Friday, September 19, 2008
Friday | Sept. 19 | Got news, or a question?
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15 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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ReplyDeleteHUGE newspaper stock rally today including GCI
ReplyDeleteThis was posted on older site, so people may missed it:
ReplyDelete"Maybe we can put this in perspective by considering how bad things are right now at The Star-Ledger in Newark. From what I've heard via the grapevine, they're using buyouts to target people.
If you have not taken a buyout yet, they apparently call you in and say, "You know, if you stay, your job might not be in the newsroom. How are your accounting skills? How do you feel about becoming an ad salesman?"
Can you imagine putting out a paper each day under those circumstances? And we think we have it bad here at the APP.
Those Ledger people have had it so good for such a long time (bigger salaries, annual bonuses, etc.) that you have to feel sorry for the anguish they must be going through."
As bad as the buyout process may have been at the NJ group earlier this year, they didn't stoop to what's going on at Ledger.
Shame...he did seem like a decent guy.
ReplyDeletePaul Flynn, publisher of the Pensacola News Journal from 1984 to 1987, died Thursday, succumbing to a blood disorder he had been fighting since early 2007.
Flynn, who turned 73 Wednesday, died at a hospice in Fort Myers.
Flynn joined the Gannett Co., which owns the News Journal, in 1966 as assistant director of public service for the Gannett dailies in Rochester, N.Y.
In 1972, he joined Gannett's Huntington, W. Va., dailies as advertising director. He also held the same job from 1974 to 1976 for the Binghamton Press and Sun Bulletin.
Flynn was president and publisher of The News-Press in Fort Myers from 1977 to 1983.
The Quincy, Mass., native became executive vice president of USA Today in 1983. He later became president of the national daily.
He was named president of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation in 1997.
Flynn was known for his involvement in community service organizations and his philanthropy.
"He never wanted any attention on him, but he certainly made a lot of things happen for a lot of people," said Pat McFarland, who is Flynn's son-in-law and also worked with him at USA Today.
No 12:59, I believe the Ledger has handled it far superior to Gannett. They were given 2 months to get their affairs in order.Were any of the Gannett folks laid off or bought out offered any other positions? I don't think so. And you can bet their buyout offer is better than Gannett's was.
ReplyDeleteThe website where you can track your Gannett 401k appears to be down. Normally I wouldn't be concerned...but...
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit sad how some people I know are like, "Ha ha, serves them Ledger people right, they've lived so high on the hog for so long, now they can suffer with us!"
ReplyDeleteI hate how miserable this profession can be, how it drains us of our compassion.
I know someone who worked pretty damn hard at Gannett for a long time who got out and got a job at the Ledger. Not everyone there has been living "high on the hog" for so long ... and frankly, you have to work your way to a paper that big and that respected.
ReplyDeleteYes, plenty of people in Gannett and elsewhere had it easy at one point -- but EVERYBODY is still a person, some with families, some younger, and you never know what someone's circumstances are.
1:53
ReplyDeleteSorry you misunderstood the post. Reporters/editors at Ledger who are choosing not to take buyout are apparently being called in and being told if you stay, maybe you'll have to move to accounting or sell ads, with no apparent consideration on whether they have the skill set to do those jobs. Would most reporters WANT to switch to those types of jobs? It's coercion, plain and simple. No one in the newsroom at the APP was coerced into taking a buyout (and I'm talking buyouts here, not layoffs.) No one was encouraged to stay and no one was exactly thanked for all their years of service, but no one was coerced, either. And poster said they felt sorry for the ledger folks, not wishing them misery.
those of us who spent our lives in ad sales supporting your journalistic higher calling appreciate your obvious respect. The bigger question is what one story a week reporter could cut it as a sales rep, especially now. More journalistic arrogance. Might pay better to be a sales rep.
ReplyDeleteHow much commission do you make on that one ad a week you sell?
ReplyDeleteHey -- interesting discussion was going on about Ken Paulson's leadership and whether top editors are just figureheads, good managers, hands-on, big-thought thinkers, waste of airspace, etc.
ReplyDeleteWhat are your EE's like? Do they do actual, noticeable work? Or do they sit around in suits and bust the chops of those doing the labor?
Mine's a chop-busting do-nothing. Anyone? Anyone?
Man, people are determined to take this the wrong way. So I'll turn it around. If you had invested 30 years in the advertising dept, and didn't want to take the buyout, and your supervisor said to you: well maybe you can't stay here in advertising, how are your photo taking skills - you might have to be a photo tech in the newsroom, I can assure you you'd be pretty damn upset. It's not about being arrogant about your job, or about disrespecting anyone else's job, it's about being unfairly coerced into taking a buyout.
ReplyDeleteI saw the EE where I once worked basically edit copy, bark orders, please the publisher, bring in snacks, create conflict and just generally keep people off balance.
ReplyDeletePaul Flynn was a great guy. This is a very sad day for our industry and his family.
ReplyDelete