As Gannett axes 2,000 jobs at its other newspapers, Detroit employees hunger for details about what's going down in oddly quiet Motown. "We all feel something is brewing," one employee told me. "Maybe that's just paranoia, but I don't think so."On the AtDetroit.net website, a reader wrote yesterday: "It's just plain strange that there are like 1,700 cuts nationwide from money making newspapers, and the paper that has consistently lost the most money had no cuts. The tension was so thick yesterday, everyone was glued to the Gannett Blog, then . . . nothing. Something is going on here."
Indeed, Michigan in general -- and Detroit in particular -- zoomed to No. 1 on my list (chart, above) of states sending traffic to Gannett Blog today, Google Analytics says. I can't recall the last time Michigan ranked that high; New York, Virginia and New Jersey are usually in the pole position.
Clearly, management is spooked about the local economy's impact on the Detroit Free Press. Look no further than this morning's rare front page editorial, pleading for Congress to rescue the region's beleaguered automakers:
[Bigger front page view: Newseum]
Come on. You all are going off rumors. No reports of newsroom layoffs at the Freep. Stop listening to disgruntled employees!
ReplyDeleteStop saying "spill the beans." It's in poor taste.
ReplyDeleteThis ridiculous. This site has so many inaccuracies it is impossible to tell truth from fiction. It has gotten out of control
ReplyDeleteGannett is a great company. You all should be grateful for even having a job at this point and you don't work for MediaNews, who wants to send copy editor work overseas. Do you really believe the coporate bigwigs are enjoying laying so many people off. Come on.
no newsroom layoffs that I know of. finance, sales, marketing? yes.
ReplyDeleteGannett's better than Media News? Hahahaha ..that's rich. Drink some more Dubow Kool-Aid.
ReplyDeleteOnly a few marketing, one advertising person I know of, let go at DMP.
I think it's funny when a person posts three times in a row to make everybody think the prevailing mood is against this blog. Nice try.
ReplyDeleteI heard 5 in finance/accounting
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have a list of who was let go?
ReplyDeleteNo newsroom jobs lost today that I know of, but I know of 10-15 that did get let go in non-newsroom positions
ReplyDeleteLook, everyone is happy to have a paycheck at this point, whether they work for Gannett or not. But when a company is cutting thousands of jobs, it's unrealistic to expect that people won't have strong reactions to what's happening to them, their families, their co-workers and communities.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt some are unfairly demonizing the higher-ups. But cut them some slack. They're powerless. Venting helps.
1:33 We all know the shortcomings of Jim's blog, but I find out more information that eventually turns out to be factual here than anywhere else. Yes there are inaccuracies, but there are others who correct them. If that bothers you, don't read it.
ReplyDeleteWhat's that in the front page editorial? Did I read "You don't want all that blood on your hands ..." or something to that effect?
ReplyDeleteAmazing ...
that front page is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteINVEST IN AMERICA!
(at the sake of capitalism)
if the big three were worth investing in, don't you think they would be invested in?
the beauty of america (the america that I invest in) is that there's competition for my money. if your product is inferior, I have a choice to purchase from someone else.
if detroit wants my money, then show me a product I want to buy. until then keep your begging to yourself.
I would like a 2008 Chrysler Crossfire roadster. I just don't have $39,000 laying around so I can buy it.
ReplyDelete4:54 p.m.
ReplyDeleteSpoken like a true Gannettoid from a mid-size paper in a backward, right to work state.
The culture in Detroit, as a major metropolitan -- either the News or Freep -- never quite synched with the dumbed down, yee-haw Gannett types.
This guy has it right about the chickens coming home to roost:
http://roguecolumnist.typepad.com/rogue_columnist/2008/12/the-chickens-come-home-to-roost-at-gannett.html
Sorry, 5:14, but 4:54 speaks the truth. The big 3 made this mess themselves.
ReplyDeleteIf $64B of our money is put up for this endeavor, ever taxpayers should get a shiny new car as a thank-you gift.
And this is from a guy who only buys American cars.
I'd settle for them paying it back, like Iacocca and Chrysler did when he negotiated a buyout in 1979? Didn't they pay it back early?
ReplyDeleteI buy American cars, too.
...negotiated a BAILOUT ... not a buyout.
ReplyDeleteCopy editor!
A GANNETT copy editor obviously...
ReplyDeleteIt was a L-O-A-N.
thank you ...
ReplyDeleteI'm shell shocked from reading this blog for the last four days.
what was I thinking?
Loan. Paid back. That's it.
We couldn't move fast enough to hand over a trillion bucks with no strings attached to the multi-gazillionaire Wall Streeters who got us into this mess, but we won't LOAN less than one-tenth that much to an industry that employs millions of American workers?
ReplyDeleteI am an ex-Freepster (and I still live in Michigan). The Freep's coverage of the Detroit Three's begging disgusts me. I've tried to find solid analysis of the pros and cons of a bailout/loan/whatever, some kind of economic sophistication, some kind of auto business NEWS in my hometown paper these past weeks, and all I've gotten is this ... this ... pandering to the Detroit echo-chamber. I'd like to think that my editors from the KR days would never have allowed this, but maybe I'm kidding myself.
ReplyDeleteI do think it's rich to have Paul Anger, who had never been to Detroit three years ago, signing a letter that claims "we" know more about the auto industry than anyone. Oh, yeah? Then maybe we readers could see some of that "knowledge" in the coverage, hmm?
The worst part was the Freep editor (who always seems to speak for the paper even when other editors or reporters might have better presence or way better knowledge) on CNN.
ReplyDeleteThese cars are GREAT. You gotta try one! Have you tried one? All that bad stuff is in the past! This is really important and the cars are just AWESOME! Please buy one!
FWIW, I worked for Anger at another stop and he was by far the best boss I ever had. I wouldn't bet on any editor to solve the buiness' problems these days, but I'd be more likely to bet on him than any other editor out there. A decent man who tries to do what's right for his readers and employees.
ReplyDeleteAs I keep saying: Where's the big loan (or bailout or whatever) for the newspaper industry?
ReplyDeleteAre we not "too big to fail"?
Are we not the only profession specifically mentioned in the Constitution?
Who helps us?
10:53, if Anger did what's right for his staffers he'd give them some of the credit when he does his look-at-me! TV interviews. During the Kilpatrick stuff, and now, it's all about the institution.
ReplyDeleteHe is definitely not the best boss people at the Freep have ever had unless it's their first job. I can guarantee that.
Sorry to see people blasting Paul Anger. He was one of the many editors I worked for in my 25-year career with Gannett. I didn't "like" him as much as some others, but for the most part he did a good job, had a good public profile and was fair.
ReplyDeleteWho would you rather have as the spokesman for the newspaper? He's the top guy. What do you expect, that the automotive business writer would speak for the editorial board? You? Would you be a better spokesman or spokeswoman?
Don't be silly.
Those of you grumping about Paul Anger and the Freep goading Congress to help the auto industry should read Poynter's Steve Myers' interview of Anger.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=101&aid=155222
10:15 a.m., thanks for the link. But no, the Freep's coverage hasn't been as comprehensive, sophisticated and hard-hitting as other paper's, such as the WSJ's. I read both daily.
ReplyDeleteI worked for Paul Anger for more than two years at the Freep. He was not in any way the best editor we had, not on any level. Not the best news sense, not the best vision for the industry, not the best management of the troops. He wasn't the worst -- I think Carole Leigh Hutton still wins that award -- but his vision of what a paper could/should be was so small-town compared to Bob McGruder's or Heath Meriwether's that it makes me weep. Still.
And, Paul? The paper was sold in August 2005. It's December 2008. You haven't been in Detroit "almost four years."
I agree with you, 12:25 p.m. The Freep's auto coverage has been much less comprehensive and groundbreaking than that of the WSJ, The Detroit News (which has been stronger than the Freep on this topic for YEARS) and the New York Times (whose auto coverage is led by Bill Vlasic, a longtime Detroit News reporter.)
ReplyDeleteWith the exception of the paper's coverage of Mayor Kilpatrick, there is VERY little to distinguish the Free Press. Besides its weak news coverage, the paper under Gannett has gutted its arts staff. It has NO movie critic on staff, a ridiculous state of affairs for a paper with a daily circ of about 300,000.
I'm 12:25, the ex-Freepster. The Features department in general has been gutted under Gannett. I remember Anger saying something at the very first meeting with the Features department (took weeks to get one) about "not being sure" that the paper needed critics, and, in general, not knowing what kind of arts and cultural coverage was appropriate for our area. Whether a metro paper should have staff critics is a fair subject for debate. But it's clear that the Freep has given up on arts almost entirely. Only the classical and pop music critics are left. The movie, TV and theater critics took buyouts. The book critic left. Somewhere in there, the paper stopped covering visual arts and dance. The department now has 10 writers, according to the masthead, seven editorial assistants and clerks and seven (!) editors of various sorts -- for a community of 4.5 million.
ReplyDeleteAs for the overall staff, I wasted an hour of my life rearranging the misleading staff list on the web to count 255 editorial bodies in the newsroom (and two people who seem to be marketing folks for Metromix, or something -- dunno why they're on newsroom list). Last year, I'm pretty sure there were more than 300 -- though I can't say how many more. That's a big hit.
8:35 a.m., you're truly showing that ol' Gannett military mind. Who could speak for that package? How about the editor of the editorial page.
ReplyDeleteAnd for the Kilpatrick coverage, what's wrong with the reporters talking about the coverage? The WSJ, Washington Post and other legitimately run papers do that all the time.
Besides. Anger has that sweaty upper lip. It's a little like watching Nixon.
Yes, 12:25 p.m., when Gannett took over the Freep in 2005, the paper had a staff of about 305. In fact, Anger bragged in print when he first came to Detroit that he was about to become the editor of a paper with "more than 300 staffers."
ReplyDelete"As I keep saying: Where's the big loan (or bailout or whatever) for the newspaper industry?
ReplyDeleteAre we not "too big to fail"?
Are we not the only profession specifically mentioned in the Constitution?
Who helps us?"
umm..... we're still making money, we're still profitable.. we don't need a bailout.
...yet ;)
quite frankly though, even if it gets to the point where we'd need one, i wouldn't want one, i'd rather see the comapny just disappear. enough with these bailouts, this isn't how capitalism works. this is socialism.
Greetings. I'm the reporter who covers the loan talks for the Freep from D.C. I'm glad people care enough about our work to critique it, but if anyone thinks something's lacking in the coverage, I'd like to hear about it. Email me at jhyde at freepress dot com.
ReplyDeleteIn an e-mail, a reader just told me the following: "Big meeting Dec. 16 with all employees, they are even thinking of renting a hall off site for it."
ReplyDeleteCan anyone confirm whether this is true -- and add details?
Anonymous 12:25:
ReplyDeleteYou've gotta be kidding about the Freep's former big-city sophistication, what with that stupid yak and Iffy The Dopester. The Freep was an excellent newspaper, but it did have a sometimes hokey, sittin' on a load of turnips tone that KR papers in, say, Miami and Philly and San Jose, didn't have. We respected the Freep from afar but thought it a bit rustic. So I'm not buyin' your wagonload of manure about Anger being less worldly than Heath Flippin' Merriweather.
5:22, how's this for unworldly: In a meeting once, Anger asked a fellow editor, in all seriousness, how sperm banks collect the material.
ReplyDeleteMaybe not unworldy. But definitely naive about the world. And especially about how to communicate with employees.
5:49 pm: Actually, I'd ask the same question if I were writing a story for publication about in vitro fertilization, or the mechanics of a sperm bank. For all I know, they have to use special sterile equipment. Never assume, right?
ReplyDeleteHave not heard of any meetings for the Freep on the 16th or any other time. Did the email say what is was about. Could News and Free be combining?
ReplyDelete8:08 pm: That was the entire contents of the e-mail.
ReplyDeleteI can also confirm that on Dec. 16 there is big news coming regarding the future of the papers here at the DMP. Will a hall be rented? Probably not, we have papers that don't publish themselves.
ReplyDeleteIn answer to 8:08pm I will tell you that there is no way the News & Freep are combining, that is not legally possibly and no one here at the DMP would want that.
Expect more pink slips anytime after the meeting. Changes are a coming.
10 maybe 15 people or so let go at DMP, some in Special Publications, Marketing & Finance. I know 1 was a marketing manager for DetNews (but worked for DMP), another was a Sr. Director, and 2 weeks ago they let go the VP of Strategic Development who worked for Hunke in Rochester.
ReplyDeleteHey we only have around 11 VP's now, and probably double that in Director's, almost as bad as Denver.
"Well, Paul, it all depends iffen you're left-handed or right-handed ...."
ReplyDeleteOK, somebody has to find out if this 'meeting' in Detroit on Dec. 16 is real. What the heck is going on?
ReplyDeleteSomeone inside the building could just email an editor and ask about the meeting. Takers?
ReplyDelete