Sunday, May 10, 2009
15 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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Hey to the person yesterday who posted to me. You should really use your name if you want to be so tough. But I will explain a few things. I walk around with the huge chip on my shoulder because I can. Secondly I would imagine I am like at least 60 percent of the readers on this blog and its creator Jim, a former employee that feels betrayed. I loved my job and it was my passion so after about 14 years of positive reviews steady raises and promotions to be fired because I had the audacity to raise my hand and complain about the way myself and OTHERS were being treated was devasting. I would campare it to a jilted lover. And it even makes me more sick that I probably stood up for people like you as you hid under your desk in fear and just came out to butt kiss and drink kool aid. I have a little suggestion for you though if you don't like my posts when you see my name just skip over it. Not really that hard and when you get fired let me know how you feel. Yesterday's post was just to point out there was no excuse for the rapid drop in circulation in a high growth area. A steady decline yes but not as drastic as it has been.
ReplyDeleteHey DOPEY Get it right !!! It's not EJ with the building drain stuff it was EG.... And when is JK coming to our rescue
ReplyDeleteChris is right about the declining circulation. It's not the economy, or a change in the media landscape.
ReplyDeleteEveryone I know -- literally all but one person of several dozen, at least -- used to love the APP but shun it now for two reasons and two reasons only:
1) Obnoxious, persistent telemarketing, even in violation of the Do Not Call Law (and this has happened to me many times, too, both before and after my layoff).
2) Loss of credibility due to lack of editing and sloppy, single-source reporting.
People get miffed if the APP doesn't cover their pet project, and they get miffed if the news riles the right or left political fringes, but they forgive those things. I find they do NOT forgive bad reporting/editing or invasion of their privacy.
And they DO know what bad reporting and editing are. APP readers are not flibbertygibbet airheads who come and go from readership on whim.
To: Chris Erwin:
ReplyDeleteNever met you, don't know which newspaper to which you refer...BUT you are telling a story so many of us KNOW all too well. I guess that people see it and don't believe it can ever happen to them. It does, it has and it shows no signs of not repeating itself.
Yeah, yeah, Erwin, you were the star of the sports department until Skip came along. I read all about it on the sports journalist forum. Were you the one who blamed Skip for someone committing suicide? Not even her ex-husband did that. So pardon me for not thanking you for sticking for people like me.
ReplyDeleteAnd if I ever do get laid off, the last thing I'd do is go on internet forums and incessantly whine about it.
EJ, EG, who cares. You know who I was talking about.
And I would give your opinion more credibility if the app was the only paper experiencing huge drops in circulation, but as luck would have it, the same thing happened to, oh I don't know, just about EVERY paper in the country.
Everybody looks for a scapegoat.
2:02 I was a agate clerk hardly the star of the sports department. Again you should really use your name. As for the suicide a woman I was friends with was fired over the phone on Christmas Eve by Skippy and later that year committed suicide. She was slightly quirky and I do not at all think it was the lone reason. But since I talked to her after her firing about once a month and know she used her life savings trying to put together a hostile work case against the paper and Skippy. She asked me to be a witness I said no I would lose my job but she could have subpoena me and I would tell the truth. So after she died and no one in the newsroom spoke her name in fear of upsetting Skip I promised myself I would fuck with these idiots as long as I can. Thankfully Jim provides this outlet to do so. That and my community crusade of pointing out to people whenever possible at stores, barber shops, etc. how much the paper sucks. So really since you are the company hero why don't you use your name? And for someone so blissfully happy in his job why do you come to a blog that has so much negativity?
ReplyDeleteAs far as circ. numbers I was just wondering if other papers in tri-state area were losing readers at the same rate. I'm aware they are all losing readers just curios if it was at the same rate and the APP had the advantage of being in a huge growth area. Give Skippy a kiss for me tell him I miss him. His hair, fake smile and polyester outfits everything about him.
Were the DR circulation #s posted? If so, I missed that information. Could some repost? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteChuck Daly, coach of the US Olympic "Dream Team", former coach of the Detroit Pistons and New Jersey Nets, died yesterday of pancreatic cancer.
ReplyDeleteHere's a sports story with an obvious New Jersey connection and the Courier News/Home News Tribune don't even bother to report it. They do have room for fluff on baseball, Tiger Woods, Michelle Wie and the Indianapolis 500. If that is not reason enough to fire the sports editor, what is?
(captcha: pained)
Chuck in NJ I bet they had plenty of minor league baseball in the sports section though. I would yave to run the Blueclaws stats over Mets, Yankees and Phillies. I would not care if the team was in my backyard as a sports fan no one really cares about the minor league stuff we're not in the Carolina's with Crash Davis and no pro market. I've been to a few Blueclaws games and it's a nice day but to me it's like going to the boardwalk or Great Adventure a day out. I don't care if I get there in the third inning and I don't care who wins the game. I'm sure there is a handful of hardcore fans that follow it, but I would bet 90 percent just go for the day out. The news judgement in the NJ Group sports departments blows.
ReplyDeleteAndria Thorpe, I know you want to DELETE me.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else at APP forming any unusual thoughts about our new Exec Ed? He's awfully cocky for a new editor in a new town.
ReplyDelete9:47,
ReplyDeleteIs Townes still EE?
I posted months ago that in the few meetings I had with hi, I thought he was more interested in not losig arguments rather than finding solutions and answers.
Cockiness will be his main mien. When you don't have answers, bullying is a good bluff.
As for Hidlay, under his rule the Press' biggest mistake was the obvious campaign against the Jersey Shore Outlet mall. Every time the Press ran a story, people who knew I was a reporter there asked me what was their vendetta against the mall.
The objectivity of the newspaper took a major hit.
Yeah everytime I go to the Jersey Shore Outlets and can't find a parking spot I realize how dead-on Skippy and Bob Collins were about nobody wanting it there. As usual they had their fingers on the pulse of the community they served. I have an idea maybe on weekends the Press could rent its parking lot out for all the people that show up there.
ReplyDeleteChris Erwin said...
ReplyDeleteYeah everytime I go to the Jersey Shore Outlets and can't find a parking spot I realize how dead-on Skippy and Bob Collins were about nobody wanting it there. As usual they had their fingers on the pulse of the community they served. I have an idea maybe on weekends the Press could rent its parking lot out for all the people that show up there.
5/10/2009 10:23 PM
Hell, they could lease space during the week,it's so empty these days & the building has an echo too!
Chris E...I never felt the need to write on Jim's blog but your post has inspired me. I love my job as well and have been at my paper for nearly two decades but I not delusional (or have a chip on my shoulder-even though I can as well) enough to think that with the hundreds of awards and hard work Ive put into my beloved career at this paper that I'm as replaceable as the maintenance guy. As my Dad said years ago, any employer can fire any employee, for any reason. Why all the whining on this site that some of you think you're owed a job. It's a crappy economy and companies fire employees to save money because they answer to shareholders...sad, but that's reality. Anyone can be let go, with or without cause. I was hoping to hold onto my job until retirement, it doesn't seem realistic now but Ill keep working my ass off for the job and co-workers I love till they fire me or I find something better. Jilted lover?? Betrayed?...Who do you think is going to be the first to be fired, an agitator complaining and questioning authority or someone who's just dedicated and knows what 'time it is.' I've been at a number of other papers in my career and you know what happened when I wasnt treated with respect? I got a new job! I didn't cry to management I didn't like the way I was treated because as much as they loved me, they don't care about your feeling! There's no shame in doing you job in these difficult times, it doesn't mean I kiss ass or drink kool aid, I just do my job...So next job you get either suck it up and grow a set or open up your own business.
ReplyDelete