Sunday, December 14, 2008
Sunday | Dec. 14 | 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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Hi, ho; hi, ho -- I salt the comments by posting the first one, so people will peek inside. (No one wants to be first on the dance floor, either.) But I sign my name to all my own comments -- unlike certain moderators on Moms Like Me websites.
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago, a phenomenon known a Colony Collapse Syndrome started afflicting honey bees (which are responsible for pollenating 35% of the food we eat). CCS is when honey bees leave the hive and can't find their way back home and die. This is a huge potential danger to humans.
ReplyDeleteI understand the unbelievable financial-economic pressures that all publications (well managed by decent honorable people & otherwise) are under, but if -out of short-sighted desperation- papers eliminate large chunks of carriers dwindling income stream NO ONE with deliver home delivery --- we will see CARRIER COLLAPSE SYNDROME: the carriers leave the warehouses and don't come back.
If home delivery is 40-to-60% of circulation, what do you think the loss of a large number of carriers will mean to the long-term value & viability of newspaper conglomerates?
Worker Bee
A post on the Market watch site:
ReplyDeletethe Freep died a long time ago.
This "delivery on the most profitable days of the week" thing is typical of b-school thinking and is, in part what is wrong with the country today.
It's a newspaper. News happens daily. Just because the rocket scientist who runs the thing hasn't figured out how to make money on the other days doesn't mean you can't deliver every day. News happens every day. If you want to be considered a reliable source, then you have to play every day. Not just the days that you get paid the best. Raise the price. figure it out. Don't stop delivery on days that don't have an 'r' in them. Or stop it altogether. Or maybe they could pick up the spread on odd numbered days in even numbered months. They should hire the head coach of the lions, get Wagoner from GM in there and really fix that business!!! Oh wait, it sounds like they did that already.
Gannett has jumped the shark.
ReplyDeleteVery trivial point, but can someone tell me for certain how Craig Dubow's surname is pronounced? Does it rhyme with 'snow' and 'know' or with 'cow' and 'now'?
ReplyDeleteAnother awful week at the Journal News ....but...I guess that's good enough for corporate because the same clowns who do not have a clue are still running the place.I guess they only lay off the people who really give a shit.
ReplyDeleteHey Worker Bee...3:10a...LARRY ST. CYR to the rescue!!!
ReplyDeleteIs it -->ME<-- or does that "MomsLikeMe" site look exactly like that "don'tdatehimgirl.com" site?
ReplyDeleteBring both of them up on your screen, and compare them side by side. So much for creativity.....
Worker Bee you are so right. Not only that, but how do you keep a trained, seasoned distribution management group together for only two days a week? I'd guess you'd call that ECS? Or how about ULMBCS (upper level management brain collapse syndrome).
ReplyDeleteIs it -->ME<-- or does that "MomsLikeMe" site look exactly like that "don'tdatehimgirl.com" site?
ReplyDeleteBring both of them up on your screen, and compare them side by side. So much for creativity.....
From Saturday's Postings:
ReplyDeleteREGARDING DETROIT SITUATION:
Home Delivery Here.....
Unfortunately this action will intensify the self-reinforcing feedback loop of: Lower Circulation >>> to Lower Carrier Compensation >>> to Decline in the Number of Carriers Willing to Deliver >>> to Poorer Reader Service >>> to More Cancelled Subscriptions >>> to reduced Circulation & Ad Revenue >>> to Lower Pofits >>> to MORE LAY-OFFS >>> BACK TO LOWER CIRCULATION .....and the cycle continues.
The "Real" Papers will Die faster than any ONLINE VENTURE will be able to pick up the slack.
GANNETT LONG TERM STOCK VALUE >>> (to quote Dean Wermer from "Animal House") "ZERO...POINT...ZERO."
This crushing economy is not Management's fault, but over the years they could have taken organization strengthening actions and instituted better feedback (and thus morale & cohesiveness building) systems to help GANNETT survive bad times. It's really very Sad to watch the company (through the eyes of those who really built & mantained it) die.
Good Luck Everyone
3:10 People who want their newspapers will get in their cars, drive to the local 7-Eleven or the nearest news rack, and buy one. Cutting home delivery saves HUGE money for GCI.
ReplyDeleteThe more I understand this Griffin or Grpypon Project, the more I see the goal is to eliminate expensive home delivery. A half a century ago, there used to be home delivery of bread and milk, but that was phased out in favor of more local convenience stores. Since you now buy your milk and bread when you get your gas, why not a newspaper, too? Gets rid of the mafia that have a chokehold on distribution networks. For those worried about the future of newspapers, I would note people continued to buy milk and bread after home delivery stopped. The current structure is unprofitable and doesn't work. Maybe GCI is in the forefront of industry innovation and rationalization here.
ReplyDeleteP.S. If Gryphon works in Detroit, see it applied GCI-wide before Easter, and the rest of the industry as well.
ReplyDeleteTo 9:51 a.m., people NEED milk and bread. ...
ReplyDelete9:51 said, "For those worried about the future of newspapers, I would note people continued to buy milk and bread after home delivery stopped."
ReplyDeleteYes, but people need bread and milk. They don't need newspapers.
People only feel like they need newspapers if the quality of the paper is so excellent that they can't do without it. And with the decline of subscriptions, I'd say a lot of people don't think the quality is there anymore. (It doesn't help to cut jobs and resources...)
Focusing on quality should be the top priority. Of course, it would take a while before people realized the paper was good again. Slashing circulation is easy and the profits are seen immediately, but it's pretty damn short-sighted.
" Maybe GCI is in the forefront of industry innovation and rationalization here.
ReplyDeleteYa there in the front and the worker's are taking it from "BEHIND"
4:57 am: Dubow rhymes with "know" (or I've been mispronouncing it all these years).
ReplyDeleteTypical date for posters. All whiners and complainers and no answers or solutions.
ReplyDeleteTry something new. Put one good idea in writing. Give it to your department head. If they do not act or respond to it within 7 days. Take it to the publisher.
Quit complaining about the darkness - do something about it.
Here's something that I don't think that I've seen mentioned here: doing away with seven day home delivery also does away with something that nobody else offers and that is seven day home delivery. With Express Mail being the exception, the USPS doesn't do seven days nor does UPS or FedEx. So the newspapers, instead of capitalizing on something else that they're really good at, throws leveraging their delivery force out the window, too. Sad....
ReplyDelete11:02 I did......NOTHING.
ReplyDeleteMy idea still stands....CO-OP of Gannett, Tribune, etc "Refuges." There's a lot of talent an institutional knowledge out their that's been cast onto the trash heap by Zell & Gannett.
ReplyDeleteShow'em how to do it better, faster and cheaper.....the best revenge!
Reggie H
8:42, good point. They will probably have to contract it out to a company that has many other 7 day delivery papers. Of course, if all papers did this,eventually, you would have all part-time workers wouldn't you? The whole dynamics of the delivery system would change and I am sure it wouldn't be for the better.
ReplyDelete"Depression puts tough times into perspective".
ReplyDeleteNow, that's the type of bold headline Cincinnatian's want to get out of bed on a Sunday morning to read…especially Enquirer advertisers.
No wonder readers and advertisers flee.
Dear 11:12, perhaps you don't know the number of efficiency and quality-enhancing ideas that many of us now laid off and those left behind proffered to no avail.
ReplyDeleteThe business model just ain't what it used to be, and we're all a little slow in figuring out a profitable new one. It happened to us, it happened to the Big 3 automakers - people still want news (and many forms of information) -- and cars, but how do we put it together in ways to make money? News isn't the buggy whip; the printed paper may be. The car sorta-analogy: The Escalade was a big moneymaking hit, then suddenly went out of fashion when gas prices got steep and the economy tanked. GM can't respond swiftly to fast-changing consumer tastes. Neither did we. (ok, i'm rambling)
Dear 11:12AM,
ReplyDeleteYou must be kidding! If you take a good idea to your supervisor, an idea that he or she has not thought of before, you are deemed a trouble maker. And to make things worse, if you dare go over that person's head to the publisher (if you can wake that person up in the first place), you are really in trouble for going over someone's head. Your idea of advancing ideas is a good one in normal companies but certainly not a Gannett operation. You are certainly drinking the koolaid.
Anyone bother to check Currie's NewsWatch this week celebrating Kate Marymont's career path that led to succeeding him? Reads like the pope nominating someone for sainthood!
ReplyDeleteLet's hope this was Phil's last NewsWatch and that Marymont's may actually serve as a useful and truthful medium.
To subscribers in Louisville,Ky of the Couier Journal.Tonite is the last night of running 2 presses to get the paper out on time.Most nights its a stretch to get it out with 2 presses last nite we were just an hour late on the completion of the run.There is so many problems with the KBA press you will be lucky to get a paper out by mid-day.To the 7 pressroom employees laid off so Gannett could make more money running 1 press get the hell out and don't look back. Lots of luck to the ones that have to continue to work there. Hey Jim what do you think about a company that would lay off 7 production employees and then start out with 10 OT shifts next week. Good Luck to all
ReplyDeleteFrom today's Fort Myers, FL News-Press:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/6kjxu4
...We will be combining Tropicalia, Travel and the TV book into one section...
...The Teleview section will be inside Tropicalia. It will be reduced to eight pages or by about about 28 pages...
...Beginning Tuesday, the newspaper will shrink. The page will become one-inch skinnier than it is today...
...Beginning Monday, Dec. 29, we will be combining Local and Business and Sports and Classifieds ... we will be going to four sections instead of our usual six sections on Monday and Tuesdays...
Terry Eberle is Executive Editor/ Vice President/ Content.
11:12, that's a laugh. My director didn't like me even going over her to other directors(unless she asked me to), let alone the publisher. Alas, in my opinion that will ultimately be the demise of Gannett - bad management - the ego of much of the management has killed any initiative.
ReplyDeleteI have an idea hire more ONline sharks and pay them more than the revenue they generate. Great idea by bergin and company..
ReplyDeleteLest any East Valley Tribune reader's forget, the editor of Gannettt's Phoenix-area competition reminds that home delivery of the paper becomes subjective in early January. Retiring editor Jim Ripley opens his column this way:
ReplyDelete"In just three weeks, the Tribune, as current subscribers have known it, will become yesterday's news.
"Sunday, Jan. 4 will mark the Trib's last day as a seven-day-a-week print daily. The newspaper will continue to publish stories seven days a week on eastvalleytribune.com.
"In print, however, the Tribune will become a four-day-a-week, two-section locally focused newspaper that will be delivered free of charge in driveways in selected areas. There will be no paid home delivery - anywhere.
"If you don't live in one of the areas selected for free delivery, you can always read the Tribune at eastvalleytribune.com or you can pick it up at selected locations, such as Circle Ks in Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Queen Creek and Apache Junction. The Tribune will no longer be distributed in Scottsdale and Tempe...."
Ripley also notes:
"Gannett, which owns The Arizona Republic, just slashed 2,000 jobs. The list goes on."
(see the whole column at
www.eastvalleytribune.com)
Something very troubling has come up in conversations with fellow unemployed Gannetters. Many of us had significant medical issues in the past two years. Could this have played a major part determining who was put on the list?
ReplyDeleteTo 4:40pm... We have some hefty hitters (250 lbs +)in management here in Phoenix. If Gannett's idea is to weed out potential health risks, it may only apply to workers. If these managers had to do actual physical labor as they are pushing workers to do more and more of, they would keel over. Do as I say, not as I do.
ReplyDelete@3:35
ReplyDeleteThe term, "Online Sharks".
I've been hearing that term tossed around at my site. And I'm not quite sure what it means.
My assumption is that these are Corporate/Locals. That are selling ads out from under local/local salespeople. Is that close?
I just rejected a comment that made fun of several very overweight people in a way where they could be identified. Please don't humiliate each other.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteSomething very troubling has come up in conversations with fellow unemployed Gannetters. Many of us had significant medical issues in the past two years. Could this have played a major part determining who was put on the list?
12/14/2008 4:40 PM
_____________________
This is very good. Another great conspiracy theory to toss about. I wonder if all the other companies out there laying off people have considered this strategy?
By the way Jim, how do we know you sign all your comments? Hmm, is this yet another possible theory someone can investigate?
Phil Currie?
ReplyDeleteHe still works here?
8:15 pm: I sign all my comments. Period.
ReplyDeleteI have been a newspaper reader all my life, starting pretty much as soon as I could read. As a journalist with 30 years in the biz, I often have subscribed to two or three newspapers daily (the one I worked at and the New York Times and if in Southern California, the LA Times). Yet...yet...I know I will not get in my car and drive to the newsstand to pay for a newspaper that I cannot have delivered. I won't read it on the web either. When that day comes, I will just give up. Who wants to sit at the computer trying to read a newspaper and eat breakfast? Forget about looking at ads or clipping coupons. I want to cry, just cry. It is not a question of not being hip or web-savvy or anything like that. I like to hold the paper, leaf through it, check out the ads (especially in the NYT) and carry it along with me if I so desire.
ReplyDelete4:40 -
ReplyDeleteThis is the basis for a disability discrimination claim, under the condition of "perceived as having a disability."
Do you know how your newspaper's insurance worked? Were the self-insured or did their premiums go up based on the health costs of the employees?
Those of us who have been laid off become statistics in the eyes of the media we left. When you reach a certain age in a business that isn't likely to hire you back, despair sets in. The world and the media that threw us out wants to tell the story in numbers. But I for one can tell you this story is much more profound. It's bigger than any one individual, yet it's all about individuals. The loss of a job, and in our cases a career, impacts so many people beyond the actual person laid off. We mourn for ourselves, but we also feel horrible for those who depended on us for decades. We know the chances of landing on our feet by the time the weak severance period is over are a longshot. It's a horrible time. Not everyone will land on their feet. And I suspect along with success stories will come some pretty horrific failure to rebound stories in the next year. I am totally lost and still have not even come to terms with why I was laid off, as it appears that my job is still very important to what is now my former newspaper. It's just that I am no longer in that job despite a long history of good reviews and the respect of my colleagues. I don't know what went wrong.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the theory of Gannett having to insure employees with significant medical issues, don't discount those who have family members with serious medical issues as well. It's business. And if you think it can't happen in this great U.S. of A., think again.
ReplyDeleteUnethical: YES
Illegal: YES
Pure Dollar and Cents: YES
4:40 p.m.
ReplyDeleteI didn't take one sick day at my paper the time I was there and I got laid off. If anything, it's possible people with serious health conditions on record are spared! But wait, this would mean Gannett layoff wizards have a heart. And I'm all for that. But can it be possible?
Where I worked, the choice of who had to go was, I believe, the result of some pretty clever obfuscation by the editors who put together the g-d list locally and some highly paid consultant and/or lawyer who didn't just look at the salaries. One oldster here, a couple newbies there, gender pretty evenly split. How could anyone say "It's age! It's gender! It's longevity!" when they took a sampling across the newsroom to prevent any lawsuits? Definitely a case of "there's a method in their madness."
To the person who commented on the 'online sharks' making more... The reason we make more is due to the amount of knowledge and stress it takes to create the idiotic ideas writers and editors come up with in a matter of hours and days. Anybody can write a story but not everybody can program or design.
ReplyDeleteIf money is your concern then journalism is not your gig pal.
To 12/14 10:20pm
ReplyDeleteIt is understandable that you feel lost and sad and just besides yourself. Like the hundreds of others who have now had their lives ruined by this wicked company, you did nothing wrong. On the other hand, maybe you made a mistake by going to work for a Gannett property and giving them your all. The Gannett reputation is known yet many of us have ignored that and gone to work for them. As many others have said on this blog, the reasoning for all of this misery is based on the economy and poor management by Gannett's empty suits in so called management positions. How people were selected to "walk the plank" goes back to the evil nature of this company and the incompetent management at each site/entity. It's based on who knows who; who has something on someone; who needs to cover their ass(es); and making sure that anyone with a brain or true understanding of the incompetent people at each site is removed so that those incompetents can continue their reigns for a little while longer. The bottom line here is that Gannett values nobody. Gannett does not care about you or your family and never did. There is no loyalty whatsoever to any employee yet they know that they demand respect and loyalty from the employees and will abuse them whenever and wherever than can. They've proven it time and again and will continue to do so. Business is business. The stockholders (large ones) and the empty suits in Virginia care only about profits, dividends and their collective asses. Unfortunately this is what has become of corporate America and the workplace. Once upon a time if someone got a job with "the telephone company" it meant employment or life. Look what happened there. Good luck to you. Don't let these assholes get you down. Keep in mind that you are a good person of value.
The medical expense consideration doesn't hold true with me or many others I know. In my case, I was out for five months with AIDS, recovered enough to assume my old job, had the use my health insurance to pay for many,many thousands of dollars in prescriptions and doctor's visits.
ReplyDeleteI continued to work, and the insurance paid every legitimate expense. They were self-insured. They only gave me the ax four months before Medicare would have kicked in anyway. I don't even really suspect that my condition was known!
This is probably the ony defense I can ever make of any employee treatment from Gannett which didn't appear to be a shafting.
APP
10:20 I feel your pain. (I don't think I've ever quoted Clinton before :)
ReplyDeleteI wasn't laid off, I quit over a year ago. I was just miserable, but that's the past. Today, I'm so much better. Only working part time, but I'm looking and feeling better today than I did a few weeks ago about my chances of finding full time work. Why? Finally got a plan. If a job doesn't materialize, I'm going to go back to school and learn something else that's hopefully more employable.
I miss working at a paper -- I had almost as many years in as you (22). But I finally decided to leave when I realized that the reason I had gotten into journalism was to write and to be part of something positive. But I did very little writing anymore. I didn't feel I was doing good work and I felt unappreciated. I decided wanted to get back to that.
My advice? Mourn the loss. Then move on. It's a phase of your life that's over, not your life. Now start thinking about the future. What kind of work do you want to do? What skills do you need to get there? Can you afford to not work awhile and take some classes? If you can, do that and volunteer for some cause you're passionate about. You'll feel better working on you and helping the community.
It will get better.
Were health issues the primary reason for getting rid of select employees? Probably in a few cases.
ReplyDeleteDid health issues tip the scale in the selection of other employees?
Of course they did. You'd have to be an idiot not to realize that.
Spot on doglover.
ReplyDeleteThat's my attitude. I don't know what's going to happen after the severence runs out in February, but I am looking at several different avenues.
I wanted to quit my job a for a while now, but I was afraid of losing a paycheck, health insurance, etc. But at the same time, being on the job was totally affecting my health in a negative way.
These last couple of days I have felt and slept the best in a long time.
I know that in due time I will find something to do, but I could never see myself going back to work for the same people I worked for.
Never. I am totally enjoying my new found freedom.
I work online, although I do not refer to myself as a shark, and I will attest that online employees do not make more than most reporters at my site. I'd venture to say that the average online producer makes 10 to 20 percent less than a reporter with as many years experience. And I myself make 50 percent the salary of either of the reporters I sit next to.
ReplyDeleteSo suck it.
You won't see the Griffon plan implement until around the end of Q1.
ReplyDelete11:20 how true. This is a changed company now - for the worse - and it is not going to recover IMHO.
ReplyDelete