Saturday, June 27, 2009
Saturday | Your News & Comments
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33 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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Trolls take note: No one will ever know you tried to post, because I'm rejecting your comments before they see the light of day.
ReplyDeleteFunny story about a problem with the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader and Gannett sending condoms and erotic store material to college students.
ReplyDeleteSPRINGFIELD -- A controversial welcome packet sent to thousands of potential Missouri State University students was not sanctioned by the university. The student mailer included condoms and an ad for a sexually erotic store.
The mailer was done by a company named the Student Welcome Pack, which is based in Florida. The Springfield News-Leader was involved in selling ads for the publication.
The packet included condoms from Planned Parenthood and a $15 coupon for the erotic Adam & Eve store. It was sent to an estimated 4,000 prospective area students. MSU's name is plastered all over the materials but the school says it had nothing to do with it.
The News-Leader acknowledges it sold ads, but contends it never saw the contents of the packet before it was distributed.
http://www.ky3.com/news/local/49283307.html
From today's Springfield, Missouri, News-Leader:
ReplyDeleteJune 27, 2009
MSU considers suing Gannett
Student welcome packets upset university.
Dirk VanderHart
News-Leader
Missouri State University is considering a lawsuit against the News-Leader's parent company after a Gannett Co. Inc. affiliate mailed thousands of welcome packets to area college-age students.
According to MSU attorney Clifton Smart, the packets -- which contained advertisements for local businesses -- might have amounted to trademark infringement, since they mentioned the school.
"If you use the name Missouri State University in such a way to convey that Missouri State University sent out that packet, that's trademark infringement," Smart said. "Dozens of parents thought that we sent them out that packet."
He said some advertisers who participated in the mailing believed MSU had sanctioned them, though he would not give names.
Chief among the university's concerns, Smart said, was an ad for Planned Parenthood with a condom attached. In bold type at the top of the insert are the words: "Welcome to MSU!"
The packet also included ads for area apartments and hotels, a bank, an academic and football schedule, and an eight-page newspaper with articles about MSU that included ads for movie theaters, Branson shows, Dillard's and an adult store called Adam and Eve.
Nothing in the packet contained an MSU logo or symbol, nor was there a printed endorsement from MSU.
In a press release Friday, the university provided a list of requests it's made to Gannett. They are:
- That Gannett send a letter of explanation and apology to those who received the packets.
- That Gannett send a similar letter to advertisers.
- That the News-Leader publish and post online an explanation and apology.
- That no more packets are sent bearing MSU's name.
"We hope to resolve this in terms set forth in the release," Smart said.
Smart has talked with an attorney for Gannett, and it was unclear Friday what the outcome might be.
"Gannett didn't intend there to be any confusion over the origins of the Student Welcome Pack mailing," said Don Wyatt, executive editor of the News-Leader Media Group. "We intend to work with the university to make it right."
The packets were sent out by Student Welcome Pack Inc., a Florida company affiliated with the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper.
To attract local advertisers, SWP worked with the News-Leader's advertising staff, which secured contracts and sent them to Florida. According to MSU, the packet was received in mid-May by about 4,000 college-age students in the area.
Smart said the university had received nearly a hundred phone calls about the material -- mostly with concerns about the Planned Parenthood ad.
"There are a lot of people in this part of the country that have very strong moral Christian views about abortion, birth control and Planned Parenthood," he said. "It's just not something that we would have put our name on or be associated with."
Though the News-Leader has only worked with SWP on this occasion, the company has worked with local advertisers near 30 universities for years.
Trolls being those who denigrate you?
ReplyDeleteAnd you criticize Tara for not responding to your questions?
What a joke!
Another idea to generate revenue in these hard times.....
ReplyDeleteGONE TERRIBLY TERRIBLY WRONG!!!!!
Hahahahahahahahah. I hope MSU DOES sue Gannett and it wins a bundle. I also hope the cost of the letters and apologies exceed whatever piddling money the newspaper made on this poorly thought-out sceme!
Hahahahah
I love it!')
Boy,
ReplyDeleteGannett has hit a new low trying
to get ad revenue! Unbelievable!
A couple of us were reminiscing last night about funny happenings at The Arizona Republic, I’d forgotten about a Manager in the marketing department who repeatedly commented about improving Sunday circulation based on his experiences and successes at another paper, (Vasalia Times Delta). He talked about successes at Wal-Marts and other retailers, huge Saturday and Sunday gains and certainly didn’t hesitate when having the opportunity to belittle the circulation department’s lack of efforts. I remember sitting in a meeting, he certainly had the ear and support of senior management right up until the time someone pointed out the Vasalia Times Delta doesn’t print on Sunday.
ReplyDeleteGot to admit, someone who openly attacked people in another department based on Sunday successes that didn’t exist, and was revealed as such can only mea one thing- Tenure at Gannett.
Star newsroom braces for deep cuts
ReplyDeleteEven if union members approve 12-percent pay reduction, additional layoffs may be coming
The paper’s union—which represents about 160 news staffers—and management have been at an impasse since employees’ union contract expired Dec. 31.
Management is asking union members to take a 12-percent pay cut and offering no guarantees there won’t be further layoffs and more unpaid furloughs.
“This is it, high noon at the O.K. Corral,” said Joseph N. Boyce, a retired senior editor with The Wall Street Journal who now teaches journalism at IUPUI. “I really fear the next moves in this chess match could really hurt the product, and it’s news organizations like The Star that are essential to a healthy democracy.”
Members of The Indianapolis Newspaper Guild will vote June 30 on a new two-year contract that, in addition to across-the-board pay cuts, would ensure no pay raises for the length of the deal.
Without an endorsement from union officers, few expect members to approve the contract. The next step is unclear. Management for The Star, which is owned by Virginia-based Gannett Co., certainly isn’t giving any clues.
“We’re aware the Guild has a vote upcoming. Other than that, there’s not much I can say,” said John Kridelbaugh, Star vice president of market development.
The proposed contract calls for an 8-percent pay cut July 1—the day after the vote—and another 4 percent Oct. 1. Kridelbaugh said management will take a “cross that bridge when we come to it” approach to the proposed July 1 pay cut if the contract isn’t approved. Some union members fear a “no” vote from the union could evoke an even larger pay cut—as high as 15 percent—from management.
There are also fears that, either way, management will enact layoffs July 8. Those rumors have been fueled by reports on a popular Internet blog written by a former Gannett staffer still covering the company’s every move.
The blog recently referenced a memo from Gannett Chief Financial Officer Gracia Martore that projects 4,500 newspaper layoffs are coming throughout Gannett’s nationwide chain of 85 daily newspapers, including USA Today.
Here is the link to the Star
ReplyDeletearticle:
http://cms.ibj.com/ASPXPages/6iframes/FrontEndArticlesDetailPage.aspx?ArticleID=40489&NoFrame=1
I missed the note about :The blog recently referenced a memo from Gannett Chief Financial Officer Gracia Martore that projects 4,500 newspaper layoffs are coming throughout Gannett’s nationwide chain of 85 daily newspapers, including USA Today.
ReplyDeleteWould you please post it again?
What makes the Springfield story more than just funny is that when the packets were first reported circulated, the News-Leader DIDN'T report that they were a Gannett product or that the News-Leader had anything to do with them.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Student Welcome Pack is more than just a Gannett "affiliate," as the Springfield paper's story described it today. I've been reviewing Florida state business records that suggest GCI acquired the Tallahassee company when it bought Florida State University's campus newspaper three years ago. Something smells fishy here.
ReplyDeleteHere's an ad the Springfield News-Leader ran recently on the Gannett web site. Note the reference to the Student Welcome Pack.
ReplyDeleteNiche Audience Sales Manager
News-Leader Media Group (Springfield, MO)
Details
Location: MO - Springfield Job Type: Sales
Management
Marketing
Base Pay: N/A Required Education: 4 Year Degree
Bonus: Required Experience: At least 3 year(s)
Other: Required Travel: Not Specified
Employee Type: Full-Time Employee Relocation Covered: Not Specified
Industry Newspaper, Printing - Publishing
Job ID:
Description
This position will have the opportunity to fully integrate specialized product initiatives for both print and online platforms. As the News-Leader continues to expand its footprint and reach within the Springfield DMA, this position will have direct impact on the News-Leader Media Group’s ability to grow revenue, add new accounts and provide creative solutions to meet our customer’s needs. Each of these initiatives serves a specific niche; geographic territory and/or target audience that enables the team to implement various strategies and tactics to achieve revenue goals. This person will report to the Advertising Director and will play an important role on our Advertising Management team.
· This position is responsible for developing new clients and meeting the needs of existing clients through the use of the following:
- Custom publications like Signature and MomsLikeMe.
*****- Special projects like the Student Welcome Pack and other targeted initiatives*****
- Online sales management of MomsLikeMe.com and Metromix.com
- Sales responsibility in the Ad Division for Key events like Taste of Home and Kids Camp
- Other initiatives to be determined as marketplace changes and new opportunities develop
· Develops contacts and relationships with customers, leads the sales team dedicated to each product and actively works with the Advertising Division to sell clients across multiple platforms.
· Establishes goals for each publication and achieves the sales goals of each assigned platform.
· Develops professional sales presentations based on clients’ needs and delivers the presentations in a timely manner.
· Works closely with Advertising Sales Managers to actively prospect new business and develop presentations for each of their teams while attending needs assessments and presentation calls with Niche AE’s and other members of the sales team.
· Maintains an active customer list of major accounts for each product and manages the responsibilities of sales for these accounts that are shared with the general sales team.
· Works with support departments to ensure deadlines are met and that the workflow is meeting expectations for clients and our company.
Today's home-delivered CN was missing the 44-page 125th anniversary pullout that was supposed to be included. So I go online to Customer Service, which makes me change my logon and password AGAIN, then leads me partway through the process only to tell me the system is down for maintenance. I call the Customer Service number and the robot lady also leads me partway through the process, only to tell me the service is closed on Saturdays.
ReplyDeleteAlso the promised two-day "weekend" article on a local landlord scandal did not start Saturday, but will run Sunday and Monday. I bet a lot of tenants bought the paper today in response to Friday's teaser, thinking "weekend" means Saturday and Sunday. Thanks, guys.
Well, my delivered copy of the CN has the anniversary section in it, but it was dated Sunday. BTW-- I would in no way infer that it's a keepsake or masterpiece of writing.
ReplyDeleteIf Gannett is circling the drain, it apparently is not alone. What's going on with Lee Newspapers? Stock fell below 50 cents on Friday, down 30% for the day. It was at $1.50 two months ago.
ReplyDeletedont censor the trolls,
ReplyDeletetheir ass kissing is funny!!
dont they realize they will be out
of work soon too?
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteTrolls being those who denigrate you?
And you criticize Tara for not responding to your questions?
What a joke!
6/27/2009 8:45 AM
Really. Jim doesn't like it when people ctiticize him for the very things he slams Gannett execs for doing.
But it is his blog and he will remind you over and over again that you should go give up your life as he has done for the good of the employees. What a crock of shite!
Just did a BBB search and guess what Gannett's 2nd largest wisconsin newspaper's rating is? "F"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbb.org/wisconsin/business-reviews/newspapers/appleton-post-crescent-in-appleton-wi-1005268
Jimmy,
ReplyDeleteNot everybody craves attention as much as you, so if you don't post my comments, no biggie. I just think you are a hypocrite.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteJimmy,
Not everybody craves attention as much as you, so if you don't post my comments, no biggie. I just think you are a hypocrite.
6/27/2009 4:13 PM
I do not think Jim is a hypocrite. It seems he is just done with the nonsense here, thus he is ending the blog. Too bad, I really did like finding out things here. They don't tell us a thing at the job. (work for a NJ paper) I know something is going down... they just trained the inside sales reps to outsourcing ad material to 2adpro. Nice. The end is near, there & here. It's been a nice trip, but the long winding road is coming to it's end. Till the 10th. Keep the info rolling in!
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteJimmy,
Not everybody craves attention as much as you, so if you don't post my comments, no biggie. I just think you are a hypocrite.
6/27/2009 4:13 PM
He's much worse. But my mother taught me not to say those kind of things about people. You know what I mean.
I'm staggering toward the finish. And now my MacBook is on running on reserve power. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteBut where will you go to whine when you don't have this site to kvetch on? Corporate's blog? Ooops!
ReplyDeleteIt's even gotten to the point that they are shutting down department's and product's that are making them a pretty good profit....
ReplyDeleteJust caught this: There is NO SUCH memo about only RUMORED layoffs of 4,500. That was a tip posted on one of my other blogs.
ReplyDeleteNo GCI executive has confirmed or otherwise said anything publicly about any rumored pending layoffs.
Jim said...
ReplyDeleteJust caught this: There is NO SUCH memo about only RUMORED layoffs of 4,500. That was a tip posted on one of my other blogs.
No GCI executive has confirmed or otherwise said anything publicly about any rumored pending layoffs.
6/27/2009 5:29 PM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And this is how bullshit rumors get started.
This blog isn't staggering, it is crawling to the finish line.
And where will I go to whine? Why, I'll talk to friends that understand - face to face and not on some anonymous blog. Of course, that's what I do now so nothing will change only I won't need to wade through Ibiza crap and other nonensical garbage to monitor the bullshit here any more.
The Springfield story is HILARIOUS! It couldn't happen to a better (not) newspaper! This is what happens when you prostitute yourself out for ad revenue no matter the cost! It serves them right and I hope they get hit with a HUGE lawsuit.
ReplyDelete4:41
ReplyDeletetell me, please - what did you EVER find out here before it happened, except for the memo from one of the Gannett newspapers back in August?
I grant you the body count was interesting, but that didn't come from Jim - and how many of his personal attempts at stirring up the readership ever garnered more than a few responses?
The real info came from us - not him. And once a single bogus piece of foretelling was posted, this blog became useless, and there have been so very many outright lies -
4:41, PLEASE! Which NJ paper is doing that?
ReplyDelete10:14 -- I learned almost every major piece of Gannett news -- at least employee-related Gannett News --- in the past year on this blog. Mutiple layoffs, furloughs, pay freezes, pay cuts, etc. And all that news was doled out a week or more in advance of official notice from GCI.
ReplyDeleteTrue, there was a bogus rumor now and then, but smart readers could quickly and easily figure out which rumors were most likely to come true. I can't think of a situation where Jim personally reported a tip from a trusted source and was wrong. Sometimes the numbers were slightly off, but the gist of the report was always correct.
It's true much of the news came from readers. From Day 1, Jim said the point of the blog was crowdsourcing. Ninety percent of the stories that run in newspapers are the result of a tip or lead generated by someone other than the reporter. They follow along, dig for a few extra facts and write the story, just as Jim has done here.
I guess you'll be the big winner for remaining skeptical if we don't see mass layoffs in July. But do me a favor. When they happen, don't run over to Gannettoid and write that employees have never learned anything through that blog or this one.
It's true we can't do much with the news of impending layoffs. But some people like to know about such things in advance and others don't. We can't do much about Iranian elections either, but that doesn't mean the news shouldn't be reported.
If you prefer to keep your head in the sand, that's dandy. But why try to discredit a news source that's been proven right time and time again?
Thanks! And if I had it to do over again -- I'd do it all over again. (But I would have started sooner.)
ReplyDeleteAnd if my tips prove wrong on another round of layoffs, I'll don one of my three (!) jester's hats, and lead a conga line of critics -- straight into the Mediterrean Sea!
(Confidential to Sparky: Can't wait to see you, week after next! Whoo-hoo! Free Tibet!)
The blog has been a great resource. Listen, with everything you read you have to weed through the crap, consider various biases, etc. That's why I read multiple newspapers whenever I can. I want the broadest perspectives and want to see where the facts align or don't align. I wouldn't be able to do that if I read just the NYT or USAT. As credible as the public might think those publications are, I know better. Things are slanted in the NYT, and USAT is just flat out incorrect in much of its reporting in stories and even graphics. No different than this blog. But I don't stop reading. I don't dismiss everything in print or on a computer screen as useless. You pick and choose. You try to stay informed. That's what this blog has been good for.
ReplyDeleteWhere there has been smoke there has almost always been fire. The little side rumors come and go, but the big news was only being uncovered here. It was interesting to vent on occasion and to read the rants of others. I learned a lot I didn't know about papers like USAT. For instance, I didn't know MEs get paid by corporate and get bonuses for hiring minorities. Regardless of my opinion of those things, it was good info to have. It was also good to learn that our biggest paper isn't necessarily the best place to be employed. Saved me and probably others the trouble of aspiring to work there.
USAT did produce at least one innovative journalist...Jim Hopkins. Thanks for your service JH. And good luck with future endeavors.