Oh, Gannett Blog. I've had a deep attachment to this place ever since the mass layoffs last year.It meant something to have this forum; to find out in real time what was happening at other papers and to know we weren't going through it alone.
So I followed the blog. And I kept following it, even as the newspaper camaraderie was replaced by the usual chat room asshattery -- wild rumors, homophobic slurs and the anonymous airing of grievances. (Every day is Festivus on Gannett Blog!)
Pfft. I'm a reporter. If I want to scroll through 87 comments about how Gannett sux, I'll surf story chat.
I'm starting my second week of unpaid furlough tomorrow. And there is not one single item you have posted in the past month or three that is relevant to my hopes, dreams and fears. What gives?
I truly, madly, deeply do not care about the stockholders meeting. I'm fully aware that our company is helmed by fatheads with fat paychecks, thank you very much.
At this point, I'm mainly rubbernecking. It's not news I can use, but it's hilarious and sad -- like a clown car wreck.
(You brought a bodyguard to the stockholders meeting? Seriously?)
And in conclusion: 12:57? I heart you and I want to have your furlough babies.
A list to provide reassuring context
Following are annual events we cover until we think we're gonna set our hair on fire -- and then we don't, and move on, thank goodness, and try to put it behind us until next year!
1. Valentine's Day
2. Easter/Passover
3. Gannett Co. Inc. annual shareholder's meeting
4. The Kentucky Derby
5. Mother's Day (!!!)
6. ???
Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green rail, upper right.
[Image: detail of Furlough House Swap homepage]
The Kentucky Derby is huge for the Courier-Journal. And it is like nothing else anyone has ever attended, trust me. The glitz and glamor are better than Hollywood could dream up. The parties and events are a world of their own.
ReplyDeleteThat said, it is the race that rivets a nation that really has no connection to Thoroughbred race horses. And finishes like Saturday's, when a 51-1 longshot thumed its nose at shieks, Big Name Trainers and the hoy paloy of race horse breeding are the very best of all.
An undersized, crooked-legged horse. A toothless jockey. A cowboy trainer with a gimp leg from a biker wreck. It is like Seabiscuit all over again.
It is the kind of story I would kill to have on my beat.
THUMBED
ReplyDelete"Thumbed his nose ..."
Ah, I thought you were just trying to appeal to the ... y'know ... hoy paloy. A tip o' the hat and a 10 percent raise to all copy editors!
ReplyDeleteYou are right, 5/04/2009 10:23 AM. Whatever success I had as a Gannett journalist can be directly attributed to my copy editors. They have never paid them enough ... or given them enough credit for saving our bacon, night after night.
ReplyDeleteWhich is why the consolidation of copy desks worries me.
Think of the time, effort and knowledge local copy editors have put in over the years to build site centered style books.
Are any of those people left in the newsroom? Does anyone know where those style books are? Are they being followed?
I hope that isn't another casualty of downsizing.
Furlough babies.
ReplyDeleteLove. It.