Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Just In | HR, marketing, TV said hit with layoffs

A growing number of comments from anonymous authors.

Can anyone confirm -- and give details? Please post in the comments section, below. E-mail confidentially via gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]. See tipsters policy, right.

Related: our exclusive second-quarter layoff tracker

21 comments:

  1. These are just rumors and no truth to HR, Marketing or Digital lay offs. At least not in the 2nd quarter.

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  2. No truth? Where is all this coming from then?

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  3. Webmaster in Greensboro looks to be gone...95% confirmed

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  4. not just tv webmasters

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  5. This is a continuation of a consolidation that started late last year. The five Louisiana Gannett papers now share an HR person that is based somewhere in Florida.

    We never see him or her. There is a local person available to "check with HR and get back to" employees with questions or problems.

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  6. I'm at an Gannett NBC station, and I can confirm that here we lost our webmaster and our HR person. We were told that the HR functions would be handled from corporate.

    So I guess that means that if there is an issue, it would be solved by an e-mail to the white tower?

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  7. So I guess that means that if there is an issue, it would be solved by an e-mail to the white tower?

    5/12/2009 8:15 PM

    Yeah, right! HR at Corporate! ROFLMAO!!!!!!!

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  8. Webmaster and HR person at WXIA in Atlanta have been let go. Their last day is Friday. In a department meeting we were told that there would be a web developer in charge of an number of properties. Atlanta would be one of the bases. All laid off webmaster could reapply for that position. HR would be handled elsewhere. We were told we should stay positive and continue to innovate. I think that is what our webmaster and HR lady were doing, but . . . .

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  9. They could get rid of our HR department. They just direct us to the some website for everything.

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  10. HR at WUSA has been eliminated. Webmaster position has been vacant for some time.

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  11. 6:40, not sure where you are, but I can tell you there IS a real, live HR person in Lafayette, La. She was hired sometime last fall or early winter.

    I only know her first name, though. She has made no attempts to meet or even interact with employees in person and just started sending out emails about mundane things about a month or so ago. But the point being, there is a HR rep at at least one Louisiana site.

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  12. This is not some anti-digital screed because I do realize digitalia will be a big part of every industry's future.

    But I do wonder about local TV stations so insistently touting their websites, almost all of which all pretty shallow affairs.

    Except for traffic and weather, or a particularly local news event, I can't imagine they get many web visitors.

    So letting go webmasters may be harsh but realistic.

    Bit I could be wrong. Does anyone have actual numbers about what a typical Gannett TV website generates in traffic?

    Again, not being anti-digital here. But just because FM radio came along did not mean the entire media world went to the airwaves successfully.

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  13. Scarborough typically shows local TV station websites get the same or better reach than the local newspaper sites, even though the TV content is usually very weak. There is a TV-to-Web audience effect. All you have to do is monitor Google Trends for a while to figure that out.

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  14. 12:58 You can get a rough idea of Web traffic at sites at http://www.alexa.com/
    you type in your web site, and then one or two competitor's sites, and it will show which gets the most traffic, and approximately how much. It is pretty gruesome. In order to make big bucks, you have to be in the top ranks.

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  15. 6:40:

    I thought the HR Director in Jackson, MS was over the LA & MS properties now?

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  16. Some marketing managers should be eliminated. I know that an ad director on the West Coast forces sales staff to go to TIDE meetings so that the Marketing person seems to be bringing in revenue. These sales are already made but the funds are attached to TIDE so that Gannett is fooled into believing this marketing employee actually does something.

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  17. Army Timeserer!5/13/2009 10:15 AM

    HR people getting laid off.
    Oh, the irony, the humanity.

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  18. Gannet Worker (For Now)5/13/2009 11:05 AM

    More layoffs coming at Detroit Free Press and Detroit News???

    http://twitter.com/newspapermann/status/1784920447

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  19. WUSA HR person, Sue, a great lady was escorted from the building Tuesday evening. Another caring good soul always fair and understanding.

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  20. 12:58 AM -- I agree with you on the TV websites. Question, has anyone on this blog actually gone to a TV news website while watching the news?

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  21. not just tv webmasters

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