, are:
• Sherm Bodner, president and publisher of the Press & Sun Bulletin in Binghamton/Central N.Y. (three-time winner).
• Tom Bookstaver, West Group vice president and president and publisher, Springfield (MO) News-Leader (five-time winner; receives Chairman's Ring).
• Steve Brandt, East Group vice president and president and publisher, The Greenville (SC) News (five-time winner; receives Chairman's Ring).
• Kevin Corrado, president and publisher, the Green Bay (WI) Press-Gazette and the Herald Times Reporter in Manitowoc, WI (five-time winner; receives Chairman's Ring).
• Leslie Hurst, South Group vice president and president and publisher, The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, LA and the Daily World in Opelousas, LA (four-time winner).
• Jim Strauss, president and publisher, the Great Falls (MT) Tribune (three-time winner).
• Pete Zanmiller, president and publisher, The Times of Shreveport, LA (four-time winner).
(more)
About Gannett
Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is an international news and information company operating on multiple platforms including the Internet, mobile, newspapers, magazines and TV stations. Gannett is an Internet leader with hundreds of newspaper and TV Web sites; CareerBuilder.com, the nation’s top employment site; USATODAY.com; and more than 80 local MomsLikeMe.com sites. Gannett publishes 84 daily U.S. newspapers, including USA TODAY, the nation’s largest-selling daily newspaper, and more than 700 magazines and other non-dailies including USA WEEKEND. Gannett also operates 23 television stations in 19 U.S. markets. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom’s second largest regional newspaper company with 17 daily paid-for titles, more than 200 weekly newspapers, magazines and trade publications, and a network of Web sites.
"...everybody would nod with the Publisher or SR VP nodded, smile when they smiled, frown when they frowned." Yep, this is exactly the way the buttkissers perform to keep their jobs. It is so disgusting to watch this that you want to throw up.
ReplyDeleteWow- " and more than 700 magazines and other non-dailies including USA WEEKEND". That means every single newspaper except USAT has 8+ additional publications they sell, promote and deliver? Plus web sites and this is all done with a dwindling employee base?
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many of these "other" publications have come and gone over the past few years.
Who gives a shit about these Presidents rings!!! I wonder if they includes a money bonus...
ReplyDeleteLeslie Hurst? Come on... is that a joke?
ReplyDeleteto: 9:06 AM..everyone else seems to have ignored your posting. I have not. I am in the same boat, and I feel for you because I know how this is feeling. I cannot and will not offer you some stupid platitude, but I do want you to know that you are not in this mess alone.
ReplyDeleteLove ya man!
heard the Courier Post is going to be delivered by the Inquirer. It makes sense, they (INQ) have more cir in NJ than the CP. Also the CP dm's are union, while the Inquirer in non union.
ReplyDeleteShe has ripped apart every placed she's worked to shreds so Dubow, Dickey and others can get their bonuses. The community has grown tired of Gannett's game and her lies and deceit.
ReplyDeleteExecutives for an underperforming company continue to get bonuses - with the comfort of a golden parachute - while their employees are asked to mindless follow all instructions.
So it's logical to continue cutting back in compensation for the worker bees? Absolute morons, absolute morons.
I guess to really find out what's going on behind the scenes we need to bug some offices.
ReplyDeleteJesus, did someone at HQ find a stash of extra rings in a closet? Didn't they give out enough rings the first time around? Why don't they just give a ring to everyone, and the people who didn't get a ring should get the message that they're not value and should leave?
ReplyDeleteAll this "insider info" is so bogus - why would anyone believe anything you read here, when there have been rumors and outright lies for months that haven't come to pass?
ReplyDeleteIf you've got something to say, identify yourself. If not, grow up, shut up and stop posturing.
I was reading a story on CNN.com about furloughs when lo and behold at the end I read about how Gannett employees were twittering about thier newfound downtime....
ReplyDeleteEven some workers who have been furloughed are trying their best to make the most of it. After media company Gannett implemented its second one-week furlough this year, employees started Twittering about possibilities for their newfound downtime. The result was furloughhouseswap.com, a site where furloughed workers can exchange homes to save on hotel costs.
"We want to travel, we want to take vacation, but we're not making any money," said Jodi Gersh, Gannett's content manager for social media and one of the brains behind the idea.
The ultimate goal, the site says: "Find a free place to stay on your furcation."
Must be nice to plan a "Furcation"
6/04/2009 1:58 PM-- Wow, any chance you work at Florida Today? Are you talking about our excellent digital team?
ReplyDelete"A manager" actually is more typical of the folks trying to keep things moving than the horror stories so often cited here.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine hating my boss so much (and I have had my share of losers), that I would resort to the kind of mindless, and actually pitiful, attacks that are posted here as if it is plain-speaking. It's really low-rent stuff, as if "bosses" are cartoon charcaters who are out to hurt their employees.
Anyone who thinks like that is either demented or too weak to hold a job.
And before you start with, "oh yeah, you haven't worked at..." well, no, I haven't. I just know I think more of myself and my sanity than to ever blame MY situation on someone else. Even a boss.
We ARE all in this together, and this blog would be so much more helpful if we could try to share information without all this immature bashing of people who are in most cases trying as hard as they can.
7:08 You are very lucky, however, nobody said they hated their boss as much as the sentiments they hate how their boss treats them. It's a culture that breeds butt-kissing versus productivity.
ReplyDeleteBut you are lucky to feel the way you do about your boss, does everybody in your department past and present feel the same?
Who gives a shit about these Presidents rings!!! I wonder if they includes a money bonus...
ReplyDelete6/04/2009 5:15 PM
I have it on very good authority since I have processed the payments that a publisher receives $50,000 for a ring, an additional $10,000 for each additional rings and $100,000 extra for the 10th ring. They also receive free medical coverage for a year, a free car lease for a year and a free country club membership in addition to a free set of golf clubs and entry fees into four pro-ams of their choice. After five rings they have imunity.
Responding, I'll say I have worked many places, Gannett and non-Gannett, and while some bosses are exsceptionally awful, in most cases it's the same-old, same-old and nothing bosses have done has ever made me so go overboard as to hate them or think my situation was because they were oppressing me.
ReplyDeleteButt-kissing and all that is also a same-old accusation that, to me, simply implies envy: "He (or she), outranks me. Therefore it's because they are ass kissers and I'm not."
What hooey.
I just think people should be prouder of who they are and what they are trying to be than to blame their disappointments on others. Sometimes it might temporarily be true. But most times look to yourselves.
It's all I'm trying to say.
I have a ring. It is pretty.
ReplyDeletedes moines publisher does not get a ring and guam does? guam?
ReplyDeletei did notice that the des moines production veep did not receive one either, while the rest of their management team did.
are they not the head of the pacific group? something afoot?
7:36 pm - It is obvious you have not worked for some of the pitifully innept, paranoid, vile, spiteful, manipulative little creeps that pass for publsihers at many Gannett prpoperties. If so, count yourself lucky.
ReplyDeleteGannett seems to enjoy hiring - them moving around from site to site as a way to sort of "spread the misery" - patheticx little morons as publishers and editors who enjoy ruining both the lives and careers of those under them.
Yes, it would be nice to just be satisfied with your own accomplishments and abilities, but Gannett's minion see to it that the hardest workers are the ones most humiliated, oppressed and belittled managers under them.
It is one of the the things I hate most about this company, and that is that they tollerated and maybe encouraged vicious treatment of people at the newspaper level.
Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio all had - and still have - publishers who belong in an institution, not behind the top desk of a newspaper.
Hateful, cruel people all.
Corporate hacks — go away, come back after all this has come true. Find something better to do with your time, cause your time is up here.
ReplyDeleteAll this "insider info" is so bogus - why would anyone believe anything you read here, when there have been rumors and outright lies for months that haven't come to pass?
If you've got something to say, identify yourself. If not, grow up, shut up and stop posturing.
Obviously they make much more than any of us on furlough! I need the unemployment to pay my bills! What about the rest of you?
ReplyDeleteThe ultimate goal, the site says: "Find a free place to stay on your furcation."
Must be nice to plan a "Furcation"
91 comments and counting. What ya think corporate hacks? Can you run the numbers? I think you can!
ReplyDelete"91 comments and counting. What ya think corporate hacks? Can you run the numbers? I think you can!"
ReplyDeleteAnd nearly all of them by gutless little worms whose departures were classic examples of addition by subtraction.
These are people who should be kicked until their spines sever. But they have no spines, so even that plan would not work.
There's a word for the removal of these people from the work force: Evolution.
9:06am and 6:06pm, I'm right there with ya. Good luck to you both.
ReplyDelete"Corporate hacks — go away, come back after all this has come true. Find something better to do with your time, cause your time is up here."
ReplyDeleteOh, it's coming true baby, it's coming true.
Man, this blog has just degenerated into a big bunch of nothing.
ReplyDeleteThe blog owner is off looking for his luggage, having a party in Ibiza and doing his own thing with his blog. He occassionally drops some stupid Ibiza blog promo on this site but never monitors any of the comments. I can't believe how long it has been since I've seen that remove by blog owner commets. What a load of crap.
Why is it even open any more? The only crap posted is BS made up crapo that everyone believes and runs crying to their mothers about or yells and curses at others they don't understand. I think it is blogger goons, not corporate goons.
Bring back the song paradies!! At least that stuff was funny sometimes.
Ding dong the witch is dead
ReplyDeletethe wicked witch
the wicked witch
Ding dong the witch is dead
the wicked witch is dead!
Hows that for a parady you weasil?
Top 4 rumors running around my south group location:
ReplyDelete1. Furloughs next 2 quarters
2. Layoff of 40 employees
3. 10% pay cut
4. Outsourcing press operations
These are rumors, take them as such.
Re: 6:09 pm's post "heard the Courier Post is going to be delivered by the Inquirer. It makes sense, they (INQ) have more cir in NJ than the CP. Also the CP dm's are union, while the Inquirer in non union."
ReplyDeleteThis one has been going around for a very long time. The union contract for CP district managers will expire this fall. Keep in mind too that the pressroom is unionized and it's the same union as the Inquirer. Likewise, same union for CP truck drivers as the Inquirer. Would it make sense to close the CP's press room and print at the Inquirer and then have papers loaded onto the Inquirer trucks which go into NJ? Sure does! Seems like a good business decision for Gannett. Since Inquirer has a an ofice in NJ not far from the CP, maybe they could combine efforts there and not have duplication of efforts. Anyone else have thoughts about these concepts?
7:36 You're very wrong. Butt-kissing and lower pay scale is what will keep the majority of people around. There are still some good people around, but I personally know people (me) who always received very high marks on reviews and very high (relatively speaking) increases. I looked for opportunities and always brought ideas and in many cases clients to the table to offer their point of view and help.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking for a job and wish all my friends the best. But you are very, very wrong. Look around you, is everybody as happy and content as you. Call those let go or on furlough and see if they feel the same as you. There are more layoffs and furloughs coming to meet Gannett financials (expenses cannot exceed previous year), still think it's hooey?
If all this is "Hooey" why are you even visiting the blog and reading what you should probably be shielding yourself from?
I HATED my boss with a passion. She was a freaking witch and may she rot in her self made hell.
ReplyDelete9:59 Your boss must of been the advertising in Lansing
ReplyDeleteDoes Boris Karloff at the Daily Record have a ring?
ReplyDeleteRumor or confirmation aside, let's hope the next round of layoffs trims the excessive layers of management that permeate Gannett properties. And when it comes to editorial, no where is management more bloated that USA Today. Pick any department. In a world where we have to do more with less, the worker bees could certainly function without the queens (and princes and princesses) who spend their time going to meetings and second-guessing underlings.
ReplyDeleteGo for it, Mr. Hunke...
8:27 graphically illustrates and validates the points made by 7:59. yep, mean, arrogant and clueless. go away
ReplyDelete11:11 -- It's like that at the community papers as well. There are many people in the management ranks who spend half the day in meetings and who haven't written more than a brief in years. Yet they take pride in badgering veteran reporters and letting them know all the ways that they could make their stories better ... all the while loading them up with more work.
ReplyDeleteGlad I work in Detroit, since we don't follow the same rules as everyone else. But Freep employees (at least editorial) have to take a furlough between now and September 1. And this comes right after laying off more than 100 total between the News and Freep.
ReplyDelete12:50 asks about writing here "mid day on a work day."
ReplyDeleteSo, what constitutes a work day to you? Not all of us work 9-to-5 Monday through Friday, dontcha know?
7:59 p.m. where in Wisconsin? Can you say?
ReplyDelete10:31, nope not Lansing. This is the wicked witch of NY.
ReplyDelete"they," "there," "their," "hafta." "then," "than," "must of,".. all of this sort of makes me relieved I got let go on Dec. 03. Graphic Artists as proofreaders? Nobody cared. Certainly the AZ Republic did not.
ReplyDeleteI did. Not anymore. Now it's just crap.
11:11 PM -- It's like that in our digital sales group. We have a manager, an asst manager, a team leader and then 4 specialists. I don't even know why we have a special group for digital. We all sell digital and they take the credit.
ReplyDeleteDigital sales are a joke. Why if there is a digital team do the other ad reps have digital sales in their monthly goal? It's a way Gannett gets around paying them full commissions.
ReplyDelete