Ending most home delivery of the Detroit dailies is "less a bold innovation than a Hail Mary pass," Chicago Tribune media columnist Phil Rosenthal writes today.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Columnist: Could this be Detroit's new Edsel?
Ending most home delivery of the Detroit dailies is "less a bold innovation than a Hail Mary pass," Chicago Tribune media columnist Phil Rosenthal writes today.
24 comments:
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Yes, but Ford was a profitable company when they launched the Edsel. The Freep/News combo is losing money, so I can see why they want to do this. Yes, it is a Hail Mary pass, but that works sometime. It worked as a military strategy in Desert Storm I, and it is better than sitting there and watching the numbers crumble week after week. The alternative, it looks to me, is to shut down and leave Detroit, or try to save the profitable parts of the operation while cutting off the unprofitable. It is a radical solution, but at least it is one solution.
ReplyDeleteYou know what Edsels are selling for now? Here is one being offered for $49,500: http://www.edsel.com/pages/for_sale.htm
ReplyDelete...yep...can always depend on old jim to take the negative road...he's out of a job so he would like to see everyone out and the newspaper industry go down with him...
ReplyDeleteMaybe the new detroit plan is the mustang or the minivan.
Pretty sad when you complain about how bad the newspaper business is, especially when your former employer could not justify your $100,000 plus salary. But now that you have such a popular web site for the "sky is falling" folks, you can not even bring in $6,000 in 3 months. As someone opined a few weeks ago, where's the tin cup.
Not the industry, just wicked old Gannett! They are the ones that did him wrong, even though he took a voluntary buyout.
ReplyDelete12:40
ReplyDeleteYou are right on. This site definitely adds to anxiety at a time when we all need more optimism. Many fellow employees have commented to me that they feel depressed after reading this blog. I know you going to say no one is forcing them to read the Gannett Blog, but in the same breath no one is forcing anyone to stay with Gannett.
12:40 and 1:55 pm: You incorrectly assume that I share that Chicago Tribune columnist's opinion about the Detroit plan. I do not.
ReplyDeleteWhat's more, as always, I would like your suggested examples of the terrific work Gannett employees do every day. Please, each of you, suggest just one. I can't promise I'll agree, but at least it would be a start.
Please remember: There are more than 40,000 Gannett employees -- but only one of me. I depend on all of you to be my eyes and ears for all the news -- good and bad.
Detriot's in a uniquely bad situation, so I can see why a Hail Mary pass would be tried there. A better first step, however, would be to find a way to kill off the News. Detroit can't support 2 papers, but 1 might make a better go of it.
ReplyDeleteIn a few months we'll know if this experiment succeeds. If it does, management will look like geniuses. I suppose that's possible.
Jim:
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt in my mind that posting examples of terrific work Gannett employees do would result in a multitude of negative comments, further exacerbating the problems most of us are facing right now.
To 5:21 pm, and to other readers who complain this blog is too negative: I am offering a solution, and you have rejected it -- without offering an alternative.
ReplyDeleteNo, 2:25 p.m., killing the News would NOT be a "better first step." Killing a publication that gets as many hits (and sometimes more) than the Free Press would only drive away a big chunk of the Detroit Media Partnership's online audience. Killing a paper that, despite decades of afternoon home delivery and mismanagement, still has a circulation of about 180,000(making it comparable to that of the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Charlotte Observer) would be a bad business decision. That's why Gannett and MediaNews are taking this risky step.
ReplyDeleteAnd God help the Detroit area if it has to rely largely on the Free Press for its news.
Please explain to me how in the wide, wide world of sports has a columnist EVER been a "news"-person?
ReplyDeleteOpinion is the single-most expendable thing at EVERY Gannett newspaper...
I've NEVER met a columnist that wasn't completely full of Him(her)self.
Get rid of them, and their high-priced salaries.
Negative posts? For those still employed by a Gannett paper, what part of your day is positive? Nearly all just went through several weeks waiting for the announced day of 10% staff reductions with word of more coming. Anybody still employed by Gannett recently heard a manager talk of positive news or provided positive insight or plans? I'm sure there may be a few but I don't think many. This blog is home to many removed from positions they loved and dedicated their lives to.
ReplyDelete7:51: Time to move on? Let it go? I have many positives every day.
ReplyDeleteWell, let's see...payday is a positive day for me. I kind of like it and look forward to more. And many positive things happen at work. We plan, strategize and have successes, quite a few. I wish I could share some but would prefer to remain in the shadows if you know what I mean.
Jim well knows that good news won't sell or he would be doing investigative reporting to find good news himself himself. Instead, he says "I am offering a solution, and you have rejected it -- without offering an alternative."
Now, I do enjoy reading the investigative information on the NC college situation but that is really potentially news if anything comes of it. Most of the rest is speculation.
On the other hand, Jim, perhaps a little good "news" might be just the thing for your revenues. It sounds like you're not dragging in bags of money now with all your hints and silly ads. Maybe a different approach is in order. I might even pony up a donation to the cause if that were the case. As it is, I'm trying to save every penny in case doomsday - the one you and the negatives report constantly - actually arrives for me. Better to put it in the bank than send it to you, don't you think?
Jim, you're doing a great and wonderful service to all of us toiling in the dark. I've already sent cash but I'm going to the homepage and clicking on some ads. I encourage the rest of you Comment Readers to do the same thing. It gives our boy a little extra dough.
ReplyDeleteThank you. But, as always, please only click on the ads if you're genuinely interested in the product or service!
ReplyDelete7:51 What possible good news does GCI put out these days? Craig Dubow came to work this morning? Tara Connell did not return phone calls for comment today? Gannett has generated the comments it is getting because the company has generated real news that is of interest to many of us. It has generated news by making the largest layoffs of any chain in the industry to date; it has generated news by allowing its stock to slide to historic low levels; it has generated news by shutting down editions and papers. It is a public company, and as such deserves public scrutiny. If it were a private concern, it would go about its business each day like the Blethen papers in Washington state without much public notice. GCI wants public attention, because it wants what passes as public money in this republic, and that is traded on the NYSE.
ReplyDeleteNegative posts? Since when was a newsroom filled with cheery upbeat optimists? Sure there are always a few but mostly reporters are cynical bastards, since the work more or less demands it.
ReplyDeleteGannett is kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place in Detroit, a money losing paper in an area that, if it weren't for bad luck, it'd have no luck at all. The Freep and The News have too much baggage (unions, bureaucracy, VPs, excessive salaries) to go on this way. If it fails, the JOA dissolves and that's that. The News and Freep join the Times.
But then, with a clean slate, there's a void to be filled, and money to be made. An entrepreneur with no pre-conceived notions about how to run a newspaper can step in, do what needs to be done to make it profitable (no unions, lower salaries, tight staffs), and fills the void for the area, in print and on line.
You always hear about people wanting to "blow it up and start from scratch," well, this might be the laying of the dynamite.
It's not so crazy (plus that rknil guy could get a job there, he knows everything!).
Jim,
ReplyDeleteTwice this past year, many months ago, I sent you good news. Once, during a string of particularly negative comments, I sent a post about the Free Press winning two national Emmy Awards. Talk about innovation. Maybe you should look into that. The posts never appeared. SO I quit sending. I'm trying again. We'll see if it shows up.
8:38 am: Sorry about that; I don't recall seeing the links. And I think I would: How did the Freep win an Emmy -- an award given in the TV industry?
ReplyDelete8:38 AM
ReplyDeleteLots of newspapers win awards. That's been going on for years. I'm wondering if you can explain why you think this is innovative. I certainly agree with you that it is good news. But innovative? I don't get it.
They won the Emmys for videos that appeared on the website, IIRC.
ReplyDeleteWow! That helps explain the high-quality Freep video I posted a couple days ago.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the union; there are very few union members left. The real issue is: management heavy, management heavy, management heavy...
ReplyDeleteLots of newspapers DON'T win Emmys. The Freep won for broadband video and it was a national Emmy, not a local one. And they won two more this year. The first newspaper in the country to have 3 Emmys to their name. They're breaking new ground in this area. And they say they only bought a video camera a few years ago.
ReplyDelete