Text of Connell memo on GNS, ContentOne

Following is the text of the memo sent yesterday by Tara Connell, vice president for communications.

From: Connell, Tara
Sent: Monday, February 09, 2009 6:48 PM
To: Editors of Gannett Daily Newspapers
Subject: Report on Gannett News Service

All: ContentOne continues to evolve as it develops ways to leverage Gannett content created across all divisions.

To that end, we have completed a restructuring of the Gannett News Service and have moved it under the ContentOne umbrella, where it will help form the foundation of this new cross-divisional enterprise. This restructuring included a voluntary severance of 22 GNS staffers.

As a result, some services currently offered by GNS will be phased out over the next few weeks. We believe the services that are going away are ones that have been made unnecessary by new technology or are no longer relevant to our customers.

At the same time, many of the services most requested by you in recent surveys are remaining. This note is to tell you what will be available and what is going away. I hope you will take the time to look it over and determine how it will affect your operations.

The managing editors of GNS -- Jeanette Barrett-Stokes, Laura Rehrmann and Craig Schwed -- will oversee the transition. They remain your primary contacts and I am always available if you have questions or would like to discuss the changes.

Below is a detailed list of the various services and their status. This is your chance to speak up if you feel strongly about these changes. We have time to make adjustments, if necessary.

Services being retained

• Washington bureau of reporters serving newspapers and websites. This team, under the direction of Laura Rehrmann, continues. In surveys of editors, this service was by far the most requested. Because some reporters and editors opted to take voluntary severance, the boundaries of the regional reporters are being redrawn. We will let you know who is assigned to you within the days ahead. Those who are leaving will be onboard for a few weeks yet, so your service will not be interrupted.
• World/Nation page. This paginated page is used by many newspapers and will continue without change.
• The YES! Section will be continued.

There will be no change in how you receive content for the time being. Attached to this e-mail is a list of the content that will continue to be distributed as always.

Reduced services

• Content sharing among Gannett’s Information Centers is changing substantially. New technology will allow ContentOne to distribute much more content in more useful ways. That technology is being tested and refined now. In the meantime, some sharing of content will be done by people as in the past. The range of content will be limited until the new technology is available.
• The reduced staff of “aggregators” will focus on daily stories of interest. Sports, business, news and lifestyle stories will be distributed each weekday. There will be a single budget that summarizes the content being disseminated.
• Emphasis will be placed on stories that are exclusive to Gannett, add context and color to national wire-service stories, have widespread usefulness to readers, and are engaging or entertaining.
• News budgets will be sent at 9:30 a.m, 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. At the end of the day, the items on the budget will be moved into a constantly evolving index of content that gives editors a view of what has been distributed in the days before. Special advisories will continue to be used to call attention to noteworthy packages or breaking news of national importance.
• There will not be a graphics team to produce daily assignments. Graphics for special projects will be created by free-lancers or journalists across Gannett. ContentOne also will tap into the graphic artists employed at G3, a team created to serve all Gannett television stations. And the Gannett archive of graphics will still be available to all.
• There will no longer be a photographer for custom shoots or most news assignments. The photo editor, Jeff Franko, will still be your primary contact for photos. He will manage a free-lance budget.
• Videographer Maria Fowler’s job is being altered. Rather than being a single videographer producing content, she will focus on organizing and distributing all video generated across Gannett in ways more useful to you. We believe Maria will be able to enrich video across our sites quickly.

Eliminated services

• Money/Markets page. Use was very limited. This page will be discontinued after Feb. 20.
• Technology microsite will no longer be produced. The columns and features will still be moved for your use, but the site will not be maintained.
• Weekly roundup of editorials, based on limited use.
• The database team is being disbanded. The corps of regional reporters will continue to look for data-driven stories. Once ContentOne is operational we are committed to building a data arm that is more responsive to your needs.

And, again, the attached spreadsheet of columns and features is your chance to let us know what you are using. Many items on that spreadsheet will be eliminated unless we learn of wide use.

'Best work will continue'
Before I close, I want to talk for a moment about GNS. It was created more than 60 years ago to serve newspapers across the company. GNS has delivered exceedingly well on that mission over the years, including winning the first ever Pulitzer Prize for a news service.

And while the name is changing, its best work will continue as we begin a new phase of content sharing and development at Gannett.

Over the next couple of days, you will hear about ContentOne’s next major project involving the NCAA March tournament. Also, we are continuing to examine and test the new technologies we believe will give us all greater visibility into the range of Gannett content.

Thank you for your patience as we make these changes.

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