Monday, January 05, 2009
Monday | Jan. 5 | Got news, or a question?
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41 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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Hola! How are you?
ReplyDeleteLet me just remind you...Larry St. Cyr to the rescue!!!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year.
Presses now silent at Asheville Citizen-Times
ReplyDelete60 people without jobs.
Great way to start the year Mr. Hammer. I hope your circulation remains strong after this.
Has anyone mentioned that Gannett blog is No. 24 in the notable blogs list on Fimoculous.com?
ReplyDelete24) Gannett Blog
Have you ever wished there was an official record of the downfall of Rome? Welcome to the 20th century newspaper version. (See also: McClatchy Watch, Journerdism, and Romenesko.)
Louisville kills business section, tightens features, takes axe to classifieds.
ReplyDeleteHow am I? Unemployed and all that goes along with post-layoff emotions and realities.
ReplyDeleteFunny, but I'm not hearing much from the people who just a couple of weeks ago were chastising Jim, accusing him of neglecting original reporting.
ReplyDeleteAnyone? Bueller?
Didn't think so.
Keep kicking ass, Jim. Even those of us who were among the latest cuts find your work enlightening and important at a scale greater than the fate of Gannett alone.
For a company that clings to the fiction of local autonomy, there sure is an awful lot of similarity to all of the section consolidations, content cuts, etc. It's as if the publishers all donned the Mystical Pyramid Hats in order to receive instructions from The Mother Ship.
ReplyDeleteHere in Louisville, we're waiting for the complimentary magnifying glasses to arrive, because that's the only way to read the 4-point type in the newly downsized movie and TV listings.
Any word on who they will target in the February layoffs? I'm a news graphic artist and my small department is getting hardly any assignments. At first we enjoyed the light work load but now we think it is a sign that they are going to cut us.
ReplyDeleteI have a Gannett question. One of my colleagues got an e-mail from a Gannett newspaper staffer that was signed "Joe Blow, xxxxx columist and custom content reporter."
ReplyDeleteWe're all wondering, what the heck is a "custom content reporter?" Is that Gannett speak for something?
The Poughkeepsie Journal began printing in Westchester last night. No more late news or sports scores. 45 jobs lost.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame what has happened to one of the most historic papers in the country.
Editors at the Detroit Free Press are holding a staff meeting at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday to "talk about upcoming changes to the paper and what those will mean to the staff. They plan to share some prototypes and answer questions."
ReplyDeleteHere's the list they published in Tallahassee on their changes:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200990104001
Almost 100 comments.
What's the latest on the Gannett Foundation? Do we know if there was any tangible benefit, either in taxes or quid-pro-quo, for the powers that be?
ReplyDeletere 9:36: Ditto. On a supposed upnote, though, 12,000 jobs are now open to outsiders (not already employed at the MGM, that is) at CityCenter, opening this year in Vegas. So all us ex-reporters and and ex-editors and ex-photogs, and ex-adsales service people, etc., are now free to apply as barbacks, restuarant servers, and few other jobs requiring transferrable journalistic skills.
ReplyDeleteSign up at
www.citycentercareers.com
10:46, my graphics department is going through the same thing. I will go days sometimes weeks without working on anything for print nor the web. I fear that we will be eliminated next.
ReplyDeleteCustom Content, at least at the APP, incorporates specialty, non-daily publications. We have had several different magazines over the years and now have the monthly luxury magazine 40-74.
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteHave you heard back from the Gannett board, Freedom Forum Foundation spokesperson or that college in North Carolina?
QUESTION? From "New JERSEY"
ReplyDeleteIS IT TRUE THAT THE MANAGEMENT IN THE CIRCULATION DEPT. OF THE "ASBURY PARK PRESS" IS GOING TO BE DISMANTLED AND PAPERS BE DELIVERED BY AN OUTSIDE FIRM NAMED P.C.F. DELIVERY SERVICE AS OF 3-01-2009 ? COMMENTS PLEASE ON THIS RUMOR!
From the Ashevegas Blog about the Asheville paper and there recent layoffs etc. The last paragraph is the best.
ReplyDeleteQuote:
If you read Hatchet Hammer's column in today's CTimes. He had no choice but to close the press plant. With ad revenue down, and holiday sales down, there wasn't enough advertising revenue. Humbug! I find this so fascinating. Not one, and I mean not one person in the newsroom has been laid off. They have cut sections, cut news hole and they still need the same number of writers? Today's paper is lacking the classified section. They morphed living into the B section. All in all today's paper is a hacked up version of what used to be a good newspaper.
In his column, he writes about readership growing over the past year. I want to know where that number is coming from? How can circulation be down YOY and readership up? Does the research include all of the weeklies? Does it include online readership? I seriously doubt that there are more readers per paper. This is why traditional newspapers are in such trouble. What magician in the marketing department came up with that number? He quotes the percentages but doesn't tell us how the research company got those numbers.. Typical diversionary tactics from HH.
His column doesn't mention firing Susan Ihne. Nor, does it mention laying off the Circulation Director, the IT director, The HR directior and Press Room Director. Nor, does he mention laying off another 16 people in December. I hope Jason goes after this. If Ingles laid off 1/3 of its' work force, it would be considered newsworthy.
Oh, and don't forget, the ad director who lead the paper to these major decreases in ad revenue is leaving later this month. I wonder if the people at the Wilson Daily Times are braced for her arrival. I wish that they would have checked her references. Five sales managers left the CTimes in her first four months at the paper. The classified manager was laid off in December. Three graphic artist/designers have been laid off or left in the past 18 months. The sales manager for specialty publications was laid shortly after her arrival. Due to her restructuring of the ad department, many veteran salespeople left to work for other magazines. For an organization that is supposed to be selling advertising to pay for the paper, she sure sliced her way to a year end bonus.
10:34 am: "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is the best movie! Please see: http://tinyurl.com/9qedb7
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time understanding why we still have full time graphic artists, why not just part time or freelancers. I can count only three times of staff graphics appearing in print and maybe once that they contributed to a web project in the past month.
ReplyDeleteWhat has anyone heard about fourth-quarter numbers? There's a rumor going around about February layoffs -- any truth to that?
ReplyDeleteI find it almost comical that the Westchester ( Journal News ) is now printing the Poughkeepsie Journal. They cannot even get their product right. I also feel it is a shame that 45 people lost their jobs over this.Even with adding the Poughkeepsie Journal to their circulation , they aren't at the levels they were at three years ago.
ReplyDeleteAnother question for those who have "been there" already. My medical benefits runs out on January 31. I am told that COBRA is applied for at that time. What happens if I have a medical problem on February 4????? This just doesn't make sense.
ReplyDeleteGannett honcho Laura Hollingsworth did an interview with a local paper here. It's pretty good.
ReplyDeletehttp://iowaindependent.com/10184/register-publisher-says-shes-fighting-to-protect-papers-heart-and-soul
1:28
ReplyDeleteI don't know what little paper you worked at but if the sales reps were doing their jobs by going after new business then your designers would be busy.
At the paper I worked at the Graphic Designers did all the speculative ads plus all the production of them. Our production department was so far behind in training that they could not help. And it was not their fault but their Ad Services managers and Advertising Director for sitting on their hands for so long.
Signed: Sleepless in Asheville
Jim:
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could post this on the page?
http://www.grimmy.com/comics.php
WOW ! it looked like a few nerves were struck reguarding some posts yesterday concerning the insurance coverage/money trail..Maybe there is something there????
ReplyDelete@4:51, sorry for giving you the wrong department, I was talking about news graphic artist.
ReplyDeleteIt is a pretty good and revealing interview by the Register's Laura Hollingsworth with Iowa Independent--and most revealing, it wasn't with her own newspaper!
ReplyDeleteGraphics people are relics of the past. Just like writers. Who needs them? We're all information centers now!
ReplyDeleteI really wonder why Hollingsworth would do an interview with another paper but not at least do some sort of publisher's note or something with The Register. Just don't get it. From what I remember, she wasn't even interviewed for the Register's "story" about the layoffs. The story quoted a memo she sent out.
ReplyDeleteSome people's kids.
Hmmm -- at my newspaper, our graphics department is swamped every day with assignments, from designing page covers and magazines to doing locator maps and regular graphics. In fact, our graphics department is so overworked that they don't have the capacity to design pages such as the sports covers and health section -- both of which are designed by copy deskers and look terrible.
ReplyDeleteFrom and Ashevegas blog in Asheville concerning the Asheville Citizen Times.
ReplyDeleteQuote:
I am surprised that not a single newsroom employee has been let go - yet. I'm also surprised that in the age of digital cameras and Photoshop that there are still so many photogs employed by Phil and Hammer. Most of the photos published could easily be duplicated by in-field reporters. But they know best.
Good riddance to Smith. She's a back-stabber at best. I'm sure a few ambitious folks will grapple for the AD position but they're delusional if they think it's a crown like it used to be.
Marketing could go as well, but they apparently possess the eye candy the big boss man enjoys so much that they're untouchable (maybe).
What I'm saying is that they're other areas that could have been cut, but DA Hammer is so clueless he couldn't see it. And a lot of great and talented people were shown the door and the paper crumbles.
Unquote:
I especially like the part about the marketing department and feel this is allegedly the truth.
So I guess if you look good and are female, you have job security at the Asheville paper.
Photos by in-field reporters, hmmm ...
ReplyDeleteWell I have been in that situation. What I learned quickly is that either I was focusing on getting the shot, and neglecting the quotes ... or getting the quotes and neglecting the shot.
That's fine if one or the other focus is sufficient for the assignment. And often times, it is.
However, it does NOT work in all circumstances.
About COBRA:
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about it - I recently left Gannett and as long as you fill out the COBRA forms by the deadline, any incurred costs in the "limbo" period will be retroactively covered.
Jim... any word back from the FF, the BOD or anyone else you have sent certified mail to? What happens if they just ignore you? Any chance you could get any of your pieces published as a freelance writer? Maybe Vanity Fair would pick one of them up.
ReplyDeleteI still think that it will be interesting to look at the differences in the way that all of these organizations report "general support" of apparent non-profit groups in the future.
How do we hold their feet to the fire, as you have questioned?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteTo: 7:59PM on January 5-- Thanks for taking the time to answer that COBRA question. I appreciate it. In addition to letting us go, Gannett seems to want to create a hassle with obtaining almost all information on survival. YBR is the biggest bad joke so far!
ReplyDeleteThanks again!
11:26
ReplyDeletemy transition to Cobra was seemless. Relax. The stress is not going to help your health.