Sunday, April 04, 2010
Week March 29-April 4 | Your News & Comments
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72 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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With regard to Content One. There is a BIG battle going on between Tara Connel and Dave Hunke. It seems like Gracia Martore is stuck in the middle and will need to decide what side of the business she comes down on. Is it a real busines unit like USAT that she rules for? Or is it a corporate departmet set up by Dubow? This is tricky as everyone in USAT has been informed that Dave Hunke plans to "abolish Content One" and the resist any corporate mandated change.
ReplyDeleteRumora are flying that this is Tara's last stand, but she is putting up a big fight. That has Hunke on his heels. Part of her plan is to take over the "Sports" vertical from USAT.
This will all play out this week as Hunke has told his staff that "he is done being corporate's lap dog".
Exceptionally quiet has been Bob Dickey, who has decided not to do anything about Content One. Looks like this is a fight that Dave Hunke has to battle on his own. Gracia Martore will need to explain herself and her decision. Is it USAT or ContentOne?
I suspect this is part of the reason Moon and Paulson left last year.
ReplyDeleteIf Hunke can turn around advertising and circulation, that would give him some leverage. Otherwise, Martore would see USAT as a non-contributor, and push for big change.
Question: Is the sports vertical the venture that was the subject of this recent job posting?
Anyone else hoping that the Dubow beard is prep for a stint on Undercover Boss?
ReplyDeleteBut where to send him first? There's the question.
Hands down: Cherry Hill, N.J.
ReplyDeleteLove to see Dubow come to Cherry Hill newsroom to see how disfunctional it is. Big Boss back from furlough today and everyone is feeling dread.
ReplyDeleteRE: Content One and other mistakes
ReplyDeleteMany good people have opted to leave. Fewer of those have been reported versus the layoffs.
When a good person leaves taking institutional knowledge and a deep caring for the community with them, they are hard to impossible to replace. They were the ones helping create the next generation of passionate and well-read bunch. They left too early and the younger ones have fewer good examples to follow.
Some new hires and news editors are filling part of the void, but the tide against a rebuild is strong.
Content One and some of the consolidations have provided the needed profit to build the stock, but the relationships and people making some community newspapers great will take years to reconfigure.
Let's hope there is enough revenue and time to make that happen. And let's hope there isn't another hit on the horizon to undercut some of the projects that show promise.
BIG NEWS on the horizon...BIG! stay tuned.
ReplyDeleteThat explains the beard. He was trying to work in the mailroom, err packaging center, at Lafayette, and wanted to be in disguise.
ReplyDelete845 am: I'll bite; does this involve Saridakis?
ReplyDelete"""This is tricky as everyone in USAT has been informed that Dave Hunke plans to "abolish Content One" and the resist any corporate mandated change."""
ReplyDeleteLove items like this. When did Dave ever say this? To whom? And why?
The promise of the Internet is crowd sourcing and transparency. The downside is "blind" items like this meant only as disinformation and, frankly, as infighting weapons.
As someone who thinks he knows, I would urge all readers to view things like this very cautiously.
9:16: Excellent advice, now and always.
ReplyDeleteWould someone please explain how Gannett's supposed chief journalist, VP/News Kate Marymont, fits into this squabble over ContentOne?
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine such a mess going on this long under her predecessor, Phil Currie, or existing at all under his predecessor, John Quinn.
Who is the boss of news? Or is there one?
Chief Journalist Kate Marymount? I don't get this. She is not Chief Company journalist. There is none. She has only responsibility for USCP. Hilkirk is chief journalist for USAT brand, Bob Mennie in Broadcast. Probably some bloke in the UK as well.
ReplyDeleteU see that USA Today back in NY Starbucks after 10-year absence. Also WSJ and NYT being sold. New York only, so far.
ReplyDeleteStandard & Poor's: Gannett outlook revised to stable
ReplyDeleteStandard & Poor's revised Gannett's credit rating outlook to stable from negative due to a moderating pace of publishing ad revenue decline and improving operating performance. "We affirmed all ratings on Gannett, including the 'BB' corporate credit rating," said Standard & Poor's.
"The outlook revision to stable," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Emil Courtney, "reflects our belief that the company's publishing ad revenue decline is moderating enough that, when combined with cost-saving initiaitves and aggressive levels of debt repayment in 2009 and in the March 2010 quarter (exceeding $1 billion during the period), these will likely enable Gannett to improve credit measures over the intermediate term."
That S&P revision was actually on March 23. Ordinarily Google News alerts flags these; I don't know why that didn't happen in this case.
ReplyDeleteJim and 8:45a... I heard that Saradakis is going to another company. Is this what you are referring to?
ReplyDelete3:45 pm: Yes. But I'll add this important caution: Saridakis is often the subject of these rumors because, unlike many of the other top brass, he's in a position to go to another company. He's a techie. And he's young.
ReplyDeleteThis speculation may just be Saridakis, going through another round of the rumor spin cycle.
Can we expect an announcement of 60-year old Tara Connell's "retirement" any time soon?
ReplyDeleteSeems Saridakas moves around a lot.
ReplyDeleteThe S&P debt rating stabilization is certainly a plus. It also indicates that they expect Gannett repaid another $250M of debt in 1Q 2010, which would be on track with recent performance.
ReplyDeleteAt this rate, hello dividend increase in 1H 2011. If the wheels don't come off the overall economy, Gannett has a lot going for them the rest of 2010 and early 2011. It's later in 2011 that the grimness of the overall situation really starts biting down again unless the newspaper industry gets the business model issues figured out in the meantime.
4:47p Anon I believe Saridakis has been with Point Roll since 2002 (the last 8 years). That seems like a long time to me.
ReplyDeleteI think Martore's recent promotion foretells a retirement by Dubow.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the iPad is considered to move possibly 6 million units by the end of the year, is ANY Gannett location considering/studying/creating some way to get content on it? Hell - how about even buying one?
ReplyDeleteGranted, Macpool money is all getting sunk into the GPC abyss, so probably no iPads. But wouldn't it be nice, for once, not to be the last company to try something - and then insist on reinventing the wheel while doing so?
USA Today will have an iPad app ready on April 3, when the device becomes available. I don't know of any other Gannett papers doing so, however.
ReplyDeleteConcerning the USA Today-produced pages for the community papers, a reader tells me in an e-mail: National/world page rolled out to about 20 papers last week. More papers are to pick it up. Coming next is a Major League Baseball page once the season starts.
ReplyDelete7:26 What about Money, Life? Life could be a real plus for our very depleted newspaper.
ReplyDeleteIs today TUESDAY March 30th or WEDNESDAY March 30th? If you are one of the few people that still read The Journal News in Westchester you might of be little confused today because their front page says WEDNESDAY March 30th.
ReplyDeleteCorporate needs to wake up and get rid of the USA Today boys club that has turned that paper into the laughing stock of the industry.
Big News out of Cherry Hill - stay tuned.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear the "big news out of Cherry Hill."
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous@5:38 pm: I saw your post, but I can't publish that without something more. Do you have a memo? An e-mail to staff? I checked your paper's website, but I don't see anything about any personnel changes.
ReplyDeleteIt appears there may have been a senior-level management change at Cherry Hill's newsroom.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteIt happened. EJ is gone. Publisher's edict on no public announcement. He's definately gone.
ReplyDeleteBIG sigh of relief, then hold your breath for what's to come.
ReplyDeleteE.J. Mitchell had been the top editor at the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, N.J., since September 2006. The paper's infamous Poopgate episode took place on his watch in early 2008.
ReplyDeleteI am DYING over this supposed Hunke/Connell knock-down on the way. Where do you people get this stuff? Do you think that anyone with knowledge of some kind of high-level internal jousting would be stupid enough to post it here?
ReplyDeleteIt happens, but not very often. It's the corporate politics version of running up a trial balloon.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to see they finally made a change in Cherry Hill! It sure took long enough. Now there is hope that the others who should go (scattered through various departments at the property) get their walking papers as well.
ReplyDeleteTruly, this isn't a smarty-pants question:
ReplyDeleteWhen ContentOne staffers call, say, a congressman's office for an interview, how do they identify themselves? ("This is so-and-so from ContentOne" would be baffling, for example.)
Cherry Hill: Be careful what you wish for. Departure of E.J. Mitchell can only make your lives more miserable.
ReplyDeleteI know this sounds ridiculous... A door has been opened and I have the opportunity to leave a 27 year career at a Gannett property. For some reason, I am having a difficult time making the decision. It would mean less money...BUT... I would finally get my life back and more respect as well. The work environment at this Gannett property is horrendous, but still, it's like leaving family. Please pray that I make the right decision. At my age 50+, I realize there won't be many if any doors that will open in the future.
ReplyDeleteE.J. was an is a great editor. He will be missed.
ReplyDeleteSince Gannett defaulted 401K money into the so-called pick a year "Retirement Funds", check the losses. Stunning. Like it was burned. And this was supposed to be their recommended safe haven.
ReplyDelete9:42, you need to take the opportunity to leave. Seriously, this isn't even a choice you need to make. Just go. You may like the people you work with, but Gannett will whittle those people away until all you are left with are people you don't like working with. And they'll whittle you away, too, eventually. Take the job, go, don't look back.
ReplyDeleteTo 9:44 AM: EJ Mitchell a great editor? He was gone from the office more than he was there. Maybe that's why you think he's so wonderful. Oh my God!!!!!
ReplyDelete9:42 -- Make the jump. There's no reason you can't stay in touch with the people you've built relationships with outside work hours. And if you can't maintain those relationships once you leave they were not like family.
ReplyDeleteThere's no reason to put up with horrendous working conditions at any age. If you have what looks like a good opportunity take it.
I am 50 and I left that dump Gannett a little over 1 year ago for another opportunity. I left on my own. My life has changed and i won't lie it has not always been easy. I had 25 years in. But you know what its getting easier and i am feeling more and more comfortable each day. Time heals most things. I will tell you this if you get a chance to leave take it and don't look back.
ReplyDeleteIs it true that Gannett is about to make all of its executive and managing newspaper editors reapply for their positions?
ReplyDeleteI know it's hard to leave your family at Gannett, change is never easy, especially at 50 plus. I say, go for it! Gannett is getting worse, not better. If you have an opportunity to leave, I would run not walk to the door. I also have many years at Gannet but if opportunity knocked on my door I would leave ASAP. I too, have many long term friendships, but I would not expect them to stay for me. I just think change is hard for you, which I totally understand. But try to look at it as a new beginning. You will finally be free to be happy and some what stress free. In the environment you are currently in you will never move forward or have a new opportunity. People our age rarely if ever, receive a new opportunity at Gannett. I say go for it — take that 401(k) and pension plan and get the hell out! God bless. you will be fine.
ReplyDeleteIn today's spin cycle, speculation continues about Chief Digital Officer Chris Saridakis, I hear. We've been spun wrong before, however!
ReplyDeletePlus: in a bonus round, a management shift at quadrantONE? That's the joint advertising venture between GCI, Tribune, Hearst and the NYT Co.
Whadayaknow, insiders?
Did quadrantONE's Andy Ellenthall and Saridakis work together at PointRoll and possibly DoubleClick?
ReplyDeleteSpin, or drumbeats: You help decide!
ReplyDeleteCuts have just been made at The News-press in Fort Myers FL. Any news?
ReplyDelete"When ContentOne staffers call, say, a congressman's office for an interview, how do they identify themselves? ("This is so-and-so from ContentOne" would be baffling, for example.)"
ReplyDeleteThat's hilarious -- because it's true. So much for fancy-pants rebranding ideas. Whoever came up with that name never used a phone to get through to a source, ever.
10:44 -- Where did you hear that? I've heard no such thing, but how great would it be if it were true. Our newspaper has gone nowhere but downhill since the current editor took over a few years back. That said, I doubt we'd see many changes unless they also make publishers re-apply.
ReplyDeleteRegarding executive/managing editors reapplying for their jobs....No such thing happened at Westchester last year when all the reporters and copy editors and ad reps had to reapply.
ReplyDeleteThe top dogs make the rules. They don't have to play by them.
In regard to "poopgate:" If they treat you like bleep, what do you expect?
ReplyDeleteReader smacks down TJN for not mentioning its own layoffs ...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lohud.com/article/20100401/OPINION/4010344/-1/newsfront/Joblessness-article-missed-TJN-s-losses
Yes Jim. Saridakis hired Ellenthal at Doubleclick as one of his top sales managers and also recruited him to PointRoll as the head of sales. Andy is a good guy, but a mean S.O.B! I could not imagine Ellenthal taking any shit from the Quadrant One board of washed up newspaper directors.
ReplyDeleteTo 9:42 - I also fled Gannett in horror a few years ago for a job paying less. I also admit it hasn't been easy, but what is amazing is the difference in stress level, respect for your work, and overall working conditions.
ReplyDeleteI went from the "big shiny new building" of a corporate newspaper (sort of) to a small town old building environemnt that most people would thumb their noses at - BUT the respect we get here is real, we can do real journalism without worrying about publisher or corporate pressure, and the people here actually enjoy working in the newspaper business.
Can you honestly say you can get that in Gannett? Hardly?
I fled from one of those terrible Gannett papers acquired in 2000 with the worthless carreer-ruining publisher, who was an idiot. Most of the talent at the gannet papers has long since been fired, laid off or chased away by Gannett.
Please, quit now and don't look back.
Dear Asking for Prayer --
ReplyDeleteAbout your open door. Your prayer has been answered. Have a nice goodbye party, and leave. You didn't leave journalism. It left you.
Run, and don't look back.
~ A decorated vet looking for a door.
Hey Jim, Here's a Gannettoid who's a big fan of Big Al: http://lindseymastis.com/2010/03/i-met-my-idol-al-neuharth/
ReplyDelete9:42:
ReplyDeleteHaving been in your situation with similar thoughts, seize the opportunity, run, and don't look back. You won't be sorry; you'll soon think back and regret why you stayed so long.
And trust me: don't worry about leaving behind your Gannett "family" - it didn't take long for the "family" I loved so much to forget, ignore, and disown me.
Anon 6:50 is right on. I worked for Andy at Pointroll. Super good manager and one of the best salesmen out there. I learned a lot from him. He definitely is a hard ass. I think that is why he and Saridakis get along so well!!!
ReplyDeleteAndy worked for Chris at Doubleclick too.
From the Pacific Business News
ReplyDeleteFour long-time Honolulu Advertiser employees are suing parent company Gannett Co. Inc. for allegedly failing to give them the required 60-day notice of termination resulting from the imminent sale of the state’s largest daily newspaper.
District managers Patrick De Costa and Lance Kamada filed the lawsuit in 1st Circuit Court on Monday along with press foremen Todd Yamane and Lorin Okamura. They are asking the court to certify the case as a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 175 employees who are members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 142. Lee Webber, Advertiser president and publisher, also is named as a defendant in the suit. Phone calls to Webber weren't returned.
The workers claim they received notice on March 9 that they would be terminated between April 12 and April 30, at the closing of the asset sale of the Advertiser to Oahu Publishing Inc., which operates the smaller Honolulu Star-Bulletin, according to court documents.
The workers are seeking monetary damages and a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order to require the Advertiser to keep them working for at least 60 days, according to their attorney, Rebecca Covert.
An estimated 900 workers at both dailies received layoff notices last month. A sale or consolidation of both papers is expected on May 19.
Jim - would this be a Content One product? Your daily deadwood, enhanced? haha -
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/yb4cv48
Seems like we're spending more time apologizin' than journalizin'!
Rumor out of Springfield Mo. is that the executive editor Don Wyatt is gone. Strickly rumor, but he hasn't been seen since being called into the publishers office and somebody from Tennessee was in his office after that to "help."
ReplyDeleteIndy apologizes for treatment of Coach K in illustration:
ReplyDeleteFirst, the illustration:
http://www.visualeditors.com/apple/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/1004indystarcoachkpage01.jpg
Then, the fallout:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i9zWvALxwdnP0syiV0dkypktBXRAD9ER5IO00
Coack K comments:
"...But it was kind of juvenile. Not kind of. Just juvenile."
Well Coach, what do you expect from a company that's run off it's senior talent and installed kids half their ages to run things?
In another decade, they'll be so young they won't even be able to spell "LOSE" correctly!
http://www.indystar.com/article/20100403/OPINION06/4030322/1040/OPINION06/Star-apologizes-to-Duke-s-Coach-K
ReplyDeleteMore on Indy straight from Ryerson.
Don't know about other readers, but this apology shit is getting sickening.
A big ol' gulp of Kool Aid from a farm boy. Unfreakinbelievable. What a terrible tarnish on Indystar's moment to shine.
ReplyDeleteRumors we're hearing are that Gannett will soon make all its executive and managing editors reapply and cut a percentage of the photography staffs.
ReplyDelete