Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Tuesday | Oct. 14 | Got news, or a question?
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44 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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Sparky and I are watching TV, and I'm blogging. What's up?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI just deleted a comment that I believe violated copyright law. Please don't copy into a comment the full text of any copyright work.
ReplyDeleteCheck out Doonesbury today. Hilarious, Jim. Can you feel his pain?!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose
Just heard the local PD is going digital encrypted radios soon. How have any papers dealt with this as to catching immediate news happenings if at all?
ReplyDeleteA good number of PD's in New Jersey switched to encrypted radios a few years ago. Makes the scanner sound like garbled aliens.
ReplyDeleteSome only use the encryption when there's something big going on. Those that don't have the encryption use cell phones when they want to keep something quiet.
Haven't heard a "10-29" (suspicious DOA) come over the radio in a few years, even though there's been plenty.
To catch anything breaking we subscribe to breakingnewsnetwork.com and rely on sources within departments to let us know what's going on.
This morning's Courier News (Bridgewater) was published in the smaller size. It has such small fonts that any reader over 35 needs a magnifying glass to decipher it. The classifieds and television listings are absolutely useless now.
ReplyDeleteAre these Gannett papers suicidal or just stupid? We want to keep the printed newspaper for the older people who don't do websites, so we make it virtually impossible for them to read! Brilliant!
Subscriptions only make sense if you are going to go back to doing original reporting instead of just re-purposing reader comments and stock reports with additional comment.
ReplyDeleteMove the story forward with research and investigation through some of new sourcing capabilities instead of just rants for real revenue.
You have to keep the inside info coming that has some form of credibility beyond being shared in a comment. Memos during the cutbacks were good, but dig into more detail for real worth. How were decisions made? Do some data analysis to see if there was a trend in particular change.
Pepsico announced 3300 layoffs on disappointing 3rd quarter profits.
ReplyDeletewithout getting into the merits of any candidate, can anyone explain how it's fair for newspapers or tv stations to endorse candidates while forbidding us to have yard signs or bumper stickers for our candidates?
ReplyDeleteit would seem to me that an endorsement by the paper is a much greater show of "bias" than a bumper sticker on a sportswriter's car.
friends and neighbors outside the newspaper business are shocked when i tell them i'm not allowed to have stickers or yard signs. does anyone know of a specific federal court case upholding the firing of someone for having a sign or sticker?
A reader sent the following in an e-mail; I'm posting it here, as an anonymous comment. The text, edited to remove any information that might identify the writer:
ReplyDeleteI am a former Gannett employees wife…that is a unseen, and unrecognized position in Gannett land society…after my husband was cut in Sept. I began reading this blog…we do not know what we will do, but life finds a way…and what a bunch of crybabies so many of you are…you took the money from Gannett and loved those golden handcuffs…if you knew of a better way to promote business and did not do something that required you to stick your neck out….too bad
If you had a bad boss there are always avenues to deal with that and one of them is the door…this is a life and death struggle for the industry and now that we have become collateral causalities try to rebound instead of wallowing in much of what is just whining ….I did not like what happened but take a look at the world we are still better off than most…I hope that the top brass can pull this together and remold the news business best of luck to them.
The day I'm told I can't put a bumper sticker on my car is the day I get one for every party running.
ReplyDeleteYou can't have the First Amendment posted in the lobby and burn it in the parking lot.
For stockwatchers, two days don't a trend make, but still, in some black humor sort of way, the Dow at this hour goes into negative territory and GCI recovers to $13. Yesterday, the stock also moved inversely to the Dow.
ReplyDeleteits not hard to figure out the stock. people have been explaining it here for weeks. Jim, maybe you can repurpose some of the "in the know" commentsa bout the stock and why walls treet reacts the way it does to GCI. It pays a high dividend and high profits relatively speaking. So in down markets, its a good stock to own.
ReplyDeleteGCI was able to get a line of credit when commercial paper became difficult because they are a very large company with no problem covering their dividend (they still pay one unlike many companies). There is an article on marketwatch today about how large companies fare well in credit crunches and small cos do not. GCI is mentioned in a positive light here.
ReplyDeleteDon't bother with the day-to-day fluctuations in GCI. Pay attention to the long term, and it certainly doesn't look good. Investors are sending GCI a message: they can make more money elsewhere and do not have faith that GCI can match the performance of other industries.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree that the $1.2 billion loan was in response to the commercial paper market problem. Commercial paper was made available even in the lock-up period to prime companies. If commercial paper was not available to GCI in that period, it indicates to me that some bank regarded GCI as subprime. So ask yourself why they might feel that way about GCI.
It's funny, I never realized the rest of Gannett saw Westchester as badly as us that are already here until I found this blog.
ReplyDeleteWe just got an email from the publisher re: the advertising management "restructure". Now instead of Retail Director and Classifieds Director and Nationals Director...now they are all Advertising Director/(insert your section here).
Oooookkkkkkk....
Proofers? Do all ad departments have those positions? Just saw where one site is hiring a couple of 'em.
ReplyDeleteCredits are cheaper than proofers. If you look at the whole picture, including benefits, the number of credits you get is lower cost than keeping people around to read the paper. Make the customers responsible for proofing their ad, and they will ask for fewer credits.
ReplyDeleteBeing right isn't as important as being cheap.
Proofers are cheaper than appearing on Jay Leno's Monday night shows of ludicrous ad mistakes.
ReplyDeleteAt $24,000 a year, you will be grossly overpaid . Google created the blog software, your readers provide the comments which you later turn into POSTS.
ReplyDeleteIf you are a reporter with 20 years experience, turn this blog into a credible source of journalism....you can still take tips but we need some investigative reporting....not just blog comments.
ouch. only 19 stocks out 500 did not go up with the 900 point rally.
ReplyDeleteGCI was one of the 19.
CNNMoney has an article.
1:52 p.m. What you appear to denigrate as mere "comments" are, in fact, our best source of collective information about Gannett. A couple of thoughts:
ReplyDelete1. Gannett may seem like an easy company to keep track of. After all, it's just one company, right? In fact, however, it is really a holding company that owns more than 1,000 small businesses in the United States and the UK. The bulk of them, of course, are the more than 100 newspapers and TV stations. Gannett collectively employs more than 46,000. Employee/reader comments, then, are among our best hope for inside intelligence -- given that Corporate won't respond to my legitimate questions.
2. Google's Blogger software and readers' thoughts are of little value unless something takes the time to pull them together into a readable website, then markets the site to make sure it prospers. Doing that requires hundreds of hours of my time, 24/7.
Too Determine the LONG-TERM VALUE (viability) of a firm analysis the movement in the CALL & PUT OPTIONS on that company's stock.
ReplyDeleteThere now exist Gannett $5.00 Put options going out 1-year. That means someone thinks the company -MAY; not Will- but may contract to that level.
To those of you who think that eventuality is impossible; did you think One Short Year Ago you would see your $44.00 Gannett Stock >>goto>> $13.00?
Any word on an Asheville, Greenville merger?
ReplyDeleteAsheville seems to be sinking pretty fast!
Ok Jim. Fair enough.
ReplyDeleteThere is a good video interview on Yahoo Finance today about newspaper online revenues and what newspapers are doing wrong and how they can get it right.
ReplyDeleteDo you really think the newspaper industry will listen?
ReplyDeleteBack to proofers---with all the cuts, why is one paper hiring two or them, do you suppose? And about staffing, saw where USAT is hiring someone for London. Now, doesn't Gannett run some UK papers? With all the information sharing going on elsewhere, you would think the company could easily put in place some kind of information sharing, wouldn't you?
ReplyDeleteSign me up for London, dude!
ReplyDeleteCraig Dubow and Bob Dickey are going to be at The Courier-Journal (Louisville) on Friday. They want to hold a meeting to allow employees to ask difficult questions and raise issues which are important to them.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the environment these days, it should be an interesting meeting.
Question for all: If you were able to attend this Friday's C-J meeting and ask Bob & Craig just one question, what would it be?
ReplyDeleteMy one question: Why did GCI need to borrow $1.2 billion at a high interest rate when if they only waited for two days, they could have gotten a much lower interest rate on the same loan?
ReplyDeleteWhat dividend cuts, if any, would be needed to fully staff for the complete and exciting transformtion invisioned last year?
ReplyDelete8:22:
ReplyDeleteThis must be how they have decided to select employees for extermination. You raise an issue or ask a difficult question and you're gone - saves time having to decide the merits of individual employees.
Seating is limited for this meeting, so not everyone who would like to attend will be able to attend.
ReplyDeleteSimple. Should I take the first job offer I get because my job is going bye-bye or do I have the luxury of waiting for something I might actually want/be good at?
ReplyDeleteWhy did the company stop putting money into the retirement funds, with the exception of the UK and some collective bargained units, four or five years ago? Who made that decision and on what basis was it made?
ReplyDeleteMr. Dubow, this question is for you. How do you justify your enormous salary and bonus in light of the fact that the stock has dropped dramatically compared with the Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ since you took over?
ReplyDeleteQ: Have you examined the corporate staff to determine how you can consolidate and remove some redundancies?
ReplyDeleteEconomists seem to agree that the United States is heading into a very bad recession. With the diminished revenues, will there be further large-scale layoffs or do you have a new vision for this company that will allow us to survive the bad times?
ReplyDeleteThere will not be any hard questions asked only invited management will be at the meeting.
ReplyDeleteusual protocol for these meetings is your boss tell you what to say and it is implied you better say it.
ReplyDeleteTips for everyone working for Gannett:
ReplyDelete1. Save cash if possible. Cut frivolous expenses.
2. Sharpen your resume. Have other people read it. I often look at resumes, and the well-written ones jump out of the pack because so few are done well.
3. Develop new skills or certification in an area you might see yourself transition into. Spend time reading about other industries.
4. Look for opportunities in your current job to do new things.
Manage your career! Don't let a company manage it for you!