Saturday, November 15, 2008
Saturday | Nov. 15 | Got news, or a question?
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51 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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I've got to bake bread today, because Sparky likes the kind I make. Maybe I can film a scene for Cookin' With Jim.
ReplyDeleteAnother day, another 24 hours to regret that I didn't choose a more stable career like, say, repairing beta max machines.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, IT IS NOT SATURDAY YET! Let see EST time is 10. With Pacific, time being three hours behind EST time, that mean it is about 7, were your at Jim> So how can you say this is Saturday? I thought only Gannett, STRETCHES the truth.
ReplyDeleteJim:
ReplyDeleteI think you need to make a hat, out of a newspaper like the guys in the pressroom do, and wear it on your videos.
It could say Gannettblog on the front.
10:52 pm: I need to find a video that will show me how to make one of those hats.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe ask someone old in the pressroom @ the SF or Merc papers?
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, here's one that uses your fave:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-your-own-Newspaper-Hat/
I keep trying to fold my Macbook into a hat but it just looks stupid. I don't know why, I have USAToday.com up on the screen, it should work fine.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have a number on what COBRA insurance continuing might cost after I'm laid off?
ReplyDeleteI realize each site and each employee is different, but can I expect to pay double my normal health premium? Triple? More?
I'd like to work on my budget some more, figure out when I'll have to move my family in with my parents and give up my house.
Thanks for any information!
Humor time.
ReplyDeleteI think I've been to few of these meetings at Gannett. Well, maybe not this bad, but close.
http://tinyurl.com/2hlo3j
Warning: Adult content, foul language.
Except for the human spam, that sure reminded me of the daily news meetings!
ReplyDelete5:29 -
ReplyDeleteYou pay 102% of the total premium, which includes the amount Gannett subsidizes.
The 2% is for the administrative cost for the company that handles your Cobra.
How many other papers folding their lifestyles sections into the B book?
ReplyDeleteis anybody out there thinking about how those who keep their jobs might help those who dont?
ReplyDeleteat my paper, weve always taken up collections for retirement gifts, etc. what about a collection to buy gift cards for the shortest-term and/or lowest-paid people who layed off? a $40 gift card would buy a holiday meal or stocking stuffers for kids.
what about doing "toys for our OWN tots"? let charity begin at home this year -- get something for a laid-off coworkers child and give it to the parent to give the kid.
reporter-types, can you make a list of social services, with names and numbers and urls, so people who get layed off know where to get help? we middle-class "professionals" arent used to having to go to food pantries.
and if you still have a job dont just give thanks, give to a food drive. a few cans of whatevers on sale will taste pretty good to someone whose having to choose between food and rent or medicine.
2:11
ReplyDeleteas cute as that hat is i think it's a hat for playing pirates. i believe this is the newspaper hat for playing old press guy.
http://www.instructables.com/id/SM4URIBF9AC3EVT/
any news on the finance consoldidation. Havent herd anything in month or so expected that things are going bad... Can someone comfirm this?
ReplyDeletepost 10:24 s/b "except" not "expected"
ReplyDelete5:29, here in NJ (not sure if Gannett is across the board on coverage)the company paid approximately 74% of my coverage. Of course it's going down next year as always. You can do the math or just call YBR and they should tell you. From what I understand Cobra may be more expensive than going out on your own and getting coverage.
ReplyDelete5:29, from NJ as well. On the YBR site there was a link to the cost of the COBRA benefits. Very helpful in deciding what route to take if my husband is laid off. For us, the COBRA figure appears to actually be cheaper than if I were able to get insurance for our family through my employer (I can't; enrollment was a month ago and I was told I couldn't join in later if this happened. The joys of working for a small company.)
ReplyDeleteAny word on certain or how many lay offs at the papers of the South? CL? Hattisburg? Please reply.
ReplyDeleteFrom an ad posted on www.sologig.com, a Web site that specializes in employers looking for "independent" (i.e. no benefits) temp, consulting, freelance or contract jobs:
ReplyDeleteGeneral job application
Company:Gannett Co., Inc.
Hourly Rate:Negotiable
Location:
McLean, Virginia
Description
Gannett is a leading international news and information company that publishes 85 daily newspapers, including USA TODAY, and 1,200 non-daily publications in the USA. We own and operate 23 television stations, which cover 18% of the USA and have a market reach of 20.1 million households. Gannett is also an Internet leader with 130 sites sponsored by its newspapers, television stations and related operations. Gannett’s domestic web sites attract approximately 23 million unique users a month, reaching 15% of the Internet audience.
Full-time opportunities are available for multimedia journalists, broadcast producers, copy editors, digital page designers, account executives/advertising managers for print, broadcast and online platforms, web editors, web designers, finance and information technology candidates.
It's an exciting time at Gannett. The media industry is changing daily and we are changing with it. There is a universe of opportunity in that change. Come help us explore new ways to transform and grow!
Understand some of the units at Cincinnati took a 10% wage reduction in lieu of layoffs. Is that true? How does that work? Believe this was not in the newsroom.
ReplyDeleteA 10% wage reduction on top of an 8% rise in health insurance ... just shoot me now.
ReplyDelete10:37 AM, you should double-check on that. At every company I've ever been with, you can always modify insurance options outside open enrollment if you encounter certain "life events." Changes in spousal employment status is one of those events.
ReplyDeleteHmmm ... Jersey Shore Metromix is advertising for freelance writers and photographers on at least one jobs Web site.
ReplyDeleteAnd somebody on an earlier day had mentioned the Hollis Towns "jump must end on a graf or a sentence" rule. That just got handed down at APP this past week.
Metromix is also looking for some " HOOTCHIE MAMA'S "
ReplyDeleteit cost me about $734 a month to cobra family medical, vision and dental .. in 2006. You can keep it for 18 months.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed there's not much chatter today about the upcoming layoffs - or is everyone just numb?
ReplyDeleteI took the voluntary - smart or just downright stupid!?! I'd like to move on with my life and not have every second be a nausous terrified moment of whether or not the GCI needs me or wants me anymore after years of hard, dedicated work. I've loved my jobs and most of the people I've worked with over the years, but I just can't take the pressure! I don't feel focused with the impending doomsday looming over my head and that doesn't help me get my day to day job functions done. After I handed in my "notice", I felt a weight lift. Now it's just the 2 MORE weeks of pressure waiting for the "acceptance" or NO you have to stay. If they elect to "keep" me, will I feel like Sally Field "they like me, they really like me" or more like someone trapped in a torture chain saw movie nightmare? I've heard people comment that anyone who takes the voluntary is a fool and others who've jumped at the offer and think I made the right move. My only regret is all the good hard working wonderful people I'll be leaving behind with a shit load of extra work to do.
Getting that out, why can't they (or will they?), let the people who volunteered know if they've been accepted or not? My manager advised that I could be turned down. I'd like to put my very well thought out Plan B into effect ASAP and again get on with my life!! Any rumors flying out there?
4:36 here again - I meant to say will they let us know earlier than the rest or will they continue with the suspense until we all have ulcers and nervous break downs?
ReplyDeleteThese are scary, scary times, but I truly believe that it is better to be employed right now than not, even if health care is up, raises are down, etc. At least there is a paycheck coming in.
ReplyDeleteI left a big Gannett paper a year ago--where I was making great money, had great benefits, etc., but hated what I was doing--to take a chance at a different gig. I moved, put my house on the market (it still has not sold) and am paying rent and a mortgage and all the attendant utilties. Oh and I was let go in August from the new gig with no warning, nothing. I am a good saver, had some money I could use without touching pension or 401k or anything, and then then the economy tanked. I have seen my investments lose at least 40 percent of their value (on paper, anyway; I am trying to hold on), I have been looking for a job since then, with no luck, inside or outside the business, and can't even get a job in retail. Everyone, it is AWFUL out there, especially when you are the sole support of yourself or your family. I urge you to hang on to your job at Gannett as long as you can, and look for other work while you still have a paycheck coming in. At this point, I would give almost anything to have my old Gannett job back. I possibly would be on the block to be laid off, but at least I would have had a year's pay, 401k, etc, and more savings because I was not paying rent and a mortgage.
4:36, I don't think it was a bad move at all to take the buyout. Many people don't seem to understand there won't be a better offer. This is the best it'll be. So people who are waiting for a sweeter deal are making a mistake. It's not coming.
ReplyDeleteI applaud you for your courage. Someone else will, too, who keeps his or her job because of you. It's admirable.
Jim, any chance of starting a thread for middle managers to weigh in on what they know and what they plan to do when the layoffs come down?
ReplyDeleteWe know very little, and I'm stunned our input isn't being solicited. I don't think I'm owed information in advance about what will be done, but I can't imagine not asking for our thoughts. It's crazy.
I'm holding my breath. I'm driven, enthusiastic and productive, and I'm willing to gut through this if I have good people around me.
But if the layoffs are based on anything other than skill, if our best and brightest arre among the casualties, then I'm gone. No question about it. I will not be surrounded by those who don't care or can't do what it takes to save us. That would be miserable.
What are other managers, particularly middle managers, thinking?
Will you stay if the top editors make poor layoff decisions?
I'm a middle manager. I haven't had any input on this round or last. So, I offered my own input: I volunteered to be laid off. Yes, I'm scared stupid because of the economy, but it's bound to turn around eventually. And I have to believe there's something better out there - even if it's for less money. I think my quality of life is worth significantly more than the value I've placed on it the last couple of decades. Guess I may be about to find out.
ReplyDelete5:42 PM
ReplyDeleteIf you're driven, what are you waiting for. Why don't you offer unsolicited opinions and views? You don't have to wait for someone to ask you, you know.
7:29 PM
ReplyDeleteAre you leaving because of a hostile work environment?
5:42, i'm not any kind of manager, thank god. but if i find twice as much work dumped on me when i already do more than my share, i'll turn in o.t. for every minute of it. and if they don't pay, i'll be calling the state and u.s. labor depts.
ReplyDeleteand do top editors really make the decisions? or just rubber-stamp h.r.'s hit list after its okd in va? i was told that my boss's boss wasn't even consulted about which of the 5 assistant mgrs would be dumped. the one who was layed off was the smartest and nicest and one of the two hardest workers.
your just confirming what i thought all along -- noone asks the people who know your work best, the brass just picks people for other (probably illegal) reasons.
10:10 p.m. friday said:
ReplyDeleteThe decision has been made for some people already - and in some cases is already public knowledge. At least in Cincinnnati.
really? how? can you explain w/o compromising your source?
5:42 pm: I've just started that string for middle-managers here: http://tinyurl.com/5fs9zw
ReplyDeletehttps://ads.pulse360.com/pulse360/gannett-landing.html
ReplyDeleteIs this pulse 360 advertising gig new for Gannett Digital?
7:33, I don't know that it was any more hostile than any other newsroom. I have just put in too many hours for too many years without any appreciation. I don't need a lot of back patting, but something other than, "why isn't x done?" after completing a major project would be nice. Besides, I just don't think I want to be a party to what's coming next. I expect it will be borderline inhumane for those remaining.
ReplyDeleteOh, it's going to be pure heck for those who are left, unless the worksites really curtail their ambitions. I mean cutting beats, eliminating pages if not sections, dropping anything that's time-consuming.
ReplyDeleteI personally hope that'll lead to a reconfiguration of the entire reporting structure at my paper, where we have five people tasked to do special projects in a newsroom of about 25 reporters. Their bylines appear once a month, if we're lucky, while the rest of us churn out the daily copy and get ragged on for failing to produce "big-picture" pieces. I really have no idea what our CAR reporter does.
There is precedent locally for such a seismic shift. The news and sports desks were reconfigured into a single universal desk a while back, which has meant a lot of aggravation on both sides.
I'm hoping the officious and obnoxious AME will get canned - interesting that we still have an AME but no ME - but ain't holdin' my breath.
The word here (West coast is all I'll say) is that classifieds will bear nearly all of the brunt of our cuts, being replaced by an online app being developed.
ReplyDeleteCall it the Craigslist Effect.
special projects? Wow. That died for us in the mid-90s. And we had one special projects reporter. I'm impressed that such a creature still exists, much less five of them.
ReplyDelete1:51 p.m.: Sounds like Hollis is starting to let his true "My Way or the Highway" style of management shine through. He banned jumps in mid-paragraph suddenly and unilaterally in Cincinnati and ordered up coverage of the most worn-out mundane topics you can imagine. He berated editors in staff meetings and threatened photogs with their jobs if they didn't get a certain shot during a high-profile trial. Incredibly, he chums around and plays favorites with those he hires, while ignoring most others. He has a terrible eye for talent and the worst news judgment I've seen in an exec ed.
ReplyDeleteHey, USA TODAY czars...ARE WE GOING TO HAVE ANY LAYOFFS OR BUYOUTS? Damn, we have to be able to plan our lives, at least for the next year. Would be nice to have some definitive word. I mean, you all do remember how to be professional, honest and forthcoming, right? This uncertainty isn't doing us, you or the company much good. Even though we know you're in a hurry to kill off the newspaper, creating anxiety and bleeding us to death isn't really a great way to do it. The old method of making people miserable so that they leave on their own is just worn out and tired. Let's get on with it, please. There are work and personal plans on hold waiting for some word from the top...something more than, "well, I am optimistic...blah, blah, blah."
ReplyDeleteDO NOT give up your job unless you have another one in hand, I don't care how tough you think it is to stay at Gannett.
ReplyDeleteI got the heave-ho in August and can't find work anywhere. I've been turned down for $30k receptionist jobs because I'm 'over-qualified,' or don't have experience with certain computer programs, or maybe I'm too old and they're looking for some sweet young thing to answer the phones.
The only thing I got, after applying to everything from newspapers out of state to sales clerk, is temporary part-time sales at a shop in the mall.
Tiny papers in small towns seem to be the only one looking for former newsroom managers, and that at a considerably reduced salary than I was getting.
Hang in there, folks. Now is not the time to give up that bird in the hand.
10:58...
ReplyDeleteThey're not formally designated as special projects reporters - there's no SP "team" - but the only non-takeout stories they write are breaking news when they're on night cops or weekend GA rotation, or lending a hand on a big political or biz story.
There's an investigative reporter, a "senior reporter," a CAR specialist and two people who just kind of float and write whatever they like. It's kind of sad, because the staff - myself included - could probably learn a lot from all of them, the CAR guy in particular. But the culture is so insular and they're so high-and-mighty that they don't deign to even acknowledge the presence of us peons.
One of them MIGHT be cut in this round, because the large salary might make for a tempting payroll target, but I really doubt it. They get their pick of the big stories, which get the splashiest play in print and heaviest promotion online, so they must be doing the best jobs, right? ... which makes them the EE's faves.
Is there a little resentment? You bet.
Isn't a layout, buyout, salary goes on, etc. all the same? What is the difference.
ReplyDelete10:55 is correct most of the cuts will be classified.. Just wait and see..
ReplyDeleteHey Jim or anyone out there - still no time table for the finance project? Already hearing horror stories of ads being killed by the "new" finance team and other mysterious goings on out there. Can we have some feed back on that? Or is everyone deaf and dumb about the situation? That's how it seems at this site. Please inform us!
ReplyDeleteSorry, 11:29 am: I still don't have more current information on the finance project timetable.
ReplyDeletejim, i wasn't going to comment, just read what others said. then i noticed the verification word:
ReplyDeletesparkie
so hello to sparky, even if the security program spelled his name wrong. we suffering gannett droids appreciate him sharing you with us and being patient while you try to make this enterprise self-supporting.