Publishers: What can you tell me about any new reorg? It supposedly came up during last week's teleconference call with newspaper division President Bob Dickey (left).Please post your replies in the comments section, below. You may also e-mail me confidentially via gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.
Earlier: Friday's massacre -- real change, or real retribution?
What is next? Merging of some sites, the selling of some sites, the wrapping of pages with USA Today?
ReplyDeleteI was told the call lasted under an hour, and that Dickey didn't mention the reorganization rollout until the last few minutes. True?
ReplyDeleteRumor around the Republic IT department for the last few weeks has been.
ReplyDelete1. Shutting down three zones.
2. Merging the Tucson and Phoenix papers. into a true state paper. this will eliminate more than 900 jobs just in Arizona alone. Just waiting for the shoe to drop on this one
Easier said than done. Its both a shame and a sham. A major league still "profitable" media corporation puts this kind of pain upon people. I hope Bob Dickey is reading this.
ReplyDeleteEmployees won't forget this week and the poor handling of these very human matters.
I left nine years ago and have followed the Gannett woes for too many years.
Those that aren't laid off...I hope...make a living elsewhere.
Lots of rumors that Lee and Gannett are contemplating a property swap. Their Arizona paper for the Des Moines Register.
ReplyDeleteHeard this for a while, but there has been an increase in chatter lately.
In NJ - Anyone got any ideas of what's going on with the Star Ledger? Andy plans for Gannett to buy/merge papers?
ReplyDeleteIn Mississippi ---any plans to merge the Clarion-Ledger and Hattiesburg American? Also, any word on which Hattiesburg positions were eliminated?
ReplyDeleteHopefully they'll merge our paper with a cafeteria.
ReplyDeleteWe already did that at the Republic... It's called the Paper Plate:):)
ReplyDeleteIf Lee included Flagstaff in any Tucson trade, it would give GCI a significant statewide dominance and achieve some nice cost savings. GCI also owns a Phx TV station.
ReplyDeleteBTW, Tucson Citizen has been sans publisher for about 6 weeks.
I believe all the Veeps are meeting this week to plan which upper level newspaper folks will get the boot -- you know, the folks you really don't need at a failing industry anyway -- people like your marketing director or maybe the do-nothing in HR. (Just to be clear, all said with tongue firmly planted in cheek.)
ReplyDeleteIf you read this article, it sounds like classifed ad jobs will be going to a "Center of Excellence" in the not too distant future.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=070426_5_E1_hUpto66461
That's a 2007 article ...
ReplyDeleteBut 500 people might include more than subscription cold calls.
Word has it that ad takers in Asbury have started hearing from customers that calls are bouncing to an "overflow center" in Oklahoma. I doubt its just coincidence.
ReplyDeleteHey lets merge ALL of the NJ newspapers together and let the ad director, ad managers, and both ad production managers of the Bridgewater Courier News run the whole operation. Obviously they got what it takes, even with low ad revenue, insubordination, discrimination, and production errors. The "it girls" can show em all how its done!
ReplyDeleteThey're going to have to merge the Ithaca, Elmira & Binghamton papers. Not enough people left at each site to publish anything with substance.
ReplyDeletewow...sounds like the CN ad department has burned some bridges...what's up with that? We're all in the same sinking ship hoping for space in the same lifeboat. They can't be that bad!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeletewow...sounds like the CN ad department has burned some bridges...what's up with that? We're all in the same sinking ship hoping for space in the same lifeboat. They can't be that bad!
8/20/2008 12:23 AM
Seems like the Courier News ad department thinks they are the golden child. It seems their ADS production dept thinks the same way. They better watch themselves. Remember no one is safe in Gannett.
They ARE golden, so golden in fact that they have always had two thats 2 managers and a specialized spec artist. What a luxury! And we at the other Jersey papers lose our jobs while they stay fat!!
ReplyDelete10:19, can you expand on that? Are they letting go managers or higher ups?
ReplyDeleteI believe that is what is called "sarcasm" by the kids these days....
ReplyDeleteTHE COURIER NEWS ADS DEPT IS SAFE UNTIL THEIR SAVER GETS THE BOOT.ITS JUST A MATTER OF TIME THAT THE THORN GETS EXPOSED. TICK TOCK....
ReplyDeleteHey the CN advertising production department has 2 of their own worthless managers. One of which is in tight with the protected CN advertising director. So until they weed out that garden of crap, the idiot manager who allows production errors galore will keep on keeping on. And thats not saying much for her sidekick manager who constantly runs comics and crosswords on wrong days. Get a grip Neptune!
ReplyDeleteHow does a paper with so few advertising sales people (CN) have so many managers? Does anyone know how many total ad people there are there? How many classified reps - they have a classified manager too.
ReplyDeleteWhich ad managers at the HNT were let go? Anyone?
Unfortunately Teresa R. was let go at the Home News Tribune. She was a hard worker and put the best of her into the company and her staff.It was obvious that they took advantage of the layoffs to finally kick her out. I guess it wasn't manager like to treat your staff with respect.As for the Classified manager at the Courier,I believe she was given Teresa's job . Its funny how their excuse to destroy the HNT advertising dept was that this time we had to target management and no managers were let go at the Courier News.Any thoughts?
ReplyDelete