Friday, November 07, 2008
Friday | Nov. 7 | Got news, or a question?
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53 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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TGIF!
ReplyDeleteThat talent development program is not new:
ReplyDeleteFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, June 1, 2007
Gannett launches its annual Talent Development Program
Gannett today introduced the first class of its innovative Talent Development Program, which is designed to recruit, hire and train thirty-two of the nation’s top graduating college seniors annually. The program’s goal is to identify top candidates while they are still in college and guide them through to pre-assigned jobs at Gannett locations around the country, including USA TODAY, daily community newspapers and TV stations.
The first class, which today begins a summer of training followed by full-time jobs in September, comes from premier colleges and universities in 20 states and the District of Columbia.
“A highly competitive selection process means these graduates are the best of the best from some of the nation’s top schools. We are thrilled to welcome them to our industry,” said Craig A. Dubow, chairman, president and chief executive officer. “These new hires – and they are employees, not interns – will receive in depth training and mentoring for several months before beginning their full-time jobs.”
The thirty-two were chosen from among 350 applications received early in the year. The second class will be chosen next spring from applications received beginning in the fall. More information about applying to the program is available at www.gannett.com/career. The program is open to students in their senior year who are scheduled to graduate or will have graduated mid-term.
Some members of the class are journalists and will work in Gannett Information or Pulse Centers at publications or TV stations. Others in the class will be working in advertising, finance, circulation or other jobs throughout company. A list of the first class is available via http://www.gannett.com/leadershipanddiversity/talentdev.htm.
Gannett’s Information/Pulse Centers are the newsrooms of the future for our print or broadcast operations. They are organized to gather and disseminate information to multiple platforms, 24-hours a day, seven days a week. Audience-based ad sales are Gannett’s method of delivering customers to advertisers using innovative approaches and multiple products and platforms.
Members of the Talent Development Program have been assigned mentors and will be working in one of four regions of the country: West, Midwest, South and Northeast. At the successful completion of their training, they will be placed in full-time positions in the same region. Throughout the process, they will receive career guidance, feedback and multiple layers of experience.
Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is a leading international news and information company that publishes 85 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation's largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns nearly 1,000 non-daily publications in the USA and USA WEEKEND, a weekly newspaper magazine. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom’s second largest regional newspaper company. Newsquest publishes nearly 300 titles, including 18 daily newspapers, and a network of prize-winning Web sites. Gannett also operates 23 television stations in the United States and is an Internet leader with sites sponsored by its TV stations and newspapers including USATODAY.com, one of the most popular news sites on the Web.
Media inquiries:
Tara Connell
Vice president of Corporate Communications
(703) 854-6049
tjconnel@gannett.com
Gallows humor is running rampant on the work floor. This exchange:
ReplyDelete"Tell you what, I'll get you that paperwork on December 4."
"If I'm not there, just wait for me to come back!"
... was between a writer and a guy in accounts payable.
Whatever you can do to cope, I guess.
I thought this post was interesting:
ReplyDeleteThis comment is actually for Thursday, Nov. 6. I would like to say that today was a very bad day at APP. Certain people think they are sure to be let go so they are sitting around doing NOTHING. Even LEAD personnel are spending their day messing with their iPhones and basically bullshitting the day away right out front for all to see. They just do not care. Our operations manager is a mess. She just has let everything go. In all my life I have never seen such low morale. It is so hard to come to work and be positive when the turkeys are so hellbent on getting you down. They are even making us attend these assinine "stress and organization" seminars. Two fucking hours of some jackass telling us how to deal with stress. Gannett can keep their touchy-feely seminar. I've got work to do. If I am one of the ones going out the door, well then I will go out with my head held high. I take pride in my work and I won't let assholes ruin my work ethic. I may be a fool, but I am a proud fool. My parents brought me up right. Unlike these sniveling ass-kissers who lay low when the chips are down, but flock to the forefront when the getting is good.
Maybe in the light of this information about the recruiting of young talent while the specter of layoffs for the rank and file looms, it could be a good time to consider a class action lawsuit and retain a lawyer toward that end.
ReplyDeleteAmen 6:24. When your reputation is all you have left, you have to keep fighting.
ReplyDeletehey, 6:24, people like that are likelier to get the pink slips, leaving us worker-bees behind. the good thing about that is that we won't have to see them sitting on their @$$e$ while we do the work. the bad thing, of course, is that for up to 26 more weeks, they'll be OFFICIALLY paid to do nothing.
ReplyDeleteour department has only 1 or 2 people like that left, and i'm hoping they've volunteered. if they leave, we won't have time to miss them, for sure.
Jim, a $20 subscription check should hit your mailbox today or tomorrow. Please apply $15 of it "retroactively" -- I'll pitch in more in the new year.
ReplyDeleteWhat ever you do, please take all your sick days before December 7th
ReplyDeleteHR
6:50 a.m.
ReplyDeleteThanks for ponying up. I just put my $20 inside a thank you card. If you haven't subscribed yet, please consider it. If I get laid off, I'll still stop by occasionally but if I escape til the next round I will need this blog.
During the last layoff, management did not care who they let go. Our department is a small one compared to news and advertising and others, and it was already thinly staffed, so retaining quality people who actually get the job done is essential to workflow and production.
ReplyDeleteThat said, the one fired was in a niche position just like the rest of us, and we are all specialized because there is not enough people and time to train and cover all aspects of the work here. The person fired was low on the senority list, and that was the reason given as to why this person was eliminated. I was, and still am, so deeply burried in my own projects so the task of learning a new skill fell to someone else, causing his projects to fall behind.
We have been informed that all departments will see a 10% reduction in payroll, which for us mean yet another person at least, possibly 2 must go. Larger departments can better cope with staff reductions than smaller ones, so we are just in a wait and see position right now and hope for the best.
To sum it all up, skill levels, productivity and the likes means nothing when layoffs are looming. Senority should count for something, but when we as a business are bleeding money, and if staff reductions are unavoidable, it must and should be in everybody's best interest to keep a productive and flexible work force, no matter how long they worked here, so the company can turn the tide and survive untill the economy rebounds.
Fact is that upper management doesn't care, and all they see are numbers and $$$. They are in the process of cost cutting Gannett to an early grave.
For those interested, I have almost 20 years with Gannett, so I am not a newbie screaming to keep my job.
EW Scripps is laying off 10% of its workforce in the newspaper divison
ReplyDeleteActually, it was just the Southwest division, and the newsroom wasn't hit:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/nov/06/scripps-southwest-florida-group-eliminating-34-pos/
That's how Gannett should do the next round, but they won't, of course.
Now that the stock is back down to $10, can we just call off the layoffs? In a month or two, announce them again for a $2 bump, etc etc etc.
ReplyDeleteWho would ever know? Ethics schmethics.
6:33 maybe you can sue the U.S. voter too for not picking McCain because of his age and choosing a younger president-elect Obama instead.
ReplyDeleteGet real!
Enough already with the age issue.
6:24, was that 'seminar' conducted by the recently hired (this spring)training manager that probably makes more than many of you still employed at APP? I think that is a real shame (or sham)
ReplyDeleteNo, 9:36, read the Scripps press release this morning. It is 400 company wide, and it is not just SSP's southern newspapers. It is all of the properties. They notified everyone affected yesterday, announced it today. That's a far better approach than dragging it out for weeks, and leaving everyone wondering if they are going to get the axe or not.
ReplyDeleteAt my site in the South, I have been told by reliable sources that the layoffs will not happen until the second week of December. I am not sure what the reason for the delay is, although the rumor is that some members of management will be out of town the first week and want to be around when the layoffs happen.
ReplyDeleteI know this has been said before, but I think it bears repeating. This will mean there will have been about six weeks between the announcement of the layoffs and when the axe actually falls. This amounts to nothing more than slow, psychological torture.
I realize that if they just did the layoffs without warning, there would be those who would complain. But it seems the happy medium would be to give us no more than two weeks warning. That would be enough time for people to polish their resumes and get their affairs in order, without dragging it on needlessly and incessantly.
Between the layoffs in August, which also were dragged out, and this round, I have seen my newsroom destroyed. Morale is at an all-time low, and that's saying something. I have seen what was a spirit of support and cooperation disintegrate into sniping, backstabbing, tension and paranoia.
All of us take pride in ourselves and our work, and for many of us, that is the only thing keeping us going right now. At the same time, it also means that everybody is just looking out for themselves. I understand it, but it's a definite shift from the way things were before.
At this point, I just want to know either way. If I am not one of the ones let go, I am 100 percent certain that my job responsibilities will change in some way. I'd like to know how that will happen so I can readjust and refocus and figure out how I will handle my new and/or additional duties. If I am laid off, I need to know that too, so I can start seeking out other opportunities and moving forward with my life. As it is now, I feel like I am being held hostage by Gannett.
Read this on a blog a year ago. It could have been written last week.
ReplyDeleteWorking in a Dubow Blunderland
Death knells ring, are you listening,
In the ledger, red ink's glistening
A pitiful sight,
We're worried tonight,
Working in the Dubow Blunderland.
Gone away are the bennies,
If we stay, it's for pennies
He sings the pain song,
As we slog along,
Working in the Dubow Blunderland.
On the Web site we can build a databank,
And pretend that it is worth a click
He'll say: Are you hyper?
We'll say: No man,
But if you gave us staff
It'd do the trick.
So for now, we'll conspire,
Send out resumes, before we're fired
And face unafraid,
New careers to be made,
Outside of the Dubow Blunderland.
On the Scripps layoffs: yes newsrooms were hit
ReplyDeleteFrom Nashville:
ReplyDeleteThe Tennessean newsroom is preparing for job cuts of 20 people. It also will greatly cut back or eliminate contract writers.
The financial situation here is dire. According to Wall Street Journal statistics, the state of Tennessee is in the worst fiscal condition of any place in the Union except for Washington State. But the folks there have a state income tax. Here, government relies mostly on sales tax, which is down greatly because people are too scared to buy or have lost their jobs.
Advertisers are deserting the newspaper and its high ad rates. The market here is quite fractured with four different but smaller newspapers in Nashville and additional magazine and newspaper competitors in neighboring Williamson County, the 11th most affluent county in the nation. Then there is the Internet that younger media consumers use.
Silverman and Leifeld have really worsened the situation they inherited. But they won't lose their jobs or bonuses on Dec. 1. The good people who are still working their hardest while raising families will suffer.
It's plain wrong and damning.
My appreciation and prayers go out to each and everyone one of you still employed and still dealing with this stress. Your heroics are deeply admired.
Tim Chavez
www.politicalsalsa.com
Murdoch tells analyst in Chicago: Online 'Wall St. Journal' Subs Make $100 Million...yet, Gannett keeps giving away its content for free. Great strategic plan Dubow.
ReplyDelete10:22 - you must be from Jersey! "Bennies" gave it away. Your jingle gave me a chuckle on this dreary day.
ReplyDelete10:56 AM
ReplyDeleteYou can put a price tag on something, but does that mean people will buy it?
I don't understand the anger over the six-week gap between announcement of layoffs and actual layoffs. Yes, of course it's emotionally painful, but I'd rather get paid for those six weeks, plus the severance, than to have the severance start immediately. Those extra six weeks can be pretty helpful, especially if you haven't worked for the company 10-plus years and can't expect a long severance.
ReplyDelete11;11 If you don't understand, look around you at the sullen faces in your office, listen to the silence around the water cooler where there once was laughter, watch the hangdog look of people as they walk around with shoulders slumped, imagine the back-stabbing going on behind closed-doors, smell the dispiriting scents.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the Re-Distributor will announce a last-minute bailout plan for the newspaper industry?
ReplyDeleteIt would be a great payback for all the fawning we did over the last two years.
11:10 AM
ReplyDeleteIf they can’t get that content and/or more detailed information anywhere else (especially the often touted local-local), my guess is that some will. I’ve certainly been happy to pay for the online WSJ for years.
One of the simplest things that Gannett could do would be to limit expanded content access (i.e. archival info, expanded local-local, data center, etc.) to print subscribers as part of their subscription and online only subscribers. It would likely help shore up print subscriber defections and actual show some value for online overall, which from a user standpoint, few if any place value on something they get for free. The best case scenario is that subscribers would pay a little more (can’t get greedy) on top of their print subscription to get it.
Giving it all away for free, particularly unique local content and the other resource tools is foolish especially when everyone knew that online ad revenue was not going to fill the declining print revenue gaps anytime soon. The fact that Gannett has to keep cutting staff, even more so.
11:11 great comment, my thought exactly, time will tell.
ReplyDelete11:20 You have a water cooler!!! Lucky you!!!!
ReplyDeleteIMHO content (stenography) should be free. Real news (information synthesis and reporting) should cost money. Jim's blog falls in the latter category. That's why I don't mind paying for it.
ReplyDeleteI received this e-mail from the Westchester publisher, and still don't understand what it will mean for unemployment benefits for those who volunteer to be paid off:
ReplyDeleteI received several questions regarding the voluntary severance program after yesterday’s memo. I thought I would clarify these issues for all of you.
In yesterday’s letter to you, I mentioned that you would need to let us know by Tuesday, November 11th if you had an interest in being considered for a voluntary severance. You actually have until Wednesday, November12th.
Once again if you have any questions you can ask Minnie Stanley (x5169) in HR for clarification.
The questions and answers are:
1. If a person “volunteers” for a severance offer, is he/she ineligible for unemployment benefits?
Answer: We will not oppose unemployment but we can’t give advice or speak for the unemployment people.
2. If you raise your hand for a voluntary severance opportunity, and it’s accepted is there a restriction from ever working for a Gannett newspaper in the future?
Answer: You can work for another Gannett unit, but your severance would end if you were still in the severance period.
3. Would it close out opportunities to do consultant work for this newspaper or its web site or any other Gannett units?
Answer: You would not be able to do consultant work for this newspaper.
After I got this, I went online to see if I could find the answer. This is from the NYS Dept. of Labor Web site FAQ on unemployment insurance:
You may be eligible for benefits if:
You lost your job due to lack of work: the temporary or seasonal employment ended; your job was eliminated; there was an involuntary reduction in force; the company downsized or shutdown; the company restructured or reorganized, there was a lack of company operating funds/orders; or for any other business operating reason which resulted in your involuntary unemployment.
You were discharged or fired because you were unable to meet employer performance or production standards, or you were unable to meet employer's qualifications for the job.
You may be denied benefits if:
You were fired because your employer alleged that you violated a company policy, rule or procedure, such as absenteeism or insubordination; because of a disagreement or dispute with a boss or co-worker; or you were fired for any other reason.
You quit your job.
You are unemployed because of a work stoppage in the last 49 days which was conducted in violation of an existing collective bargaining agreement in the establishment in which you were employed. It is not necessary that you are actually participating in the strike, but only that you are not working because of the strike in the facility in which you worked.
So, if you volunteer for the layoff have you:
A.) lost your job because "there was an involuntary reduction in force"
or
B.) You quit your job.
This seems vital to know.
I am disappointed the publisher refuses to answer this question. Who would volunteer without knowing if they would lose the substantial unemployment benefit, which is up to $405 a week for 26 weeks plus the 13-week extension?
Anyone know the answer for employees in NY?
the layoffs would be quicker if corporate could trust on-site management to decide who it will miss the least. but gannett "managers" can't wipe their butts w/o virginia's ok.
ReplyDeletewhich means a process that could have taken 2 wks will take 6 or 7 -- both a good thing (getting pd longer) and a bad one (misery lasts longer also).
i volunteered. i hope they take me. i'm already doing 1.5 to 2x as much work as 2 yrs ago, and insurance and taxes have drug my takehome down to less than i got before. not really eager to do 2.5-3x as much for even less. (less coverage will cost me more next yr, naturally).
At least you have the option to volunteer.
ReplyDelete"11/07/2008 11:38 AM" So it's you and your like ilk who's killing the newspapers. For online? You're like the sports figure...name a sport...who comes in and wants to change everything, with no regard for history and/or what got news companies where they are (or is it were) in the first place. Not everybody can afford to be online, in any form. Others yet refuse to be. If you have enough time to read a lot of stuff online you must not be working as you should. Didn't the sellouts of the nation's newspapers Wednesday show you anything?
ReplyDelete1:08 - if you volunteer, you are still part of a layoff action. When you file for unemployment, tell them you were laid off. Period. Your HR department will not contest it.
ReplyDeleteNot telling the truth to the government is fraud, so lie about being laid off instead of bought out if you want the FBI knocking on your door in the middle of the night. You could be in a whole world of hurt if you don't describe accurately the circumstances of your departure. On top of court costs, you might have to pay back the benefits you got.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a buyout, 4:10, it is a layoff. According to my HR dept., whether you volunteer for it or don't, it's treated the exact same way legally and you're eligible for the same unemployment benefits.
ReplyDeleteThey are giving the same terms as the buyout, so it will be a buyout. Management wouldn't be playing the "we won't oppose unemployment" games if it were a straight buyout. Management would say it was a layoff and make unemployment benefits eligible. I would note they don't pay the unemployment benefits, so why should they care? They are protecting themselves in case there is an investigation of fraudulent unemployment claims.
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDelete$20 CPM is ridiculously high. Granted this is a very targeted site with a loyal following, but c'mon.. this isn't print advertising here.
Besides, CPM is so 5 years ago. Most online advertisers are only willing to pay CPC(CPA) --or PPC(PPA) depending on your angle.
$20 CPM?! ugh.
Management is clearly saying if you want to lie to get unemployment benefits, they won't tell on you.
ReplyDelete5:01 pm: A blogger can dream, can't he?
ReplyDeleteYou sure can dream!
ReplyDeleteWhere else are we supposed to go for honest and quick information about what is happening around us?
Priceless!
Just for the record in response to an early comment re: Tennessee. Washington state DOES NOT have a state income tax.
ReplyDeleteAnother weekend is upon us and another weekend ruined worrying about the looming layoffs.
ReplyDeleteDear Westchester,
ReplyDeleteFisch did that to us in Honolulu too while he was here.....got a question? Go ask someone else for the answer. He never seemed to know much but he was always nice about not knowing anything. Worked for him.
Westchester was a mess long before Fisch arrived. It will make the upcoming cuts interesting, he has no idea who does what or who is needed. Upper management tells him everything is great and certain people are needed and they will protect their own asses. 99,000 circulation and shrinking, a disgrace for the heavily populated three county area.
ReplyDeleteEveryone on here, should just read the writing on the wall (or in the paper). It's time to look for a new job. Get out. Things are not going to get any better. If you survive this cut, you will run the risk of being laid off in the future indefinitely.
ReplyDeleteThe company is dying for many reasons, and what I predict will eventually happen is the buildings will be sold and the papers will operate with a couple of editors and a staff of around 10 or so reporters who fill a one-section "local" news section with local news that is inserted in USAT or something.
Forget about having anyone tell you what is going on. They have already given you enough information. The layoffs won't stop, and they'll never be able to offer job security. How long can you live like that?
Yes, please get out.
ReplyDeleteI have been working my ass of all day so I have not been able to monitor this blog. I have to agree with 6:24 am. Fight the good fight. Continue to put out the quality journalism you are capable of. We work for the readers not the corporation. I continue to work to learn new story telling methods, techniques, software, etc. so I can give my readers the information they need. Newspapers are not dead. Look at the many reprints of post election coverage. Newspapers continue to be one of society's institutions. Only if corporate were smart enough to embrace it. NOT!
ReplyDeleteJim, my $10 is in the mail.
Thanks for this forum and the great information it provides.
Prayers for my brother and sisters in New Jersey, I spent 5 years out there at one of the Gannett papers.
Please let us all think about why we got into this business and not plumbing. There was a journalism spark that ignited into a flame. Lets not let that spark go out.
Cheers.
11:11 -- Here's a better solution, IMO:
ReplyDeleteTell people that, in two weeks, cuts will be made, and they can volunteer to be laid off. But also tell people that if they are cut, they'll be able to stay on for one more month to get their affairs in order. After that month, the buyout payout terms would kick in.
That way, you still get six weeks, but at least everybody knows who's leaving and who's staying.
EVERYONE... Just apply for unemployment. Just because you are taking the layoff voluntarily means nothing. You are filling a spot that is due to LACK OF WORK. The papers are NOT going to contest it and there will be nothing on your paperwork that says you voluntarily quit. If that were so they wouldn't be giving you a severance check.
ReplyDeleteBy the time your severance runs out, president obama will have delivered a new ford to every garage and most of craig's $7.5 will be redistributed to all of us equally.
ReplyDeleteIt's morning in america again, and nobody has to pay for anything or do any work.
Yee hah.