Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Week of May 3-9 | Your News & Comments: Part 1
Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)
57 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."
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Following what happened early Sunday in Louisville, what is your paper's or TV station's disaster recovery plan?
ReplyDeleteAloha Gannett - thanks for putting the wrong people in place and costing us our jobs.
ReplyDelete300 jobs to go in Honolulu:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100503/NEWS01/5030352/Press+run+ends+for+Gannett+in+Isles
So I just found out today that our ER copay of $150 ONLY covers the actual facility charge. All other work: x rays, ct scans, blood work, doctors: that is seperate, billed 80/20 AFTER our deductible. So an ER visit from a few weeks back is already over $500 in out of pocket expenses.
ReplyDeleteFor those who found other jobs: how does Gannett's policy compare?
For those who found other jobs: how does Gannett's policy compare?
ReplyDeleteWe've been overpaying for YEARS!
10:43 -- It will be tough to make comparisons because they would have to be on a company by company basis. Aside from that, many Gannett sites allow employees to choose from multiple heath plan options, so you have different Gannett employees covered by different packages.
ReplyDeleteI'm still with Gannett and the cost of my out-of-pocket healthcare expenses have increased significantly over the years. When you consider that, the pay freezes, the furloughs, etc., there's no question that I'm making less money now than three years ago.
All of that said, it's still better than being without insurance.
Hmm the dude has an out of pocket payment of $500 and the total bill may be 10 to 80 thousand dollars. Yes you are getting ripped off. Grow up already. You can pay the hospital $30 a month and they leave you alone. Try owing them $80,000 and seeing if you like the co-pay. We complain about the co-pay until we have a large hospital bill, then it is a blessing. But those that like to bitch will continue to do so.
ReplyDeleteHey 11:07 -- fuck you. I work in newspapers. That means I make jack shit for the work I put in. $500 (plus??) is a ton of money for my household. Go back to the Crystal Palace where y'all make the big bucks.
ReplyDeleteI know you'll need to edit or delete this Jim but I really needed to say that.....
In answer to Jim: our plan involves a whole lot of prayer, voodoo, waving of chicken bones, cursing at the current phone company and not much else.
ReplyDeleteIs Gannet planning to consolidate copy editing in Reno? They are advertising for full and part time copy editors.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1166488&utm_source=Indeed&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=Indeed
Anonymous 5/03/2010 10:43 said...
ReplyDeleteSo I just found out today that our ER copay of $150 ONLY covers the actual facility charge. All other work: x rays, ct scans, blood work, doctors: that is seperate, billed 80/20 AFTER our deductible. So an ER visit from a few weeks back is already over $500 in out of pocket expenses.
For those who found other jobs: how does Gannett's policy compare?
Try one of those "URGENT CARE" Facilities!
You pay like $96.00 for the visit to see the doctor and that's it! Most times if you need medication they will make sure they give you samples and also they will make sure the amount of samples given will cover the dosage schedule. Only other costs is if they don't have the medication at the facility then of course - you have to pay for the prescription(s) at the pharmacy.
A tip if you have to go to the hospital emergency room and they write you prescriptions to take - FIND OUT WHAT FLOOR THE HOSPITAL'S PHARMACY IS ON, and then GO RIGHT THERE to fill your prescriptions to get THE LOWEST RATE FOR PRESCRIPTIONS IN THE USA!
How do I know this? Because my mother used to work at a hospital and every time I went to ER and was given prescriptions to fill - I went right to the hospital's pharmacy to have them filled! Wal-Mart has nothing on them as far as medication prices!
To 1:07 p.m.....Now, that's good info. I never knew that a hospital pharmacy was open to anyone except hospital staff.
ReplyDeleteI'll keep that in mind if I have to go to an emergency room.
I've also used a hospital pharmacy.
ReplyDeleteNew executive editor announced at Springfield, Mo. He is Gary Stoeffler, who is described as "a publisher, general manager and top editor at several publications, including the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis, the Arizona Daily Star, the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star and La Crosse (Wis.) Tribune."
ReplyDeleteThe News-Leader's announcement story is found here:
http://www.news-leader.com/article/20100503/BREAKING01/100503022/Stoeffler-named-executive-editor-of-the-News-Leader
@5:03: The new Springfield EE's name is David Stoeffler. A former Lee lifer, Wisconsin native. Been consulting since leaving Lee.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting about Springfield. This is the second time recently that Gannett has reached outside to hire. It just happened at the Gannett paper in Lafayette, La.
ReplyDeleteThat Craig Dubow and Gracia Martore have been meeting with each of Saridakis's direct reports prior to the board meeting so they can tell the board of directors that they know the Digital Management team. This is the first time they have met them and have a substantial conversation.
ReplyDeleteI was also told that there are going to be several more departures in Digital over the next two months.
Finally, Gracia Martore has decided to have an "All Hands" meeting with Digital this week and apparently she will only do a 5 minute update and then take pre-selected questions that are emailed beforehand and approved. She will not take live questions.
The Digital team believes that the management team has not done enough to reach out to the Digital employees and only now Martore realizes what is at stake.
Hi, Jim: A little news from a former Gannett newspaper in the Northwest... The Olympian, which
ReplyDeletewas sold to Knight Ridder and then McClatchy in late 2005, early 2006, has been dropped as a print site for USA Today in favor of a more cost-effective relationship at The Herald in Everett, WA. The Olympian will print USA Today through early June before about
23 people in the press department lose their jobs. Apparently, the paper had a 10-year contract with Gannett that was suppposed to be more profitable for Gannett during the first five years of the contract and favor McClatchy in the final five years of the deal. I guess Gannett couldn't stomach the transition so pulled the plug. The Olympian, whose entire reporting and advertising staff is now confined to one room, used to employ more than 200 people. It now stands at about 31.
What?! From 200 employees to 31 in the newsroom alone? Or do I misunderstand?
ReplyDeleteMore than 200 overall to about 31 overall.
ReplyDelete"I've also used a hospital pharmacy."
ReplyDeleteHow cheap was the lithium, Jim? Did it balance you out? And if so, when did it lose its effectiveness?
Big Paydays for Chiefs in the Media: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/business/media/03pay.html
ReplyDelete$500 out of pocket was just for ER. not sure if this is gannett wide, but out of pocket for me is $3,500 a year total for each person covered. That's &7,000 if you have employee plus one.
ReplyDelete11:07 -- The out of pocket expense for an $80,000 bill would be far higher than $500. It would cost you $500 for a bill that ran about $2,500. And, for the record, I'm with the original poster.
ReplyDeleteThere are several things going on here. No. 1, it shouldn't cost $2,500 to go to the emergency room for a situation that doesn't involve a major trauma (auto accident, heart attack, stroke, etc.). But the problems with American healthcare because we sold out to insurance companies are old news.
No. 2, the health insurance expenses of common workers should not be increasing while Dubow and his cronies continue to receive ridiculously high bonuses.
You can call the original poster a crybaby if you want, but why don't we ding your salary $500 every now and then and see how long it takes you to start crying.
12:21 -- The regular employees in Reno don't know of any plans to make it a copy editing hub. The job postings you see are because several copy editors quit in recent months.
ReplyDeleteDubow's ridiculous pay is one thing. But, what gripes me is the fact that he gets all that free health insurance post retirement. To me, that says his non-working life is more valuable than the average Joe's daily contributions. In other words, it smacks of "let's keep this guy healthy even though he no longer contributes anything, but let's make the workers pay those high premiums."
ReplyDeleteAuto companies did the same thing, 12:33.
ReplyDeleteHave you been complaining about that, too? If not, then you should have been.
I may have missed mention of it, but there's a new ContentOne thingy rolling out soon. It's basically a tool to share content between sites. Wilmington, where I work, is one of the testing centers. The system is called Dashboard.
ReplyDeleteYou know, in normal companies when you roll out a new product and you need a name for it, you might talk to marketing, consult focus groups, maybe even do a Google search for similarly named items.
ReplyDeleteAt ContentOne (another winner, btw) they just sit at their desk and take a look around. "Oh look! My Mac has a Dashboard, and it's a tool for picking up different bits of information from disparate sources and consolidating them onto one screen."
"Wait a minute.... Let's call our product 'Dashboard'!"
Our press site tends to attract emergency print jobs from other newspapers. Those of us who have ink in the veins know that if there is one place that 'there, but for the grace of God, go I', it's press failures.
ReplyDeleteEven if your fiercest competitor was the one calling, you get his paper out - after yours, and with a healthy charge, naturally - because you just never know when you'll need that hand.
The last time we did this, we were fitting plates 45 minutes after getting the call - and that included waking prepress staff and calling mailroom in.
We've never abandoned the idea of the business continuation plans that Thomson had us create prior to Y2K. The biggest problem has always been, don't let people sit around hoping 'this fix will do it'. You have to implement the plan quickly to avoid digging into a deeper hole.
I can't decide whether to attend today's meeting or just throw up quietly in my cubicle.
ReplyDeleteThe Courier-Journal pressroom is "back at 100%". They're still trying to find out what caused the press to seize up on Saturday night.
ReplyDeleteYour stock ticker program is doing a Louisville this morning and isn't working, but GCI is getting slammed this morning, off 5 percent and declining.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm. The ticker appears to be working now.
ReplyDeleteGood news on the press fix. Now the question is what drunken editor wrote the headline to match the Wal-Mart ad?
ReplyDeleteWell, Super Saver was the name of the winning horse. What else should they have said?
ReplyDeleteAs an ad designer at a soon-to-be-consolidated Gannett site, I'd love to hear from other designers at already consolidated sites. What happened? We've been given a date and approximate number of people who'll be staying, but then they said we'd have more details 30 days out. Were the initial projections given at already consolidated sites accurate? Any details appreciated!
ReplyDeleteGood point. No need to be creative anymore. We're not paid enough.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who knows, 1:46 PM, I can tell you that the headlines on the Derby cover are scrutinized and approved by various editors, including the exec. They are never the whim of a sole editor, drunken or otherwise. Also, I suspect those in charge would be uninterested in letting the words in an ad dictate or limit what they do in news headlines.
ReplyDeletehas anyone caught wind of a regional page production center in the southeast? perhaps in nashville.
ReplyDeleteIn answer to Jim's question about backup plans in case of breakdowns? Well, at our site, in the south, if our hub goes down, so do we. No one else to print us. If our computers go down, well, no IT on site, no plan if our stuff does a 'catastrophic failure' and no maintenance in almost two years. This is Gannett's model of business. We are screwed.
ReplyDeleteAnyone have further information on changes in St Cloud MN. I'm hearing more layoffs and job changes. Can anyone verify this for me.
ReplyDeleteIs it true that 3 to 6 Gannett editors have been replaced by outsiders? Does this mean a new world or simply that good insiders weren't interested in the opportunities or possible new bosses.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you were including Cherry Hill and the loss of Skip from the NJ group? There may be a leadership vacuum from the layoffs and stagnant opportunities for people to move up. Good people dug deep roots or got out.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteTo 9:19:
ReplyDeleteI do not know about other papers, but the new executive editor in Lafayette, La. is a Gannett outsider with no previous experience with the company. The word on the street is that no one from the company wanted to take the job. Maybe because the publisher has a well known reputation for being very difficult to work for. Or maybe because the staff is one of the smallest in Gannett and there does not seem to be much room for change, at least from what I have heard from those still surviving there.
Not sure what happened to the previous EE, who had been with Gannett for more than 20 or 25 years. I do think she left of her own accord and was not forced out, though.
What up-and-coming would-be executive would want to work at a top level of a Gannett community newspaper? These were once plum jobs, but anyone looking at what is going on would realize their future as the head of one of these operations is dealing with dictates from corporate to cut payroll and shave expenses. It isn't going to be much fun, and it isn't going to give you creds you need to move on to a better position. The autonomy Gannett once promised community newspapers is gone, and you are just a cog in a cost-cutting machine. It's not going to improve your career prospects and it looks like a miserable job where everyone below you will hate you. So why would anyone take these jobs?
ReplyDeleteas another ad designer at a soon to be consolidated site, i am very curious about why no one is sharing information about how the consolidation is progressing (or not).
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20100505/NEWS01/5050315/Pair-finds-love-at-nursing-home
ReplyDeleteWheelchair-bound in the lede! That's just as offensive as colored.
8:26 -- That's true, but Gannett has long cultivated "Yes Men" and "Yes Women" to take many of these positions. Sure, some of them were smart and good to work for, but there are a lot of Gannett EEs out there who aren't much good at anything but following corporate mandates. And, at my site at least, there are still plenty of lower-level editors who seem happy to do this as well.
ReplyDeleteI think what everyone is surprised by is that somebody like that didn't get the job.
5/5/2010 if you are one of the designers from St Cloud we have been told we can't talk to anything about the company outside. A few of us have been kicked in the butt for this. You will know soon enough.
ReplyDeleteJim I have to say I really like the new ads look. They make the pages look nice.
ReplyDelete6:55 pm. Thanks. Those new image ads also produce more click-throughs.
ReplyDelete"Those who cut deepest, relative to industry peers, delivered smaller profits and weaker stock returns for as long as nine years after a recession." -- Big Job Cuts Mean Short-Term Gain, Long-Term Pain for Shareholders, Study Finds
ReplyDeletehttp://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/478944/Big-Job-Cuts-Mean-Short-Term-Gain,-Long-Term-Pain-for-Shareholders,-Study-Finds
So far, it's been my experience in Gannett that if you aren't a "Yes Man" or a "Yes Woman" that you won't advance. Those who are strong enough to be promoted have either been cut because of their pay level or been lucky enough to get out. It's obvious that in two or three years, should Gannett continue to exist, there will be no leaders. Nobody is being prepared to move up the ladder, even director positions have been cut. New hires are fresh out of school, with no experience, and they're getting promoted before they can even spell "editor." The future of this business sucks.
ReplyDelete"designers from St Cloud we have been told we can't talk to anything about the company outside. A few of us have been kicked in the butt for this."
ReplyDeletecan't talk about anything outside the company? this is unreal. is that why it's been so quiet on the subject?
and if St Cloud is already headed for conversion is Gannett following the new conversion dates mentioned in the memo 11/09 or the revised dates? the first schedule had St Cloud's date as being 5/16 which would put them in the middle of it. it would be nice to know if they are ahead of schedule.
For Part 2, go here.
ReplyDelete