Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Wednesday | Dec. 10 | Got news, or a question?
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70 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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Someone asked why this blog's clock is set to U.S. Eastern Time. I said many of my readers are on the East Coast. Plus, here on the West Coast, business often operates on Eastern Time because we have to follow the stock market's hours.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of that because I must be up Wednesday in time for a 7 a.m. PT/10 a.m. ET Webcast of the UBS media stock analysts conference.
All the best to my friends in Lafayette today. And tomorrow, too.
ReplyDeleteFor anyone in New Jersey who thinks the 206 we lost were the last check out this September 30, 2008 new release on Publisher's Circulation Fulfilment. Also, rumors of AFL Printing ( www.aflwebprinting.com ) taking over Freehold printing operations in 2009.
ReplyDeleteAmazing GANNETT is deconstructing a newspaper enterprise; In the newspaper business with out printing or delivering the paper. What's next not writing it.
PCF Adds The Morristown Daily Record to its New Jersey Distribution Responsibilities
9/30/2008
Towson, MD USA – September 30, 2008 – Publishers Circulation Fulfillment, Inc. (PCF) will assume all home delivery responsibilities for the Daily Record of Parsippany, New Jersey, in an exclusive agreement announced today. The arrangement is scheduled to begin by the end of October 2008.
This is the third Gannett publication electing to use PCF’s distribution services. PCF has enjoyed a long standing distribution relationship with USA TODAY and, in 2007, began an exclusive home delivery partnership with one of Gannett's larger regional newspapers, TheJournal News in Westchester, NY. Building on this successful track record, PCF will now assume full responsibility for home delivery distribution for the Daily Record.
“PCF’s recent work with our Westchester publication convinced us that our Daily Record subscribers would be in very good hands,” said Gary DiSanto, Senior VP of Gannett’s New Jersey Division. “PCF has clearly demonstrated the operational strength, managerial ability and cost profile needed to better serve our readers in the MorrisCounty area.”
“We are delighted to be able to welcome another important Gannett publication into the PCF fold,” said Kevin Daly, Vice President of Distribution Services at PCF. ”We thank Gary DiSanto and the Daily Record’s Publisher, Joe Cavone, and his team for their continued confidence in us, and look forward to serving their subscribers in the weeks and months ahead.”
###
About Publishers Circulation Fulfillment, Inc.
PCF, Inc. is the largest independent distributor of home and office-delivered newspapers in the U.S., distributing over 11 million copies a week for over 60 clients across the U.S., and overseeing hundreds of other third party distribution relationships for key clients.
PCF’s unique business model allows it to handle distribution and related circulation services for multiple newspaper publications across the country.
For customers interested in learning more about PCF services:
So lets all make fun of the guy that isn't the best at building a paragraph. That's fine. keep your degree i can see where it has gotten you.
ReplyDeleteI would like to clarify a couple things for all of you. I am not here to praise Gannett or to damn them. I feel terrible for the people that have been let go. But what are they supposed to do. you tell me? If someone is taking home 50% of the revenue they are bringing per year withought including the actual labor costs
how does the math work there?
I put in the time i do not for the company but for me. i have met some of the most amazing people in my life.and i am very grateful for that I also have had the ability to see what can happen to a company as large as this one in the blink of an eye.
i will be ready when the reaper comes. I look at it as this. Where else can someone in their mid 20's bring home 6 figures a year? not to many places. so what 12 hours a day 6 days a week. we all want a certain lifestyle for ourselves. So if this is what i have to do now. to make sure instead of hittin careerbuilder at the ripe old age of 50 I'll be hittin the beach. Then so be it.
If anyone in your early years reads this. May i give a little advice.
try to think a little smarter. work is a place to make some money. but what you do with that money is how you build your life. Get a good CPA, save, save, and save. And remember, there is always going to be something to sell.
There is that old saying never to put all your eggs in one basket.
Gannett sure isn't the best company in the world but i can say it aint the worst either
So as i mentioned before you can make fun of me all you want. I dont care. Gannett will not and has not used me as much as i use them. thats the difference between us.
Journalism is dead. Make way for the Photo Gallery
3:18 - "make way for the photo gallery."
ReplyDeleteAin't that the truth. For all our millions of page views a month, what are the two consistent winners? Obits and reader photo galleries. The two areas where we have perhaps the least amount of editorial input or control, that's what the people use our site for.
Maybe we're fooling ourselves that people 'will always want some sort of local news'. The majority seem to want garbage fluff - fill up the site with People magazine feel-good stories, pictures of puppies, and photos of every parent's kid on every lousy co-ed lacrosse team in the NDM.
Sell that audience. Hell, it's the same audience broadcast sells, the lowest common denominator.
"You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons."
3:18-- Who is your comment directed at?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I don't really know what to make of any of this.
ReplyDeleteI still have my job, but I am worried sick about the economy as a whole and what Gannett might do next month.
I hear about many of the bad things Gannett does via this blog and it gets me all pissed off, then I see other companies my friends work for doing the exact same things.
I realize we all want to be treated fairly, but it just doesn't seem like that is going to happen anywhere.
Nobody has the answers, we all just have to keep on keeping on.
The one thing I have heard that keeps me going as far as layoffs at my sight is this...
"I have never met anyone who has left this place voluntarily or not who has not been happier once they moved on."
I wish everybody well. Hopefully we will all get through this mess in one piece.
3:37 a.m. (and 3:18),
ReplyDeleteIt's that BS attitude that has us where we are.
Treating readers as if they're morons because they look at photo galleries? Have you never spent time looking at one yourself?
The problem is the total disconnect between our own Web habits and what we give people. I hear reporters and advertising representatives talk all the time about what they see online, but totally dismiss our own efforts to provide similar content.
Photo gallery does not equal fluff unless you're producing only fluffy photo galleries.
And page views are hardly the only, or paramount, measure of Web success. If you think they are, you're proving my point about how ignorant you are about what's happening in media.
I'm trying to not be angry or insulting, but there are too many people in this company and this profession suffering from smugness that isn't backed up by their performance or knowledge.
I'm sickened by the lack of passion for anything other than naysaying. Any fool can poke holes in ideas put forth by others. Only the talented can take an idea with flaws and help make it flawless.
We've reached the point where we can't afford these bad attitudes.
Get out, get out, get out, get out if you don't want to move it forward.
Could it be that readers click on the obits, and then scurry off somewhere else to read news?
ReplyDeleteI'm just speaking from experience.
re: PCF - 3:11am
ReplyDeleteWatch out, Cherry Hill. We all know that whatever Morristown does, it's fantastic and perfect for us.
Best wishes to the workers in Lafayette. It's cruel that you've been waiting so long for the axe.
Asheville: Is this true?
ReplyDeleteWhen ACT's print moves to Greenville they are eliminating classifieds on Monday and Tuesday.
How can you make way for the photo galleries when you lay off the photographers? No, never mind, anyone with a digicam can make images good enough for a photo gallery. Sorry, what was I thinking?
ReplyDeleteI am in the NY area and Wall Street and financial services are hit far worse than media. Gannett has its issues but come on people, so does every company right now. I'm happy to have my job and pray for all my fellow workers. It does not make me feel better to read this blog so I'm signing off and gong back to work.
ReplyDelete6:06:
ReplyDeleteI've looked at a Gannett-produced photo gallery exactly once. It took far too long to load, and the cutlines were raw - unedited, straight from the photographer, with incorrect information and misspellings. I rarely view photo galleries from other media outlets, either.
You wrote: "And page views are hardly the only, or paramount, measure of Web success."
Page views, clicks, unique visitors - they're all a way of tracking the same thing, right? How many people visit? What other measures of Web success are there, other than traffic?
I don't mean to be argumentative, just curious.
My primary clue to how Internet news platforms can make money comes from my own Web-surfing habits: I rarely look at or click on the ads. The only news site where I gaze at an ad for more than a few seconds is Drudge, because the top-page ad usually loads a few seconds before the content does. But I still don't click. I therefore am very pessimistic about Internet advertising being the future of our business model.
Pictures have always been the mains draw to Internet sites. Gannetteers are only seeing that now? People still want the hard copy for their news and yes, local NEWS, not feel good fluff, still sells. If only we had more....like the old days.
ReplyDelete"How can you make way for the photo galleries when you lay off the photographers? No, never mind, anyone with a digicam can make images good enough for a photo gallery. Sorry, what was I thinking?"
ReplyDeleteAlas, this is the mindset in management these days, born of the oft-disproved notion that anyone with a laptop and word-processing software can be a writer.
I left newspapering in the early Nineties to free-lance as a writer and editor, mostly for niche magazines, and the future of journalism as we practice it is not exactly bright, either. Tight budgets and loose standards do not a quality publication make.
But does this matter in the era of the 10-second attention span? Is there still an audience interested in solid reporting, strong writing and photos of anyone other than Oprah?
You all write way too long.
ReplyDeleteGimme two paragraphs.
From Tim Chavez in Nashville at www.politicalsalsa.com:
ReplyDeleteA time, place and date has been set for a gathering to toast our laid off Tennessean colleagues and hopefully to pass the hat. This is the holidays, and many of these good people have families and mounting medical bills.
Please go to my blog to find out more.
And go, Jim, go! You rock! It's time for you to open your own newspaper or to buy a Gannett one. I'd invest. I'd also work for you, and I wouldn't demand as much pay as Craig Dubow.
Thanks,
Tim
People do care about quality journalism. They want stories that require journalists to dig deeper than the surface.
ReplyDeleteThe only news being published in Poughkeepsie comes when the attorney general tells us someone is being charged with a crime. Or when the D.A. sends a press release.
When a seasoned journalist like M.V. or L.H. get muzzled because wimpy management doesn't publish for fear of losing ad revenue or a law suit, readers are ill-served.
The junior reporters used to be hungry for digging news. Now, it's just a steeping stone for their teaching careers it seems.
A note to the newbies: don't come into the newsroom unless you want to report news.
The young journalists used to schmooze the state police investigators and young A.D.A's for leads. They don't do that anymore. This is partly due to editors assigning fluff stories but they must take some blame too. And management must take blame for being tight wads.
Readers want hard news and will buy the paper for it. But many people I've heard from said there isn't news in the Poughkeepsie paper anymore.
The journal is losing 45 press people and will earn more money because of it. With that windfall they could hire more reporters and make the paper relevant again. It's your choice Poughkeepsie execs, but don't make excuses, do the right thing.
10:52 - one better:
ReplyDelete• Bullet Points
• Graphics
and mainstream it, dammit!
:)
3:18 AM: It is really sad that so many employees have been let go, and we are left with people who have no ability to write a coherent and gramatically correct message. All else aside, the fact that you praise the company is not surprising. Did you say you are paid six figures to write in a style which would make a kid in second grade flunk English class?
ReplyDeleteSomeone with this background and general attitude could be the next Craig Dubow. Ah yes, "Themselfs"!!
12:33, I was wondering how this person got to a six figure salary with writing like that. You know it's not the newsroom - must be that advertising person who jumps in with the polar bears to get a sale.
ReplyDeleteI realize that times are tough at small dailies, more so now than ever, but....
ReplyDeleteCheck out this story that appeared on the front page of today's Gannett-owned Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: http://www.htrnews.com/article/20081210/MAN0101/812100551/1984
Then read this press release from Hampton Hotels: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20081205005099&newsLang=en
A press release running almost verbatim under a "Herald Times Reporter" byline on the FRONT PAGE. They didn't even bother to call a local source. The only quote is the canned one from the press release. Yeesh.
RE past notes about news co-op. How would this work?
ReplyDeleteSorry, looks like those links were too long. I'll break them up over a few lines:
ReplyDeleteManitowoc "article": http://www.htrnews.com/
article/20081210/MAN0101/812100551/1984
Press release: http://www.businesswire.com/
portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view
&newsId=20081205005099&newsLang=en
12:40 p.m. -
ReplyDeleteHere is a headline:
"Ad rep eaten by polar bear"
Gannett Paper NY - A Gannett ad representative was eaten by a polar bear in the icy water near downtown this morning attempting to sell an ad to the bear's owner.
A minority person contacted by this newspaper in order to obtain "mainstreaming" and diversity points said: "That's sad."
Police would not comment, but were not asked to.
For video of people standing around near the river doing nothing, go to Gannettoid.com
For audio of people saying nothing of any interest, go that same place.
For photo galleries of people pointing to where they think the polar bear may have eaten the ad rep (187 photos in all!) go to that same place.
For complete coverage of the incident, go to our competition.
1:06 PM
ReplyDeleteWhy does it sadden but not surprise me that they'd run a press release from what appears to be a CareerBuilder advertiser---and present it as news!!!
Layoffs today in Lafayette,LA
ReplyDelete- 1 in the newsroom
- 1 Marketing
- 1 Circulation
- 4 Classifieds
- 1 Classifieds supervisor
- 1 sales rep at the Opelousas Daily World
- a satellite office in Houma,LA was closed last week with 3 employees.
That is all I know right now.
Seriously, everyone should contact the newspaper and point out the fact that this was just a slightly re-worded press release.
ReplyDeleteObvioulsy a lazy reporter at "work."
1:42 p.m.: Priceless and spot on. Thanks for the laugh out loud!
ReplyDelete2:04, technically it took more work than just sticking in yet another AP story.
ReplyDelete1:42, you win today's thread.
ReplyDelete(word verification: colder. How fitting.)
2:04 pm: You assume it's the work of a "lazy reporter.'' I'll bet it was written by a totally overworked editor with no overtime budget -- and no reporters left to fill the paper.
ReplyDeleteWe left at the APP should rejoice! Tom Donovan told us that we are still profitable. But, uh, Tom, then why are we cutting the number of pages and why did we let 92 people go from APP?
ReplyDeleteJim, you are likely right... I am still thinking with a pre-layoff mindset! Ha!
ReplyDeleteReporters with time even to re-write a press release are few and far between these days!
1:42 p.m.
ReplyDeleteWrong spin on the story ... nobody cares about ad reps ...
Headline:
Endangered species feeds on endangered species
Subhead:
Polar bear treated for indigestion
To all my Circ. friends in the Jersey group: PCS is planning an expansion. You have to wonder where all their new business is coming from. I just saw this on Monster. You may want to get your app. in.
ReplyDeleteUnder the direction of the Assistant Distribution Manager and/or the Distribution Center Manager, and in accordance with the corporate policy and standard operating procedures, concentrates efforts on assisting in all aspects of distribution center operations, ensuring customer service goals and objectives are met and/or exceeded.
*This position will begin in West Windsor, NJ, then move to Ewing, NJ.
Essential Functions & Responsibilities
- With direction from Manager, oversee the daily operation of a distribution center.
Can someone in New Jersey who has already been through the process please respond to this?
ReplyDeleteWhen VOLUNTARY BUYOUTS were given, we were told that unemployment benefits could not be paid until severance pay ran out.
No one at NJ State Unemployment will verify this eligibility-- claiming it is giving financial advice! It gets further compounded by the rollover of lump sum IRA and 401k funds. Will I be collecting OR up the creek?
Has anyone already experienced the situation? What happened? Thank you!
Cut Manitowoc some slack, tiny town, tiny paper, tiny staff. 15k daily circ.
ReplyDeleteBetter yet, call them and ask to be put on hold. Last time I did that, I got the local AM radio newschannel as music. Whether or not that's the best thing to do, at least people get the news when they call the HTR.
I thought we were drowning all the polar bears with global warming? Doesn't matter, once they start eating ad reps they won't be able to get the shit taste out of their mouth no matter how much they gulp.
ReplyDeleteYou cannot claim unemployment benefits in NJ until your severance runs out. 401k/pension issues are unrelated, unless you take a lump sum instead of rolling into IRA. If you take lump sum, that's considered income and will figure in your unemployment compensation.
ReplyDelete"Also, rumors of AFL Printing ( www.aflwebprinting.com ) taking over Freehold printing operations in 2009.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's just what this is " RUMORS"
If the APP was going to do this then why?
1)Spend millions of dollars cutting down and updating the Press's to save money on ink and paper.
2)Hire a new pressroom manager
3) Spend money to install all new plate proccesing equipment.Along with new equipment in circulation?
4:19: I've worked in a tinier town, at a tinier daily paper (less than 6,000) with a tinier staff. I can't fathom re-running a press release verbatim as a front-page story. If it had appeared back on Page 5 or 6, maybe... MAYBE. I might even let it slide if it was a Monday paper. But the front page on a Wednesday? That's just sad.
ReplyDelete4:32PM.... THANKS FOR REACHING OUT!
ReplyDeleteI TRULY APPRECIATE IT!
@1:42 wrote:
ReplyDelete"For video of people standing around near the river doing nothing, go to Gannettoid.com."
Hmmm ... someone went and registered that domain today at 19:05 GMT (or 2:05 p.m. EST). Doesn't go anywhere, though.
I also checked to see if gannettblog.com was available. Seems GCI registered it in 2006 via MarkMonitor, "the Global Leader in Enterprise Brand Protection." It, too, doesn't bring up a site.
8:31
ReplyDeletei left that comment on the local blog where you read it, and yes it's true. the information was passed to employees last week.
Is it really too much to ask for Gannett's internet savior, Ripple6, to not have broken links on the front page of its Web site?
ReplyDeleteI would have gotten fired---no questions asked---if I had turned in a press release as a story when I worked at a non-Gannett. But my clueless Gannett boss would have probably made it a contest entry!
ReplyDelete4:32, I beg to differ with you but you can collect while getting severence and SHOULD. I did and asked 3 people in the office and at orientation. Severence is something you are getting from the company as part of a separation agreement - it is not a salary or continuation of pay as Gannett likes to call it. Please apply immediately. I don't know how many times this has come up on this blog but you can check with UI and they will tell you it is legit.
ReplyDelete6:17 PM-- Thank you for your experience with this. I have discovered that the central issue is the state you are collecting from. Every state does it differently-- with their only set of rules!
ReplyDelete4:51 They spent all that money, and it didn't produce the sort of longer term savings they were looking for, so are moving to another cost-saving measure by going outside. If you think they wasted the money, complain and see what happens.
ReplyDeleteIn NJ severance based on years of service does not extend your employment for UI purposes. Continuation of pay does, therefore, file immediately, (preferably on-line). As far as I know, if you leave your 401k with Gannett (which I would recommend due to the financial hit that all stocks have taken so far), and defer your pension payout or roll it over into an IRA, it should not have a bearing on your UI. Again, this is for NJ. I was laid off last Tuesday and received my determination yesterday. Hope this helps.
ReplyDelete6:17 pm what state are you in?
ReplyDeleteWith further reference to collecting unemployement during severence - even if it is a voluntray layoff it is treated the same (in NJ). If it were me I would just go ahead and apply - the worst that can happen is they will set up an interview with you and you can discuss it with a representative. If they deny you then you reapply later.
ReplyDeleteHey 6:29 Is that you K family?
ReplyDeleteFront page story in today's Des Moines Register: Principal Financial will elimate 300 jobs in Des Moines area.
ReplyDeleteBut Register layoff story last week was buried on page 2 of the business section.
Register folks: Pay attention! Readers are not stupid.
4:20pm
ReplyDeleteHOLY CRAP!
4:51
ReplyDeletewilling to bet your check on that?
2:50 He said the same thing after the first round of buyouts and layoffs. then they "fired" the drivers and now we had another round of layoffs.So someone is lying or we have bad accountants.
ReplyDeleteJim - the latest posts on the Detroit thread below is the true scoop. May be announced next week.
ReplyDeletefg
on the lighter side:
ReplyDeleteI saw this clip last night, and it seemed so, so, universally relevant.
A quicker, more efficient way to reduce staff?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwxrBIaoIrE
7:27 ,I would but I probably make 1/2 of what you do ,and besides it's against company policy to gamble
ReplyDeleteHeyt 4:51 - you are talking about Gannett remember? Hell, does anything they do make sense??
ReplyDeleteThe layoffs finally happened in Lafayette, La. today. Two in editorial, one in marketing (the only person left in that department), four or five in advertising, one in production (the press foreman) and one in circulation. Also lost one in advertising at the Daily World in Opelousas, La.
ReplyDeleteA reporter was also called into the managing editor's office for a closed-door meeting, but was supposedly only given some kind of warning. She's one of the best they have, so it's hard to see what kind of warning she would get.
I just have to say how absolutely horribly management has handled this. Everyone in the building was paranoid, yet all the higher-ups were walking around like it was just another day at the office. There was never any acknowledgment or respect for what was happening. No staff meeting at the end of the day, no memos, no reassurance, nothing. We're all just fending for ourselves.
9:04: That's exactly the way it was at my paper. People in the information center were walking around scared to death.
ReplyDeleteNot management. They kept about their business as if nothing big was about to happen.
Then suddenly, it started, and you could hear the whispers around the room: "it's happening," "what's happening?" -- the layoffs. People were shaking in their boots.
It was cold on that day in our newsroom. I'd gone to the powder room, and soon as I got back to my desk, I got my call.
It was almost like a freak show.
So a followup from our advertising meeting Monday where Laura Hollingsworth, president of The Des Moines Register and West Group, gave us no real answers about future layoffs and future cuts in products, except that she was so happy that she kept the plans for the new cafeteria in the budget.
ReplyDeleteLo and behold!
We received a personal email today from Laura Hollingsworth, will now be celebrating on next Thursday the grand opening of a new cafeteria, vending area, game room filled with pool and ping pong tables, computer stations, lounge area, and flat screen tvs.
Wow, is this why we cut so many employees? How many are next? Oh yes, she didn't know that answer.
New cafeteria
ReplyDeleteHollingsworth, Laura
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 12:00 PM
To:
DesMoines-All
Attachments:
All:
I’m pleased to announce that the grand opening celebration for the new downtown employee break room will be next Thursday, December 18, between 11 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. During that time you can check out the beautiful new eating area, the vending galley, the lounging pit, the computer stations and the new recreation area complete with pool and ping-pong tables, flat-screen televisions and more! There will also be a book and magazine exchange area along with board games to enjoy as you take a break from work. Refreshments will be served during the open house and there will be a drawing for lots of door prizes. All Register employees and affiliates are invited and welcome. This celebration is replacing the annual employee holiday luncheon.
Special thanks for the Employee Committee who helped develop the concept for the new break room –
Especially during rough times like these, I think it’s important we have a nice place to eat, relax, think, talk – and enjoy. So, please do.
LH
Laura L. Hollingsworth
President and Publisher
The Des Moines Register
West Group President
Gannett U.S. Community Publishing
(515) 284-8041
lholling@dmreg.com
re: des moisten's cafeteria.
ReplyDeleteWhen Laura calls out "employees and affiliates", are affiliates what we used to call independent contractors, i.e. carriers?
Or does DMR have a bunch of random village people who just wander the building, coming in via the skywalk?
to 7:12 Way Off, Not even close!!!
ReplyDelete9:04: I think that characterization of what happened in Lafayette, La. in unfair. What was management expected to do ... walk around all day miserable and morose. I think that would have made things worse. I, for one, appreciate that it was treated like another day at the office. This was between those let go and the company. The rest of us needed something else to focus on.
ReplyDeleteAs for holding meetings and sending memos, these are serious personnel issues that don't need to be openly discussed among everyone until EVERYTHING is complete. On Thursday, I understand, depsrtment heads are meeting with staffs and there will be a stand-up staff meeting with the publisher. At least that's what I've heard.
I know I'll be called a Judas for writing all of this, but I'm with the earlier poster who said this is a business.