Friday, January 16, 2009
Friday | Jan. 16 | Your News & Comments
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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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ReplyDeleteGannettoid: Furloughs page.
If Detroit and Hawaii are exempt, how soon until the Crystal Tower fills up with hard-working employees who can't possibly be furloughed?
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing a certain CEO wouldn't be able to squeeze by without the $32,640 a furlough would cost him.
EXEMPT THINESELF!
-15 in Wisconsin, -33 windchill.
ReplyDeleteIn the Great Depression, you could put newspaper inside your jacket as extra insulation. With the new web width, you need to pick what gets frostbite.
Except for those of us who don't work Monday-Friday ...
ReplyDeleteperhaps if a HUGE NUMBER of current gannett employees being required to furlough would take their week of furlough next week, the week of 1/19/09, it might make a statement to the powers that be.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090116/NEWS/901160363/1001
ReplyDeleteDes Moines Register announces it will fold together business and Metro/Iowa sections, drops classifieds on Mondays and Tuesdays, more. Do you remember on Monday the paper quoted the publisher as saying there is a "general misperception" that subscriptions are falling and that isn't happening in Iowa? How 3 days can make a difference.
this may be a first since gannett took over the indianapolis star and started turning it into another link in the chain. from today's page a1:
ReplyDeletePRAYER RETURNS
"Earlier this month we eliminated the prayer that had been published daily in The Indianapolis Star for more than 40 years. We reasoned that philosophically, prayer was not the function of a newspaper. Our role is to be the voice of news and information in Central Indiana.
"Thousands of calls, e-mails and letters to the editor later, we have been reminded of, and are thankful for, another impportant role: to be a vital part of our readers' lives. As our religion writer, Robert King, put it: "You don't get much more important than being a part of the grace said over breakfast." The daily prayer returns today to Page A2.
"Thank you for letting us be part of your life."
a little math lesson for gannett execs:
prayers written by a retired minister: $20 a week.
goodwill lost by eliminating them: incalculable.
Where is the violin music? At least the workers / passengers on the Titanic had something to listen to while they slowly disappeared.......
ReplyDeleteWhen USA TODAY plugs the Newseum, as they did today in the Life section, shouldn't there be a disclaimer noting the connection with USA TODAY's editor?
ReplyDeleteIn my grad school management class that I am taking online, one of the lines in a book we are reading said this: "A sharp decline in corporate financial fortune is the most obvious sign a CEO is struggling." Sound familiar?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gannettoid. Nicely done.
ReplyDeleteHave you noticed the building is getting colder? Have they turned off the heat?
ReplyDeleteFROM THE DES MOINES REGISTER PUBLISHER, LAURA HOLLINGSWORTH THIS MORNING:
ReplyDeleteI’ve been talking with area business leaders, employees and readers about this unprecedented economic situation over the last several weeks. The big theme in those conversations, no surprise, is how much everyone is struggling to manage through such uncertainty.
People are evaluating and prioritizing what is most important in their business and personal lives. They are making tough decisions they’ve never had to make before to survive now, and to thrive again later.
It’s no different for The Des Moines Register.
Like all Iowans, we’ve already had a few months of tough decisions. We’ve dealt with a reduction in employees and a furlough program in hopes to avoid further layoffs in this volatile first quarter. We’re making tough, but necessary decisions. Some decisions have us setting aside what we want to do for what we need to do. Some simply accelerate what we were already planning, like increasing and expanding our digital content to meet the growing demand for it.
Starting on Monday, you will see some changes in the layout of The Des Moines Register. The headline is that we’ll be merging some sections and moving some features.
We’re combining the Metro & Iowa and Business sections into one. You’ll find Health inside IowaLife on Wednesday. The comics, the puzzles, Dear Abby and the TV grid are moving into Datebook on Thursdays. We will no longer publish Saturday stock listings, but we’ll still feature stocks of Iowa interest. We will no longer publish classified sections on Mondays or Tuesdays, although our online Marketplace is always active, 24/7.
These changes are driven by economics and a determination to prepare our business for the long term. We’re doing what so many are talking about: prioritizing what changes we need to make now in order to be poised to take advantage of new opportunities later.
I know that some of our loyal readers won’t jump up and down over these changes. But my hope is you’ll understand why we’re making them.
What isn’t changing is our commitment to deep local coverage and stories that make a difference. We’ll continue our exclusive watchdog and public service journalism. We’ll bring expert coverage of issues related to education, health care, business and the environment.
We’ll continue to celebrate and showcase Iowa’s special moments like the State Fair, RAGBRAI, high school proms, Iowa sports and the Buddy Holly anniversary.
We’ll use print, and all the new tools and technology available, to bring you the very best in those experiences. We still have, by far, the largest group of news professionals covering central Iowa and this state — and doing it like no one else can.
What also doesn’t change is how proud I am of the work we do and the employees who inspire me each and every day. It’s not the layout that makes The Des Moines Register what it is — it is our people.
Laura Hollingsworth is president and publisher of The Des Moines Register.
Spotted at the Tyson's Ritz Carlton: Denver Post editor Greg Moore. As the nation's top black editor, and victor of the Denver battle, it would be an interesting move to see Moore take over USAT.
ReplyDeleteThey are not going to get the savings they want from this silly furlough. Employees give GCI their salaries for five days, but GCI still has to pay benefits. With Hawaii and Detroit exempt, and other still-profitable papers balking, the Crystal Towers won't try this again. It's back to the old layoff plan.
ReplyDeleteComments are being posted suggesting employees suspend their subscriptions while on furlough. This would have little effect on the Circ volumes. It varies by paper, but usually only about 25 - 50% of employees actually get the discount subscription. This doesn't amount to much circ, especially with the dwindling employee base.
ReplyDeleteHOWEVER...
In addition to the paid employee subscriptions, abc allows for "employee copies" to be counted as circulation seven days per week - an amount equal to the total number of employees at the paper. In theory, this is due to the availability of office copies for any employee to pick up at work. The issue is that office copies have been cut down in order to save newsprint and internal distribution costs and are likely unavailable to most employees unless you have access to advertising or LIC back copies. As the workforce continues to shrink, some papers are slow to adjust the abc employee copy number in order to minimize circ losses (or in some cases, maintain circ "growth" - I'm looking at you Cincinnati).
Instead of suspending your employee subscription while on furlough, you should cancel it altogether, then notify the circulation department at your paper that you wish to arrange receipt of your free abc employee copy 7 days per week.
Isn't a one-week furlough the equivilant of a 1.9% cut in pay? (loss of one week's pay out of 52 weeks)....if that were to happen in each quarter, that would work out to a 7.6% reduction in pay for all....WOW!
ReplyDeleteNo one does "more with less." With less, you do less. You get less. No one buys into the garbage people like Hollingsworth spread today.... we keep treating readers and advertisers like idiots.
ReplyDeleteWhen in fact, the Gannett top management are the idiots by trying to sell these changes as "exciting" or "unavoidable" because of the economy.
Not one dollar of net income - or profit - at the Gannett papers stays in those communities.
That dirty little secret should be shared in all the cities with Gannett papers.
The only revenue that stays in town is the money necessary to keep operating - however little that will be. The rest goes to McClain.
I never thought about this before, but is it stealing to take home a copy of the newspaper? I never bothered with a subscription because they give out the papers free at work, so I really don't understand why anyone would take advantage of the employee subscription offer. I don't think I am alone in doing this.
ReplyDeleteI cancelled my subscription in Cherry Hill. For Good!
ReplyDeleteA poster from yesterday (Palm Springs) was incredulous about Gannett's furlough plan and corporate's seemingly blind eye to the fact that it is Palm Spring's busy season... Same here in Phoenix with The Arizona Republic. We also have managers who are shaking their collective heads in dismay as their concerns are being dismissed for the homogenized, one-size-fits-all furlough plan. This is a company not making sense. Gannett says in a Q & A memo that they are "strong"... Hello? Is there anybody home at Gannett Corporate?
ReplyDeleteOh, thank you anon 6:58 a.m. "We reasoned" ... that kills me. That's the kind of reasoning that's eroded community confidence in just about every Gannett entity.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the pipes will burst here in Cherry Hill it's sooo cold. What's for lunch?
ReplyDeleteJim, please put on a shirt.
ReplyDeleteWell I see Jersey's big profitable paper didn't balk on this furlough deal.
ReplyDeleteUnless the want to be god's are exempt ???
Hey jim you have "Two Pickles" posted on the Onion post.........tongue twister.....posted on the blog twice!
ReplyDelete..."top black editor"...wow, haven't we moved beyond that? Guess not.
ReplyDeletePart of USAT's problem is that it focuses too much on perceptions and not enough on reality. It's led to some bad hirings, firings and other awful decisions that have hurt people and the product. It involves race, gender, office politics, young vs. old, digital vs. print, visuals vs. text... It goes on and on. What a divided place it has become.
Whoever USAT chooses for an editor, I hope it will be based on ability and integrity, and nothing else. It's time to end this stupid quota hiring at all levels. Time to stop the lies and dog and pony shows. I've had enough of teas with the editor, baby pictures, 3G journalism and other assorted crap.
It's time to start judging people on their ethics and abilities rather than skin color, ethnicity or how much ass they can kiss. I would love to see an editor who has charisma, knows his entire staff and can be frank and truthful. Someone with old school know-how but also someone able to utilize modern tools to move us forward. I am going to be suspicious of any Gannett person they move into the job, because to survive at Gannett for any length of time, in a top managerial position, well, you probably aren't the most honorable human being.
We need someone who has street smarts. Someone who can see through a phony ME or realize that not all the web site managers are up to snuff. Some, in fact, are a major disasters. They need to be exposed and cleared out by the new editor.
We need an editor who can see that some folks are grossly overpaid and some are underpaid. USAT needs an editor to clean up some of the outrageous perks some people enjoy, while alleviating some of the inhumane workloads that others carry.
I once had a manager tell me that he gets bonuses for hiring minorities. It's a dirty little secret at USAT, but explains a lot. I just hope that practice ends soon and carries no weight in the decision to hire an editor.
10:35--please take my comments as how I USE to feel, now I just give don't give a damn.
ReplyDeleteBut you said---
"so I really don't understand why anyone would take advantage of the employee subscription offer."
BECAUSE WE SHOULD SUPPORT OUR PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT.
Why not? It's the right thing to do--in the long run FOR YOURSELF.
I've been around long enough to have believed that our subscription was a vote of confidence toward our newsroom. We were supporting each other. I bought vehicles from advertisers, used coupons from the paper. And more importantly DID NOT use the competitor's advertising. I WOULD NOT EVER use a coupon that came in the mail. Bought only from advertisers. This way of thinking was common when I started in the business, but in the last 10 years has completely eroded. I understand NOW why none of us care, I use coupons from wherever I can now. (there are still those NON-advertisers I can't get myself to buy from) But that lack of loyalty is in part what got us to this situation. We aren't loyal to the paper, they aren't loyal to us.
And when I hear ad sales people say "I never read the paper."--what a sign of pure ignorance and short-sightness. How can you sell it then? We needed to spread interest. What about when the store owner is featured and you can't mentioned it because you don't know.....
(Forgive me, obviously I'm not a writer by trade.)
Just had to bring this up, it's been nagging me for awhile.
8:42 AM...I thought Bennie Ivory from Louisville is the nation's top black editor. And he has worked at USA Today...
ReplyDeleteThe pipes might burst in Cherry Hill. But no worries. The space heater is in Lafferty's office. Shame it won't short circuit like he and his crew have.
ReplyDeleteOn the upside, this is a great time to short the Gannett stock. Doesn't look like any of the "leaders" are heading out the door - and we all know Corporate has no plan to right this sinking (i.e. sunk) ship.
ReplyDeleteHere in NJ, the decision makers are in a (low) class by themselves.
ok well support me. Steal me one! There're worthless
ReplyDeleteWho gets papers? We can't get them to pull t/sheets.
ReplyDelete"Isn't a one-week furlough the equivilant of a 1.9% cut in pay? (loss of one week's pay out of 52 weeks)....if that were to happen in each quarter, that would work out to a 7.6% reduction in pay for all....WOW!"
ReplyDeleteAnother way of looking at this... for every 52 people, Gannett saves having to pay 1 person's average yearly salary.
I'm surprised Gannett hasn't adopted what some companies are doing. 1 hour mandatory lunch and adjusting salaries for a 37.5 hour work-week.
Saves a pile of money over the long haul.
Hear there is a hush hush meeting in Lafferty's office this afternoon. Anyone know what's up? Something good I hope.
ReplyDelete11:52, I agree with you that employees should subscribe - of course I am in the circulation department. I am always amazed at how few of our employees subscribe, including the editor and the publisher - even at rock bottom prices. To 10:35 you are not stealing - it's yours and there should be one for you every day that you are working.
ReplyDelete12:28 my hours are supposed to be 8-5, how's that 37.5 hours?
ReplyDeleteIf they give bonuses to managers for hiring minorities, then Moon could get his bonus this year when others do not. If you give incentives, then things happen.
ReplyDeleteThe Star Tribune in Minneapolis has filed bankruptcy:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.startribune.com/business/37685134.html
Could Gannett papers be next?
Oh my. Are there really editors and publishers who don't subscribe?
ReplyDeleteI think Gannett should use the recession as an excuse to implement the following changes:
ReplyDelete1. Hourly employees will only be permitted to work 5 6-hour shifts per week and be forced to do the remaining work in that time period.
2. Employees must work their 6-hour shifts with little interruption: No outside breaks and only one bathroom break per 3-hours worked. They can leave the timing at the discretion of the employee.
3. A health plan that only covers up to 55 percent of expenses with a $12,000 yearly deductible per employee.
4. No health insurance for dependents or families, just cover the employee.
5. One week of vacation time per year. Two weeks after 10 years.
6. No more sick time. If you get sick and need to take a day off, you do it on your own dime of take it away from your vaca time.
7. No more mileage reimbursement. Instead, they should buy bus tokens and allow each employee to only have up to a maximum of 5 per week.
These ideas are ridiculous but it is the direction that this mickey mouse company is going. Basic logic indicates that it is more likely that the company will go out of business.
Furloughs, shrinking paper, limited staff to carry the load and people who still just don't get it. Life at the C-P carries on
ReplyDeleteYet more bad news. Circuit City, a big (reprints) in most U.S. newspapers, has gone belly up. It got court approval to liquidate all of its stores.
ReplyDeletere: 11:29
ReplyDeleteWhile working for Gannett during the mid-90s, I once saw an entry form for the company's "All America Contest," which was the basis for awarding managers their affirmative-action bonuses.
Are the finance people at local sites who will be losing their jobs shortly exempt from the furlough?
ReplyDeleteSo who is going to make sure that Dumbo and company takes there furlough??
ReplyDelete8:45 am (or whoever can answer): Perhaps I missed something, but what papers are balking? The memo I read didn't seem to leave any wiggle room.
ReplyDeleteGannett to close Tucson Citizen if a buyer can't be found by March 21.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/gannett-offers-to-sell-assets-of-the-tucson-citizen,683682.shtml
What's going on in Tucson? Just saw an article that the company is selling assets in the Citizen?
ReplyDeleteIt was just announced that Gannett is putting the Tucson Citizen for sale. If no buyer is found, the paper will cease publication. The Citizen is operated in a JOA with Lee Enterprises-owned Arizona Daily Star. The Citizen was also suffering from massive circulation declines; at one time its circ approached 90,000, but is now well under 30,000, with a big drop in recent years.
ReplyDeleteYou have to wonder how many other papers Gannett is looking at dumping. This can't be the only one.
Just in from the AP:
ReplyDeleteGannett says it will sell or close Tucson Citizen
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- Gannett Co. says it will close the Tucson Citizen if it does not find a buyer by March 21.
Robert J. Dickey, president of Gannett U.S. Community Publishing, told Citizen employees of the decision in a meeting Friday.
He said employees will be offered a severance package if the paper closes.
There was no immediate word on possible buyers, and Dickey declined to announce an asking price or the estimated value of the newspaper.
Ya could at least get the news from the source:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/frontpage/107869.php
Text of Gannett Co, Inc.'s news release on the sale of the Tucson Citizen:
ReplyDeleteFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, Jan. 16, 2009
Gannett offers to sell assets of the Tucson Citizen
McLEAN, VA - Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) today said it is offering to sell certain assets of the Tucson (AZ) Citizen. If a sale is not completed by March 21, 2009, Gannett said it will have to close the newspaper.
"The Tucson Citizen has been part of Gannett since 1976 and we deeply regret having to take this step. But dramatic changes in our industry combined with the difficult economy - particularly in this region - mean it is no longer viable for our partnership with Lee Enterprises Incorporated to produce two daily newspapers in Tucson," said Bob Dickey, president of the U.S. Community Publishing division of Gannett. "We applaud the hard work and ongoing efforts of our employees at the newspaper. Their dedication to journalism and to the community of Tucson deserves the highest praise. We hope for a quick and positive response to this offer."
The Tucson Citizen is an afternoon newspaper that publishes Monday through Saturday. It is one of the two newspapers produced by TNI Partners as part of a joint operating arrangement (JOA) under the Newspaper Preservation Act. The Arizona Daily Star, which is owned by a subsidiary of Lee Enterprises Incorporated, is the second newspaper in the JOA. TNI Partners provides the production, distribution, sales and other non-editorial business functions for both the Citizen and The Star.
Each newspaper maintains a separate newsroom and the editorial operations of the newspapers are entirely independent. Average daily circulation of the Citizen is 19,851, according to the latest Audit Bureaus of Circulation report. Founded in 1870, the Tucson Citizen has been part of a JOA since 1940. Offers should be directed to Robert J. Broadwater, managing director of Broadwater & Associates LLC, at (914) 961-5700 or broadwater@broadwaterllc.com.
Gannett Co., Inc. is a leading international news and information company that publishes 85 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation's largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns nearly 900 non-daily publications in the USA and USA WEEKEND, a weekly newspaper magazine. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom's second largest regional newspaper company. Newsquest publishes 17 daily paid-for titles, more than 200 weekly newspapers, magazines and trade publications, and a network of award-winning Web sites. Gannett also operates 23 television stations in the United States and is an Internet leader with sites sponsored by its TV stations and newspapers including USATODAY.com, one of the most popular news sites on the Web.
Media inquiries: Tara Connell Vice President of Corporate Communications 703-854-6049 tjconnel@gannett.com
Tucson Citizen to close March 21 if no buyer found. Dickey just told us here.
ReplyDeleteGannett will continue to make money off the JOA, though... .
Tucson Citizen's closing March 21.
ReplyDeleteCouple the sale of the Tuscon Citizen and the mandatory 1-week layoffs, and there's the Gannett recipe for showing a giant revenue increase in the first quarter of 2009.
ReplyDeleteIf the paper sells, maybe we'll get a special Tara press release, oh, say the beginning of April, claiming that revenues increased exponentially over the first quarter of 2008.
Incredible. They are closing the Tucson Citizen, but will continue to get paid by the opposition because of the Joint Operating Agreement. What a rip-off. No employees, no plant, no paper, but Corporate gets paid millions. Wat
ReplyDeleteTold you closings coming.
ReplyDeleteCan Tucson workers postpone their furloughs until March 22?
ReplyDeleteSo are the Tucson employees stilled required to take the furlough? Who's next?
ReplyDeleteAny other newspapers up for sale???
ReplyDeleteGannett profits mightily from the Tucson Citizen, due to the JOA. Even when the paper folds, the stiffs will be lining their pockets with cash from Tucson.
ReplyDeleteI interned there in the 70s and a number of my classmates and friends are working there now. I worked at the other newspaper in Tucson for 6 years so am intimate with the operation.
This is truly a sad day for Journalism in Tucson.
I don't understand the Lafferty bashing by the Courier Post folks. Lafferty did a good job at the Daily Record and protected the newsroom as best he could. It's a fact that for years the Inky has had greater circulation/readership in Camden County than the 'hometown' Courier Post. The CP was fouled up long before Lafferty came in.
ReplyDeleteTucson for sale? Bundle it with Cherry Hill.
ReplyDeleteThank you to the one who wrote:
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
You say yes, I say no.
I say stop and you say go go go, furlough.
I say goodbye and you say furlough
Furlough Furlough
You wonder why I say goodbye, You say furlough
Furlough Furlough
You wonder why I say goodbye, You say furlough
1/15/2009 10:18 AM
I had a really rough day today at work & that is so funny I laughed out loud! Good news for you..a song writing career awaits. A guy at work has a reverse furough dance-funny, funny- you have to see it!
Anyway good humor sure helps when things seem so outta control!
The Inquirer has had greater readership/Circ?? Daily? Keep smokin it buddy.
ReplyDeleteTime for Craig Dubow to go. He doesn't have any business sense. This is getting ugly. The changes at the Des Moines Register will lead to cancelled subscriptions.
ReplyDeleteNow how smart is that?
What a bunch of losers, sky is falling, glass is half empty people that comment on this blog.
ReplyDeleteIf you dislike the management, CEO, publisher....and even the person that cleans the restroom...LEAVE...do not pass goal - do not collect $200...just get your lazy, whiney ass out...in the words of clint eastwood - Make My Day....don't let the door hit you on the way out...
But you won't do that - you'll hang around ...taking 4 hours doing 2 hours of real work...and complain about how much harder you have to work and...oh yeah, don't get paid for the mistake-ridden work you do...
...of course, you don't know who you are...you should not be in the hourly position that you've been in for 20 years...you should be the CEO...yep...everything is wrong except for you...
Have a nice day!....you won't allow anyone else to have one...
Ahhh, the New Jersey group ... where puffery meets unethical behavior.
ReplyDeleteToday the Home News Tribune entertainment pullout Pulse has a glowing article about the New Jersey Film Festival, located at Rutgers University. The HNT has always written glowing articles about the New Jersey Film Festival. Why? The HNT is a corporate sponsor of the event -- a fact the newspaper has withheld from its readers for over 10 years.
But wait, there's more! The puff piece is accompanied by a PR photo for "Slumdog Millionaire" with a cutline reading "New Jersey Film Festival". 20th Century Fox will certainly love the fact a film snob is taking credit for a studio PR photo -- something the HNT does to please the people it's whoring for.
Best of all? "Slumdog Millionaire" is now playing in theaters in the HNT area ... and 20th Century Fox is running an ad for that movie in Pulse. Nothing like stabbing one of your advertisers in the back, especially in a recession.
(As a bonus, the same fluffy story appeared in the Courier News entertainment pullout Kicks but without the photo. Pulse and Kicks are both handled out of the HNT.)
This is a local news video on the furloughs at the Salinas Californian, which has lost close to half its work force over the last five or six years:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ksbw.com/video/18491983/index.html.
5:56, balking, with no results. Maybe some unions are unhappy but are seeing the writing on the wall. I bet 99 percent of the sites do the furlough.
ReplyDelete6:54, "Gannett Co., Inc. is a leading international news and information company. ..."
Gawd, I wish they'd stop saying that. It makes me cringe.
Lafferty is a joke - he hides in his office after entering by a side door. He gone by 5:15. Never works a holiday. He has no personality, provides no leadership, no inspiration, no ideas and is worst of all no hope. If we voted for President here at Cherry Hill he might get two votes - his and the AD.
ReplyDeleteNice comments by his wife at 7:47.
Agreed, Lafferty is a joke. His "WIFE" is selling him short across the river. Her and her cell-phone.
ReplyDeleteSounds like Lafferty ought to be teamed up with Towns at the AP Press. Dude has been in office since, when, October, and he has yet to hold a meeting with staff. No idea what this guy is about, what his philosophy is, where he sees the paper going. But he sure does have a spiffy new HD television in his office, not to mention those blinds.
ReplyDelete9:19 stop spanking your meat and drinking the company kool=aid, freaking jerk-off
ReplyDelete