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Monday, August 18, 2008
8 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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1. USAT has lost the creative spirit that drove it to greatness in the first 20 years of its life. What do you intend to do to bring it back?
ReplyDelete2. The ranks of managers have become cozy sinecures for loafing, ignorant and do-nothing supervisors. Instead of cutting the ranks of reporters, did you ever consider thinning out middle management?
3. Why do we have this dictate-from-above style of management. Would it not make for a better organization to encourage teamwork?
All: I will post your questions online the day of the meeting. I'm also going to encourage live commenting here on the blog, while the meeting takes place.
ReplyDeleteHow are you sure he's *not* already here?
ReplyDelete4. We all understand this is not a democracy, but your previous efforts to get better production from fewer people isn't working. Can we suggest a new method of doing things: hire Gallup to do a newsroom poll of everyone asking them to name those people who aren't pulling their weight, or those who are a detriment to the organization. When you collect the results, let go of the top 5 names on the list.
ReplyDelete4. We all understand this is not a democracy, but your previous efforts to get better production from fewer people isn't working. Can we suggest a new method of doing things: hire Gallup to do a newsroom poll of everyone asking them to name those people who aren't pulling their weight, or those who are a detriment to the organization. When you collect the results, let go of the top 5 names on the list.
ReplyDeleteHow about an IT director who has a coke conviction 10 years ago while working for USAT and a DUI last year. Nothing really matter anymore.
ReplyDelete5. Morningstar, the mutual fund rating company, estimates that Gannett revenues will decline at a pace of 5 percent a year for the next 5 years. Do you agree, and does that mean deeper layoffs at USAT are coming?
ReplyDeletehttp://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=249734&t1=1219089806
Here is Morningstar comments:
Gannett (GCI
Sponsored by:
GCI)
Economic Moat: None
FV Uncertainty: Medium
P/FV: 1.61
Gannett, publisher of USA Today, is the nation's largest newspaper company. Despite its efforts to expand into other media, newspapers represent 85% of the company's operating income. Gannett's online properties continue to show impressive growth (usatoday.com sees 43 million visitors each month), but it has not been sufficient to make up for the decline in the core business. We expect revenues to fall at a 5% annual clip during the next five years, and operating income to average 14% annual declines.
USAT could look at other places besides editorial for their cuts. Maybe they should consider the elimination of the outdated USAT Field Operations staff. They eliminated the Production Coordinators years ago and should have eliminated the corporate staff as well. They could probably save a $1 million a year and let the printsites manage themselves instead of all the Monday Morning Quarterbacking and quoting of SOP's. There is no longer a need for this staff.
ReplyDelete