From a comment posted last night by reader Randy Turner, on the must-read Romenesko blog:
One thousand four hundred Gannett employees lose their jobs because of the inability of their executives to put their readers first. While Gannett employees have lost their jobs, served two weeks of unpaid furloughs, and watched as their reader base has eroded thanks to the elimination of dedicated employees, the Gannett officials responsible for providing themselves with millions of dollars worth of bonuses and coming up with crackpot revenue ideas like sending condoms and erotica advertisements to prospective college students in southwest Missouri, are still gainfully employed, and will undoubtedly will remain so in the future.
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What is the point of this?
ReplyDeleteManagement is made up of bad managers?
What?
Going out howling at the moon, without a clue about the demise of the business. The problem, Jim, happened almost entirely on the business side. First classified, then with the deepening recession, display ads. Less revenue, fewer workers. There were plenty of papers in GCI that had GREAT reader numbers and satisfaction. Many still do. But they can't sell ads, regardless of how many readers or how happy they are. News types, and still many on the biz side, always try to point to some problem in news, that it's a problem with readership. I don't think the data proves that. Now, after all the cuts, the news product will be hurt, and using that as a tool to get ad $$ back will be nearly impossible. But I think you are dead wrong that the jobs were lost because of an inability to put readers first. Readers had little to do with it. Advertisers had everything to do with it. And they fled before the readers did.
ReplyDeleteThe point is that any sane person can and does see what Gannett has done:
ReplyDeleteNot only to it's employees, but to itself, and it's credibility as a major player in the news industry.
From bad Human Resource management, poorer Executive appointments and the untold numbers of downright asinine marketing plans.
Gannett Blog 2: The Deuce is now live.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.gannettblog2.blogspot.com
The shareholders are to blame for continuing to reelect useless Board members, who supported the shitty management of GCI.
ReplyDeleteGCI management never did and never will give a damn about its employees or products.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteGannett Blog 2: The Deuce is now live.
http://www.gannettblog2.blogspot.com
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OK, we get it. Can you please not post this to every single thread? Thanks.