Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Week of Aug. 2-8 | Your News & Comments: Part 1
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61 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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How's your week looking so far?
ReplyDeleteWill be interesting to see what heads roll at the Journal News in the wake of the Chelsea wedding coverage fiasco.
ReplyDelete10:30 - yes, definitely. Anyone there, please take a second to post any news tomorrow regarding the fallout.
ReplyDeleteSuch a bad job by the Journal News, considering the Clintons live in Chappaqua, a few miles from the White Plains headquarters. Even a "Who in Westchester got an invite to the 'Wedding of the Century'?" as a Sunday centerpiece would have been something that would have sold copies. But then again, what do they know about that?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeletePlease don't get personal; consider discussing issues and subjects.
ReplyDeleteNo heads are going to roll. The top management in Westchester couldn't care less about the newspaper. Haven't you gotten that yet?
ReplyDeleteThese are the same people who decided to abandon broad swaths of Westchester and Rockland. These are the same people who staged that farce of a re-employment/layoff program last year. These are the same people who yell "watchdog journalism" while slashing reporters or assigning them to fluff pieces.
Nothing's going to happen to them as long as they keep costs down. While the workers get pay freezes followed by miniscule raises, these managers get nice bonuses and raises to help them sleep well at night.
As Ira Gutner, owner of Samuel's Coffee Shop in Rhinebeck told Women's Wear Daily, the wedding put the town on the map. "This is going to be incredible for Rhinebeck. We will forever be known as the town where Chelsea and Marc got married.”
ReplyDeleteBut not in the local Gannett paper.
Why would heads roll over TJN coverage of the wedding? The newsrooms of Poughkeepsie and Westchester have been consolidated. Why would TJN pay reporters to go to Poughkeepsie to interview the same folks that Poughkeepsie reporters would interview? It's not like any Gannett paper had an inside track - the only interviews that could be obtained would be John Q Citizen on the street.
ReplyDeleteAs far as an earlier comment that it was "the story of the Century", I have to disagree. It was the "story of the moment" and POK did an admirable job of covering it. It's now less than 48 hrs passed since the "big event" and there is not even a buzz on the street.
Please, no more Journal News/Poughkeepsie Journal/Chelsea debate. It's played out.
ReplyDeleteJim: Your readers might be interested in this article in Crain's Detroit Business about the Detroit JOA between Gannett and MediaNews:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20100801/SUB01/308019988/1069
Here's the lead: Five years into the revised 25-year joint-operating agreement between the owners of The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, the newspapers are not making money and have seen some significant changes to their business model.
“We're working toward profitability,” said Rich Harshbarger, the Detroit Media Partnership's vice president of consumer marketing.
Here's my question about Gannett and Detroit: Why is Gannett still there? What long-term advantage does it get from owning 95 percent of a newspaper company in what is clearly one of the weakest media markets in the nation?
ReplyDeleteThey want money for that Crain's story.
ReplyDeleteA guess: If the current, limited home delivery scheme doesn't return the DMP to profitability, Gannett-MediaNews will go web-only, cut many jobs, and run a vastly smaller business.
ReplyDeleteWhat will they do with the $177 million press and post-press expansion they completed only a few years ago. With six state-of-the art presses, each capable of 75,000 copies per hour, the place is already a ghost town. Note: the News and Free Press only print a combined 140,000 papers four days a week. That's two hours of press time on one press.
ReplyDeleteWait, 2:37. Don't the papers print every day, but deliver only three days: Thursday, Friday and Sunday?
ReplyDeleteYes, Jim. The papers PRINT every single day. They deliver the Free Press to homes three days a week, and the News to homes two days a week. The News doesn't print on Sundays. Given that the Free Press' Monday-Friday circ is about 250,000 and the News' Monday-Friday circ is about 150,000, the figure 2:37 gave you is wrong.
ReplyDeleteThree weeks since regional pagination announcement. Universal Desk at The Journal News was told both copy editors and page designers will be terminated and could apply for new, undetermined number of positions at design centers or TJN. It was unknown if TJN copy editors would continue to edit Poughkeepsie Journal, about 60 percent of the current workload. That will likely affect the number of jobs available. No news since announcement about ... anything. Has anyone heard anything new about the GCI rollout schedule? Jim?
ReplyDeleteThe papers do print every day. After starting out printing 200,000 combined copies on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, the last number I saw was that they are now only printing 140,000 combined copies those days for single copy sales.
ReplyDeleteVery, very interesting to hear copyeditors are now directly involved; this was supposed to be design and pagination only. Yet, I'm not entirely surprised.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I've heard nothing new about the rollout timetable.
In Louisville, copy editors read some copy for Asheville and Greenville -- not main news copy, but some features and neighborhoods section copy. That's why I was totally skeptical about the initial reports that only design and pagination were involved.
ReplyDeleteLarry Lindquist to retire
ReplyDeleteLarry Lindquist, senior vice president of circulation at USA TODAY, will retire after more than 29 years with Gannett and USA TODAY, effective December 1.
“We are grateful for all that Larry has done to strengthen and grow circulation at Gannett and USA TODAY. He has done a tremendous job for us year-over-year and built the largest circulation newspaper in the U.S. He is a true innovator, pioneering room-to-room newspaper delivery in national hotels and launching USA TODAY’s College Readership Program,” said Dave Hunke, president and publisher of USA TODAY. “Although he will be missed, Larry has worked hard his entire career and has earned the opportunity to enjoy more time with his family and grandchildren. Please join me in wishing him good times in the years to come.”
Larry was named vice president of circulation for USA TODAY in January 1986 and was named senior vice president of circulation in October 1988.
Larry joined Gannett in January 1981 as vice president of circulation for the Cincinnati Enquirer. In July 1984, he was named circulation director of Gannett’s U.S. Community Publishing division, then-Newspaper Division, in Arlington, VA.
He began his newspaper career in Dallas as a single-copy manager for the Dallas Times Herald, where he later also served as consumer services director.
Larry, a native of Dallas, TX, attended the University of Texas in Arlington, TX, where he majored in Business Administration.
Don't expect the $177 million press expansion to mean anything as far as the future is concerned. The way this works in corporate bookkeeping is as a tax write-off taken over several years. They have probably written it off already. In other words, it is water over the dam. Look what happened in Hawaii, where they plowed in money only to just walk away.
ReplyDeletehttp://floriduhtoday.com/
ReplyDeleteAny other Gannett papers have a parody website?
Wisconsin group merges some weekly newspapers near Green Bay. 10 jobs eliminated.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20100802/GPG0101/100802129
Re: 4:24 p.m., hilarious! My own Wisconsin site is a parody already, sadly enough. I've stopped telling the Web guru/golden boy about the mistakes I see on a daily basis since they just keep coming.
ReplyDeleteRe: 7:08 p.m., not hilarious, but expected. Gannett is shedding jobs at sites across the country in small increments, but they sure do add up in the long run.
Well the Clinton blunder was a Gannett short-term savings without any regard to the long-term effects. Why do you think the subscriber base is free falling? WTG Gannett.
ReplyDeleteJim, it's still the understanding the the News Design centers is pagination and designers only. Copy editing will remain local.
ReplyDeleteThe rollout schedule is an estimated two years plus for completion. There has been no announcement of a formal rollout schedule but the assumption is those sites that have requested/need new Editorial Front-end systems will be the first to go.
I've heard other sites being consolidated into the pagination centers are also losing copy editors. I don't know how a copy editor 300 miles away can possibly know much about the location they're copy editing for.
ReplyDeleteAnybody keeping a tally of positions eliminated since July 2009?
ReplyDeleteSusan Lavington is leaving USAToday. Along with Larry Lundquist, Jeff Webber will be "retiring" too.
ReplyDeleteThese folks have been on Martore's hit list for sometime. It was only a matter of time that Hunke would bow to Martore's demands.
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ReplyDeleteHearing there may soon be fewer editors.
ReplyDeleteWarning: Looks clear that we are heading into a double-dip recession, and that is certainly not good news for precariously positioned Gannett. I think corporate is scrambling to come up with fresh rounds of cuts in order to keep the profit margins up and satisfy Wall Street. We are already so thinly staffed, I don't know where the new rounds of cuts are going to come from.
ReplyDelete@9PM - How can you be hearing that other sites are losing copy editors when there hasn't been any consolidation yet? The earliest any consolidation could actually happen is after the first of the year, so how could anyone, at this point, know they're losing copy editors?
ReplyDeleteNot saying there isn't going to be some trimming of the fat, but I don't believe that anything regarding these centers is set in stone YET.
So, is the great bloodletting at USA finally beginning? It will be interesting to see how the corpse that's left behind can compete with the likes of Wall St. Journal and New York Times. Corporate might as well sell off the brand while there's still a shred of value left in it.
ReplyDelete8/02/2010 9:58 PM -- unless your boss is Hunke I wouldn't hold any truths to such rumors. Webber has more than 9 lives and knows how to keep propping himself to appear useful and in charge (how many positions has he had in the past few years?) and his protege Lavington has herself in a cushy position behind her direct reports pretending to be involved and taking credit for their work. Lindquist has planned to retire this year for some time now with Brad Jones or Michael Davidson primed to take over circulation. Hunke needs to keep his execs firmly in place during his reworking of USA Today which comes in September.
ReplyDeleteQuestion for the audience. As you know Gannett is selling off a lot of their physical assets, such as building, land etc. How much control does local management have over some of these sales, compare to say corporate?
ReplyDeleteThere appears to be some confusion over the consolidation. While corporate may use the term page designer or paginator, the truth is that most sites combine positions with copy editors. In other words, a copy editor position at many sites includes page designer/pagination duties. Sites won't be able to maintain these positions under the consolidation, so they will be losing copy editors. It has been implied at our site that those who produce and edit local copy will be retained, while those copy editors who primarily focus only on wire copy or late reads on local copy could be in peril of losing their jobs. I echo those concerned with quality control and emphasis on local content if only a few people will be involved in creating the final print product.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThe bigger question about Detroit is why it needs to be a two-newspaper town. What is the benefit to operating a JOA? Why can't you just fold two papers which Gannett essentially owns into one? Heck, sell the Media Partnership to Singleton and get out of there. Gannett's greed over the years destroyed not one but two great papers in Detroit.
ReplyDeleteAfter years of watching our corporate chiefs doing tribal dances to bring back the revenue rains, I've lost all confidence and hope in their chances of success. At this stage I'd be happy to see someone else coming along and pay $20 a share for the stock. Vultures know that there is very little in the way of costs to strip out. A smart buyer would recognize the need for original and robust content and the need for reporters and editors. I'd rather take my chances on them.
ReplyDeleteConsolidation.
ReplyDeleteReason of death found on the death certificate of "community" papers across the country.
After 4 months in Fort Myers it looks like Mei-Mei may be shaking sales management and staff up by switching the teams the managers are on. good? bad? We will see soon if these rumors are true.
ReplyDeleteFrom a low man on the todeum poll Mei-Mei gets a C so far.
There are sites that have been "test" sites. I've heard from at least one of them that they were left with none of their copy editors.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAny idea why The Journal News couldn't get a staff photographer to cover the wrong way / drunk driving mom with a kid in the car head on collision that happened a quarter-mile from the end of their driveway almost a year to the day of the Taconic Parkway crash last night at 7:30pm ??? Anyone?
ReplyDeleteSo ... who's out at the Journal News?? I heard rumblings about a major shakeup from friends in corporate.
ReplyDeleteThat stench is the rotting org chart in circulation at USA TODAY. Too many layers, too many VPs (one for blue chip?), not enough getting done, not growing the numbers. We're all shocked that Larry wasn't let go after the Marriott Massacre.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that it's going to get very lean over here. We used to steer the "direction" of the newspaper. Now we'll be marginalized without double L in place.
The thinning is starting - and it will smell before it's all over. Gracia surely wants her own lieutenants in VP roles across the entire firm. If you're going to make the big coin, you must be chosen so that your loyalty is without question.
Gannett is no longer a corporation. It is an Oligarchy. Same can be said for many large corporations.
ReplyDeleteUSA Today has plenty of ghosts in its closet. The layoffs (and push outs) in the last two years have created a lot more ghosts and bad karma. Some of those layoffs were unnecessary and heartless. Nothing that goes on at USAT surprises me anymore. It hires and keeps some of the most incompetent morons to ever work in this business while pushing out seasoned talent that help build the brand.
ReplyDeleteAnd still we wait ...
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone else have information about the
ReplyDeleteweeklies consolidating and closing.
I have heard rumors about the lessor revenue
producers going out as further cost cutting measures are instituted.
Following is an edited version of a comment posted by Anonymous@12:40 p.m.:
ReplyDeleteI was told several months ago (by a Crystal Palace insider) that Matore had already warned Hunke that he needed to thin the herd especially on the executive side of circulation. I was also told that when Lindquist retires that there are 5 or more USAT General Managers that will also be shown the door (forced retirements) as USAT continues it push to a regional circulation management format. Lindquist has several of his old cronies (including XXXXX) from his Gannett days riding his coat tail making big money and hiding behind good direct reports. I guess the gigs up! I will be willing to bet that we will see numerous announcements of USAT General Managers leaving or retiring between now and the end of the year. If Brad Jones doesn't land Lindquist's job my guess is he heads for greener pastures. Just something for those ardent USAT followers to chew on.
@ 12:40 - cutting community weeklies would be beyond stupid. They need to improve them. You can't get true community news online the way you can state and national. Cutting them further opens the door for small publishers to eat away at local budgets which are controlable.
ReplyDeleteSomebody is out of touch with reality!!!!
Confidential long-term strategic memo left in a Crystal Palace executive's copy machine last night: Within five years, all operations will be consolidated into a leased 6-by-6 office housing computer equipment operated by a trio of Scottish terriers that need no food or bathroom breaks, no vacation and health benefits, blocked access to Gannett Blog, and loyally following board orders to post press releases, unedited, as soon as they arrive, whip readers into a frenzy with incendiary AstroTurf "comments," and send padded Web traffic reports to advertisers, all the while volunteering frequently for unpaid overtime and furloughs and tipping off pet Wall Street analysts with quarterly profit "guidance" 1 cent per share lower than they will be.
ReplyDeleteWhen is this much needed Journal News editorial management housecleaning going to start?
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteWhy are you trying to cut the debate on TJN? It seems there is strong opinion and it may draw out important questions beyond ones already raised. Isn't the purpose of this blog to challenge the status quo. The only reason to shut down or discourage would be if it seems to be coming from the same old people.
It's come to this.. Happy Bitch promoted on POJO halfway: http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/
ReplyDeleteSe the link they put up: http://happybitchbook.com/pressroom/
OK let's take stabs at it. Who will be the new EE at the Journal News?
ReplyDelete