Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Wednesday | Dec. 31 | Your News & Comments
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54 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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It is the last day of 2008.
ReplyDeleteOh, well.
EJ is you're reading this - get back here NOW before this place melts down.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that several job postings at USAToday.com are not there anymore.. Specifically the Video editor and the Videojournalist opening. Any inside info on this? Were they filled or were the job positions eliminated? Is there any hiring going on there, or is it all downsizing and cutbacks?
ReplyDeleteSouth Jersey is a buzz with a story that the Vineland and Cherry Hill papers are going to merge. Any insight?
ReplyDeleteAnd I am hoping that I am the first RIF of 2009..I cant take this crap anymore.
ReplyDeleteWeirdness Today: in Lansing, statewide radio host talking to ex-Entertainment reporter/editor Mike Hughes (after 34 years, dumped in a FUBAR).
ReplyDeleteRadio host: Lansing EE says you're coming back in syndication.
MH: hmm .. you've scooped me ..
Weird.
10:56 of monday, is there any chance you can file a wrongful termination and/or age discrimination lawsuit?
ReplyDeletei know you need to focus right now on finding the NEXT job, but once you do, perhaps you can become the worst nightmare of the person who fired you.
good luck. your former boss sounds like the very model of a modern gannett manager -- cruel, incompetent and contemptuous of labor law.
My New Year's resolution:
ReplyDeleteTo be employed long after CD and his sycophants are not.
No buzz Vineland is coming back to
ReplyDeleteCherry Hill. We are told.
10:56 from MONDAY:
ReplyDeleteYour words gave a vivid image of how bad things are/will be in the economy.
May I ask what you did and what type of work you would really like to do (forget about the stress); what is your passion? Also where are you located? e-mail me if you feel like.
I wish you (and all of those out there in similar positions) all the best and I hope you successive adapt and thrive in this unknow "New World" we find ourselves in.
Reggie H.
tammjenanalytics@live.com
The "economy" also means Gannett papers can lower mileage reimbursements -- which were awful to begin with -- since gas prices have dropped.
ReplyDeleteCourier-Journal today in Louisville lowers from 34 cents/mile, which was put in effect during the height of the late summer gas crunch, to 29 cents/mile.
Still about 30 cents too low, IMHO.
1002 AM:
ReplyDeleteI read Hughes' stuff, but never thought he was that good.
Sorry, I call 'em as I see 'em.
I read Hughes' stuff, but never thought he was that good.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I call 'em as I see 'em.
Issue was speed and volume. Versus someone from USAT Life foo-fooing for three days.
As for "good" -- I got to interview David Halberstam once. Intense, direct, focused -- and decent, fair and kind. I'm sure some of his NYT pals would call Gannetteers "never as good as us" -- nice.
Have a "good" day.
After three weeks of filling out online applications, I agree with posters who say we laid-off Gannetteers need to get out and enjoy ourselves, do some stuff we never had a chance to do because maybe we worked night shift or something. Meet people, reconnect with friends. It doesn't involve a lot of money, either. This is how we can find a job or at the very least, some solace.
ReplyDeleteFor all the print media's worship of the Internet, and indeed it's a wondrous thing, sterile online applications just don't seem to be working.
And the Internet will NEVER replace true communication among fellow human beings. Yes, we are all writing on a blog here. But it's not enough. We're humans, we have feelings, needs, smarts, ideas, goals, hopes and dreams.
We've seen it over and over in newspapers, online, on TV: In a crisis, people help other people, either through charitable giving or by volunteering to help those less fortunate. I mean face-to-face help.
Those of us who are unemployed have now joined the ranks of the "needy," and we have to ask for help, and seek out our fellow human beings for comfort. That's what will lead us out of this tough time and into the new year with the audacity of hope, as our president-elect believes.
Wow. Louisville pays 29 cents !!! Imagine our awe at Louisville's luck as our publisher in Montgomery refused to raise our rate at all during the gas crisis, and we are paid a HUGE 23 cents a mile !! Now, our staff is cut so badly this place is really in the dumper.
ReplyDeleteProof that God has a sense of humor at USAT:
ReplyDeletehttp://twitpic.com/ya0d
I heard from a reliable source that the circulation Center of Excellence in Louisville is way over budget, and actually losing money for Gannett. It has something to do with calls taking more time than they thought. Imagine that! They're really going to get pummeled over the next few months, as most of Gannett's papers cut large amounts of newshole.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have more information on the COE status, and how Tulsa is doing?
Is today the day the swine Currie retires? If it is, so long Phil. Don't think it's been a pleasure 'cause it hasn't.
ReplyDeleteI have read with great fervor the posts on this site since leaving Gannett before the first wave of layoffs.
ReplyDeleteJim has done a remarkable job of posting stories and news.
But...
Some of you are absolutely what is wrong with our industry today. The remark about the milage reimbursement today sparked this thought.
@ .29 cents a mile you have to be making money every time you drive for the company. Gas is $1.68 where I live and thats high. My car gets around 18 miles to the gallon which I think is also average.
At this rate, I am making .20 every time I drive for the company.
Who told you that the company has to help you make extra money?
Why does a financially strapped company need to give away more money than what they pay you and give you in benefits?
If you feel you are worth far more than what you make, leave, Jesus H Christ its not that hard.
The fact is that most people who feel they are underpaid are usually overpaid. When you negotiated for your pay, you didnt tell your employer that unless you received regular raises of at least 5% you would be underpaid in a few years. No, you negotiated for a pay scale that you accepted.
Quit whining about your place in life and either change it or be happy with it.
2:12 PM
ReplyDeleteYou are not making money when you drive for the company. You forgot to figure in insurance, tires, general wear and tear, etc. Believe me, you are losing money. The company is making money having you drive your own car rather than providing you one. Believe me.
Just on a side note-----you sound like someone who would gladly work off the clock. Do you?
After reading "Clueless" nominations for EEs in St. Cloud and Cherry Hill, I went on the Gannett website to see their names. The list there (Gannett map) sends you to each newspaper's website, yet neither paper lists any of its management team, including publisher or EE. Isn't it odd that a communications company would firewall communications in its own communities?
ReplyDeleteoooh 2:12. You're going to get flamed. People don't like to be told they're responsible for their own decisions. Better to reinforce the belief that we were sold into slavery when we took the job.
ReplyDeleteUm...funny how comics mirror real life.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-12-31/
Re: 2:12PM Mileage rate-hater
ReplyDeleteGet a clue! The IRS lists what is reasonable to deduct for an employee who drives his/her car on company business. Here is the link:
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=184163,00.html
Yes, you have to account for ALL costs, not just the gas. I drive a 20-year old 4-cylinder vehicle, and when gas was $4/gallon, I did everything I could to get to my assignments in the car of a colleague who was also assigned to go on that story.
Meanwhile, CD takes a pay cut all the way down to $7.3M. CEO pay has gone from 30X the common employee's pay 20 years ago to 300X now.
No wonder we are where we are.
I'm dying to know where Anon@2:12 thinks I can find another job right now. I've been looking for months and there's nothing out there.
ReplyDelete12:23 PM: Thanks for stopping by, Mike Hughes ...
ReplyDeleteRe: mileage costs. This from the AAA:
ReplyDeleteNational Average Total Ownership and Operating Costs per Mile
Miles per Year
10,000 15,000 20,000
Small sedan 50.5¢ 41.7¢ 37.6¢
Medium sedan 62.4¢ 53.1¢ 48.4¢
Large sedan 72.9¢ 61.9¢ 56.5¢
Composite National Average
62.0¢ 52.2¢ 47.7¢
Yep, factor in those tires, insurance, wear and tear and all that and THEN figure out what percentage of that belongs to work.
ReplyDeleteYou would be paying all that crap anyway, even after you are laid off.
Would I gladly work off the clock? Of course, I care about what I produce here and would gladly stay late to make sure I put out the best product I can.
Should Gannett require you to do so? No.
Do you have the balls to get up and walk out at quitting time? Apparently not since people are talking lawsuits.
Again, if you are being abused and are downtrodden, gtfo.
I always assumed that Gannett employed adults. Guess not.
Re: mileage costs. This from the AAA:
ReplyDeleteNational Average Total Ownership and Operating Costs per Mile
Miles per Year
10,000 15,000 20,000
Small sedan 50.5¢ 41.7¢ 37.6¢
Medium sedan 62.4¢ 53.1¢ 48.4¢
Large sedan 72.9¢ 61.9¢ 56.5¢
Composite National Average
62.0¢ 52.2¢ 47.7¢
12/31/2008 3:33 PM
Soooo.
Gannett is paying for almost half the Total Cost Owning and Operating of your vehicle. Do you use it for work for half the time?
And for the cant find work guy, you arent looking very hard. We have been looking for a News Editor for months.
3:54 PM
ReplyDeleteThat's not necessary. You can just use the table posted above your post. You're making this way too difficult.
Now get back to that information center and execute something really innovative----like a rewritten press release on mileage reimbursements or fish fries or PTA.
Please don't tell me you cover government or schools at budget time!
Soooo, 3:54 believes that Gannett employees who take abusive, insulting, humiliating bosses are not "adults"? Sorry, but sometimes people just are too shocked to be treated so poorly that they just don't know HOW to react!
ReplyDeleteThat was my case in gannett, with a vile, vicious, vindictive, mean-spirited, snide, sniveling weasel of a publisher who ruined my career and that of many others in Gannett (along with that Idiot Currie and all the other dangling heads!)
No, we are adults, we just don't believe that people can be so ugly and vicious to their employees, so we don't react at all, or at least not in front of THEM.
In my case, I quit, and walked away with the sweet revenge of selling my Gannett stock at almost $80 a share! But I still hate Gannett with a passion and all those who lead it. I hope nothing but the worst for them in 2009.
Looks like they are meeting my low expectation, the miserable idiots!
2:12 -- You fail to understand the basic tenants of why people feel as though Gannett treats its employees as they are disposable. I bet you are the type of employee who goes out and pays for your own office supplies and other things and chooses to not expense them.
ReplyDeleteAs a professional, there are certain reasonable expectations of what the employer provides and what the employee provides. Period.
While this company is bleeding, it still makes money and should reasonably compensate its employees for expenses Failure to do so cheapens the industry and is a breach of basic professional standards and expectations.
While for you 2:12 the issue of mileage reimbursement might seem like a inane thing, it's an excellent metaphor for all that is wrong with this this company and industry: it tries to do everything on the cheap and as a result ends up with less than stellar results.
Sorry, I am in Circ.
ReplyDelete2:12PM... You have a great day! I guess that many of the blog readers don't realize that you stupidity, sarcasm, arrogance and pomposity are all written in jocularity! No one, not even the infamous JJC in Bridgewater, would
ReplyDeletewrite sanctimonious crap like that!
354 PM, I think it's you who sounds like a cranky 4-year-0ld. Who are you to judge the working conditions of someone you not only do not know, but don't know even what region of the country the person is in? I'm not a prior poster.
ReplyDeleteAn unemployed worker in Michigan, for example, is going to have a tougher time getting a comparable job than in, say, Texas, New York or Florida.
What compelled you to take the time and trouble to denigrate people here?
Probably the same thing that prompted a great many poster of this site to denigrate people that they work for, people they work with and the company itself.
ReplyDeleteMan, its so simple. If you dont like where you work, go somewhere else. You may have to pack up your stuff and move.
I had and have employees that are happy to work, work late, work hard.
They arent some mythical figure. The pathos of you only get me to work within the confines of my basic workday is bs. This industry was built on the ethic that we as newspaper-people will do what it takes to report, create and deliver our product.
Now it seems as if the majority would like to punch the clock and go home when the whistle sounds. It doesnt always work that way.
Sure the company makes money, but not the amount of money the shareholders want. Therefore, if you truly believe in your journalistic calling, suck it up.
If your boss is a scag and you know that he wont change and HR wont fix him/her, get the hell out.
Someone posted that their reaction to a boss like this was one of disbelief and warranted no reaction. Get real, suck up your courage and tell them off, quit, whatever.
Sharpen your resume, sack groceries for a while and go practice your craft elsewhere.
When tornadoes strike, when floods come, when presidents are elected, when presidents are shot, when war is declared, when terrorism strikes...
Are you gonna bitch about un-compensated time or are you going to crank out a Pulitzer worthy piece of news coverage? Are you gonna hitch a ride to Ground Zero because your milage compensation doesnt pay for your vehicle in total? Are you going to decline to put forth max effort because your boss is a dick?
As for me, I will wait long after quitting time to make sure your efforts are properly distributed to the reader.
Luke 10:7
ReplyDeleteadequate gas mileage $$ would (probably) be included were this
written/inspired today...
USATODAY lost their "U".. read : http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/newspapers/the_sa_today_104659.asp
ReplyDeleteThere is no law that says a company has to buy your pencils, your computer, your coffee or pay for your mileage. It does, althought that number is less than the government estimates. Which is why you can deduct unreimbursed business milage off your taxes.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I try not to say this too loud, because the company company could just eliminate any mileage reimbursement and let you work with the IRS on a bigger deduction.
hope this hasn't already been posted, but:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/
idUSTRE4BU53T20081231?sp=true
newspaper bailout!!
Today's Courier News (of Bridgewater, er East Brunswick, er Neptune) had this note on the front page:
ReplyDelete"Because of severe production problems Tuesday morning, we were unable to deliver copies of Tuesday's Courier News to all subscribers. We apologize for any inconvenience this caused. Subscribers who did not receive Tuesday's newspaper may call our customer service center at 800-675-8645 for a credit."
Anonymous 12/31/2008 2:12 PM You are an IDIOT!
ReplyDeleteI just spent $1,400.00 the other day for general maintenance for my car. The price of gas is not the only thing that keeps a car going! But I don't expect you guys in Mclean live in the real world anyway. That is another reason you are so out of touch with your "consumers".
In response to the poster from 6:14:
ReplyDeleteI do not work in the news department, I work in the ad department and have since the very early 90's. You don't have a clue what you are talking about. I have worked 16+ hours a day, for years, getting ads out because idiots couldn't follow deadlines, waiting on copy at 8:00 at night for the following day's paper, missing dinners with the family, working weekends, holidays, busting my ass for a company that doesn't give a rats butt for the ones who put the product on the street, only the ones at the top raping the company. I've worked with stupid little jerks that have the same opinion that you have spouted. I have seen this company take dedicated, hard working, talented people who were loyal and throw them on the street, all in the name of profits. Profits for who? Would you be one of the ones getting that profit? I guarantee most of us who work for Gannett didn't see that profit. The ones who have gone upwards in the company, or think the company is right, usually suffer from short man syndrome.
In other words, 356/614 PM, you are someone we work for.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty much as I suspected. You have a vested interested in keeping us enslaved.
It doesn't exactly work that way, that we have to tolerate abuse or leave. You have no respect for the law or your admitted violation of labor laws. You seem like a deeply troubled person with deeply perverted ethics.
I doubt many readers here consider your opinion of much value. But, of course, you're free to make as big an ass out of yourself anonymously here as you seem to admit to doing at Gannett every day in person. Ahem.
6:14
ReplyDelete"Now it seems as if the majority would like to punch the clock and go home when the whistle sounds. It doesnt always work that way."
yeah, you're right - and the company can get busted for FLSA abuse if it doesn't comply -
damn, with this many reporters it looks to me that ONE OF YOU would research FLSA and act on it.
if you're laid off already, think of how much fun it would be to screw them to the wall!
6:14 is part of the problem, not the solution. It all starts -- and ends -- with professionalism. Once professionalism is eroded the profession is eroded.
ReplyDeleteAre the investors investing in Gannett to simply make a short-term profit or are they investing because they have an inherent interest in the future of a long-term return on investment? If Craig & Co. think that diminishing the quality of the product by mass layoff and expense reduction will boost the stock price for the long run they are mistaken. At this point, investors will take any profits and run. Gannett's current strategy is a vicious circle that threatens to further erode the value of its products at a quicker pace.
If the folks investing in the stock at this point were interested in the long-haul they'd be demanding the removal of Gannett's Management team. Why haven't we heard of any rumblings from any of the larger institutional holders? I'd like to see a story examining the sentiment among the large holders of the stock.
Everything boils down to money, even free speech. I suspect that Dubow likely is starting to feel the pressure to step aside. The board of directors will have to have a fall guy.
And for the record, I think any notion of a newspaper bailout on for-profit publications is bogus. Newspapers and the people entrusted to lead them have failed and resisted innovation and modernization.
It's New Year's Eve, and I am in a deep depression over being laid off. With no prospects on the horizon despite my best job-seeking efforts, I am feeling pretty abandoned and useless. I'll never understand why I was laid off. I didn't make much money despite my seniority. Did a great job by all the ways Gannett measures things like that. Had decent technical skills to match my journalistic abilities. And now, at 52 years old, I feel my career is over through no fault of my own. I know some folks pull through and land great jobs after a terrible fall, but I think the silent majority don't. Just a terrible feeling going into the new year.
ReplyDeleteWhen the heck does Gannett send out the info for pension payouts? I've been laid off for about a month and still haven't seen anything about my pension, nor has the company cut the check from my 401k and sent it to my new IRA account despite my closing my 401k account on the "Your Benefits" web site.
ReplyDeleteThis damn company lets us go, in many cases for no damn good reason, and adds insult to injury by not getting us the money we are owed so we can freakin' survive! They threw us out in a hurry, but seem to be in no rush to address pension or 401k transfers or payouts. What a terrible organization GCI has become. Just a bunch of amateurs with no heart. Once I get my money from them, I never want to even think about that company ever again. Just hope I don't have to sue to get what is mine.
@7:41 PM: Just what we need: Another poorly run industry getting a chunk of government money. Ummm, no. Newspapers don't need and don't deserve it any more than the auto industry did. Both need to get their shit together, and they'll do just fine without help.
ReplyDeleteHappy 2009 from the East Coast. (Yes, NJ. Shut up.)
ReplyDeleteI hope this year is much better for all of us.
Jim, I'm so sorry you missed your goal.
10:48 pm: In November 1992, I thought my life was over -- but it was not. I did, indeed, bounce back. If you see this message, please let me know; I am thinking about you.
ReplyDeleteJim: What did you make total (with ads) last quarter? We will try to do better this time. Though I'm not sure you were TOO far off, right?
ReplyDelete6:14 p.m. wrote: "Now it seems as if the majority would like to punch the clock and go home when the whistle sounds. It doesnt always work that way."
ReplyDeleteNo, it doesn't always work that way. And no one here has said they're not willing to step up and go to bat when breaking news occurs, so STFU, all right?
The problem that I've seen is that there's so much work, you HAVE to put in extra, off-the-clock time just to get your job done, or be considered a slacker. That's not right, or legal.
A productive, healthy employee is often one who has boundaries between his or her professional and personal lives. When those boundaries are CONSISTENTLY crossed, it creates more stress and havoc, and thus leads to a less productive employee.
"Work-life balance" does NOT mean a 70-30 split, a 60-40 split or even a 50-50 split. A full-time job should take up about a third of your waking hours, leaving you 72 hours a week to eat, bathe, dress, commute, relax, nurture, learn and play.
Those extra hours off the clock achieve only one thing: to kill the time you spend with your family, or with yourself.
I work out of my home, and it's become a challenge to set and maintain those boundaries.
7:10 wrote: "There is no law that says a company has to buy your pencils, your computer, your coffee or pay for your mileage."
If a company pays me to perform a job, I have an expectation that it will provide the tools I need to do that job, unless that is negotiated at the outset (e.g., a plumber who brings her own tools, a reporter who uses his own laptop). If my employer wants me to take notes, I need pens or pencils and notepads. If my employer wants me to write stories and enter them into the company editorial system, I need a computer. Very simple.
10:48, unfortunately (or maybe in this case it is some consolation) you are not alone in your feelings. I have a few years on you which makes it worse for me. I do have faith though that things will work out. I wish all of you out there who lost their jobs with Gannett a better new year.
ReplyDelete