[The bling in spring stays mainly in the rings]
Newspaper chief Bob Dickey just announced 'em. And talk about LOL timing: The Courier-Journal's circulation chief, Mike Huot, has won lucky No. 13! (Plus, is two-time winner Chris Apel in charge of that paper's press, too?) Overall, Dickey's announcement says, there are 35 wieners of the U.S. newspaper division's top annual awards.
Following is the two-page memo; click on the images for a (somewhat) bigger view:
Related: The company's press releaseEarlier: Catastrophic press failure in Louisville. Plus: Gannett's Jewelry Division is still churning out gold and precious gems to the company's most loyal vassals
If I screwed up big-time, could I "win" one too?
ReplyDeleteThat explains it!
ReplyDeleteHout got one of his previous 12 rings caught in the press!
Only 10 are women. How sexist is this? What does Dickey think? Women already have a diamong ring, so they don't need another?
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ReplyDeleteHollis Towns!!!
ReplyDeleteReading this list is like Kremlinology. At first, I thought Margaret Buchanan was conspicuously absent. Then, I figured out there's a separate list, apparently, for publishers -- one that doesn't get released until later.
ReplyDelete(My solution would be to run this like beauty pageants for tots: Everyone is guaranteed a little trophy, at a minimum.)
Are you kidding me? Jack Roth? Asbury Park Press! How many is that now?
ReplyDeleteBasically Craig Dubow and the Martyr Martore decided who gets a ring. BOB, Evan and Michelle all sit and nod their heads up and down agreeing with them.
ReplyDeleteRoxanne Horning basically fills out the paperwork.
This ring thing is a crock of shit. The business is declining and falling apart, yet we are handing ou rings! How stupid is that.
I suppose Gannett is no different than Lehman Bros. Amid layoffs, declining circulation and dwindling ad revenues the emperor/ess strolls out fully naked and hands out rewards. What will these people get when there is really a profit? What an absolute disgrace to working people.
ReplyDeleteThey must've given one to David Ledford (aka Ol' Yeller) out of fear he'd fly into a rage and injure his vocal chords otherwise.
ReplyDelete5:05 -- While you are characterizing the judges, where does Kate Marymont fit into all this? She's listed as a judge, but...
ReplyDeleteI don't know Hollis Towns, but what I read here about his seeing no problem with having pro sport teams supply their own stories, I'd say the man has questionable editoral judgement.
ReplyDeleteThen again, he might be on Gannett's cutting edge. What could please corporate more than free news?
10:32 - Seriously! Ledford is one of the loudest, most obnoxious talkers I've ever met. The man does not know when to shut up, and has an incredibly poor sense of personal space and what's appropriate to a situation. Absolutely zero tact or manners.
ReplyDeleteAsbury is in a tailspin. Morale is in the basement, the publisher hasn't been seen in months, and the EE is widely considered to be an ethics-challenged clown whose only concern is the crappy website. Gannett, what have you done to my newspaper?
ReplyDeleteIs that a typo in the refer: "Jewely"? Just trying to help.
ReplyDelete"Overall, Dickey's announcement says, there are 35 wieners of the U.S. newspaper division's top annual awards."
ReplyDeleteWieners? Was that a typo, Jim? Either way, pretty funny.
No love for Pensacola eh? Thought this was Dick Schneider's year with the content that newsroom has pumped out.
ReplyDelete8:43 am ;)
ReplyDeleteFor a "marketing company", Market Development is woefully underrepresented on this list. Guess it really is all about selling ads after all.
ReplyDeleteThis just shows how screwed this company is.
ReplyDeleteOf note: Only eight recipients received a ring for the first time, showing that Gannett has little interest in doing anything but rewarding the Good Ol' Boys. An innovative company would want to honor and encourage up-and-comers rather than further reward the people who have led us to a cycle of ever-decreasing circulation and stock value.
Worse: One of the new recipients is Hollis Towns, who doesn't see any problem with newsmakers covering themselves. Apparently that's the sort of innovation this company does value.
Still worse: Somebody saw fit to hand rings to already well-paid executives while their employees are being forced to swallow furloughs, pay freezes, layoffs and consolidations.
Worst of all: The company then flaunted all of this by sending out e-mails to employees. This seems to argue that upper management doesn't believe its workforce has the brains to see the culture of entitlement it has created. Since we do, they will be hard pressed to see any creative thinking out of employees in the near future. If I come up with a great idea, I'm certainly not sharing it with this corporation.
funny, i always thought the ring was a mere symbol and reflection of the tremendous job that each winner's staff exhibited during the previous year. the accomplishments certainly weren't single-handedly done by the person who gets the bling (or a new diamond chip)... the ring winners damned well should have been sending out a big thank you note to the folks that make them look good day-in, day-out ... surely these 35 can't believe they did this all on their own, can they?
ReplyDeleteJim, please screen out the attacks from now on. When you brought back the blog, you said you would keep it from descending into this sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing my best, 3:01 pm, on a subject that is clearly sparking high outrage -- as it should.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience here in Wisconsin, ring winners do recognize their employees in various ways when the department wins a ring. One of the directors here even recommended that employees note the ring win on their resumes as a reflection of their excellent work. We have monthly employee recognition that directors are not eligible to win and the prizes include money, tickets and parking spots. Bottom line, if the contest is around then I'd rather have someone in my paper win than to have my location ignored entirely.
ReplyDeleteOne of the directors here even recommended that employees note the ring win on their resumes as a reflection of their excellent work.
ReplyDeleteHuh, mentioning the ring win on their resume???????? Is this foreplay of bigger things to come? Geeeeeezzzzz, what better way to demoralize the workforce.
We have monthly employee recognition that directors are not eligible to win and the prizes include money, tickets and parking spots.
Another AHA moment:
A. Money (it sure wouldn't come remotely close to the win the ring winner carries home).
B. Tickets (to what - a sports game?) That might be fine and dandy since Gannett certainly isn't shelling out too much money on these tickets.
C. Parking spots. Really, people, parking spots? That suppose to be a win? Instead of walking over the whole parking place one can park close to the entrance? Geeeezzzz, I am impressed. What dullard came up with this idea???
Surely, if this is all someone can come up with as winnings for a whole department that contributed considerably to the success of the ring winner the newspaper industry is in trouble. Oh, wait, it is in trouble.
But as 12:47 p.m. already correctly noticed:
Still worse: Somebody saw fit to hand rings to already well-paid executives while their employees are being forced to swallow furloughs, pay freezes, layoffs and consolidations.
Worst of all: The company then flaunted all of this by sending out e-mails to employees. This seems to argue that upper management doesn't believe its workforce has the brains to see the culture of entitlement it has created.
Yeah, Gannett makes even the Real Estate meltdown look like a "walk in the park".
Yo 7:29 you are everything that is wrong with this or any other company. You live life as a victim. There is nothing this company could do to make you happy. I've been around for awhile and I am glad that negative sourpusses like you are slowly but surely finding the door. Working around an unhappy person like you brings us all down. Yes, I like a reserved parking spot, and yes I like getting tickets to a ball game and yes I like a free emovie ticket every once in awhile. Keep em coming. You can go home and sit in the dark, watching reruns of Star Trek and blame everyone else for your personal failures.
ReplyDeleteYo, 7:43 p.m., already got a new job and making more money than Gannett would ever pay. No need getting nasty. Just stating the facts. Unlike you who still has to take the "rain" treatment (pissing down your back and telling you it's just raining) I got the hell out before the LEGO house crumbles.
ReplyDeleteI have no personal failures. Unlike you, if I don't like something I change it and will not be satisfied with the "crumbs" (i.e. $50.00 checks (I hope they are not taxed), tickets, parking spaces (must have been some nitwit who came up with that little gimmick) that upper management is throwing you.
It's blind people like you who don't see the writing on the wall.
Gannett's working stiff are left in the trenches fighting and for what? So that the upper management can stuff their pockets with furloughs, layoffs etc.?
Maybe if you would look for another job, you wouldn't have to take the parking space, but something that actually feeds the family. And maybe I am already talking to upper management and it that case let the bling bling roll! LOL!
Ever notice how the dudes like 9:11 ALWAYS have found a higher paying job than the one they had and anyone who disagrees with their negative, norrow view of the world must be in managment. They have absolutely no real retort other than to stick their collective tongues out and yell, "Oh yeah, well your Mom wears army shoes" Maybe they should share how and where they found these fantastic higher paying jobs. They also never say what they did and where they work now. They just rant. Dude the episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" will be on soon. Employed at Gannett and loving it!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard of these awards (25 years ago)I thought it was a great idea. Then I noticed that the same people win over and over and over and over. Really? An 11 time winner? Kind of lost it's value real quick. How do these people justify these kinds of awards when they're giving out pink slips and furloughs?
ReplyDelete>>Ever notice how the dudes like 9:11 ALWAYS have found a higher paying job than the one they had and anyone who disagrees with their negative, norrow view of the world must be in managment.<<
ReplyDeleteUsually, talk like that qualifies you for being in upper management. They're throwing trifling responses like that at every opportunity. Yeah, well, sorry to bust your bubble. Can only tell you the truth re. getting more money and on the other hand I really don't have to justify myself to you. I don't ask you what for a pittance you make by crawling up somebody's behind.
>>Maybe they should share how and where they found these fantastic higher paying jobs. They also never say what they did and where they work now. They just rant. <<
Anonymous means just that: It's none of your business. What's next? Give blood.Why is that of importance? You're a stalker? Just be satisfied that you and I have a job. You know not everybody that "escaped" Gannett shets rivers of water. Oh, and my job is actually closer to home - so saving a whole lot of money on the commute. Vacation, Bonus, don't get me started. What I am saying is, don't give up. As others mentioned on this blog, there is a life after Gannett. It's what we make out of it.
>>Employed at Gannett and loving it!<<
Yeah, right and maybe with a little more bootlicking you'll get two parking spaces and a ticket to the movies instead of a raise! LOL! But maybe a pat on the head is sufficient for you since you're so easily satisfied.
People like you are perfect for management: They only need a few of you clowns to cater to their self-grandizing agenda and still telling you it's "raining". Every time somebody is challenging your agenda, you get aggressive and self-defensive. Why? Because I am living proof that I survived Gannett and moved on? Because I blew your belief there is a life after Gannett?
Once Gannett blows your retirement into the wide blue yonder - maybe, just maybe you have a wake-up call, too. Just watch - there is always somebody better at the art of kissing behinds. ;))
Executive ranks aside, most jobs in Gannett don't pay particularly well. Finding a better paying job isn't a miraculous feat.
ReplyDeleteI would argue that if you aren't in management and don't agree that workers within Gannett could be treated much better, you are terribly naive. I don't mind getting a free ticket to a ballgame now and then either, but it's no replacement for stable jobs and better pay. Some companies have these things, plus free tickets to ball games.
Have you worked at many other places? Apple? Hewlett Packard? Google? No business is perfect, but if you consider Gannett wonderful, you may want to look around a little.