Wednesday, April 15, 2009
16 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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ReplyDeleteLong live Charlie Nutt.
ReplyDeleteHey I posted this late the other night. I just wanted to let you know do not fear Skippy has a plan!
ReplyDeleteSkippy has a plan. It's to reiterate every Gannett initiative as quickly and loudly as possible, no matter how contradictory it might be to the prior one. It is also to safeguard the building from anyone with an original thought or anyone who would dare to question anything. Lastly, it is to worship the ground Craig Debow works on and -- since he has to do so much bootlicking himself -- to surround himself with an equal amount of bootlickers.
Off with his head!
ReplyDeleteThe time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things here in Gannett New Jersey – or at least its central portion: the Home News Tribune and Courier News.
ReplyDeleteBoth newspapers were in trouble prior to the merger, with plummeting circulation numbers. The Courier News’ performance in that area, despite the lack of daily-paper competition, was particularly concerning.
The merger was done clumsily, due in large part to the ham-fisted techniques of the then-publisher.
The second round of Gannett layoffs, which targeted managers, was a particularly distressing one for the HNT. The longtime, experienced (and probably expensive) executive editor was laid off, replaced by the cheaper, ethically challenged, micromanaging and nepotistic managing editor of the Courier. Since his promotion, he has systematically gutted the HNT, placing former CN personnel in most of the supervisory positions. The recent announcement of the regional editing/production center in Neptune finished the task for him: Almost two-thirds of HNT staff remaining after the merger and layoffs will now be working for the Asbury Park Press. And with them, they empty the HNT newsroom of vital institutional knowledge of the local community.
But the declining situations in the Central Jersey papers is not attributable solely to the rise of the Courier folks. The newsroom at the HNT has long suffered from lackadaisical editors and unproductive hiring practices. For at least the past eight years, reporters and copy editors have been hired straight out of college. Often, the HNT offered them their first jobs. Virtually none of them were ever given writing tests or tryout periods.
Consequently, most of the reporters and copy editors are unable to do their jobs. In the past, management actively encouraged and participated in mentoring and teaching new hires. But those people have left the building.
In addition, the assignment editors were lax in their supervision of the reporters. An environment developed in which reporters did not have to write a minimum number of stories per week – again several years ago. With the exception of a few, mostly long-term reporters, the writers were allowed to turn in as few as one or two stories a week. This became an entitlement.
When the new publisher arrived – and he’s neither the best nor the worst the Home News and the Courier have endured – he demanded a 10-story-per-week minimum from reporters. They were shocked. They were angry. Some refused to cooperate. Although many of the termagants have resigned or have been laid off, the resentment about increased story counts remain. The reporters direct their ire at section and assignment editors.
Whether Gannett will keep the HNT and CN afloat with the falling circulation and the profit margin hovering at only 2 percent is unknown. One hopes, both for the sake of the current employees of both papers that the HNT and CN will be able to make it through the recession. Once a paper leaves a market, it rarely makes a comeback.
4:09 PM. Your remarks about the hiring practices -- particularly involving reporters at the HNT -- are untrue. All new hires had to take a written test the day they were interviewed. Only one hire in the past few years was made directly from college and that writer had worked freelance for the paper prior to that. Two others had worked as interns at other newspapers. Many of those interviewed for writing positions came back for a second interview and a second written test before being offered a job.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, one new copy editor was added directly from college and that person had worked for the HNT as an intern and had been editor of the paper at college. All other copy editors were experienced in the field when they joined the staff.
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ReplyDelete4:09 shows why this blog has no credibility.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant, dumbass.
troll alert!
Well..... This is true: The HNT has been gutted of many of it's best talents. Either layed off, resigned or moved to Asbury. Good for Asbury, Bad for HNT. Now the CN reigns supreme. Ta Duh!
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ReplyDeleteLong live the Courier News!
ReplyDeleteLong live the Courier Poop!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete4:09 is right on the money. As a former HNT drone, I watched many of my coworkers do nothing all week long, then write two stories on a Friday morning, for use "during the week." Municipal reporters scoured weekly newspapers for stories they could rewrite and freshen up with a five minute telephone call to some politician. Assignment editors would turn a blind eye. Reporters assigned to cover city meetings would often call in and say "nothing happened tonight" when they had never gone to the meeting and were sitting at home all night. All of this is why I chimed in months ago that it was not a surprise something funny was going on with the use of the company vehicles by the photo dept. (Still not sure which "protected" leftist dreg of society in that department was involved, but I've been out of HNT for so long, it probably wouldn't matter to me.) The atmosphere of entitlement? Absolutely.
ReplyDeleteP.S. PG may be a poodle-loving control freak, but I'll give him credit for bringing local news back to what's left of the paper. Everything 4:09 said about him is 100 percent true.