[Saridakis]
"I was incredibly frustrated by their lack of decision-making."
-- Former Chief Digital Officer Chris Saridakis, in an interview with MediaPost's Online Media Daily about Gannett's experiment with paywalls, launched last week. He left the company April 30.
Earlier: In farewell note, Saridakis attacks paywall
Good for him! It is about time someone told the truth around here. These executives wonder why he was so popular, it is because he is not afraid to tell it like it is.
ReplyDeleteI too am frustrated here. We spend hours in meetings accomplishing nothing. This leadership team(martore, hunke, dickey, dubow, williams) are all just waiting to collect their retirement check. In fact, last week I was in a meeting with several people including two of these executives, and we spent the first 34 minutes discussing golf. This was a 60 minute meeting! All these men discussed how golf was a way for them to "escape" from the women in their lives "at home and at work".
We need more people like Chris leading this company. Too bad he is gone and we are left with these morons.
It is not just their lack of decision making, it is the lack of any proper research before blasting breakneck ahead with changes.
ReplyDeleteTake the paywall for example. They just went ahead with an experiment at three papers, but where is the research paper that says if you do that, it will cost you xx in revenue, but you will get xx in new money? They are just throwing something at the wall to see if it will stick. Affect on readers and advertisers? Who cares.
This is the most unusual attitude for a large American corporation, which are much too cautious. I trace it back to the years when Gannett held a monopoly in local communities and so readers and advertisers had no choice. Now there's choice, and Gannett is putting up paywalls to try and get their monopoly back.
There was a lot of hype surrounding Saridakis, but he does understand the new technology and he's right on paywalls.
I love it that this reporter did not ask anyone at Gannett for their opinion. Shows you how much respect this industry has for Gannett leadership.
ReplyDeleteWilliams and Dickey must feel good still living in the shadow of Saridakis.
ReplyDeleteThose "morons" visited us at pointroll and they were so far disconnected from us, it was comical. Chris would speak his mind and from the heart. When Mr Dubow and Ms Martore were here, they read from a script. We miss Chris! When he visited us, even if you didn't see him, you knew he was present. He created an energy here that has been hard to replicate by the pointroll management team.
ReplyDeleteOn this issue of paywalls, he's so right. The marketing of this is off base. In order to get people to cough up an additional $9.95 you have to offer them "more" than they are getting. Just offering the paper doesn't do it.
ReplyDeleteOther papers, including the WPO and NYT, are preparing for this step by starting up online blogs and Web-only cartoon strips. Gannett has not done this, and there's no "more" to offer with an online subcription. Furthermore, I don't see where they are going to get the "more" from. Newsrooms have been reduced to the point where reporters are rewriting press releases, or doing make-work features for Metromix.
I am hearing that the Gannet Executives are all upset at Saridakis's quote. They should be, because he is exposing the biggest problem at Gannett...LEADERSHIP!!!!
ReplyDeleteYeah what a tough guy Chris is 6:14AM! Telling it like it is AFTER cashing out...
ReplyDeleteThat sure took a lot of guts...
10:43: But you're assuming he didn't tell it like it was to Corporate when he was still there. He gave Gannett Blog readers, and so the public, a sign of his dissatisfaction more than a year ago.
ReplyDeleteUSA TODAY management has gotten progressively worse and seems to be fully Gannettized now. Not only has USAT been tardy in making decisions, but when managers here do pick a course of action, it's usually shortsighted (bordering on juvenile) and the wrong course. That's not just my opinion. For instance, look around the newsroom. Do you see many real leaders left? Any managerial people with integrity? Is the product any better as a result of the see no evil, hear no evil, do-nothing managers who remain? Gannett and USAT get rid of good managers -- editors and alike who speak their minds. This purging of honorable professionals has been going for at least a few years, if not longer at the community papers. As a result, there is no real innovation, accountability or charisma at the top. Trust has been broken. Confidence in management has been shattered, as only the kiss-asses remain in power. Gannett is struggling to find talented leaders because the word is out that this is a place that chews up and spits out the best people.
ReplyDeleteRe 11:10 a.m....What you describe is a shadow of Westchester. The top editorial tier has nothing going for it whatsoever. Innovation? The trust of the troops? All long gone.
ReplyDeleteMost of the top people don't even care about the content of the paper, and haven't for years. Their focus has been on the Web site, which is hard to understand considering have substandard it is.
All the management does is wait for the next corporate directive.
Gannett Closes In On New Chief Digital Officer; Resnik Set To Be Promoted
ReplyDeletehttp://paidcontent.org/article/419-gannett-closes-in-on-new-chief-digital-officer-resnik-set-to-be-promote/
After a nearly four-month search to replace Chris Saridakis as chief digital officer, sources tell paidContent Gannett (NYSE: GCI) is close to promoting Josh Resnik to the post. A Gannett rep said that the company had no comment. If Gannett does move Resnik up as expected, it would be passing up former digital head Jack Williams for the role.
Williams, president of Gannett Digital before Saradakis joined Gannett, is currently president of Gannett Digital Ventures, an umbrella unit for the online classifieds businesses such as CareerBuilder, Classified Ventures, Topix.net and ShopLocal. He was considered the most likely internal candidate to follow Saridakis, who exited Gannett to become CEO of GSI Commerce’s (Nasdaq: GSIC) Marketing Services unit.
Before joining Gannett Digital as VP, business development for Gannett Digital in late 2006, Resnik, a lawyer by training, spent seven years in the legal department at AOL (NYSE: AOL). In May ‘08, Resnik was promoted to VP, strategy & business operations for the digital unit; last year, he was named VP/GM of the Gannett Digital Media Network, which encompasses USAToday.com, MomsLikeMe.com, Metromix.com, and HighSchoolSports.net, as well as all of Gannett’s local newspaper and television station web sites.
Resnik is well-liked within the Gannett Digital realm and is considered a sensible choice, though some have noted that he doesn’t have experience running an independent business. Gannett has been using executive search firm CT Partners, but they hadn’t been able to find any candidates that the company felt were suitable. In any case, if Resnik’s promotion gets final approval, Gannett’s board is likely to be pleased that this issue is over with as the company prepares to report its Q2 earnings a week from this Friday.
One holdup in making the decision had to do with the process of integrating two of its more successful digital holdings, rich media provider PointRoll and social media marketing unit Ripple6.
Other activities occupying the digital division’s time and resources lately include the establishment of the GannettLocal program, a social media marketing effort aimed at striking relationships with small advertisers. The initiative got off the ground in Phoenix two months ago. Gannett is also still working on devising some sort of subscription model for its successful USAToday iPad app.
so they come around in these current trips stressing digital digital digital knowing that the best person they had to head the digital market just left the company
ReplyDeletei found that part really peculiar, not like everyone keeps up on there gannett info but
i wish someone had the opportunity to ask a question in regards to Saridakas leaving Gannett when they kept talking about the digital revolution, ipad blah blah blah, it was kind of laughable in that sense thats all
it just seems like a mad scramble for something they know nothing about