Monday, September 15, 2008
Monday | Sept. 15 | Got news, or a question?
Can't find the right spot for your comment? Put it here, in this open post. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)
40 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."
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I've just started this new open-comments thread. You can always return to earlier editions by clicking on the Real Time Comments label in the blue sidebar, to the right.
ReplyDeleteAs the economy turns to the worst ever! Gannett is faced with the giant it once was and the many corporate leaches that garnered high wages that ran the company, the so called big fish! As the stock plummets and the water get uncertain they will get very uneasy and the big fish start to look like minnows to the other big fish wall street eyes making money and the only saving grace for , the worker bees, is that somebody buys this dump and the cycle starts over and over and gannett is lost in its own cesspool!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely sentiment to start our workweek! Cheer up friend, go outside look all around you and take a couple of long, deep breaths of fresh air.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely sentiment to start our workweek! Cheer up friend; go outside look all around you and take a couple of long, deep breaths of fresh air.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how the stress of possible further layoffs and doubled/tripled workloads has effected the emotional/physical health of some of the remaining employees?
ReplyDeleteBetween the economy collapsing like a Black Hole, my balance sheet being impaired, and fear of job-loss induced loss of health benefits, I'm having chest pains, can't sleep consistently without Lunesta.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably worse for others.
I'm sure Mr. Dubow is experiencing the same stresses with his $144,250 Per Week Paycheck.
Maven doesn't work with Google Chrome.
ReplyDeleteI wont be coming back to this blog. I stopped by to see if there was any real news and again find only complaining by a handful of people. With 43,000 employees at Gannett, I'm not sure that the less than 100 comments a day on this blog represent anything but a handful of miserable people.
ReplyDeleteI'm going back to a job I like.
Maybe you all should find one you like too. I think its the healthiest thing you can do for yourself and your families.
Okay 11:29, here's a newsflash for you...
ReplyDeleteMore than 900,000 people in Cincinnati lost power yesterday due to a high-wind storm and nearly 600,000 people are still without it. Outages for many could last up to a week, yet you really wouldn’t easily know the totality of it all by going to the Enquirer's website so far. No special banner, no easy links to shelters, no quick tips how to keep food fresh, where ice, etc. can be found, very sad.
10:33. I think stress from the things you mentioned is the hidden tragedy in all of what we're experiencing. The body, particularly after a certain age, can't endure a constant barrage of anxiety. Easier said than done to just roll with the punches. Our pride and need for jobs keeps us employeed, but if we simply wanted to do something good for our health, we wouldn't continue to endure this situation, particularly as it relates to resources being drained from print and put into digital. The workload is staggering in some departments. Beyond reason, really, even for a sweatshop. And many of us know what the end result will be. Many of us at USA TODAY in particular, who are propping up the newspaper the best we can, are going to be axed when the suits feel the time is right. That will be our reward for sacrificing our health and giving the company our last ounce of loyality and good work. We all know we shouldn't tolerate this. Our families and friends often wish we'd just quit now, seeing the treatment, the way we come home, the headaches, stomach aches, increasing blood pressure, etc. But in this economy, is staying less stressful than being unemployed or underemployed? I guess that is the question.
ReplyDelete9/15/2008 11:29 AM --- Clearly, you feel you're OK and above it all, enjoying your career and there simply HAS to be something wrong with those who are posting here if they don't share your view.
ReplyDeleteI agree that some people here are very cynical and bitter. It's raw and ugly. But don't think, because they don't share your world view, that their observations and experience lack value. You aren't walking in their shoes, facing their smashed dreams and expectations.
I don't like reading some of the more strident Gannett-haters, either. But if we draw back and discount their agony, we're fooling our selves. There, but for the grace of a higher power, go any of us.
Press Release:
ReplyDelete(WASHINGTON, D.C. Sept. 13) -- ELPAIS.com and Soitu.es, both based Spain, won the inaugural General Excellence awards for non-English language sites in the 2008 Online Journalism Awards.
The Gannett Foundation sponsored all five General Excellence Awards for this year, adding a $1,000 cash prize for each winner.
The Oregonian took the honors for Online Video Presentation, another new category. WashingtonPost.com won the third year of the Knight Public Service prize.
Army Times, the Las Vegas Sun and CNN won the awards in the English language General Excellence categories.
I left USAT for health issues that were in large part caused by the stress I was under at work.
ReplyDeleteAs things began to unravel with the company not filling vacant jobs (even prior to the buyouts) and with the way print was being absorbed into the web site, my health became worse. I had to make a decision that I know others are agonizing with there right now.
All I can say is that I feel much better now, have lower BP numbers and believe I extended my life by leaving the business I once enjoyed.
I wish I would have left sooner because who knows what damage was done by staying as long as I did, but I guess I believed that the company would eventually do the right thing and reverse some of the wrongs that were happening all around me. Gosh, was I wrong. Sounds like things have gotten worse. It's all so senseless.
I make far less money now, but respect myself more since I don't have to listen to people from the web site world talking down to me every single day, and ramming their unproven, sloppy ways down my throat, and then spinning whatever they didn't want to hear into my (or others) being unwilling to change or not being onboard. That was, and I assume still is, so frustrating.
Jim --
ReplyDeleteOne poster asked a question on a past thread that I think deserves to be revisited.
What kinds of jobs are reporters/editors finding after they leave Gannett? Seems like those in sales, marketing, accounting, maintenance, etc., have more transferrable skills for other industries. Those of us who wrote, edited or, heaven help them, ran the presses are in a worse spot.
Most of the papers that have been shedding employees are the only real print media outlet in their towns. If you live in the Midwest or West, the next nearest newspaper is way too far to commute to -- assuming you could even get a job there.
I suppose when the economy was better, there may have been p.r. or marketing openings, but nobody seems to be hiring in that area where I live.
After a long career as a reporter & editor that ended a month ago with the layoffs, I have found zero job nibbles and I'm getting panicky.
I'm starting to think a secretary position at one-third my previous salary might be my only option, if just to get benefits. Even those are not growing on trees.
Anyone have any brilliant ideas for where reporter/editor experience could translate to a new career?
I don't have anything brilliant to offer, 1:36 p.m.
ReplyDeleteCheck out freelance magazine writing. It is my understanding Magazines are eliminating in-house writing positions and contracting for stories.
It is likely, if you want to pursue journalism as you know it, you're going to have to relocate and start over with another chain.
I've been checking under Writer/Editor jobs on CraigsList.
To 1:36 p.m. - good luck on that one!
ReplyDeleteTo 11:29 a.m. - Bet you're in management, right? Get your head out of the sand and feel the pain of the little folks, esp. those in news with so few options (see 1:36 p.m.)
To 12:51 p.m. - A common refrain in Central NY
To everyone - So sad we live in a time when we all have to be anonymous, isn't it? We J schoolers were going to change the Tricky Dick world. Enter Wall Street-run news media. Oh well, maybe the Internet will set us all free after all.
This is for 11:29 am:
ReplyDeleteI've worked at several Gannett newspapers over the past 10+ years. In THEORY, I have what I would consider to be my "dream job." I get to do what I like to do, and I'm good at it.
However, I'm miserable. I work very, very long hours. My pay isn't commensurate. My working environment is deplorable. I do my very best every day, despite reading some downright malicious, borderline libelous commentary on this blog, made by my peers. My moral has hit an all-time low.
Furthermore, I'm am certain as Gannett further centralizes the newspaper functions of production, marketing, circulation and IT in this "new and improved flatter restructuring", I will no be needed here.
Physically, I am suffering from the overwork, the stress and the fear of the unknown. My family is suffering too.
So, here's the bottom line, 11:29; I'm management. I work closely with other directors (the few left here), other managers and the front line employees. This blog is very representative of sentiments felt from the TOP down. It’s not just full of the bitter and the disenfranchised.
I am lucky to have a job today, but I welcome the day I get my pink slip. I’m planning for it. I’m ready for it.
2:25, as one of the "underlings," I thank you for your candor.
ReplyDeleteI post on this blog because I hope management reads it and possibly learns something. I have no other way to communicate my ideas to them. I am not bitter I am only trying to help and this is the only outlet that gives me a chance to do that.
ReplyDeleteDiversification is critical ...we all know it.
ReplyDeleteany news on what may be on the horizon? Analysts have speculated about GCI acquiring a social network...NewsCorp rumored to be looking at LinkedIn.
I heard the Daytona Beach News-Journal laid off 40 more employees today, on top of the 100 in June. Rumor has it to prepare for a sale to Gannett in a couple of months.
ReplyDeleteQUOTED: "The body, particularly after a certain age, can't endure a constant barrage of anxiety. ... Our families and friends often wish we'd just quit now, seeing the treatment, the way we come home, the headaches, stomach aches, increasing blood pressure, etc. "
ReplyDeleteMy god, who lives like this? Who thinks like this? We have all had job stress, but there comes a point where it aint the job...
4:44: Who lives like this??? Is that a serious question? I back the previous poster. Plenty of my newsroom lives like this. There is little joy left for many of us, and health effects are rampant. I suppose you are one who thinks "the economy is strong"??? Me and Obama have a bridge in Alaska to sell you too. 0_0
ReplyDelete4:44
ReplyDeleteCan't you just accept the fact that the poster is sharing something he/she believes is job stress? Is that too difficult for you?
Can't you celebrate the fact that we're all different---that we react to and cope with different kinds of stress differently.
I sure hope you aren't a reporter.
Every media stock is impacted by any sign of the economic situation worsening, including, print, broadcast, online, cable, all of it.
ReplyDeleteThey are all heavily reliant on ad revenue.
This is not a GCI or newspaper issue only.
4:44, I had people tell me the job stress was the reason for my repeated miscarriages, including at least one doctor.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know if there is any truth to the November layoffs rumored to be in the works?
ReplyDelete5:15, That is obvious but it give GCI an excuse for their failures.
ReplyDeleteNovember, I would worry about October.
ReplyDeleteWUSA News Director Mike Ward reportedly "resigned" today. That the word following an all hands station meeting Monday afternoon. Word is corporate was not pleased with the stations' progress in developing a compelling on-line presence.
ReplyDeleteThe "resignation" comes just 5 days after main anchor, Todd McDermott, was fired.
Word is one of the corporate broadcasting VP's may be moved to an operating property as News Director.
That change is expected Thursday.
Re: life after Gannett:
ReplyDeleteIf you're reporter or editor: Freelance, freelance, freelance...it keeps you in the game, gets your name out there, gives you fresh clips and gets you the contacts for your next job, be it public relations, online/web, working for non-profit, or whatever opprtunity may come your way. Lots of news organizations and other media and corporations are looking for the "indie contractors" they can pay per item, and for the most part, you can send everything to them online, there's not a lot of commuting involved.
7:56
ReplyDeleteDid you hear that from someone inside, or do you know first hand?
At my station, the News Director suddenly "resigned" and a replacement was hired within a few weeks. No doubt the entire thing was planned. They never hire a high level position without a long search.
I think it would be interesting to know where the happy posters (or at least the ones who tell the complainers to shut up) are working. Where are you? What are your newspapers/stations/etc. doing right that everyone else can learn from??
ReplyDeleteEast Brunswick is "redesigning" the paper and going to 44" web - anyone know if the redisign includes a merger with the Courier. Personal feeling is that more layoffs are in the works for October.
ReplyDeleteCall me crazy and I'll agree. But although I know I'll lose my job soon (as a low level manager, my position is likely going to a regional center.) I have MORE confidence now, feel good about my abilities. Something all this has taught me is that the "higher ups" don't know it all. (ok--I'm a slow learner.)
ReplyDeleteI can remember early in my career being in awe of the management, and believing they had the position because they were smarter than the rest of us. And really thinking that corporate was even smarter than local management. Never would I believe that such major undertakings would happen with so little forethought. So much money and time is wasted on poorly planned programs etc. Things even lil 'ole me could see. Now that they aren't working out, gains didn't come in, whole directives are being scrapped. Heck, I could have done as well all on my own, and a lot cheaper. I know my days are numbered (and assuming most of ours are) and am SO happy for that. But I have learned a lot. I'm glad that I'm underpaid and that it won't be impossible to replace this income. I'm already thinking about my next career, Gannett has taught me to be a little smarter in my job search.
no. it's not a merger with the home news tribune. separate "products" will remain.
ReplyDelete"I welcome the day I get my pink slip. I’m planning for it. I’m ready for it."
ReplyDeleteI hear you there poster. Please please please...FIRE ME!
In my town, my paper is the only one around. Our staff has been gutted both by the layoffs and people jumping ship - and most of those people are headed out of our area. Those remaining now have double and triple the workload, but we don't blame those who have left. Morale is horrible. For a long time, I panicked about what kind of job I could get in this environment that would pay about the same. But now I'm looking at this as an opportunity, taking some classes that will allow me to work for myself. In the meantime, I'm preparing myself for what everyone at our site sees as the inevitable.
ReplyDelete9:31
ReplyDeleteIf the HNT is going to 44" web, where is it being printed?
Does APP now have the ability to print varying webs on one press?
Or, does this mean that all the papers coming out of APP will eventually be on 44" web?
This could have an impacct industry wide...If one paper goes 44, most will follow.
At the 44-inch web, you might as well be a tabloid. Readers seem to prefer it anyway. Wonder why more papers don't go that route?
ReplyDelete