Thursday, October 16, 2008
Thursday | Oct. 16 | Got news, or a question?
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43 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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Yo! What's up?
ReplyDeleteI clicked on an ad at the top of the homepage: "Gannett Company - Get a Gannett Company Jobs Profile: Workplace Culture, Pay, Recruiting." (It was of interest to me...)
ReplyDeleteHas anyone seen all the washed up USA Today people who are at corporate HQ attending a sales conference? I heard that Dubow was speaking to the Moon followers, but mysteriously, rumors were swirling that the Digital Chief, Saradakis declined the invitation to speak and he sent one of his direct reports.
ReplyDeleteI clicked on the skyscraper/wide tower ad for Boston Store and the link told me it was powered by ShopLocal. If G has got our fingers all over the place, why can't we make any money?
ReplyDeleteHey, Jim!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with a previous note about posting Gannett's stock on your site. It's the first thing I check for when I log on, and it would save me a step if I knew it was right here.
Unless of course a link to it would cost you some beans.
Wow. GCI has been driven so low that its dividend now represents 14 percent. At $11 that is a hell of a return for investors, so why are people selling and not buying GCI? Could it be the new and mysterious $1.2 billion debt? Could it be the rumors of huge declines in ad revenues in recent weeks? Or will the board of directors decide this company is now so cash-starved, the dividend needs to be suspended and the money employed to keep GCI solvent?
ReplyDeleteMedia General just announced Q3 numbers. Revenue Down over 20 percent. This is impact all newspaper stocks today.
ReplyDeleteHere's why the new layoff list is being prepared: September ads off 23 percent, according to Media General. That follows a 20 percent decline in August, and 22 percent in July. GCI will mirror those miserable results, and we all see the results in newspapers that are getting thinner and thinner.
ReplyDeleteCorporate is ordering staggering reductions in expenses.
AP story posted on E&P, another publisher consolidation:
ReplyDeletePublished: October 16, 2008 10:02 AM ET
RICHMOND, Ind. Juli Metzger, president and publisher of The Star Press in Muncie, is taking on additional duties as chief executive at the Palladium-Item with the retirement of Bob Robbins....
GCI at historic all-time low, broke through $11 in the first hour of trading today, heading for $10 by the end of today or tomorrow.
ReplyDeletejim - if the doom and gloomers have their way, you won't have anyone left to pay your monthly subscription fee. I suggest you look for a new line of work.
ReplyDeleteGoldman Sachs analyst forecasts up to 50 percent decline in newspaper stocks:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnbc.com/id/27199237/for/cnbc/
Revises downward his forecast for ad revenues in 2009, and now sees a further 11 percent decline in ads.
Hey, you guys up there in the McLean fishbowl, don't you think it is time to scrap this business plan and come up with some new ideas _ and fast, before the vandals break through the front doors and carry you away.
ReplyDeleteHell, when everything else fails, remember the scene from Animal House: Road trip, road trip, road trip?
ReplyDeleteWhen the vandals break in, I relish the thought of Dubow spread eagle over the precious blue ball.
ReplyDeleteFROM YESTERDAY'S LAST POST:
ReplyDeleteSomeone mentioned "Coerced" Faking of TIME SHEETS. That goes on all the time in every department. You are EXEMPT (Salary) when you get paid once a month; If you FILL OUT a time-sheet with hours, You are HOURLY WORKER. Otherwise, Why would have to fill out a time-sheet???
GOOGLE exact phase WAGE WARS. It's a Sept-2008 BusinessWeek article about a lawyer -MARK R. THIERMAN- out in RENO, NV that has won cases against WalMart, government entities, Merrill Lynch, and law firms for intimidating people to Work UNPAID OVERTIME.
Send Certified Letters to: members of the board, Roxanne V. Horning, Wendell J. VanLare, Jurt Wimmer & Craig Dubow. Once they have constructive receipt of a systemic fraud they will have to respond. If they know about and pull an Orange County Register move (see home delivery class action lawsuit on independent contractor status)
Can you spell R.I.C.O. Act.
Hey Jim:
ReplyDeleteWhat are your plans once Gannett completely implodes and gets put on the scrap heap, on top of Knight-Ridder, McClatchy and Tribune?
I've got an idea: Get some of those Sand Hill Road Ven Cappers to back you and buy a small Gannett paper or two!
Metzger? Another newspaper? Metzger has worked at 7,231 newspapers in the last 2 years. Ha! And yet, she is the Gannett Corporate Golden Child. Why???
ReplyDeleteNice Widget, Jim. Thanks!
ReplyDelete(Sparky, that was not a come-on.)
Tribune announces today to drop AP services. Gannett can't afford to drop AP because newsrooms are cut to the bone and they need AP for filler a non local stories, photos and graphics.
ReplyDeleteArizona Republic is dropping AP! It just takes five years to complete the process.
ReplyDeleteI ain't a sports guy, but how do you get national sports copy and box scores without AP?
ReplyDeleteWOW...dropping the AP...that's HUGE! Are we running news and information here or digging graves???
ReplyDeleteAP's rates are outrageous and require subscription to services that may never be used by most customers. There has been a groundswell of newspapers both large and small that are threatening to leave. Mr. Curley may be getting backed into a corner soon.
ReplyDeleteAnon 4:13 states " There is a groundswell of newspapers both large and small that are threatening to leave AP." really??? The Journal News--Gary Sherlock's Baby uses 50% wire services stories as I am sure MOST Gannett papers do. If Gannett drops AP they are basically OUT OF BUSINESS!!!The handwriting has been on the wall for years--poorly run company with God-Awful Management at the local level. You get what you pay for.
ReplyDelete2:27 p.m. wrote: "Arizona Republic is dropping AP! It just takes five years to complete the process."
ReplyDeleteI believe the commenter was trying to make a joke about the time required for things to be done at Phoenix. In any case, the Republic tells me: "Totally without truth. There has been no discussion about eliminating the AP and we will continue to be a member of the cooperative."
"Totally without truth. There has been no discussion about eliminating the AP and we will continue to be a member of the cooperative."
ReplyDeleteWhy did I hear the word ~collective~ instead of cooperative?
Gannett has been quite successful in the BORG style brainwashing of the managements and directors.
Jim, This is the greatest!!! I am in for 100.00 I also will be adding some juicy stuff from the New York Area...Namely the Journal News..The worst run Newspaper in the Gannett Chain---but I am sure the building will be used to make Nike Sneakers soon. At least that will be profitable!!!!
ReplyDeleteTodd....you must be out of work. and you also could use a little counseling on how not to be so hateful
ReplyDeleteAnon---5:57---I am not out of work---actually found work before Gannett--Journal News let me go---Not hateful--factual---If this scares you then don't come aboard for the next few days as I will provide definate proof of poor management---beginning with Tony Simmons then I will work my way down to Elaine Kirsch---then ---well stay tuned!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhere in the Hell is Corporate??? aT $10.00 AT SHARE YOU SHOULD BE SHAKING IN YOUR BOOTS-Email me as I will show you the errors of your ways!!! Especially in the biggest market you have---The New York Market which has been a laughing stock for years !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteUse your first names as I have...The word must go out....enough of your poor management!!! Make changes now !!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete@235: Sports Ticker provides stories, summaries and agate.
ReplyDeleteIf GCI is in this much of a downspin, aren't the parts possibly worth more than the total?
ReplyDeleteA weird mix of large and small and community newspapers and USAT and TV stations and unknown web sites could be more valuable separately.
We hear the gloom and doom and have seen jobs cut, but yet we are told there are comfortable returns at some properties.
In Wisconsin, they report a 24% rate of return in Appleton and 40% plus in Green Bay, but resources are going to support smaller papers that are on life supprt.
What do you people hear on profits from your properties?
Ours aren't the obscene 40% plus they used to be, but over 20% isn't bad!
Financial whizzes---help me please.
ReplyDeleteDoes all the Gannett money go into one pot, and then get distributed proportinately throughout the company? Or, do the properties that make money get a bigger share than the ones that don't?
Remember when Gannett bought a bunch more interest in Career Builders? I still can't figure out why the agreement was in the name of two affiliates (Cape and Digital) rather than in Gannett.
Leave Todd alone, I'm sure after the next round of cuts there will be more like him finally speaking out about the horrible management in Westchester.
ReplyDeleteIt seems Gannett horded a lot of cash. Remember what happens when you do that playing Monopoly.
ReplyDeleteYou Lose, end of story.
Yes, Todd, many newspapers are in fact considering ditching AP.
ReplyDeleteThere are properties doing well within Gannett. Those folks probably dont come here often.
ReplyDeleteIf your property is doing well, then your pub has to give up the money to help support the entire group.
ReplyDeleteIf your property isn't doing well, then you're in trouble because your pub is going to do everything possible to meet the numbers.
In either case, it is almost impossible to get your 10-year-old office chair and 8-year-old stylebook replaced.
If our property is anything like the others, Gannett spends WAY too much money on management salaries. I bet half the people in our newsroom are managers, and many are unqualified for the positions they hold. Some of them also don't do very much, and I'm not exaggerating. We need fewer people in management and more workers.
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of papers -- both within and outside Gannett -- threatening to drop AP. And it is possible to operate without AP. There are other sources for much of the material that AP distributes, especially sports.
ReplyDeleteIt can be considerably cheaper to buy some copy -- columnists, etc. -- from self syndicated freelancers or syndicates than from AP.
Things get tougher with politics and breaking national news, especially since Gannett News Service seems to be downsizing and McClatchy is strugglin. But at the smaller papers, the emphasis has been shifting away from national news anyway.
I don't neccessarily think it's a good idea, but dropping AP would make sense for certainly smallish to mid-sized papers if they are determined to stick with current coverage plans.
Why spend a fortune on AP if all the wire stories are buried in an inside section? That's not the case everywhere, but it is in many Gannett markets.
12:03 PM - Thank you! I almost pissed myself laughing when reading your comment.
ReplyDelete