Thursday, July 02, 2009

Part 1 | Thursday's Layoff News & Comments

This section is now closed to new comments. Please go to Part 2.
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94 comments:

  1. Anonymous7/02/2009 3:18 AM

    You suck, Jim.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous7/02/2009 3:32 AM

    Jim:

    Hate to burst your bubble there, nutcase, but there are many, many people who think you're a wackjob.

    I see in the previous day's thread that you are trying to claim only one person has been slamming you.

    You are so, so wrong, as you often are. I believe that many different people have thought of some of the best insults that have been hurled at you. I tip my hat to them.

    Their varying and unique writing styles would be evident to anyone other than a muffin-brain like yourself. It's humorous to see you trying in vain to limit their efforts.

    I'm sure that as we get closer to July 10, you'll become even more daring with your attempts to rewrite history. But the video from the Gannett meeting is all we need to know what an embarrassment you are.

    You can't rewrite that one, Jimmy. All the world saw you as the crackpot you truly are. You should have nuked the blog and gone into hiding that day.

    In conclusion: Jim Hopkins has been ridiculed by many people. There is no "corporate" menace; there is no universal troll. Those are simply more of his lies to pile onto his earlier lies.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous7/02/2009 3:55 AM

    3:32 AM has it right. I'm no corporate troll (much as it suits Jim to think so), nor have I posted all the bad comments about him on here.

    For the record, I have never posted any sort of anti-gay slur or ad hominem attack. What I HAVE done since the shareholders meeting is to share my disappointment in Jim's tactics, his ego and his lack of perspective.

    That, however, seems to be enough to merit deletion or simply never getting posted at all.

    If you can't handle criticism - good, honest criticism - then you're worse off than we thought.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous7/02/2009 3:56 AM

    7/01/2009 9:15 PM posted publisher Rick Jensen's note to his staff.

    I wish he were running our paper. He's one of the good doobies these days.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous7/02/2009 5:06 AM

    If you work in circulation at "Teflon Today", don't expect much in the way of plugs from the rest of us at the "Red Headed Step-Sister Dailies."

    If I'm at a hotel in the future that still bothers to put one at my door, I will continue to use it for wiping my shoes.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous7/02/2009 6:45 AM

    What the fuck is wrong with you hateful and sick trolls on this blog? GET OFF and go back under the bridge you live.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous7/02/2009 6:49 AM

    Anyone know why Gannett doesn't just file for bankruptcy - then maybe we could do some restructuring. Layoff all these employees and there won't be anything (anyone) to work with.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous7/02/2009 6:55 AM

    Jim, I thought you were going to give us more dynamite inside skinny on Ole Al's abandoned daughter. Is she on the GCI payroll in anyway, like her half-sister. You should run pix of the two together, because it looks to me there is a clear family resemblence.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous7/02/2009 7:16 AM

    You'd think Corporate's social media and digital gurus would have more important things to do than continually troll this blog.

    Don't you guys have a Twitter class to get ready for?

    Keep strong, Jim, you're doing a great job and the end is near.

    Good thoughts to my NJ people.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous7/02/2009 7:47 AM

    No word on layoffs across The Tennessean in Nashville and its sister papers (The Leaf-Chronicle in Clarksville, The Jackson Sun in Jackson, The Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro) in Tennessee as of Thursday.

    Meeting scheduled for next Tuesday for Tennessean employees. I'm sure the news isn't going to be good, considering we at The Tennessean have been bleeding capital for so long. Wish us luck ...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous7/02/2009 7:51 AM

    Quick aside. I think it it's sad that the corporate beasts like The Tennessean drag all the other papers in the company down by performing badly ... because not only do jobs get cut from the "one who bleeds market value," but also from the little guys who are still doing a lot of good things for the company and their community!

    Let's wish for the complete collapse of Gannett and the rebirth of independently-owned newspapers!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous7/02/2009 7:57 AM

    Jim,

    You've always been a source I can trust during trying times such as these. Know there are many more of us out there who appreciate the work you do. Don't let a few trolls bring you down. I'll be sad to see the blog go on July 10, but wish you well in your future endeavors.

    -The Brewster

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous7/02/2009 8:08 AM

    good luck to everyone

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous7/02/2009 8:09 AM

    Yay, Gus!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous7/02/2009 8:16 AM

    Jim, What the heck is going on with the trolls here. If you all do not agree with Jim do not read his blog. It is that simple. Those of us who read you daily really appreciate all the info that you offer us. I believe deep down inside Jime that they know that you are right. Thanks for all of your efforts. I will miss the blog but not the Trolls.....

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous7/02/2009 8:30 AM

    Thanks for keeping this blog going for as long as you have, Jim.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous7/02/2009 8:30 AM

    3:18,3:32; If you abusive, hateful posters despise this place so badly, then go away and let the people who value it use it while it lasts. This blog has been more truthful than all the publishers, directors, and Corporate types put together, so thanks to Jim for keeping it going in the face of constant juvenile taunting and insults.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Jim7/02/2009 8:52 AM

    I'm feelin' the love!

    No more advance moderating; I'll backread later. Post now! Post now! Overwhelm Corporate's trolls: This is YOUR blog! But don't wait. There are now just eight days until shutdown!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous7/02/2009 9:08 AM

    Jim,
    I can't understand the personal attacks coming from any of the Gannett employees that the company keeps in the dark. You are a window to the larger community of worker bees, who are seen as expenses on the GCI ledger.

    The reason we got into this business, journalism, was forced out of the back seat of the car long ago.

    You have been such a valuable resource and I hate to think about how we'll be left in the dark again once you go.

    Once thing you've proven is that bloggers are better off being anonymous because of the trolls.

    I hate to think of them winning though, which is pretty much what's happened.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous7/02/2009 9:20 AM

    Hey trolls! We will see how loyal you are when you get set out on the street after layoffs. p.s. your luck day will be drum roll..... 07/08/09. Keep smiling....

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous7/02/2009 9:33 AM

    The way the layoffs were made known to other media before most managers, (let alone rank and file employees) knew about them shows you how incompetent our management team in Washington is. They have no clue how to run a business and no empathy or compassion for their employees. Gracia is cold blooded and does not know anything about anything outside of Washington and Dickey does not have the backbone to push back. We are screwed.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous7/02/2009 9:36 AM

    Something is very odd with the timing of the closing of this blog and the layoffs. Just when us Gannett worker bees need to share information with each other and get information from Jim the most, it's getting shut down? And with no real explanation of substance why it can't stay open until the smoke clears? If it's "our" blog as Jim says, then why not keep it going for a bit longer as a service during an emergency? This is the (latest) most crucial time in the careers of Gannett employees, and it's "oh well, see ya later" from Jim, who supposedly cares deeeeeply about the blog's mission, the lives of the oppressed Gannett wage-slavers and his former brothers in arms and exposing corporate's malfeasances. In that light, sticking to a hard and fast deadline to close the blog, for no good reason, just doesn't add up. Is it simply to prop up Gannettoid, much like TV stations does when they piggyback a new show on an established hit? Well, that site sucks, pardon my French. I for one will not be going there. Please, Jim, do us all a favor and keep it going a bit longer. The service and forum you provide is invaluable.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous7/02/2009 9:37 AM

    Any news within the Wisconsin group?

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous7/02/2009 9:53 AM

    9:36

    The timing was intentional. That was obvious from the moment he posted the end date for the blog.

    Rationale?

    1)After cracking The Big Story, Jim becomes Legend. (Of course, 1400 including vacancies doesn't sound nearly as bad as 4500...)

    2)Jim gets begged to stay because we neeeeeeeeeeeeed him.

    3)Jim gets to not-so-subtly imply that the Old Meanies aka Trolls hurt his little feelings and so he is taking his rubber ducky and going home. Hmph.

    Please feel free to accuse me of being a Troll. Nothing could be further from the truth - in fact, its laughable.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous7/02/2009 9:58 AM

    Except that Jim said he was shutting down the blog before the cuts were rumored.

    Hmm... that kind of shoots down the conspiracy theory.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous7/02/2009 10:10 AM

    9:58, great point, but it's wasted on those who merely want to denigrate Jim and this blog.

    It's a waste of time to argue with people like that, because arguing with the mentally handicapped is like trying to reason with a child.

    Jim, thanks for everything you've done. You've provided a forum that has helped an awful lot of people gain perspective and get ideas on how to move forward.

    Thanks, too, to Sparky for sharing Jim with the rest of us for so long. There are a lot of us who will be eternally grateful for this time.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous7/02/2009 10:14 AM

    Does anyone have the inside on who will go at the CP?

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous7/02/2009 10:15 AM

    Lets get real and stop attacking each other. Let people think what they think about Jim.. we ALL appreciate the great job he has done. NOW.. yes I do believe that severance packages will be cut. When our publisher was asked a direct question yesterday he could not respond as to whether they will remain status quo = 1 week for every year of service. This is what we need to focus on.. not comments about Jim.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous7/02/2009 10:16 AM

    I don't get these trolls or why they feel compelled to come here. Do they also listen to talk radio shows they hate? Do they watch TV network anchors who disgust them? Do they order food they know they dislike at restaurants and then complain or send it back to the chef?

    Who really has the mental/emotional problems? I would say the trolls.

    I am guessing the trolls are all the people who the company takes good care of. The young techies. The aging workers who do nothing to stay current but are trying to hang on until retirement through a daily smoke-and-mirrors act. The fat cats in the corner offices. The kiss-asses, of course. The people who come in late, leave early and live in an overly material, cluttered world that they created. The folks who just can't come to grips with the fact that there is evil within the company they work for. The trolls are often mid-managers who do nothing except go to meetings and rush home to their kids' soccer games four out of five days a week. The trolls don't work weekends, or if they do come in on a day off, even for an hour, they want to be compensated with several "comp days." These are the trolls. These are the abusers of the system. The people so worried about the truth getting out, about their gigs being exposed, that they have to come here and bash everyone who has a legitimate concern about the company. Look at the way they word their comments. They sound like spoiled 8-year-olds.

    GannettBlog will be gone soon. But the trolls will remain. They sit next to us five days a week. They brown-nose their ways through life. They're the first ones on the popcorn line and the last ones to leave the office parties in the middle of a workday. They work at a snail's pace and want to be rewarded when they actual rise to the occasion once or twice a year.

    The trolls will always remain because Gannett rewards them. Many bosses protect them because they themselves are trolls. They get good reviews because they go have coffee with the editor and joke around with other people in power who they secretly can't stand. The trolls are the least productive, most deceptive employees in the company. USA TODAY, in fact, is infested with trolls, which makes it no wonder that the flagship has escaped layoffs.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous7/02/2009 10:21 AM

    anyone hear anything about the broadcast division? yeah yeah yeah, our salary was reduced, but does not mean gannett won't layoff in the broadcast division anyway. also, any layoff news for the broadcast division's corporate cats?

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous7/02/2009 10:27 AM

    Any of those trolls work for ACORN? If not, when you get loose your job at your paper, you could probably end up with ACORN, they seem to revel in character assasination. Jim, sorry to see the site closing down, I agree with a lot of others, that it gives (gave) us a forum to find out what is going on. . .
    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous7/02/2009 10:29 AM

    Here some appropriate lines of poetry from Yevgeny Yevtushenko's "The Loss:"

    Lord, you've already punished us enough.
    Forgive us, pity us.
    Is it true that we no longer exist?
    Or are we not yet born?
    We are birthing now,
    But it's so painful to be born again.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous7/02/2009 10:30 AM

    Speaking of Wisconsin ... how many people are currently employed at all those sites?

    ReplyDelete
  34. Anonymous7/02/2009 10:33 AM

    This blog has done nothing but post information as credibly as possible and while the exact number of layoffs is lower than expected (to everybody's relief), you can't dispute that this location has provided insight first. I don't agree with all Jim has done, but in total, this blog has provided information to employees and an opportunity to be heard by us ex-employees. For anybody to split hairs over "1400 layoffs isn't 4500", you should shut up, the Dickey memo was probably sent as a result of the amount of posts and hits this site has been receiving in the past week.

    Regarding closing the blog July 10, why not? I can't imagine how much work it requires and while Jim had every right to try to create revenue, it didn't work as perhaps expected which he was always very honest about. As for timing, the Gannett troubles don't end here. Even if the 1,400 people being let go make $100,000 per year each, it would represent a $14 million dollar savings which neither covers the existing debt or continuing ad revenue shortfall. Regarding Dickey's comment about no more furloughs this year, watch the Q2 report, see the YOY drop in ad revenue knowing there's little chance of it reversing or changing the trend and try to figure how the existing company under existing management is better suited today to address the business environment than in the past.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anonymous7/02/2009 10:34 AM

    The trolls need to get one of those new-fangled things called a life.

    Jim, many thanks, brother. You've helped me, like so many others, stay informed and prepared. Best wishes for you and Sparky -- you two deserve the best!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Anonymous7/02/2009 10:43 AM

    10:16 you are right on the mark. Thanks Jim for providing this outlet for everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Anonymous7/02/2009 10:43 AM

    @7/02/2009 10:29 AM

    That's beautiful - thanks for sharing that. I often think of Peter Gabriel's song "Don't Give Up" when hearing about all layoffs happening:

    In this proud land we grew up strong
    We were wanted all along
    I was taught to fight, taught to win
    I never thought I could fail

    No fight left or so it seems
    I am a man whose dreams have all deserted
    I've changed my face, I've changed my name
    But no one wants you when you lose

    Don't give up
    'Cos you have friends
    Don't give up
    You're not beaten yet
    Don't give up
    I know you can make it good

    Though I saw it all around
    Never thought I could be affected
    Thought that we'd be the last to go
    It is so strange the way things turn

    Drove the night toward my home
    The place that I was born, on the lakeside
    As daylight broke, I saw the earth
    The trees had burned down to the ground

    Don't give up
    You still have us
    Don't give up
    We don't need much of anything
    Don't give up
    'Cause somewhere there's a place
    Where we belong

    Rest your head
    You worry too much
    It's going to be alright
    When times get rough
    You can fall back on us
    Don't give up
    Please don't give up

    'Got to walk out of here
    I can't take anymore
    Going to stand on that bridge
    Keep my eyes down below
    Whatever may come
    And whatever may go
    That river's flowing
    That river's flowing

    Moved on to another town
    Tried hard to settle down
    For every job, so many men
    So many men no-one needs

    Don't give up
    'Cause you have friends
    Don't give up
    You're not the only one
    Don't give up
    No reason to be ashamed
    Don't give up
    You still have us
    Don't give up now
    We're proud of who you are
    Don't give up
    You know it's never been easy
    Don't give up
    'Cause I believe there's the a place
    There's a place where we belong

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous7/02/2009 10:44 AM

    The cuts will not stop at 1400 people. They still have USAT, Detroit and Corporate. We are NOT immune. If anything, they've broken up the 4500 to span over the coming months to look better for Wall Street.

    Wake up people....

    ReplyDelete
  39. Anonymous7/02/2009 10:50 AM

    There's not going to be anything to blog about--Gannett will soon be shutting down. It's obvious that they will continue to layoff until there is no one left. It is already an unbearable burden to put out papers whose quality continues to go down the drain. It's over--the newspaper business and no one is going to pay for on-line news.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Anonymous7/02/2009 11:04 AM

    As I understand it, the 1,400 layoff number refers only to community newspaper division.
    USAT is awaiting word on its cuts as are other divisions. So Jim may be more accurate than his detractors think.
    Here's a story I've been told about Tara and her new ContentONe crew in Tysons: It seems there is a clique of people she's brought in that spend most of their time going to lunch and participating in "creativity" excercises like making paper dolls.
    Can anyone confirm this pathetic scenario?

    ReplyDelete
  41. Anonymous7/02/2009 11:04 AM

    10:33 makes a good point, how does the savings from 1,400 layoffs benefit Gannett in terms of the current shortfall? I don't think it will make much of a dent. In addition, every layoff has hurt the product in some way.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Anonymous7/02/2009 11:12 AM

    Any news from Westchester today on what's up with the restructuring plan?

    ReplyDelete
  43. Anonymous7/02/2009 11:23 AM

    Yesterday morning, a local TV station broke the news of Gannett layoffs. Then we get an email from Dubow around 1 pm. Why do TV stations get the info their employees do?! I think Gannett wanted to wait till next week to announce the layoffs but with this blog, we were tipped off so they had to come out with the info sooner!

    ReplyDelete
  44. Anonymous7/02/2009 11:25 AM

    I forgot an important word in this post:

    Yesterday morning, a local TV station broke the news of Gannett layoffs. Then we get an email from Dubow around 1 pm. Why do TV stations get info BEFORE their employees do?! I think Gannett wanted to wait till next week to announce the layoffs but with this blog, we were tipped off so they had to come out with the info sooner!

    ReplyDelete
  45. Anonymous7/02/2009 11:26 AM

    No prob, 10:43 AM

    I'll have to look up that song on Itunes. Not familiar with it, but I love Peter Gabriel. Thanks for sharing

    The only positive of all this misery: Rediscovering poetry.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Anonymous7/02/2009 11:35 AM

    Cincinnati taking a big hit. The following was from Margaret Buchanan this a.m.

    Dear fellow Enquirer Media Employees:



    Yesterday, I forwarded to you a memo from Bob Dickey, US Community Publishing Division President. Bob’s memo addressed the fact that there will be additional layoffs necessary at most of our newspapers. Enquirer Media will be impacted, but the details are not yet finalized. I understand this is a very difficult time for everyone as each of you waits to see whether your job is included in the layoffs. I am hoping that we will be able to inform employees, who will be laid off, by the end of next week or the following week at the latest. I would estimate that as many as 100 employees will be affected.



    This is a very difficult time for everyone, but necessary to keep our cost structure in line with current economic realities as we begin to build our business back. Again, there are many details that still need to be addressed before there are any answers to questions you probably have. I will be around if you would like to share any thoughts or just want to talk.



    We have a lot to be very proud of as the number one local media company in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Unfortunately, these are extraordinary economic times we are experiencing, which give us no choice but to adjust our expenses in line with our revenue so we can continue to be a financially viable business.



    Thank you for your patience and dedication.



    Margaret

    ReplyDelete
  47. Anonymous7/02/2009 11:36 AM

    Haven't seen this posted yet. Cincinnati Enquirer will be laying off around 100, according to an e-mail sent to employees by publisher Margaret Buchanan.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Anonymous7/02/2009 11:47 AM

    If Gannett files for bankruptcy and shuts down (and stranger things have happened in this economy), there's a very real nightmare nobody has talked about: In most markets with a Gannett newspaper, that newspaper is the ONLY newspaper in town.

    Just yesterday in my city a governing body cast a vote that seems to me to be in violation of the sunshine laws. Who will cover that if the Gannett newspapers die? TV? I don't think so. The local TV station has yet to even utter the phrase "sunshine laws."

    ReplyDelete
  49. Anonymous7/02/2009 11:52 AM

    i would expect Reno to ly off 25-30 employees. maybe even more. Come on Ted be a man and tells us. what are you waiting for permission from your wife.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Anonymous7/02/2009 11:55 AM

    What's going on in Louisiana?

    ReplyDelete
  51. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:08 PM

    I can't thank you enough for this blog, Jim. I currently work at a non-Gannett paper and interviewed and was offered an editing spot at one of the smaller Gannett properties. Had I not known about the dysfunction, I might have jumped ship. Now, I know I should look elsewhere if I want to move up.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:09 PM

    How about the other Ohio papers, besides Cincy? I have some friends at other papers.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:09 PM

    Last I checked 1,400 jobs @100k=140,000,000 not 14 million.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:22 PM

    What Gannett should do is the right thing and let the newspapers thrive, example: Sell "Florida Today", (it can support itself, withou Gannett),let it go back to "Cape Publications", stop suggesting customers go to on-line version.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:26 PM

    The peabrains here still want to believe there's a corporate menace or a universal troll.

    They have no skills. They will be fired, and they will not work again.

    Jim's blog is going to die in a week. All that will be remembered are his numerous screw-ups and his flipout at the Gannett meeting.

    The morons here back Jim because he is a loser like them. He refuses to post his performance reviews because they would reveal his many flaws. He would post them if he had nothing to hide.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:27 PM

    10:50 a.m. said: "It's over--the newspaper business and no one is going to pay for on-line news."

    Well, then there will soon no longer be such a thing as online news because the people who provide it will NOT do it without being paid - at least not those who provide RELIABLE, RESEARCHED, MULTI-FACETED news that is NOT opinionated. In other words, blogged news isn't REAL news. Those who demand free online news will eventually get what they pay for! It's sad that so many people either ignore that or just don't get it.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:27 PM

    12:09 You're correct, my fault. I'm very sorry for anybody my mistake may have inconvenienced. It will be interesting to see who and from what positions (pay ranges) are eliminated as in theory the corrected amount should help (although the layoffs of the past 18 months have apparently not helped meet the corporate expectations and obligations).

    ReplyDelete
  58. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:28 PM

    I couldn't give two figs about Jim's performance reviews, personal life or anything else. The proof is in the pudding, and so far everything here has been accurate and timely.
    He's got a way better track record than corporate at this point.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:31 PM

    who cares about jim's peformance reviews? who cares what happened at a meeting years ago?
    nobody but you. what the 40,000 employees care about right now is which 1,400 people are going to be fired over the next week? and how will that affect the other 38,600 who will have to do more work for less pay?

    ReplyDelete
  60. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:32 PM

    "and so far everything here has been accurate and timely"

    Right.

    You're as delusional as he is if you think everything here has been accurate.

    No wonder you're going to be fired and will never work again. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  61. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:33 PM

    Bwwaa haaa haaaa! Check out how KUSA, Gannett's "flagship" Denver station reports the layoffs on its website:
    http://www.9news.com/money/article.aspx?storyid=118673&catid=344

    Story follows:

    MCLEAN, Va. (AP) - Gannett Co. is preparing to lay off more than 1,000 employees as the largest newspaper publisher's work force continues to shrink along with its advertising sales.
    Advertisement

    Between 1,000 and 2,000 people will lose their jobs in Gannett's latest round of cutbacks, according to a story published Tuesday on The Wall Street Journal's Web site. The Journal quoted an unnamed person familiar with the McLean, Va.-based company's thinking.

    The layoffs aren't a major surprise because Gannett's main source of revenue - advertising - has been rapidly drying up. Ad sales at Gannett's newspapers plunged 34 percent during the first three months of this year and analysts doubt the company fared much better during latest quarter that just ended.

    Gannett didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. The company currently employs about 41,500 people after jettisoning about 10 percent of its work force last year.

    The upcoming purge isn't expected to hit Gannett's largest newspaper, USA Today, the Journal said. Gannett owns more than 80 other daily newspapers.

    More details are expected to be released within the next few days, according to a story on The New York Times' Web site that quoted unnamed Gannett executives.

    Gannett is scheduled to release its second-quarter results July 15.

    Most other major newspaper publishers also are reeling from a devastating one-two punch - the longest U.S. recession since World War II coupled with intensifying Internet competition for readers and advertising. To cope, the troubled publishers have trimmed their payrolls, lowered wages and, in the most extreme cases, filed for bankruptcy protection.

    Gannett tried to save jobs by forcing most of its U.S. employees to take at least two weeks of unpaid leave during the first half of this year. In other austerity measures, Gannett closed the print edition of The Tucson Citizen in Arizona and curtailed home delivery of the daily Detroit Free Press to just three days a week.

    There is no official statement from Gannett concerning the layoffs. KUSA and KTVD are both owned and operated by Gannett Broadcasting.
    (Copyright Associated Press, All Rights Reserved)

    ReplyDelete
  62. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:36 PM

    If anyone knew Rick Bayles he passed away yesterday at 45 years of age. He was working in Jonesbourg Ark. as he Circulstion director. He had worked in Shreveport ,Hattisburg and Alexanderia La. He was a good man.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:37 PM

    10:16 wrote: "I am guessing the trolls are all the people who the company takes good care of. The young techies. The aging workers who do nothing to stay current but are trying to hang on until retirement through a daily smoke-and-mirrors act. The fat cats in the corner offices. The kiss-asses, of course. The people who come in late, leave early and live in an overly material, cluttered world that they created. The folks who just can't come to grips with the fact that there is evil within the company they work for. The trolls are often mid-managers who do nothing except go to meetings and rush home to their kids' soccer games four out of five days a week. The trolls don't work weekends, or if they do come in on a day off, even for an hour, they want to be compensated with several "comp days." These are the trolls. These are the abusers of the system. The people so worried about the truth getting out, about their gigs being exposed, that they have to come here and bash everyone who has a legitimate concern about the company. Look at the way they word their comments. They sound like spoiled 8-year-olds."

    3:55 a.m. here. You are wrong on each an every count here. I would detail how, but people would figure out who I am.

    Why do I keep coming here? To read the user comments and try to discern the news amid Jim's big ego.

    If you think Jim actually cares about you folks, you're sadly mistaken.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:41 PM

    I don't care about the visitors who drop passionate (if tantrum-like) comments on this blog. I really don't. But for all of those who claim Jim Hopkins' reporting is always wrong, I have a challenge:

    Prove it.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:43 PM

    People please remember last fall.

    Yes the December layoffs were a gutting of loyal and talented people.

    But remember August 2008? About a thousand that month. Then another 100 or so in September.

    Don't believe for a moment that the total of 4500 will not come to pass. Maybe not in July, but certainly more cuts will be on the way.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:54 PM

    12:32, Wonderful post- "No wonder you're going to be fired and will never work again. Good luck!".

    It's almost beyond comprehension that someone could be as mean spirited as you. If you still work at a Gannett paper, are you saying the information from this site has been less accurate or less timely than what you've received internally?

    Based on the tone of your post, wherever you're employed I can assure you whether you know it or not, you're hated by coworkers. You are the ass everybody talks about behind their back. You're the arrogant manager who's convinced they're always right and surrounds yourself with people too scared to be honest or too stupid to know the difference.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:54 PM

    "I don't care about the visitors who drop passionate (if tantrum-like) comments on this blog. I really don't. But for all of those who claim Jim Hopkins' reporting is always wrong, I have a challenge:

    Prove it."

    The easy ones:

    1. He thinks all the comments blasting him are from corporate.

    2. He said there would be 4,500 layoffs at the start of July. Peabrain 12:43 tries to dismiss that one, but Hopkins was, once again, wrong.

    3. He thought someone was tailing him in D.C. before the shareholders meeting.

    4. He misled people here into donating money to this blog. He then used that money to hire a bodyguard and to travel to Spain. Oops.

    5. At the meeting, he said Dubow had never referred to him by name. But he had -- more than once. Watch the video for the proof.

    There. 5 in a minute. There are many, many more.

    YOU are the one making the claim he was never wrong. YOU are wrong. YOU are a peabrain.

    Do not post here again. Leave now, and do not return. We do not want to hear the inaccurate claims of morons.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:55 PM

    12:54, it's a good way to smack down morons who feed Jim's delusion.

    Don't want to get smacked down? Post facts. Stop enabling Jim.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Anonymous7/02/2009 12:56 PM

    I once was a proud contributor to the photo/graphics department at the Arizona Republic, but this once honorable department has been dumbed down so badly by the hacks and scared managers that the talented have no chance. It has been such a train wreck watching this department crumble as these weak managers continue to throw talented photographers under the bus to protect their own asses---this week will be the icing on the cake!!

    ReplyDelete
  70. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:02 PM

    Anyone know what’s going to happen with the Wisconsin papers?

    ReplyDelete
  71. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:04 PM

    Our video request to Jim, from the thousands of supporters:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-l5FyA3pgo

    ReplyDelete
  72. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:05 PM

    Jim:

    I'd have some respect for this company restored if we saw a release out of corporate that in these trying and lean and troubled economic times that the company was eliminating its annual payment to Al Neuharth for that drivel he writes in U.S. Today on Fridays. Isn't it true that each piece is worth about $1,900?

    ReplyDelete
  73. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:06 PM

    Hey 12:56--
    What's ET up to after she had to walk the plank last Dec.?

    ReplyDelete
  74. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:08 PM

    Can someone explain to me how buying $1.8 Billion worth of stock over the last 4 years that currently is valued at only $104 Million is not a gross "Failure of Fiduciary Responsibility"?

    (I'd sure like to see a chart overlay that shows the options exercised by insiders during the same period.)

    ReplyDelete
  75. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:22 PM

    I am one of Jim Hopkins' critics.

    I believe he started with good muckraker intentions and got completely overwhelmed by website paranoia, believing critics were corporate stooges, fearing for his life and nonsensical conspiracy theories. Anyone who has spent any time in a web community knows these things come with the territory -- especially believing your critics are someone in disguise.

    But Jim succumbed to it all and lost any credibility he could have had if he had acted like a grownup instead if a senior citizen who had just discovered The Google.

    All that said, there is one charge that is totally baseless. Jim's performance reviews were largely non-events (he was neither a strong nor weak reporter), and they would add nothing here except fodder for crappy people who would seize on this phrase or that to prove he's Bob Woodward or Jack Kelley. How do I know? Trust me, he was a non-event as a USA TODAY reporter.

    Not everyone is in on the fictional conspiracy against Hopkins, but he should know, as others have said, that there are hundreds of us out here who are ashamed at how he blew the opportunity to create a reliable place to talk back to Gannett.

    For those who find solace here, that's the biggest loss of all. This could have been a place for everyone -- a real discussion that might have actually made a difference.

    But a site that paints all bosses as villains, allows character assassination, feeds paranoia and victimization and ultimately offers contempt for those laid off by ignoring the chance to make a real difference, is something that deserves to now fade away.

    Hopkins needed to be the grown up -- rational, fact-based, understanding and hardboard when it came to news. Instead he went off the deep end and hired a bodyguard with money donated to him.

    This blog will be missed. Jim Hopkins won't be. And that's the saddest part of the whole thing.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:23 PM

    Heh Robert, I mean 11:52, get lost. You have no idea what you are talking about. Of course you never have. Get a life.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:27 PM

    Anyone know about layoffs at The Des Moines Register? How many? What depts?

    ReplyDelete
  78. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:31 PM

    The media, like everything else, is a BUSINESS. And businesses need to make profits -- so let's cut the holier-than-thou attitudes, deal with the realities of business, and get back to work.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:31 PM

    To the gentleman or lady who posted at 12:54 p.m.:

    Seems your claims of inaccuracies have far more to do with Jim the person than with Jim the reporter.

    So he thinks all comments blasting him are from corporate. (Another claim, actually, that is impossible to prove, but still.) Has nothing to do with his reporting.

    So he reported a source having estimated there'd be 4,500 layoffs. If the company had been responsive to Jim's questions, the number would've been correct at the first report. We now know that the company says it'll cut 1,400 people. Clarity in such cases is not the primary characteristic of a company. This site forced the conversation. Read a newspaper -- you'll notice many, many reports changing as the facts slowly seep through.

    So he thought someone was tailing him before the shareholders meeting. Has nothing to do with his reporting.

    You suggest he used donations for a bodyguard and a trip to Spain. I'd love to see the documents you've studied.

    So he said Dubow hadn't referred to him by name. Even if Dubow had, it has nothing to do with Jim's reporting.

    You say I'm claiming Jim was never wrong. Really? I must have misread my post. I thought I wrote that others claim he is always wrong. Maybe check again, yeah?

    Weak arguments don't help you. Neither does calling me a peabrain. And neither does ordering me not to post again.

    ReplyDelete
  80. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:35 PM

    Anyone who is still trying to group the criticism of Jim as coming from just one or two sources is the one who needs to get a life.

    1:22 said it best. There will be many idiotic Jim-sheep who will try to shit on that post, but these are people with no skills who will not work again. They have only a handful of days when anyone will listen to them. After July 10, they're ghosts.

    ReplyDelete
  81. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:35 PM

    @1:22 pm - I whole heartily agree. This could have been an interesting place to discuss, review and bitch about the company. But, ultimately, Jim's narcissism is what ruled his daily judgments and purpose. You need to read no farther than the multitude of goodbye posts in the last few weeks to get a sense of the strange man that Jim is - at least in his public persona. Ultimately, the blog and its tone and temperament is a reflection of the man who created it and ran it.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:36 PM

    Those are solid arguments, 1:31. Your defenses are very weak.

    You are a peabrain, and we gain nothing from you posting here.

    ReplyDelete
  83. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:37 PM

    Just posted on Gannettoid --

    Newspapers in WA get tax break during bad times

    By RACHEL LA CORTE
    Associated Press Writer

    OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — As newspapers across the country struggle through a brutal economic climate, papers in Washington state are getting a tax break.

    A new law that gives newspaper printers and publishers a 40 percent cut in Washington's main business tax took effect this week, providing some much-needed relief to the business after a year in which The Seattle Post-Intelligencer printed its final edition and other papers suffered drastic cutbacks.

    "It's not a bailout, because it's not enough money," said House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, the Democrat who sponsored the measure. "But it is our way of saying to the newspapers that we do believe you're incredibly important to our state and our democracy."

    The Society of Professional Journalists and the National Conference of State Legislatures was not aware of any other state that has granted a similar tax break to the newspaper industry.

    In Michigan, a bill that was introduced in May would exempt newspapers from paying that state's main business tax, but the bill has not yet had a hearing. And several states, including Mississippi, Idaho and Colorado, have existing sales-tax exemptions for newspapers.

    The Washington tax cut, which will cost the state about $1.3 million a year, was approved despite uneasiness in the industry about newspapers relying on the government they cover for help.

    But there was also a recognition that these are historic times for the industry.

    Newspapers across the country have resorted to layoffs, pay cuts, furloughs and other cost-cutting moves to deal with a wounded business model and a recession-fueled drop in advertising.

    The Post-Intelligencer was converted to an Internet-only publication with a much-reduced staff, and The Seattle Times — the only mainstream daily left in the state's largest city — has had severe financial troubles of its own and has cut 500 positions in the past year.

    Gov. Chris Gregoire called the decision to stop printing the 146-year-old P-I a "huge historical loss."

    Gregoire said that while the tax break won't cure all that ails newspapers, she felt the state needed to do something.

    "The industry has to right itself, and government can't and won't be a part of it righting itself," she said. "But I don't want government to be part of the reason that this industry can't make it."

    In May, the company that publishes The Columbian filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an effort to resolve credit issues involving a building project.

    Publisher Frank Blethen said things have improved slightly for his newspaper since earlier this year, when he testified in support of the tax break and said that "we're hanging on by our fingertips."

    "We're probably hanging on by our fingers now," Blethen said. "The tangible result is with all the pressure on budgets and all the red ink right now, anything that helps dampen that means that there's going to be fewer reporters laid off, and less content reduction. It's not big enough to take a lot of pressure off, but it helps."

    The News Tribune of Tacoma publisher Dave Zeeck said that the approximate $100,000 a year in savings his newspaper will see is the equivalent of keeping two reporters on staff for a year.

    "We are doing everything we can to preserve news content, and this certainly helps," he said, noting that they are still paying about $150,000 in state business and occupation taxes even after the cut.

    Washington state's tax cut is to the state's business and occupation tax, which is based on gross revenues instead of profit. Washington is one of just a handful of states that does not have a state income tax. The law provides newspapers the same discounted rate given to the aerospace industry, including Boeing Co., and the timber industry.

    ReplyDelete
  84. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:39 PM

    The number is gonna be more than 1,400, of that I am certain. If Cincy is nuking 100, what does that bode for bigger papers like the AZ Republic. Plus, if unfilled positions are included--yes, technically not layoffs, but still vacant positions--it seems only logical that the losses will be steeper.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:40 PM

    I am one of Jim Hopkins' supporters. Thanks to you, Jim, I have a better understanding of what's happened to Gannett.

    I am saddened by corporate's failures, not Jim's. Corporate let us all down, employees, shareholders and customers alike.

    NJ Sister

    ReplyDelete
  86. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:49 PM

    1:40 is another Jim-sheep.

    If Jim follows through and shuts down the blog on July 10, I fear for the well-being of the Jim-sheep. They have no skills, and they will not work again.

    Will the suicide rate climb after July 10? I fear it will. These Jim-sheep are sad, pathetic people.

    ReplyDelete
  87. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:52 PM

    The numbers will be bigger than 1400 because the places that have had presses shut down might be more immune this time around and the numbers don't count toward the 1400. So that means that all these other small waves that occur outside this week-long frame only add to the 1400 total. New theme song: You spin me right 'round baby, right 'round.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:52 PM

    Jim, quick question: Can you settle for us whether those comments by the person who favors "peabrain" are coming from one IP address? No identity needs be disclosed, of course, but I'm sick of the pointless debate.

    ReplyDelete
  89. Anonymous7/02/2009 1:55 PM

    1:52, he won't answer that because it'll prove the negative comments are coming from many different sources.

    Nice try, though, you Jim-sheep. Be sure to leave a light on after July 10 so we know you haven't committed suicide.

    ReplyDelete
  90. Jim7/02/2009 1:56 PM

    Two shocking facts:

    Indeed, I WAS a non-event at USA Today. I left, deeply disappointed that I did not do more and better work. There are a few Cover stories I'm really proud of. And I built some cool databases that many Money reporters tapped for stories. But that's not much for eight years.

    And I don't blame the editors. I should have just done the stories that needed to be done, and told anyone who got in my way to get lost -- or fire me. But I didn't, and that's terrible.

    However, USA Today must have liked my performance. I'm pretty sure I got a "5'' rating -- which you're never supposed to get -- in 2003 or 2004, when senior editors were trying to draw me back into a full-time management job. I was very surprised -- again, because I thought 5's were banned. I THINK I got one other 5, in Little Rock, also when I was being urged to move higher in management. But I'm not sure.

    And, no for the umpteenth time, I won't post my performance reviews. That would likely embarrass the editors who wrote and approved them. Whether they give a rat's ass about me, I'm not going to do them dirty.

    Besides, even if I for some reason had taken them with me to Spain (and that WOULD be crazy) you wing-nuts would then claim I had forged them, or held a gun to HR's head to change them.

    It would just go on and on.

    Besides, if you Corporate lackeys really want to see them, go to Tara's office. They're in a manilla envelope on her desk -- right under the wall calendar with the big smiley face pasted on July 10. (Hah!)

    ReplyDelete
  91. Anonymous7/02/2009 2:02 PM

    once again, Jim's vanity has to make this blog about him.

    Jim, WE DON'T CARE. People's careers are at stake.

    ReplyDelete
  92. Jim7/02/2009 2:03 PM

    Oh. My. God. Trolls in full meltdown. Now:

    You suck, Trolls. (Gotcha!)

    And jeepers, do you guys sleep with an Official Corporate Organizational Chart under your pillows? Such slaves to the management reporting line!

    If it would make you feel better, I'll alternate between Corporate and corporate (lower-case "c") to make clear what anyone should know:

    Corporate doesn't just mean the human (?) beings sleeping -- err, working on The 11th Floor and thereabouts. It's an umbrella term for The Gannett Company Incorporated -- the legal entity, the state of mind, and yes, the denizens of the Glass Tower, and their hundreds of representatives at the local operating sites.

    Now, run back to your grassy knoll and work up a group statement on Jim's revising history.

    I, on the other hand, have a layoff to cover.

    ReplyDelete
  93. Anonymous7/02/2009 2:05 PM

    These negative nancies on here need to just get lost.

    ReplyDelete
  94. Anonymous7/02/2009 2:06 PM

    usa today has not been 'spared'. significant cuts in department budgets and staff coming on Monday in advertising, dot com, marketing and ad ops. sorry.

    ReplyDelete

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