Friday, March 06, 2009
Friday | March 6 | 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.)
121 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)
I.Am.First!
ReplyDeleteCompletely off-topic, Gannett-wise, but can anyone tell me what is the freaking mystique about posting first? These pointless irritants waste bandwidth all over the web for no visible purpose of any kind.
ReplyDeleteWhat are they but more of the cancerous meaninglessness that further degrades the digital universe every day? This crap makes Metromix look like the Library of Congress.
Seriously, if you're so desperate to mark territory, why don't you man up and do it right? Just go outside and piss on a hydrant.
12:43
ReplyDeleteLOL Thank you!
I almost didn't click on the comments here cause there was only 1 comment showing on the front page. And I KNEW it had to be a FIRST PLACE HOLDER.
I was extremely happy to see your 2nd post, you made me laugh.
And I'm not going to presume anything about anyone's personality because they are marking the territory :)
Hah! I'm fourth!
ReplyDelete"What are they but more of the cancerous meaninglessness that further degrades the digital universe every day..."
ReplyDelete12:43 - yes, silly, but I'm guessing this is more about something else going on in your life? Say, your employer?
Really - I'm just joking and taking up bandwith for no visible purpose of any kind.
As Ricky Bobby's dad always said... If your not first... you're Last.
ReplyDeleteEvery day I wake up and thank my lucky stars that I left Gannett in summer 2006 and cashed out my 401K and pension when GCI stock was at its highest. For those of you still there, I feel for you.
ReplyDeleteReturn Gannett the favor.....on March 27th give Gannett a bonus day and stay home, you can be apart of the first ever company wide walk out....an internet based walk out......Gannett will save a ton of money....LOL but at the same time maybe open theirs eyes....think of all the coverage on CNN...Fox...NBC and CBS news...and The History Channel
ReplyDeleteCould be worse, could be Citibank....
ReplyDeleteAnother week, another insipid NewsWatch.
ReplyDeleteWhere is the journalistic leadership in this so-called news company?
Earth to Marymont, Earth to Marymont...
I love the idea of a company wide walk out on March 27th. Spread the word to everyone and let us get this one done. Solidarity can be very be a powerful weapon against corporate Gannett.
ReplyDeleteHow about starting a topic where people could post their ideas to improve the business or survive their layoff? It is easy to pick at what is wrong. It takes real thought to generate solutions and a workable plans to move forward.
ReplyDeleteWow, I'm 13th!! - Jim PLEASE delete my comment and ALL the FIRST comments by basement dwelling trolls without anything to do in life but drool over Princess Leia and pump their fists at being first. It's time for a cleansing. :)
ReplyDelete8:06
ReplyDeleteWOW! there are some smart ones left in Gannett. I thought they all had been laid off.
Name calling and put downs will get us no where. I would have thought most of you would have learned that lesson by now.
I don't need to walk out. I'll be on furlough that week.
ReplyDelete15th
ReplyDeleteWhat's the over and under on Gannett stock today?
ReplyDeleteI have $2.02
Any takers???
6:15
ReplyDeleteAtleast the goverment thinks Citi is viable and the country needs them unlike Gannett
Never seen so many people get angry over a common thing as someone posting 1st. Then again, I have been known to urinate on my own mailbox after a long night of partying. Former Gannett Accountant.
ReplyDeleteSo tell me,whates wrong with NJ
ReplyDeleteHave you seen Jersey?
ReplyDelete9:01
ReplyDeleteDo you know the difference between trash and Jersey girls?
Trash gets picked up.
Judging by the way people act on this blog, I do not think that it it just GCI that is screwed...
ReplyDeleteThe human race is screwed.
gannettblog as turned into 4chan.... You know've hit rock bottom when a website + 4chan are used together.
ReplyDeleteGCI stock below $1 on April Fools' Day
ReplyDeleteThe brass at APP/Gannett knows what they are going to do as far as if more layoff's/Furlough's are in the upcoming quarter.Why don't they just put us out of our missery and be straight with us.
ReplyDeleteIf there are layoffs, it will be before the end of the period. My bet would be on St. Patrick's Day.
ReplyDelete"Why don't they just put us out of our missery and be straight with us.
ReplyDeleteCan't... Wouldn't be Gannett.
Most, maybe all, of your bosses at the newspaper and TV station level may be receiving bonuses for last years' work.
ReplyDeleteAre any of these posters thus far current or former Gannett employees? I am just not reading anything that is pertinent to our situations. Geez.. I live in the West so can we leave NJ alone. Who cares where what the state looks like. Give us all a break and give NJ a break.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis morning NY stock exchange announced it was suspending it's
ReplyDelete"$1" rule on stocks...
So if... when .. Gannett stock fall under a buck it will still be listed, I guess.
By that point, I suspect, anyone who would have cared would be on suicide watch.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete8:06 a.m. nice idea but you're just like all the others at my shop who seem to think everyone there works 8-5 M-F. Many of my co-workers have Fridays off cause they work every freakin' weekend.
ReplyDeleteNo furlough/layoff announcements have been made probably because not everyone has completed their first furlough.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of flames do you think would flare if people found out they had to take a second furlough before they had even taken their first.
I don't agree with withholding info. I think we should know as soon as the decision has been made. I understand why we haven't been told, too, though.
POWER that is what they have,and that is why you are NOT TOLD!
ReplyDelete8:06,
ReplyDeleteWhat makes you think that a separate topic will result in increased positive suggestions?
I've been reading on here forever plaintive cries for "solutions" and none have been forthcoming -- notably not from the very people crying out for them.
No one is stopping people from making suggestions, there just don't seem to be any plans that will get Gannett out of the mess they are in.
Through "social promotions" and people "rising to their level of incompetence," the company seems to have ground to a standstill what everyone thught would be a perpetual motion machine.
It seems that the people who rose to the top thought that nothing could stop such a corporate giant and that no decision had to be thought out and considered because the "company would always survive."
The failed to take into consideration What Einstein said: "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
Who cares what they look like. I'd follow Quasimodo if he could lead worth a darn.
ReplyDeleteMy last three publishers were women. They weren't any more or less attractive than the six males before them. Two of them were better than most, one was promoted past her skill level.
The only thing that sinks a person in my opinion is being stupid. I can get past unknowledgeable, because one can learn facts. But knowing the facts and doing the stupid thing anyway? You should be castigated for your errors.
Picking at people because of age, gender, race, or orientation is stupid, incorrect and indicative of not having a good reason to denigrate them.
Strengthen your argument or shut up.
I can think of at least a dozen editors and reporters at one Gannett paper who should be laid off out of sheer incompetence or lack of ability. I don't understand why Gannett doesn't take a good hard look at the people left in its newsrooms and weed out those who are incapable of doing the kind of journalism necessary to compete. There's an incredible amount of burnouts and seat warmers at Gannett papers, and there's a lot of awfully good folks out there that Gannett should replace them with.
ReplyDeleteGCI hitting historic lows once again, sinking badly. Once the stock gets down to the $200 million level, you think anyone will be interested in buying the entire company? I don't, because I have come to the conclusion this industry is now dead and written off.
ReplyDelete10:37
ReplyDeleteAt this point, identifying that good staff could be tricky. At my paper some of the most talented and productive people in the newsroom are turning into burnouts thanks to Gannett's leadership.
There are one or two obviously poor editors who would be the place to start, but they have been favorites in the past. So the chances of them going are slim. And they, in turn, have convinced some long-time contributors to stop working as hard as they used to.
Could they be energized by a quality leader who allowed them to do what they do best? Absolutely.
But how does one know that? In other words, Gannett has promoted Yes men and corporate players so long that it now has newsrooms full of drones. Some because they lack talent. Others because they've been beat into submission. It's difficult to build a forward-thinking company with that sort of workforce.
"Once the stock gets down to the $200 million level, you think anyone will be interested in buying the entire company?"
ReplyDeleteThe only way anyone would buy gannett would be to split up the parts and sell them off, but the problem is the industry has received so much dire news in the press lately that it'd be a hard sell. I don't think any creditors would be interested in a plan like this given the decline of newsprint in general.
Don't give up yet!to all those at Gannett,JUST DO WHAT YOU GOT INTO THIS BUSSNESS FOR,SPEAK TOUR MIND.WRITE WITH YOUR HART,if the story you write is not what they want let them give it back.Do a re write but say the same thing.They need to put a paper out,and get all the other things done too,so do it the way you really think it should be done.I know that is easier said the done,BUT IT IS BETTER THEN A WALKOUT.Don't you think,just sayin.
ReplyDeleteGet ready for more furloughs. I heard that it might be that we are going to take a month off!!! FOUR WEEKS!!!
ReplyDeleteGannett can not be sold into parts unless the creditors who are owed $4 Billion, agree to it and the investor groups who now own Gannett must be willing to take hugh write offs.
ReplyDeleteIf that happens, which it will not, will be a fire sale.
NB
10:56 I ment YOUR MIND
ReplyDelete10:58 You don't understand the meaning of the collapse of the stock price. Now heading towards the $1 range, it is within reach of many to come up with the $200 million or so necessary to buy up all the stock. They then will control this company, and do with it as they wish. Those holding the $4 billion in debts have absolutely no say -- it is just debt and like your car loan. Yes, they could then sell of pieces to make the debt payments and come up with the $200 million they put into the venture. The rest is profits.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of solid information on the second quarter is killing me. I've heard rumors of pay cuts, layoffs and furloughs, but I think it's all conjecture at this point. Anyone got anything?
ReplyDeleteThe fact that there are no buyers of this company at these crazy prices shows how dead we are. Dubow & Co. have sucked all the value out of GCI and destroyed this company.
ReplyDelete11:12 Conjecture. I heard we will get details March 18.
ReplyDelete@8:52, I'll take the 'under.'
ReplyDeleteGunman at The Courier-Journal parking lot. Louisville, Ky.
ReplyDeleteCan't understand why there are so many totally useless people being kept around in non-news departments. For example, there are far too many people in the advertising department considering the dramatic slowdown in classified and retail ad sales. Yet, in our paper there are "administrative" types and so-called managers who just keep on keeping on. Does not make any sense. Not talking about the sales folk on the street (although a singificant portion of them couldn't give away bread to starving people). This must be coming down from Gannett thinking that sales will be made if all of these people are kept around. In our paper we have one person who is supposed to be selling to a specific "target market" but hasn't done squat in years and isn't doing anything now. I figre that they could delete about $1m in overhead by cleaning house. Are there more reductions coming? You can bet the ranch and you will do so. They can't continue to bleed like this.
ReplyDelete@11:07, it's not quite that easy. First, if someone could scoop up Gannett, the creditors would come calling -- and creditors do have rights. They could even unite and try to push Gannett into bankruptcy to get some of their money back if they felt that was in their best interests.
ReplyDeleteSecond, Gannett has a 'poison pill' defense in place. It also staggers its board member elections (making a proxy fight long and difficult). You're not going to get these people out of there with a flamethrower.
BREAKING NEWS
ReplyDeleteOne person dead after shooting in C-J parking lot
The Courier-Journal • March 6, 2009
Shots were fired in a Courier-Journal parking lot this morning, and an EMS worker said one person is dead.
As police swarmed on the lot at 6th and Broadway, across from the Federal Building, shortly after 10:30 a.m., Courier-Journal staff members were asked to stay inside.
Emergency Medical Services vehicles also responded.
Two women motorists traveling by the scene at the time of the incident said they saw a man running eastbound on Broadway between Sixth and Seventh streets, being chased by officers in jackets identifying them as U.S. marshals.
They said the marshals asked them where the man had gone and they told him he had gone into the lot.
Juanita Shanklin and Jackie Burks said they heard marshals confront the man, saying, "Drop the gun! Drop the gun! Drop the gun!"
Pulling over on Sixth, they said they heard two separate weapon bursts from the parking lot.
Officers after the shooting were clustered around a light-colored sport utility vehicle in the lot; a victim was under the vehicle.
Check back for more updates.
If 11:15 a.m. is correct about hearing info on possible layoffs etc. on March 18, then everyone better celebrate St. Patrick's Day like the Irish do.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how else to ask this without getting laughed at or ridiculed by all of you,but her goes.Having bin born in the 50's and watching the USA go through the Apollo projects,and land on the moon.This was so incredible to me.Then I start working for Gannett,and one of the people at this company,who I really respect,wrote a book on the Apollo subject.I don't know if Gannett helped with the publishing or not.Anyway we both had a running joke about if we really did go to the moon or not.If Gannett did help with the publishing of this book,and hear we go.How come now that most of the Apollo astronauts are saying,that our own Gov.are lying to us about what went on,Well what did go on? and why do News Papers not do stories on this.When I was small,I could not wait till my grandfather got home with the paper,so I could read what I could and get help with what I could.All I am trying to say is,Why do you have to go to the Internet for this stuff.Investigative reporting meant something once.Come back News papers come back.
ReplyDeleteCan't understand why there are so many totally useless people being kept around in non-news departments.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason Gannett stills has journalist on staff is because they haven't figured out to sell ad space without it.
Before I left Gannett, I reported to dumbest, most clueless b*tch ever. I am not without fear (due to the economy) but in a much better place. My work is now graded to my performance and value to the company. My former boss, a Gannett VP, had the Gannett style management down to a T. She had friends in the corporate line. She lead through fear. She was a Gannett b*tch for so long that "karma" got her out-of-work last September and it is a good thing for the paper and media! Many, many people grinned from ear-to-ear when both she and her "cool" friends got the boot. Hope she held on to her stock!
ReplyDeleteProof that what comes around goes around.... If anyone want to hire a crazed pitbull, I will gladly write a reference! Just like she said she would NEVER recommend me for anything, I will gladly do the same for her but in a positive, honest tone.
Here is the rumor: March 18th is D-Day. They will announce a huge 20% layoff.
ReplyDeleteThey will also be asking for another round of furloughs from everybody and will be selling (probably closing) 5 more papers at least. Big news on the way moving soon on that one. Copy editing will be consolidated at "hubs" mostly in Virginia. If you are a Gannett copy editor, you are doomed.
12:19 I just looked over my American Express bill, and it looks like I have already been celebrating St. Patricks Day for the last three months, given all the after-work bull sessions I went to. This is so depressing.
ReplyDelete12:21 When it comes out it will be the most important story in history but it wont come a news paper
ReplyDelete12:50, Where did you hear about more layoffs and more furloughs? Is your source credible? If it is on this blog, it is most likely true...Corp know what they're going to do, why don't they tell now? What are they waiting for?
ReplyDeleteWilmington has begun using a deep Metromix banner on its Web site, delawareonline.com, to promote weekend happenings.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else do this?
I've been told by a reliable source that furloughs are coming again in the second quarter.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the geniuses will announce it before the three months start this time, so you're not trying to cram everybody's off-time into even less than a quarter.
P.S. Tell me how it gets better. I'm not seeing it.
Even when the economy improves, the systemic flaws in the business model remain.
Why should people buy increasingly skimpy, contentless newspapers?
Why did the company steer everybody to the Web site without a clue as to how to make it profitable?
Why are so many of the staff spending their days doing busy-work, posting two-inch, uninteresting Web updates? This is our solution?
I'd love the fact that Gannett froze out pensions but made up for it by matching with their own stock.
ReplyDeleteGee thanks......
When do the file for Chapter 11?
ReplyDeleteStock price broke $2 and falling fast.
ReplyDeleteWhen will GCI get de-listed from the NYSE?
ReplyDeletesomeone, anyone, please stop the bleeding
ReplyDeleteHere's a question. If you had a job offer today for a more secure job in a related field, but the pay cut was significant, would you take it?
ReplyDeleteSo the board meets and all the do is cut the dividend while the stock goes from $7.20 to now $1.95. Nice Job.
ReplyDeleteThey should all step down, but when they pay yo to do nothing why would they...
Collapsing through the $2 barrier, and now $1 and change. Wow, what did it take to do that last dollar? One week? At this pace, we will be a penny stock by Easter.
ReplyDelete2:31. If I had a line on another job I felt was secure, I would be gone an hour ago.
ReplyDelete2:31, the answer is yes and I did it. I've never been happier. Took a 30% pay cut when I left Gannett, but it has been worth every penny. I can actually enjoy going to work now and enjoy my time away from work. Money isn't everything and if you can afford it without having to worry about keeping the lights on then I say go for it.
ReplyDeleteI took a 25% pay cut from Gannett when I left and it was one of the best choices I ever made. I probably could have held out longer, but the atmosphere was miserable and I made the choice to not 'stick it out' and move on sooner rather than later.
ReplyDeleteNo one is safe these days with the economic climate and neither am I. But I am in a position that I like very much and have an environment which I never had at Gannett.
"...These pointless irritants waste bandwidth all over the web for no visible purpose of any kind.
ReplyDeleteIsn't this the definition of a blog?
79th
ReplyDeleteI took a 50% pay increase after I left Gannett last year. I knew I was underpaid for what I was doing at Corporate. Maybe the 11th floor was underpaying everyone to keep their million dollar paycheck. God is good that He let me out just in the nick of time prior to lay offs, was able to get a stable job, have a great quality of life, and an amazing pay increase. But my Gannett 401k is crappy though. Oh well. I'm all the better for it and I hope everyone is too in the end. Just need a little faith, but not not in Gannett.
ReplyDelete80
ReplyDelete81
ReplyDeleteI count my blessings that I no longer work at the Crystal Palace graveyard. It must be hell working there now, and I can't imagine who's actually happy or sleeping well these days.
ReplyDeleteHey 12:43 AM,
ReplyDeleteI like your style. From start to finish, your commentary nearly caused me to spray Pepsi all over the laptop. So funny, yet so true.
I like this blog, but often when I see the "I'm first" poster, my imagination sees a mouth-breathing 14-year-old boy sitting there with zit cream all over his face while his personality reeks of immaturity.
ON ANOTHER NOTE...Just received my pension PAPERWORK after being canned on December 3, 2008.
Jim,
ReplyDeleteIt seems as though all you want to do is tear down Gannett. As a journalist, or ex journalist, remember balance. Remember that there are 30,000+ of us who are still a part of Gannett and for selfish reasons or otherwise, want it to succeed. You seem to revel in everything negative. Take some of your time and share some of the positives with your readers. Here's a company who's stock is still higher than many of its competitors who are in the same space...Hearst/Argyle...Belo and others. Try to be more positive! Those of us still employed by Gannett would appreciate it.
If Gannett indeed starts closing papers, then I foresee them reducing the number of group sites.
ReplyDeleteWe have a meeting with our publisher next week. My guess it will be announcing more layoffs and furloughs! They said we can ask questions, yeah right, like they'll be answered. Answers are always vague. They know whats going on, they need to inform their employees!
ReplyDeleteI'm usen testerdays Jersey Connfidental as page #1 in my first off Broadway Production.Reads like a hit to me!
ReplyDelete@4:34: what paper?
ReplyDelete@4:19 - jim's stock response to this has always been that he would like to see other gannett sites pop up and provide that type of perspective. balance does not provide funding for him.
ReplyDelete@4:52 that's too bad. Jim must have a short memory. I'd guess he made a pretty good living and received fair compensation for the work he did when he was employed by Gannett. Too bad he doesn't remember those who are in a much worse situation than he was 5 or 10 years ago. Have some empathy, Jim. It's pretty easy to point your finger when you have no association with Gannett any longer. Sour grapes? I guess so
ReplyDeleteGannett Co Inc website stock ticker is stuck at $2.20 wishful thinking?
ReplyDelete4:45 Des Moines Register.
ReplyDeleteThey said its about "the local marketplace, economy, and our industry." That doesn't sound good to me...
Well 5:45, just by your tone, I think you very could have been a lifestyles editor at a Gannett paper I once worked. You're no longer in that position, of course, having worked your way up after long, long hours of backstabbing, talking out of both sides of your mouth and generally getting further and further away from the idealistic motives you had when you first got into journalism. You're a mid-level manager now, a daily slurper of the GCI Kool-Aid, throwing people under the bus, staunchly defending the weakening product you push to a weary public. Criticism is unfair, gosh darn it, and nobody should dare challenge the corporate thinking. Why, you didn't bat an eye when they laid-off the columnist, the senior editor, the young reporter who dared not always toe the company line. You had the Moms blog to do, you know, and gosh darn it, those other folks never showed up for the company volleyball game or got excited to see former bosses when they appeared in the Gannetteer.I know you're still bummed that you didn't get that Well Done for the live blogging you helped set up for Election Night, but gee whiz.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say that I'm an 11-year GCI employee, I like my job, I'm OK with my salary and I'm not worried about being laid off.
ReplyDeleteI do good work. I'm living up to my own standards, which is more important than anything I hear from a manager.
If I get fired or laid off, I'll work shrewdly and diligently for another employer. So it goes.
FAQ:
*I am an hourly beat reporter
*I work for a community newspaper
*I like my wife a lot
*I like my kids a lot
*I don't do drugs
*I don't know anyone at corporate
Thank Sweet Cheesus! I got my Pension Retirement Papers today. I'm cashing out, faxing it it in and stepping away from this bleeding monster forever. Hope others have got theirs or will get it soon. December 3rd was my Layoff...more than 90 days passed before I got my papers. Good luck, all!
ReplyDeleteapropos of nothing, i remember the first time i smoked some grass at work. a photog and i finished off a roach i had in my cigarette pack on the loading dock about an hour before the afternoon news meeting. let me tell you, that experience freaked the shit outta me. the newsroom has to be the worst place to be when you're stoned. too many freaks. plenty of munchies. but way too many weirdos.
ReplyDeleteremember "NEW JERSEY PAPERS ROCK"
ReplyDelete6:26 pm: Is that you, Neely?!
ReplyDelete4:52 pm: Here's how I respond to people who say there needs to be more positive news on Gannett Blog. I'll use the comment 4:19 pm directed at me -- the same comment you referenced.
ReplyDelete"You seem to revel in everything negative,'' 4:19 pm wrote. "Take some of your time and share some of the positives with your readers."
4:19 pm then suggests something positive for me to write about: Gannett's stock "is still higher than many of its competitors who are in the same space.''
So, to recap: 4:19 took 104 words to mostly complain that I'm too negative. Then they failed to offer any substantial examples of positive news worth pursuing. And, it appears, they expect me to do all this -- for free.
Maybe now you understand the frustrations I feel when I'm accused of not working hard enough to bring balance to this blog. As for my stock response, 4:52 pm, here it is again:
There are 41,500 Gannett employees -- but just one of me. I welcome your recommendations on good work worth highlighting. Even better: How about contributing a ready-to-publish post, complete with artwork and links?
That's a better way of bringing the balance you seek than simply demanding that I do all the work.
Three cheers for Jim.
ReplyDelete3/06/2009 3:38 PM
ReplyDeleteSame here, 28% increase and I was certainly WELL below market values for the kind of work I did.
For God's sake, where is there any good news out there in Gannettland. The stock is in the crapper, management dithers and is incapable of responding to this economic downturn, office back-stabbing has reached new heights, and everyone is on edge waiting for the next hammer to fall. I screamed at my kids this week, and I blame the stress I'm bringing home. So Jim should write a story about the great and clever way GCI's leadership is steering this company through economic choppy waters. Come on. Get real.
ReplyDeleteSome positives:
ReplyDelete1. GCI has not filed for bankruptcy as some other companies have in recent weeks
2. Sam Zell does not own Gannett
3. USAT is till among the circulation leaders in the industry
4. Gannett remains a media company and is not diversifying into other businesses.
4;50 you are full of crap. And Jim why are you publishing rumors like the one from 4:50? Part of the problem the public has with the media is we are all becoming rumor-mongerers.
ReplyDelete8:25 pm: No 4:50 pm comment full of crap exists for me to remove from this blog. (And a point of clarification: I seldom publish your comments; I read behind you, deleting those that don't work.)
ReplyDeletehey jim, it's me 4:52 - a little peevish tonight? i take it from your response that you are confirming that good news doesn't pay. i quote from your response:
ReplyDelete"they expect me to do all this -- for free."
8:42 pm: I'm being paid equally low wages, regardless of whether the blog reads "positive" or "negative" from your perspective.
ReplyDeleteCould be out of sync but I really enjoyed my Furlough week...very relaxing, went got out of town, let everything go and still have four weeks of vacation left. It was good!
ReplyDeleteOur ad building department has five employees when there used to be 8, yet the advertising dept. has an AD, and 11 employees.
ReplyDeleteIn September we lost out Online Manager and our IT Manager, these were both one person departments, so now if we have an IT issue we have to wait for someone to call use back and try to fix it remotely, this is not fun.
Our pressroom and mailroom was eliminated in November to be printed elsewhere. Just waiting for the ad building process to go elsewhere soon, because advertising is like the golden child and everyone else in the building are the stepchildren.
109th!
ReplyDeleteCan I post here?
ReplyDeleteSeattle Post-Intelligencer is going online only, Hearst says, if no buyer by March 10.
ReplyDeleteThe dominoes are starting to tilt.
Positives about Gannett? That's easy:
ReplyDelete1. My colleague came home from a month's hospitalization -- covered by Gannett.
2. USAT circ in 2008: 2.2M. USAT circ in 1998: 2.2M.
3. Journal-Register, Lee, MediaNews, CNI, McClatchy, PNI, Tribune, Hearst, Scripps.
4. 401(k)match, medical benefits, dental benefits, vision benefits, adoption benefits, pension ...
5. EAP :)
Corporate paid bonuses for 2008 work to management teams at newspapers. Furlough may not be as hard on some.
ReplyDeleteOh for God's sake. People, we are fearing for our jobs in a crappy economy. Can we please not bicker about petty stuff like what someone you don't even know has posted on a blog's comment board? I'm sorry, but I and many of my low-ranking Gannett co-workers are EXTREMELY grateful to Jim for this blog, because we're certainly not getting any news from our screw-you managers. This is our only source of information, be it true or speculative. Right now, I'll take whatever news I can get.
ReplyDeletejim - were you aware that there was a re-org in Digital this week? i'm just wondering why you aren't all over this as a story. big winners and losers out of the re-org but not one word seems to be coming out of the blog of record or the company.
ReplyDeleteI hate my idiotic, dysfunctional, misanthropic, Peter Principle Poster Girl ME.
ReplyDeleteJust had to say that today. Thanks for listening.
Jim: there was a comment at 4:50 about 20 per cent layoffs on March 18 and more furloughs. what happened to it?
ReplyDeleteJim: I'm 8:25. What do you mean you rarely publish my comments? you have never not published one of mine. and how do you know who I am. WTF? and someone else help me out here. I know there was 4:50 post about march 18 layoffs.
ReplyDeleteMy recommendation to all of you: Discover faith. Once you recognize that there is a God and that the universe He created is so much bigger than GCI, you will enjoy freedom as you've never known it.
ReplyDelete8:25: Poor wording on my part. Also, that wasn't directed at you; it was meant for all readers. Let me try again.
ReplyDeleteI only occasionally elect to read and approve reader comments BEFORE they are published. Ordinarily, readers write a comment, hit the "publish your comment" button, and wham! it's on the blog.
Obviously, I operate on a system of trust: I let you guys decide what's appropriate. Then I read your comments after they've appeared on the blog, only occasionally removing those that cross over the line.
Finally, to all of you seeking a comment at 4:50 pm, you have the incorrect timestamp. I believe you are looking for the comment at 12:50 pm.