Thursday, January 01, 2009
Thursday | Jan. 1 | Your News & Comments
Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)
43 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."
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It is a new day, and a new year.
ReplyDeleteHappy News Year!!! Literally!!!!
ReplyDeleteJim, looks like you wrote your post before it was your new year, but it's your new year now and it's been mine for more than three hours.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year all!
Also a new set of worries?
ReplyDeleteWishing you a healthy and happy New Year, Jim. Thank you for all you do.
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."
ReplyDeleteyeah, 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!
Look, I'm just a worker-bee. But for God's sake, think for a moment, there's a name for people who file lawsuits against former employers --
Permanently self-employed. Because no company with access to Google will ever hire them.
File away. Just remember the possible consequences.
And for those who think the world has ended: my college roommate, four kids, DVM, died suddenly of an undetected, genetically-acquired weak heart valve -- age 38.
IMHO, your life is not over. His is, according to God.
I'd be very curious to see how everyone would sum up the past year in just three words.
ReplyDeleteMine are:
"Glad it's over."
Happy New Year to Jim and everyone out there!
Jim, I read your 2:05 comment from previous open post. Thanks for the thoughts. I am a fairly practical person. And it's because of that that I feel odds are that things aren't going to work out professionally for me now that I am laid off.
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, in 1992 you were a young man. So was I. In fact, I moved from job to job with ease back then. No age discrimination or horrid economy to deal with. Then, in the mid 90s, I went to USA TODAY. Tired of moving around, I wanted to stay in one place for the second half of my career. It didn't work out that way, and now I re-enter a very different job market than in the 80s or early 90s.
The abruptness of my stint ending at USAT has been difficult to deal with. While I knew there were problems in the industry, and was feeling the strains in the newsroom, I never thought I'd be one of those laid off. My skills and work ethics were solid. I thought I performed a service that was critical to the success of the product and was able and willing to move into future technologies. Still, in the end, none of that mattered.
And now here I am.
I use most days to explore new job opportunities. I don't waste too much time applying to newspapers for obvious reasons. But changing careers is difficult. Not to make excuses, but I can't think of too many more forces that could be working against me and those who are in similar situations at this age and in this economy. I am willing to move anywhere, uproot my entire life if need be, yet I haven't gotten a single encouraging response yet from any potential employers. I use everything at my disposal to find work (the web, friends, colleagues, etc), and still can't even get a phone interview. Most of the time employers don't even bother sending me a form rejection e-mail. Those who do respond simply say they have no openings or were flooded with applications for the one vacant position they might have had. One employer said he received about 500 applications!
The money and insurance will run out very soon. The bad feelings of how and why I was released from my former job still eat at me. My house continues to depreciate and I am not getting any younger. Options are drying up rapidly.
I fully understand that I shouldn't give up. But I also know it's going to take some luck to find any sort of rewarding employment in any industry.
There's a lot more I could add, but mainly I just wanted to say thanks for your comment and the blog itself. I am hanging in there, but can't say I am optimistic about the future. Too much of a bad taste in my mouth from how/why I was let go and too much of a daunting task in front of me with very little time left to get back on my feet before I have to start selling off my house, car, and other modest possessions.
I know people say things happen for a reason, so I am waiting to see what the reason was for this. I am growing impatient and losing faith. Maybe I am just too blind to things right now to see what's ahead that might be positive.
10:48
Happy New Year's Jim.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all you do.
A new year, and it is my greatest desire that it will be better than the last for journalists!
ReplyDeletePerhaps the industry has hit bottom and that means it can start striving again.
Best wishes to all, the employed and unemployed.
I am so glad 2008 is over. Good wishes to all my laid-off brethren, and those still employed by Gannett and working too many hours of unpaid overtime.
ReplyDeleteMy wish for the New Year is that all of those laid off (including myself) will find new employemnt and new meaning and peace to their life in the days ahead.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Jim, and thank you for everything you do.
ReplyDeleteTo the poster from 6:14 on 12/31, you are definitely part of the problem. You sound like my former executive editor, in fact.
And the inherent flaw in your argument (besides the fact that you resort to name-calling, which by the way is very professional and very adult) is that adults shouldn't be forced to tolerate abuse "or get out." If you have plenty of employees who are "willing" to stay late, you can bet they do it out of fear, not respect, especially in this economy.
As for the mileage, it's a joke. The IRS allowance was nearly double that before gas prices skyrocketed -- and even the IRS increased their allowance when that happened. When I worked for Gannett, easily more than half of my mileage was spent on the road working on stories and videos and since I was not a photographer, this was on my own personal vehicle. And yes, I kept records, just like I did of the unpaid overtime I was putting in, because keeping records is what I do.
As for your insulting comments that we should suck it up for our journalistic craft -- that's just the same line of crap my EE tried to lay on those of us who put in the most hours. Yet at the same time he offered up excuses when his pet blondes wanted every weekend off from covering their high school sports beats. "They shouldn't be working more than 40 hours a week anyway," he said. And when his pet blondes disappeared for an hour or more during the middle of a shift, after showing up late, and missed deadline because of it, he said, "They're entitled to a dinner break."
I routinely worked 45-50 hours a week because I was committed to what I did. That became 55 hours a week routinely because my list of duties was expanded to cover video shoots, extensive reporting and writing, as well as my primary job title, which was copy editor. I sure as heck never got a pay raise commensurate with even a small percentage of the work I was doing -- which brought in ad revenues that were six to eight times what my salary was.
And that's the problem, Mr. 6:14. It wasn't just because of the need to cover a storm or a fire or a murder. It wasn't just the occasional breaking news story, and it wasn't just a few hours. It was 65 percent of the year, and it was easily 15 hours a week, sometimes as much as 20 hours a week. It left no time for my family, because even my "days off" were spent on the road working on videos. (When's the last time they gave a Pulitzer for a newspaper video? Oh, that's right. Never.)
I wasn't in the EE's office or HR bitching all the time -- I had too much work to do. Yet my reward for my work was constant head games from the EE and my direct editor.
I did my job and did it very well, and my work was respected in the community. I know this based on what I heard from multiple sources, both while I was at the paper and after I left Gannett. I was lucky enough to be able to move on to a place where I continue to practice my craft and practice it well. Even better, I work for a boss who's a good person and who treats the people beneath him with respect for the fact that they have lives that need to be tended to outside of work. He and the company I work for now don't make it completely impossible to do something besides work.
I still work more than 40 hours a week, but now when I do, it's appreciated. When I call in sick -- which has never happened more than once or twice a year in my entire career -- I'm not treated as though I'm stealing from the company.
Getting out of Gannett was the best thing I did, but it wasn't easy, and I didn't do it until I had something lined up. I thought about just quitting many times. But you know as well as the rest of us that if you just quit a job without having something else, it's career suicide. In this economy especially, no one can afford to quit a job without having something else lined up. So your suggestion that people who don't like bosses who treat them like criminals when they call out sick or when they dare to leave when their shift is up should just quit is inane at best.
And it just underscores what Gannett's modus operandi is: drive out anyone who makes a living wage and has a brain, and replace them with cheaper models who haven't acquired the wisdom to know they're being abused.
It's a New Year, with a New President coming into office. Even tho I was laid off and things looked pretty bleak, I woke this morning with a rosy outlook (maybe it's those glasses I wear). Don't forget, we're closer to getting income tax refunds and the possibility of another stimulus package being implemented. I'm still out there looking for a job, but did get some responses of "after the first of the year". Starting tomorrow, I'll be hitting the bricks alot harder and with a positive attitude. Hopefully, it'll pay off.
ReplyDeleteHappy NEW YEAR to all those employed and unemployed - Hope all your dreams and aspirations come true in this coming year!!!! Goodbye 2008!!!
They took away my "GOOD BOY " time,now I have to remember what it's like to work my full week !!!!
ReplyDelete9:16 - Unfortunately when I look at the collapse in world trade, the chronic ineffectiveness of all the fiscal stimulus and fiat currency creation to generate economic growth (because we've overdosed on Debt already), the continual and intensifying implosion of the capital formation markets, the intellectual (and sometimes ethically induced) inability of politicians to understand the nature of this 4th Great Depression in America's history, the 3 words I think of for the YEAR 2008 are:
ReplyDeleteI'll miss it.
W
11:10 & Everyone Else:
ReplyDeleteHow bad is the UNPAID OVERTIME ISSUE --- companywide?
And to those who say shut up and work all those hours; At some point you have to say how much of my irreplaceable time is GANNETT entitled to - especially when they think we are so disposable??
I mean look at it this way, GANNETT and I have a relationship. I've worked hard, sometime way over expectations, and I've tacitly overlooked the misclassifiation of me a a "MANAGER" and the company ignoring it's own OVERTIME POLICY in the Employee Manual because over the long-term I needed the job. Now I see I'm soon to walk the plank -like so many of our jettisoned co-workers & friends- the nature of GANNETT'S & my relationship is like that of a bad marriage about to dissolve.
GANNETT could have wooed me a little and I would have complied, but instead GANNETT came in grumbling at me and telling me to work for free or else and make me feel scared and stressed.
To put it another way; before I get fucked, GANNETT should by me flowers, take me to dinner & a movie, and buy me drinks .... you know...to get me excited about the project!
Last week I worked 9.5 hour unpaid overtime.
Re: Mike Hughes
ReplyDeleteI had the pleasure of working with Mike at the LSJ for 10 years. He was and remains a consummate professional. His output was prodigious. He never complained. He just worked hard. Why anyone would criticize him for his professionalism is just plain silly. My guess is that there will always be work somewhere for someone like Mike, and I wish him well.
Re: The diaspora of displaced Gannett sports writers and editors
Please take a look at my item on Poynter's E-Media Tidbits at http://poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=156269.
Why don't we start a blog a la the Huffington Post? I bet there are some pretty good names out there with a lot of institutional memory. I bet your readers miss you. If each of you posted a weekly note or two (maybe one local, one national), we'd have a pretty interesting sports blog that covers a lot of territory (geographical and subject matter). It would keep your name out there and give you the opportunity to write about what you know and love.
Interested?
Drop me a note at bylinesteveklein@cox.net.
Don't think it can work? I do a cycling blog (TripleCrankset.com) with a couple of cycling buddies I met through Trek Travel at the 2003 Tour de France, and in our second full year (2008), we had about 100,000 unique page views. Not the stuff of the Gannett Blog (!), but we have our own little corner of the cycling world.
We can discuss my idea here (we could start as an adjunct blog to the GB, eh Jim?), but do drop me a note.
And ...
Re: Using your name
So many anonymous comment on this blog. I can understand why for some but not for many. What are you afraid of?
I worked 14 years in Gannett, and it was a good time in my life: 10 years as sports editor of the Lansing State Journal and almost four as online sports editor at USA Today. I left on my own volition at the end of 1998. I now coordinate the Electronic Journalism program and the Journalism concentration in the Communication Department at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
So, how's that for full disclosure?
I look forward to hearing from many of you.
Happy New Year. And good luck to those of you still looking for your next job and life adventure.
Reinvention is good!
Re: Thanks, Jim ...
For all that you do for so many with this blog.
10:14AM I would love to say something positive to cheer you up, but I am exactly the same position! The biggest kick in the ass would have not reading this blog and realizing I wasn't "singled out" for the royal Gannett treatment.
ReplyDelete12:20
ReplyDeleteThe expectation of unpaid OT was a real issue where I worked. Consequently, I sent my story to the attorney who is supposedly investigating OT issues throughout Gannett. The company contact information is in a Feburary post, I believe.
The OT abuse and blatant age discrimination will remain SOP at that miserable company until they're forced to stop it.
I think people need to take a step back with their abusive comments about Randy Hammer.
ReplyDeleteThe truth of the matter is that Asheville has been run into the ground by the leadership in Greenville. Virgil Smith was ablr to hold Mr Brandt at bay, but still through the years flip flopping decisions forced by Brandt wreaked havok in Asheville. Brandt oversaw years of cost cutting in Asheville while allowing his own operation to grow fatter by the year. Somehow Brandt survived fake circulation numbers, fake waste and fake insert statistics.
Jeff Green couldn't hold Brandt off nearly as well as Smith, his ace in the hole was Sue Clark Jackon. Green survived but he couldn't make significant changes. When Sue was gone, Green was gone.
Hammer got handed a handicapped operation. An operation that enjoyed absolutely no synergy with the regional VP's site 65 miles away.
Hammer made strides, but as soon as Denise and Barbara were out of the picture, Mr Brandt took control of the Asheville operation and called all the shots.
In a sudden burst of convergence, Brandt stripped the remaining talent in Asheville. Brandt's arrogance won't allow Hammer the room to do anything but fail.
Randy, you should bail on this situation, you don't deserve what you are putting up with.
Well I guess I am in the minority. Over the years I've worked overtime, got it approved, and only on two occasions did I have a problem. So in 14 years I have not seen the overtime problem at all. Maybe I have been lucky working for editors who cared, or who understood what I did, what I was working on, and so forth. When my daughter had soccer tournaments they made sure I had time off (as long as someone could cover). So working split shifts or special hours more than helped me, it kept work and family in perspective.
ReplyDeleteI guess I've been lucky, as mentioned, but when I read the posts about days and months and years of unpaid overtime I have to ask myself if it's just more of the usual bitching people do.
About the "OT" crisis --
ReplyDeleteWhy not face-to-face radical honesty:
"I've been working at 100% capacity. We are approaching an OT situation.
"Per the recent OT case at Wal-Mart that cost WM $650,000,000.00 -- is OT authorized, or should I go home now?"
Anon 2:23 -- Perhaps Hammer did have idiots overseeing his efforts in Asheville, but how does that explain his behavior at previous postings. Ask the people he worked with in Florida or in Missouri.
ReplyDeleteNew Year's joy from the New Jersey group: Thanks to a ridiculously early deadline, today's C-N doesn't have yesterday's lottery numbers AND doesn't have a story on the local NBA team's day game from yesterday.
ReplyDeleteThat big drop in circulation and readership at the C-N is deserved.
rmichem said...
ReplyDeleteAlso a new set of worries?
1/01/2009 7:56 AM
Dude - you are such a dick. Go find something to do with yourself. By the way, I find it hard to believe you wrote a statement without a single coma. You must be drunk.
5:28, you obviously have an axe to grind against the C-N. Guess you were let go from there. Life is to short to hold a grudge. Move forward and find inner peace.
ReplyDelete5:16
ReplyDeleteI worked with Hammer in Florida and was in management meetings with him and I have voiced my support of him on this blog before. He was one of the best managers in our newsroom when he was there. His absence there is a great loss.
Steve Brandt has had nothing to do with the chaotic atmosphere in Asheville. That has come from Curley, Watson & Currie, Inc. dating to the purchase of Multimedia Inc. by Gannett in 1995. And Virgil Smith was as much an architect of Asheville's demise as any other Gannett henchman. To characterize Smith as a saint in this soap opera is to ignore reality.
ReplyDeleteHis life is not over
ReplyDeletehttp://mikehughes.tv/
The numerous posts about unpaid OT are troubling on a number of counts.
ReplyDeleteAs a reporter, I was always paid OT if I worked it. I had to clear it, of course, and justify it, but it was never withheld.
As an editor for nearly a decade, I've never asked someone to work off the clock or created an environment where someone felt he or she had to do it.
I'm very troubled that at my current paper, however, reporters routinely seem to do it despite repeated written and spoken message to not do it. There's absolutely no reason other than self-imposed to do it. Short of trying to track every hour for a dozen reporters, I'm not sure how to stop it.
Here's the kicker: The people who do it are slow and inefficient. They are poor planners, unable to understand how to work on more than one story at a time and lack the self-editing skills to understand when a story should be short and quick or when it deserves more time and effort.
Finally, if you're doing it, you simply aren't taking responsibility for yourself. If you plan well and work at the average clip, it's a simple task to show your editor what you've completed for the week and why it would not be possible to complete Task X without additional hours.
@2:23 I have no sympathy for Hammer. He got many breaks from Gannett simply because of his relationship with Ivey. No one would have promoted Hammer the way Ivey did. He has too many skeletons in his closet. I've worked with him and would never work with him again - much less for him.
ReplyDeleteThis is 12:08
ReplyDeleteMost posters here seem to be Journalists, White Collar.....I'm home delivery. When our "independent Contractor" carriers quit and no new ones want top destroy their vehicles for $0.13 Per Paper Per Day ($0.23 on Sundays)and pay $0.01 for bags and HOPE/PRAY for tips for an increasing newspaper disinteresting and financially stressed public....WE HAVE TO DELIVERY THE PAPERS.....with our own cars.
How many people here have ever actually delivered a home delivery route....especially on your day off.....for fear of losing your income....THINK ABOUT PEOPLE......Think about it Craig, Gracia, Wendall, Roxanne & Barbara Wall....Your Pay depends on the slaves building the pyramids, the French Peasants struggling for food in the 1780s, etc.
Think About It.
I'm very tired and very annoyed.
I'll sell my house, I own a 22 year old car (paid for), I grow some food for my Loved Ones find a trailer down south ....but I'm just pissed at inferior intellects (currently) having so much power over my destiny.......I will correct that situation.
You Freakin Nit-Wits at corporate -who couldn't manage a lemonade stand- your days are numbered.
I have worked for Hammer for several years, and I never saw him abuse his power, but he does demand excellence and accountability.
ReplyDeleteDon’t infer “bad behavior’’ from a heated debate and a passion for the profession we’ve chosen.
Hammer’s judgment and ethics led his staff to a finalist for a Pulitzer – not once, but twice. He did that by expecting us to do our jobs, and do them well, but he usually helped us achieve that.
I would choose Hammer as a boss anytime over the manipulative, arrogant, and inept Gannett (and non-Gannett) managers I’ve worked for before and since.
5:28, so they printed the Jan. 1st paper on Dec. 30th and expected the readers wouldn't notice. Nothing new here. They've done it before.
ReplyDeleteTuesday's "extreme production" problems that hampered home delivery of 12,000 papers probably could be boiled down to a way of saving a few bucks at the end of the year. Were all those papers -- that did not reach the subscribers -- actually printed?? No. They've done it before.
7:04, 11:42 here. Your viewpoint has some merit in some situations. Some. Not all. I can assure you, my situation was a direct result of overload. I would love to get into the details, but any more would ID me too much, and my family is still dependent on Gannett for one salary. But rest assured, not everyone is working too slowly or not planning enough. Some of us simply have -- or had -- too much to accomplish in a 40-hour week.
ReplyDeleteSledge, Claw,or BallPeen ???
ReplyDelete8:52 AM, Gannett doesn't allow us to report on Gannett as we would another business. Bob Collins at the APP went ballistic once when an employee sent facts about a company abuse to the newsroom as basis for a news column.
ReplyDeleteThe newsroom is very clear that we cannot treat ourselves and big advertisers -- even the big industries, i.e. car dealerships and Realtors -- as news, except for promotional purposes.
Gannett isn't a true news media anymore, imho. Repeat episodes of the above proved that to me, and the continuing cancelled circulation without comparable web hits further seems evidence of it.
I don't know why any investor would want to buy Gannett stock.
Potential lawsuits are gaining on Gannett. Yesterday I got an illegal telemarketing call trying to sell me a subscription to the Asbury Park Press, even though I'm on both the federal and state no-call list.
ReplyDelete"Bill" asked if I was the name on his list. I asked who is calling. "Bill from the Asbury Park Press," he said.
"How do I know you, Bill?" I asked.
He said, "You don't. I want to sell you a subscription to the APP."
"I'm on the no-call list, which makes this call illegal, you know," I said.
"HEY, I JUST STARTED THIS JOB TODAY, SO DON'T JUMP DOWN MY THROAT ABOUT IT!" he yelled at me.
"You're the one who called me, Bill, so I will tell you to pass on to your bosses that Gannett could be handed heavy fines for this, so make sure I'm on Gannett's no-call list from ..." I said, before he hung up on me.
Classy, Gannett. Classy. Lay off me, a professional, and hire some boob with no manners to solicit me to buy the ever crappier newspaper. Fat chance. I am relieved I don't have to go to the website anymore.
FLSA re: journalists
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/fairpay/
fs17q_journalists.pdf
Any business that does now follow FLSA overtime pay regulations is setting itself up for major backpay of any and all employees who are, by the nature of their duties, non-exempt from overtime.
If you are now among the unemployed, and your newspaper required - or even allowed - you to work overtime without compensation, you owe it to yourself, and to your past coworkers, to set this right. And if you have the guts for it, and are still employed, go for it.
This isn't like a discrimination suit, where you are making individual accusations, and where your actions will be identifiable through Google.
At least research FLSA - and talk to a lawyer.
To 10:14 a.m.:
ReplyDeleteThere is no good reason for having your guts ripped out and left with a vacant hole. That's what it feels like to be laid off when you thought you were contributing. Please know that you are not the only one feeling that level of disorientation.
Also, just wondering if many (any?) laid off workers are going back to school, especially law school. Thoughts?
My door is shut on this abusive relationship. Still waiting on my window to open ...
7:04 has a good point, and not just in the newsroom. We have timeclocks - so every minute of overtime is counted, right?
ReplyDeleteNope. Employees will punch out and come back to their desks. After several verbal warnings I had to write one employee up for it. On my watch, no overtime MEANS no overtime.
As 7:04 notes, it's not the high performers who do this. It's the ones that fritter away their day on irrelevancies, who refuse to use the software to save time, who don't even try more efficient processes that are shown to them.
They do work hard all day, and into the overtime they donate - it's just that they could be so much more productive if they just would listen.
Although it's trite, "working smarter, not harder" does make life easier. I'd much rather improve a below average employee than pull in somebody off the street and start all over. So much cheaper in time, cost and energy.
But damn it, when a person refuses to build on my investment in time, coaching, training, etc. because they know better - they damn well ought to be doing cartwheels around everyone else in the room.
I know you're working hard. But the guy next to you is working half as much and producing twice. LET me show you how and benefit both of us. PLEASE!
Anon@605: I don't work for the C-N (never have). I'm housesitting for my landlady who happens to take the paper -- and I can see the half-fast effort day in and day out.
ReplyDeleteAnon@923: The C-N did had room for a game story and sidebar on Rutgers men's basketball -- who also played a day game on New Year's Eve.