I've written about 1,100 posts since I formally launched Gannett Blog on Jan. 11, 2008 -- my first day as a former Gannett employee. Among my best-read: Stockholm syndrome -- Why we fear speaking out. I based it on an e-mail exchange with a former Gannett newspaper operating committee member, a director who had feared contacting me, even after GCI could no longer punish her. (Kidnap victim and newspaper heiress Patty Hearst, above, left, is the Stockholm syndrome poster child.)Now, I've heard from another employee leaving Gannett. They saw my comment on this post, a comment where I explain how I financed my mid-life career change. "I too have been scrimping and saving,'' the reader replied. "Last December I felt downright rich. Lately, not so much (though my portfolio is GCI-free). But I'm making the big jump soon, one way or another. (A) Because I can, and (B) Journalism is no fun anymore. That's the heartbreaker. I feel for the young ones joining the biz today. I hope somehow some way they get to experience the thrills and chills of real news gathering."
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You know I am getting tired of the disgruntled white collar 50's mindset of these reporters and guild people through this blog. We have all known that after the 80's times were turning. I work for the blue collar end of producing the newspaper. And sometimes work three different shift schedules per week and holidays and weekends after almost 30 years in the buisness. I understand "the guild" union wise in its day was strong. But we are in the almost 2010 and gannett is tearing apart unions. I walked picket lines in philadelphia back in the 80's and never recalled "the guild" walking with us! There might of ben one or two????? But were is this holier than thou altitude now! Apparently we are all "No collar now!!" Layoffs are the same! Shame we couldn't realize we weren't better then the blue collar paper mailers or printers or truck drivers just trying to send a kid to college to make a better life!!
ReplyDeleteI remember the one columist that wrote for philadelphia back in the 80's. My friend who worked in the pressroom called him a "pompous ass"! I truly believed him as right for saying that. The writer really did think he was "hot shit". I wonder where he is today? Oh Boy, there's alot of that going around today!!!
ReplyDeleteOne final comment..........I'll tell you one thing after I leave gannett on my own accord or from them kicking me out after 15 years I will not be lounging in some beach in spain with a big distain against them throwing me out when I bet you recieved some sort of severance and have lived the golden life for so long and are finally jilted. Puts a new spin on your "stockholm syndrome" and maybe you had some "syndrome" it was going to last forever and there was a easter bunny too. You know what I still like your blog. But stop being such a bitch!
ReplyDeleteI am sorry one more short comment...........stop flaunting your spain gig and complaining it mixes like water and oil!! thank you friend.
ReplyDelete@6:20: What Guild?
ReplyDeleteGannett has made an art of driving out or disabling newsroom unions as long as it has existed. (Ask them in Detroit.) There are a smattering left, and with few exceptions those were inherited when GCI bought out big papers. This is not a chain where the guild has ever had any real clout.
And if you think senior news people don't have to work weekends, holidays, overtime, overnight, or whenever their bosses see fit, you haven't spent much time in a newsroom.
"You know I am getting tired of the disgruntled white collar 50's mindset of these reporters and guild people through this blog."
ReplyDeleteI'm in my late 20s, and thankfully I got out with more than enough time to actually do something about my career without wasting away another 10 years working for those soul-sucking leeches.
So it ain't just old people who feel this way about the corporate shit festival that is Gannett.
It's amazing to see the transition of young reporters and editors from excited and enthusiastic about their jobs, to resigned, angry and nervous, after a few years of being shit on and being paid below a living wage. Unless you're a minority of course, in which case you've been hired at a higher base salary and receive higher raises because, you know, the top-level editors need to keep you around to receive their yearly "diversity bonuses."
If a talented young person arrives in a Gannett newsroom, it's a near-guarantee that within four or five years they'll be burnt out, tired and jaded about a job they once loved.
Dear 1:18 pm,
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry minority hiring ruined your newspaper experience. Too bad you didn't stick around long enough to experience the pendulum swinging in the other direction where you would be paid more than your minority co-worker doing the exact same job and performing at the same level.
That's one of the biggest untold stories at USAT. I can't speak for the rest of Gannettland.