Monday, December 29, 2008
Monday | Dec. 29 | Your News & Comments
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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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So, what are your New Year's Eve plans?
ReplyDeleteI will start the month by hoping that I have a job at the end of the month.
ReplyDeleteI get to work! New Year's Day night, as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat are your plans, Jim?
Whoops! Honolulu fails to print Saturday edition:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20081228/NEWS01/812280365/1190/LOCALNEWSFRONT
Hummmm No Saturday newspaper what a great idea - pass it along
ReplyDelete9:23 am: I'll probably be working New Year's Eve, too.
ReplyDeleteThe Lansing State Journal is cutting to 3 sections most days.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20081229/NEWS01/812290322
From Tim Chavez at www.politicalsalsa.com:
ReplyDeletePart II of my series on the rise and fall of The Tennessean is on my blog today. But a warning to all the EJ Mitchell haters out there.
He did well by me when I got leukemia, read the riot act to human resources and allowed me to still write my column from my hospital bed.
He produced a most compelling front page and took on a governor hiding behind secrecy in doing public business. The previous Tennessean editor kissed the governor's ass during all his political career.
So I don't blame EJ for anything to do with The Tennessean's fall. And I hope all the negativity about EJ isn't because he is most un-Obama like in his personality and in the darker color of his skin in newsrooms still predominantly white and entrenched.
Thanks.
Lansing is folding its sports section into local news. God only knows why, but whatever.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20081229/NEWS01/812290322
Any news about N.J. group ?.
ReplyDeleteAlmost every day since my layoff has been spent looking for a job. New Year's will be no different. It's horrendously difficult finding work at my age.
ReplyDeleteGannett threw many of us out with virtually no safety net. I fear this unemployment stint is going to last well into 2009. If it goes much beyond that, well, I doubt I will have a roof over my head in 2010.
I worked in an underpaying newspaper business for three decades, which means I don't have a lot of money in the bank as many of you can relate to. I worked at a newspaper because I believed in the business and in Gannett (even with all of its faults). If I worked hard into my late 50s or early 60s, I thought I would be rewarded with some sort of job security that would get me to retirement. I didn't care about raises or other perks. I just wanted to keep my job and did everything possible to do so. I, like others, retrained, I wore more hats when asked to, I did positive things that went well beyond my job description. If I could be accused of anything it would be in not kissing my manager's ass every time he walked by. Hardly an act that deserves the "death penalty." But that's precisely what happened. I was laid off because I didn't feed one man's warped ego.
For many of us, Gannett betrayed us. I was loyal but in the end the company wasn't. I wasn't a problem child or green, mistake-prone rookie. I wasn't a manager with outdated skills (I am current on technologies, software, etc). Yet the company (and in my case due to one man in particular) still discarded some of us at a difficult age in this terrible economy and at the hardest time of year possible to find work.
So I don't have much use for celebrating man-made holidays like New Year's. In fact, I use to work most holidays. I need to spend as much time as possible pounding the pavement, reorganizing my finances and retraining. Just the way it is, and even that holds no guarantees of employment. Not trying to be overly dramatic. Those in similar positions will be able to understand, I am sure. A lot of these holidays and fake celebrations just ring more hollow than ever now. Where my next meal is coming from, and how much it will cost, is more of a priority than champagne and noise-makers.
A lot of us who were laid off, and are unable to find comparable work, have already been forgotten about. But I understand life goes on. So, enjoy the holiday, hopefully you won't be treated so ruthlessly by Gannett or any of its less than honorable managers. Gannett isn't Citigroup, it could have avoided a lot of these layoffs but simply chose not to look for other cost-cutting measures. The company allowed a handful of managers at each paper to make crucial decisions, and some of those managers ended up using the layoffs to get rid of people for all the wrong reasons. It hurt those people, and it hurt the company. Too many loyal, smart folks were cut loose. Something I distinctly heard one top manager say wouldn't happen. Yet no safeguards were put into place to prevent it.
Sorry to ramble. Just not a good time at all.
Lansing paper is smaller than the Community Newspaper we were delivered today. The Lansing State Journal is .75 and the Community Newspaper is free. I'm canceling my subscription, It's not even worth the 1/2 off price I get for being an employee. I'm sure I'll be out with the next round anyways.
ReplyDeleteGannett would please me if it would get on the ball with sending my 401(k) disbursement paperwork. That little bit I'd saved in a year and a half might keep me in my apartment through the end of the lease term.
ReplyDeleteAs for New Year's Eve, I'm probably going out with friends who are still employed. I've missed most of the holiday parties to be with family during my new-found time off.
After more than one layoff in newspapers, I'm moving on to public affairs or technical writing.
I'm with 9:10 -- I'll start out January 2009 hoping that my job will still be here in February 2009. Any news on when/if there will be layoffs in the new year? I know some of you are laughing about the "if" but it's my attempt at being optimistic.
ReplyDelete11:36 am: Thank you for your heart-felt comment; please keep us informed on your progress.
ReplyDeleteAnon@1014: There was a blackout Friday night on Oahu, hence the Advertiser (and for that matter the Star-Bulletin) did not print a Saturday paper.
ReplyDelete11:36 AM: You are not alone, but that doesn't make the future journey any easier. This morning, I received my pension lump sum check for $33,000. Add that to the $7,500 check from the "raped" 401(k) and this what I have to live on for the rest of my life. Of course, taking early Social Security benefits helps a little, but this is the secure retirement we had planned on!
ReplyDeleteBasic question.
ReplyDeleteCareerbuilder, it looks like, pays affiliates or partners for directing people to its job search and other sites. Now, are the Gannett online sites considered partners or affiliates, even though Gannett owns a majority stake in Careerbuilder?
Also, I recall seeing on a momslikeme TOS agreement something about Careerbuilder ownership. I realize Ripple6 and the moms sites are connected, but what's the connection between careerbuilder and ripple6?
1:50 PM the only connection that I am aware of is that Gannett owns Ripple6 now and also owns a % of CareerBuilder.
ReplyDelete11:36, You hit the nail on the head about ass kissing. Despite being outstanding, loyal, hardworking employees, which didn't mean a damn thing to GCI management, the kissing is exactly what GCI is looking for, and that's exactly why a great number of questionable ones are still there.
ReplyDeleteRequest for information: What sites are using 2adpro for outsourcing advertising work? I need to find out the perks and pitfalls before we start that route this year. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteFor all those nervously awaiting word on the next round of cuts:
ReplyDeleteIt is unlikely any decisions will be made until the fourth-quarter revenue figures are known. At this point, I would bet that even the inner circles have no more than a guess (and probably a grim one) at how bad the numbers will look.
Probably by mid-January, they will get to work on the new cuts. So February is a fair guess as to when they will go down.
Hey anon 1:50, that careerbuilder stuff makes sense to me now. We got an e-mail a couple of weeks ago from our top editor saying we must start a new 1A business-based feature (it started today) with a refer to careerbuilder.com.
ReplyDeleteSo every Monday we have a 1A refer to Careerbuilder.com.
11:36, you spoke perfectly about my own situation and feelings in every way, including the one clown managing editor who made these decisions that I suspect were based more on his personal misperceptions than by the work people actually do or don't do.
ReplyDeleteThe company is falling more quickly down the rabbit hole every day, anyway. I still am hoping this ends well for us. If not, I'll be knocking on the clown's door for a place to stay when the foreclosure lock clicks. I'm not kidding.
anonymous@12:07 -- you didn't mention your age, but given your short tenure I'm guessing that you're relatively young. Be careful using your 401(k) money for living expenses if you're younger than 59 1/2. You'll be subject to a 10 percent penalty on top of the taxes you'll have to pay. I realize you gotta do what you gotta do to keep a roof over your head, but if you can, make hitting your 401(k) a last resort.
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteIf I donate through PayPal, is that completely anonymous? If not, who gets what information?
Thanks
3:18
ReplyDeleteAny way you can share the Careerbuilder story/refer memo?
Thanks.
Cincy won't take classified ads on Mondays and Tuesdays in the future, indicating to me that GCI is following in the path of the Detroit Freep model and expanding the concept of canceling publication days to other papers. Staff will be cutback to meet the new publication schedules.
ReplyDelete11:36 a.m. I know exactly what you mean, when you talk about ask kissing.
ReplyDeleteI was laid off, too. A lot of people at my paper can't stand the two top managers in the newsroom. Behind their backs, people will rip them apart to shreds.
But in their presence, I saw some of my co-workers get knee deep into these managers behinds.
Like many others, I am out here daily looking for a job. Both my husband and I are unemployed now.
And soon, if we don't find jobs, our situation will become dire.
This is all thanks to two managers at my old paper. They went out of their way to be mean. And if you didn't kiss ass, you were damn sure on their shit list.
My family and I were never big into Christmas, and have taught our only child to see it the same way. Christmas came and went by like any other day. The New Year will be the same.
Our chief goal right now is to find employment. Everything else pales in comparison.
For anyone still wondering why Gannett decided to keep both papers in Detroit going instead of shutting one down, here are the latest stats about the number of unique visitors to newspaper Web sites in November (the second number is the percentage increase from the same period a year ago.)The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press placed 24th and 25th, respectively, among the top newspaper Web sites:
ReplyDeleteThe Detroit News -- 1,995,000 -- 232%
Detroit Free Press -- 1,918,000 -- 52%
New model for journalism: You face a challenge from Craigslist for classified ads, and clients say you are charging too much. So what does GCI do: it announces it will refuse to take classified ads anymore. So take that, Boobsie. If you don't like our paper, we are just going to take it away from you. Then you will be sorry. So there. Absolutely inf***ingincredible:
ReplyDeletehttp://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/12/29/daily12.html
.
I was shocked at what Lansing did with its sports pages. It buried them in the B section.
ReplyDeleteLansing is home to Michigan State and a LOT of people in the community get the paper for its sports coverage. It seems to me that there were better options that weren't utilized. Of course, it's really not a secret to most in Gannett that the EE in Lansing is a joke. This guy actually used the last round of layoffs to get rid of all the niche pub staffs, the young reader pub staff and the online editor. All were areas that were seeing growth or continuing to make money. I thought those areas were Gannett's focus? It's pretty clear to most that there were certain people who should have been shown the door years ago, but they kept their jobs, while a lot of good, loyal hard-workers got the boot. Most folks I talk to think the EE's personal agenda was to blame. I don't know. All I know is that I am in charge of my destiny and future and it won't include working for newspaper companies anymore. I predict that working for Gannett in a couple years will be like working at Burger King: stories that contain more filler than meat, timeclock punching, yada, yada.
3:36 pm: The downside of PayPal for some people is this: I see the information that you provide to PayPal, which includes a name, a mailing address and an e-mail address.
ReplyDeleteWhen you spend money with PayPal, I get an e-mail with the information above. To be honest, I have no need or desire to receive it. But that's the way the service works.
That's why I also offer the snail-mail address, for cash and checks made payable to:
Jim Hopkins
584 Castro St., #823
San Francisco, CA 94114-2594
Beware job hunters!
ReplyDeleteI keep seeing interesting writing jobs on Craig's List but after a little checking, I believe they are scams. You all may be less trusting than I and not need this gentle reminder, but still - let's be careful out there!
Good luck to all of my fellow job searchers :)
In regards to send Jim money vie PayPal: although personal information may come up in the process, do you really think Jim is interested in it? He has bigger fish to fry! Give him a bit more credit; he's a class act.
ReplyDeleteCareerbuilders/Monster/Craig's List have not been very helpful for many unemployed journalists looking for jobs.
ReplyDeleteThe most consistent listing I receive when I enter my stuff is a Navy recuitment ad for a Navy "journalist."
Well I did my Navy service in Vietnam from 1965-69, I think I'm over the hill for that job.
Networking and leaning on old friends for leads on non-newspaper jobs is the best success that I've seen.
The ass kissing at Gannett is out of hand. I was actually pulled out in the hallway one day by the King Ass Kisser in my department and he told me that I might be better off if I played the game a little like he did. I lasted my entire career on talent and not ass kissing, I wasn't about to start, especially for the idiot that I worked for.
ReplyDelete11:36-Your eloquent description of life after the layoff resonates with me. I, too, was laid off. I, like you, have become a statistic in the stories our former employers are publishing. We are swimming in a sea of irony, and frankly, it's that irony that I find amusing to think about.
ReplyDeleteGannett will go on without us, and we will go on without Gannett, to a much more sane, gratifying life, even if it means slinging burgers for a few months. Good luck, 11:36and Jim, thank you for this blog.
The pressure to retain high profits in circulation budgets versus accepting modest returns sped up the loss of circulation and doomed any reputation for service some newspapers stablished.
ReplyDeleteThe deterioration of local control over customer service and significant reductions in staffing in deference to contractors was the nail in the coffin to any future that is built on subscriptions and home delivery. We seem intent on speeding up losses.
Calling all circ folks.. any comment?
Major probs in circ departments?
ReplyDeleteTim Chavez:
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone has a personal problem with E.J. Unlike so many Gannett managers, he is certainly not a bully and/or a jerk (obviously in your case). But he most certainly is a professional who is in way over his head at his position.
What he did for you makes him a decent human being, not a good newsroom exec.
If this isn't so, how come his career arc has taken him from Detroit to Nashville to Cherry Hill? What's next? Guam?
As for the journalistic accomplishments of which you write, I think I speak for many when I express surprise at such enterprise on his part.
Also, I can't imagine race is an issue for posters (it's mostly white GCI execs who get grilled here, no?)
Read Mark Cuban's latest entry at blogmaverick.com. Very interesting angle/idea on how to save sports print journalists.
ReplyDelete""I realize Ripple6 and the moms sites are connected, but what's the connection between careerbuilder and ripple6?""
ReplyDeleteI know journalism needs to expand and try new things, but is this what we've come to???
I am 11:36. Thanks everyone for the comments. Being laid off is never easy. But being laid off for all the wrong reasons makes it so much tougher. First there is the challenge of finding closure to something that should never have happened. What do you do at this age...mid to late-career? Do you sue? Do you crawl into a dark hole? Or worse.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, as you're trying to make sense of what just happened to your job and probably your career, you know the clock is ticking and bills are coming. Another job has to be found, maybe in another field, and soon. In a way, it's like dealing with the murder of a loved one while trying to open the doors to a new business at the same time. You need to be angry, mourn and deal with practical matters all at the same time. Your future depends on it, but you still haven't processed the horror of what just happened.
The man who eliminated my job was a petty and deceitful man, but I didn't think he was a dangerous man until he called me into his office to give me my walking papers. At that moment, I knew my layoff had nothing to do with the company not needing my position or my overall performance. Afterall, I had good reviews and my job, one day after I left, was filled internally. I knew instantly that this man was laying me off at the cruelest of times in order to satisfy his own ego and maybe score a few points for himself in the eyes of others as he fought for his own survival. This was his way of saying I should have smiled more and complimented him on his stupid ideas and lack of integrity. This was a manager who fooled Gannett for decades yet couldn't get me to play into his world of smoke and mirrors. He masked what he was doing because Gannett gave him the opportunity through the layoffs to do so. He pretended it wasn't personal, yet all the facts before me said it was as personal as it gets.
I walked out with my head high knowing that all of the holidays I worked, and the late nights I toiled at a once grand profession would not be forgotten by my colleagues. Even coworkers who might not have had warm and fuzzy feelings about me personally knew I gave it my all, was reliable and a straight shooter. Always made deadlines. Always considered who we were doing this for...the readers. I knew my stuff and had good instincts, and no petty boss was going to take that away from me at that moment as I left the building.
What he did take was my income. And at my age, unfortunately, there are many people and things impacted by the loss of that income. I wonder sometimes if my former boss would enjoy seeing the pain they are in because of his thirst to get back at me for whatever perceived crimes I committed against him. This wasn't a layoff. This was a chance for him to settle old scores. He went mostly unchallenged for years. Those who tried to push back were put in their place and eventually left on their own. I didn't get that chance, to leave on my own terms. I suppose that might have been my biggest mistake, yet I didn't want to be driven away from a profession I loved or from colleagues I enjoyed working with just because of one bully with severe insecurities. I thought I could take whatever he dished out. Then came the layoffs. The free shot. And he took it.
I send out materials daily, looking for a new career, but must admit it feels a bit like putting a note in an empty bottle and casting it out to sea. I wonder if I should dye my hair or shave a few years off of my years of work experience on my resume in order to hide my age. My quest for a new career ebbs and flows. It is now my job. The room next to my bedroom, where the computer and other electronic gear resides, is my office. I get paid nothing to do this, but it is still work. It is difficult and it is emotionally draining. Like dating again after 30 years of marriage.
My ex boss, an editor who was more disliked than he even knows by so many of his employees, probably doesn't think twice about me. I was his only real layoff in the last round cuts. But he remains very much alive in my nightmares as I still try to come to terms with something that on one level I knows happens every day, but on some other level never thought I would be the victim of at this age and at the hand of a man who considered himself a spiritual person. Yes, a man of God. Unreal. Maybe that too was part of his act, his smoke and mirrors.
Gannett needs to not let this happen to others in the future. Sure, there will be business decisions that lead to layoffs. But no one should be laid off merely for personal reasons. The layoffs need to somehow be justified. If a job is eliminated, it needs to be eliminated not just divided up amongst other already overworked employees. If someone has a track record of disciplinary issues or bad performances, then maybe those folks need to go first. If it's purely a money-saving thing, then Gannett should look at the highest salaries. In my case, I was not the highest paid person on the block. Probably about in middle, in fact. My job was critical to getting out the newspaper. And my skills were evolving with the growth of the web. I saw myself as valuable in a number of ways and capable of moving into almost any role present or future. Others would agree with that assessment. I am not the best employee ever, but I certainly wasn't in the bottom five percent as my being chosen for a layoff would lead one to believe.
Anyway, I am pretty down on more than just Gannett at this point, and I am questioning whether I ever want to work in major corporation of any kind again. I want to take control back from maniac bosses who use school yard bulling tactics. I want to rid myself of annual evaluations that mean nothing. Heck, most of my evaluations were written by editors who never watched me work for a single hour in my many years with Gannett. Yet they were pompous enough to pretend to know everything about me in these annual documents.
These are some of the things I want (and don't want) in the future, but the reality of the situation is that I am an aging man, with a limited bank account about to get a close up look at what it means to be poor again. If I get lucky, and find a good fit that pays decently, then maybe I will avoid some dark days. But let's face it. Odds are against a happy ending. Yes, we all have some skills that will transfer beyond the newspaper business, but to think that age isn't working against anyone over 50 is simply naive. Reinventing oneself sounds nice in theory, but this is no country for aging men (or women).
I am going to cash out my pension, keep throwing that bottle into the ocean, and try to sell myself the best I can to a variety of potential employers. I probably won't ever re-enter a newsroom again. I may never even watch the news on TV or pick up a newspaper. To me, it's a dying, even bogus industry - one that can't be trusted because it's tainted with too many powerful people with bad intentions.
Once again, apologies for the rambling. It's late and I am filled with thoughts that don't always flow the way I would like.
I mainly just wanted to say that it is somehow comforting to know others can relate to some of what I am saying.
I may not check back in with the blog for a few days, so well wishes to all back in the office still trying to fight the good fight, and especially to those who find themselves on the outside late in life through no fault of their own.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20081229/BREAKINGNEWS/81229017&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL
ReplyDeleteJim - any thoughts on this former Gannetteer appearing to jump off a cruise ship?
So today, still smarting from my layoff, I opened up the Sunday section I edited and found an enterprise story written by one of "my" reporters, a story that I had assigned and budgeted for him before I went out on maternity leave. (I am one of those lucky ones who was called in during maternity leave to find out I was no longer needed.)
ReplyDeleteSo, here we are, almost a month after the layoffs and the reporter who never had an original idea of his own is still using the budget I created for him three months ago. Yet he still has his job.
Can I get some extra severance for that???
The Circ Folks have no comment. They're hiding over in the corner hoping not to be noticed in order to avoid becoming a layoff.
ReplyDelete2:42pm - About "2AdPro"
ReplyDeleteThe Greenville News in Greenville, SC is outsourcing a large amount of their work to India/2AdPro each and every week. They 'require' each artist to send a certain quota every day.
The ads that come back, more than not, are very plain and have to be reworked by the real artists that are left.
This is moving forward... ?
11:36
ReplyDeleteHey Man - Keep your chin up. You seem like a talented writer from your posts.
Don't let your age keep you down. And don't think of your age as a handicap. Don't think you need to work for someone to make money.
Remember, some of the best success stories are born from some of the worst situations.
Chances are that you'll find another cause that you believe in, be proud of and excel at again.
God Bless and Stand Proud.
Hang in there, 1056 PM. You said a lot when you mentioned not trusting news products anymore after seeing how corporate corruption distorts the information gatekeeping.
ReplyDeleteNews gathering isn't just about throwing some type on a page. It takes layers of gathering and then also layers of pruning and questioning to produce reliable, factual, useful information for readers. The investors controlling it all don't understand that, and the million-dollar execs aren't about to tell the investors the truth and lose their sugar daddies.
1:04 AM
ReplyDeleteYou're oh so right. Reporting the news takes so much time and talent. Stenography takes very little talent.
After having worked for Gannett, I have problems trusting news reports. I have no problems poking holes in news stories, not to mention finding all the silly spelling errors in headlines and elsewhere that only wreck credibility.
Sadly enough, I feel the same way about news now as I did about cars decades ago when I bought that first Mazda because I needed something trustworthy. Now these days, I turn more and more to non-US- based news organizations, as difficult as that is for a proud American like me. I want solid reporting, not fluff, advertorial and silly staff blogs about personal vacations and hollow opinions.
About this blog though, I can think of only one time (and I can't even recall which one) where I could even begin to poke a tiny hole or spot an intuitive leap in Jim's reporting.
Just imagine what Gannett's success and future could have been if the company had cared enough to keep all of its Jims---you know, the kind of people who care about getting at the truth.
30 Year veteran in circulation dept here. Our field manager staff has been cut so drastically that most are now managing what used to be three or four territories. While Gannett is saving payroll and expense budget, those of us who are still here, are now doing the work of three or four managers for the same pay and same expense reimbursements. It is a terrible situation to be involved with.
ReplyDeleteI am a 30 year veteran in the circulation dept. Our field manager staff has been cut so drastically that those who are still here are now managing what used to be three or four territories. While Gannett saves on payroll and expense budget, (we who are left) are doing the work of three or four managers with no extra compensation or increase in expense reimbursement. It's a horrible scenario. Service has sufferd and morale is very low.
ReplyDelete