Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Week Nov. 8-14 | Your News & Comments: Part 2
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76 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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For Part 1 of this comment thread, please go here.
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ReplyDelete"I have not invented a "new style," composite, modified or otherwise that is set within distinct form as apart from "this" method or "that" method. On the contrary, I hope to free my followers from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds. Remember that Jeet Kune Do is merely a name used, a mirror in which to see "ourselves". . . Jeet Kune Do is not an organized institution that one can be a member of. Either you understand or you don't, and that is that."
ReplyDeleteWARNING JOB TITLES CAN AND WILL CHANGE AT GANNETT WITHOUT YOUR PRIOR KNOWLEDGE!
ReplyDeleteThis is just sad. For those whom have missed their children growing up because of their commitment to the devils upstairs. for those that are still holding up ship .
ReplyDeletePlease, take that vacation time you have left and think about your family , find something and get out. Those bastards are not going to give you even the respect of a handshake when they walk you out the door. Your relentless hours for this company means nothing to anyone but yourself and your family.
The above crap almost wishes the old trolls were back. At least they were succinct.
ReplyDeleteJeet Kune Do? Old school. Rex Kwon Do is now!
The guy who pushed the spellcheck button at USAT.com must have been RIF'd. This morning, home page:
ReplyDeleteS.F. launches misguided war on Happy Meals
Our view: City'srdinance denies toys for kids under the guise of fighting obesity
Some say the golden age of flying is now
With affordable fares and new echnology, there's never been a better time to fly, some say.
It's not the train.......it's the engineer!
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for those in Ohio with the poster on the last thread saying Bill Albrecht is coming from St Cloud. It let so many employees go it was unreal. Took out the entire press area sales upper managment. He had three papers in this market it is now one. The others shut down. Not a fun person to work for total micro manager. Good luck Ohio. Happy Holidays.
ReplyDelete8:56 - Your resentment is a little old move on
ReplyDeleteWonder when the dust will settle in Westchester.
ReplyDeleteAre more cuts under consideration?
How long will furloughs be in 2011?
Will pay remain frozen or even cut?
When will the bureaus be pulled back to cut expenses? Will the Rockland operation be moved to a smaller office?
What's the future of Human Resources? Will the office be closed in the consolidation?
How many more writers and photographers does corporate think we can cut?
Are the people in charge doing anything to save The Journal News, or do they just do corporate's bidding? Are they calling any shots at all?
And finally, will The Journal News and The Poughkeepsie Journal be sharing a publisher and top editor?
Just curious.
Re/12:51, reporting, writing and editing skills are valuable in other areas, particularly in the nonprofit field. As a former journalist for more than 25 years, I can speak from first-hand experience. If you are able to invest the time (4 1/2 days) and tuition ($895), The Grantsmanship Center has a great proposal writing workshop in cities around the country. Nonprofits are always looking for effective grantwriters. Go to: www.tgci.com.
ReplyDeleteGannett's utter failure to position itself in the 21st century media picture, even in print, stems in large part from its decisions 5-7 years ago to give control over content and coverage strategy to marketing and business-side folks. Instead of trusting editors to pull in readers with must-read stories, as is the case with the best newspapers, Gannett dictated that marketing push the coverage. All of this was based on reader focus group sessions and other marketing studies that led Gannett to believe that its primary target audience consisted of women aged 35 to 49, aka "soccer moms" in charge of the household purse strings. The problem with that is that soccer moms are too busy shuttling kids to soccer games and are too engaged with family, friends, school, church and other activities to read newspapers. This was a complete flight of fancy on Gannett's part, and it turned core readers off instead of solidifying the relationship. Gannett gave up the bird in hand for two in the bush and now has little more to show than a handful of feathers.
ReplyDeleteFolks, take a good look at what 9:31 just wrote. I'd think even our "stop whining" troll would acknowledge that this is a useful post. Thanks for the lead, 9:31, because, yes, these non-profits are out there and, yes, they pay 'real money' for these kinds of jobs.
ReplyDeleteThis can't be stressed enough: These journalism skills are very transferable. But think outside the sandbox of classic journalism if you want to bring them to market. Keep in mind that you do NOT have to geographically live where you work anymore. Keep in mind that you do NOT have to have "either a fulltime job or nothing."
I was laid off seven months ago. I have been self-employed since then and have made literally 50 percent more than I made as a senior staffer at GCI in McLean. I now am getting more fulltime interviews than ever because things seem to be loosening up, employment wise, and I've kept myself very active and hirers like that. I will never, ever work as a classic journalist again, and you should think about doing the same. There are all kinds of non-profits, agencies, private companies, trade associations, PR firms, etc. that need -- that's NEED -- proven content-producers. Show them a good A-1 clip from a newspaper of merit and you'll get their attention. Did you know that companies like GM, Geico, Nationwide, USAA, etc., etc., etc., all out out their own magazines to build brand loyalty? Did you know they all pay writers to produce the content and design/art people for the visuals? You didn't? Well, there's another option for you too, if just for good contract work while you're looking for a 'real job.' The best way to get a job, after all, is to keep working.
Don't walk around in the CP or another GCI property with your head down, shoulders slumped thinking 'woe is me ... It's only a matter of time.' If you have time, use it! Despite what the senior managers think, you have value, so sell it!
9:37...I called it "Housewife Journalism" in a self-eval a few years ago and got stomped because of it. Like Bart Simpson, I had to write on the blackboard 100 times- I know what our target audience is, I know what our target audience is. The ME called me into her office and called my self-eval insubordinate. I told her I was on the street every day hearing from FORMER readers why the paper sucked. EVERY day! He reply was "We did scientific research and know who are readers are". I said if you lose everyone else, then yes- that's who our readers will be. They spent a ton of money to hire an outside firm to do phone surveys of area residents. They called 15,000 people and got responses from a little over a thousand of them. The rest just hung up. They based their information on what our readership is/should be on those people who actually had nothing else to do than answer a half-hour's worth of questions from a stranger who called during dinner. I told the ME that it was the 14,000 people who hung up that we should be going after- those are the people I talked to every day. Of course- I was soon 'Restructured". Page one stories about what designer baby clothes are the most popular have helped the paper get where it is today- circling the drain.
ReplyDelete"Spare parts and broken hearts keep the world turning around."
ReplyDeleteAs a paying supporter of the blog, I would prefer that Jim practice more active moderation of comments. I don't come here for pro-Gannett postings; I get enough of that at the office. I come here for the information I can't get through company channels. And providing a soapbox for the haters does nothing but make the rest of the information less readable.
ReplyDelete"I feel bad for those in Ohio with the poster on the last thread saying Bill Albrecht is coming from St Cloud. It let so many employees go it was unreal. Took out the entire press area sales upper managment. He had three papers in this market it is now one. The others shut down. Not a fun person to work for total micro manager. Good luck Ohio. Happy Holidays."
ReplyDeleteATTN: OHIO - Not to worry. Albrecht is one of the very best!!! Fair, fun, smart, big idea guy and motivator. You will love him.
8:56 is a whiner former employee RIFed in 08...and should have been gone much earlier than that. He has a huge grudge and can't seem to move on. Take anything negative with a grain of salt. It's all just his inability to get over it and move on. Utter wind!!! You will really enjoy Bill!
10:19 -- Great post. At my mid-sized paper, I've seen us shift gears a dozen time, constantly re-adjusting what we do to reach this or that target audience. And the top editors always say the decisions are based on scientific research. However, if you look at the way our marketing department does most of its research -- and, yes, the marketing department does a lot of it -- there is nothing scientific about it.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who's ever taken a good class in polling would know that the data being received would be corrupt simply because of the way they gather it. When outside polling firms are hired, the numbers are probably better, but we haven't used them as much in recent years because money is so tight. So, we are charging forward using bad research as are model.
Also, I've seen us do things like focus all of our energy on writing stories for 35-year-old women and then suddenly panic and say, "We're really low in Baby Boomer males." Anyone with a brain would say, "Yes, because most of our stories are targeted at working women." But in Gannettland, the managers seem truly shocked by this. So, we then shift course and cater to Baby Booming males.
These clowns just don't seem to understand that if you tell really quality stories that impact a community, they will appeal to multiple demographics. And we have so few employees these days that most newsrooms could stay busy just finding and telling those stories -- not manufacturing non-stories that some editor is convinced will appeal to a 38-year-old businessman who owns a Blackberry and lives and dies by the Tennessee Titans. The truth is, if you had to stretch to find the story, it probably won't appeal to that guy even though it seems to push all of his buttons. The story about a mass increase in property taxes, however, will get him and all of his neighbors -- younger and older.
Worrying about target audiences is the best way to kill a general interest newspaper. Just as focus groups often destroy movies and television shows, they are the surest way to create a newspaper that nobody wants to read.
HR question:
ReplyDeleteWhy is Gannett posting job openings on journalismjobs.com that don't show up on the company website? Two of 'em, I noticed, popped up the day after the layoffs started. Seems so strange.
RE: 11/09/2010 10:19 AM
ReplyDeleteYu hit it on the head. Talk to the people on the street. Focus groups and such are no more reliable than polls anymore. Someone last week posted something like "31 percent of 24 to 30 somethings read the paper" with the emphasis on the 60 something percent NOT reading it. To me it would be more prudent to find out WHY those 60 % plus people stopped reading the paper. Do they really believe they are ALL going to the internet for their news?
If all this stupidity was a few papers around the country I could buy it, but this is a whole nationwide industry drifting into nothingness. It almost smacks of a conspiracy of some sort. Can it truely be that ALL newspaper companies don't know how to sell newspapers anymore? Are they ALL following the internet pied piper over the cliff?
What happened to the survey you were doing on the ages of those whacked by GCI in the name of efficiency during the past few years?
ReplyDeleteWhy not put something in the right column for awhile to allow others to add their ages.
Will the info be tabulated and shared? How might it be used to address the discrimination issue?
I thought someone would have posted this already, but ... Yesterday (Monday) the Asbury Park Press laid off two newsroom employees. 1. The editor of the glossy, monthly magazine. 2. An assistant art/graphics editor who, 18 months ago, had transferred from Morristown as part of the regional desk consolidation. An interesting development given the assumption that the APP being one of the five new hubs meant no layoffs in design or pagination. The scuttlebutt on the artist layoff is that he was told he could apply for a job in the new hub when the hiring process begins. Don't know about layoffs in any other departments, if any.
ReplyDelete2:52 p.m.: The survey on ages of laid-off workers is now on the page following the current home page; click on the "older posts" link at the bottom to find it.
ReplyDeleteThe home page is set to publish 10 items at time, so as to speed up loading time, especially for those on mobile devices.
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ReplyDeleteI will care to wager that if you try to find any Gannett publication at any site you will not find a story covering the layoffs .
ReplyDeleteI have not found a single paragragh in Iowa
that the Register has had layoffs.
How do we know that the numbers are accurate and
complete.Everything has been covered up pretty well it seems.Also,I hear or read nothing about the weeklies and other publications owned under the DM Register,for example, umbrella.I would venture to say that the layoffs total goes much deeper than we know,as the "other locations" layoff numbers will only be known if those
smaller pubs have layed off employees that post here and give true counts.There was a weekly
that laid off their entire press room and mail room in the fall of 09 ,well after the mass layoffs were finished, a total of 30 employees
and who knew ,only a small group of people .
The point is ,even though this blog is very well
read and does a great job,the accuracy of the total layoffs throughout the Gannett empire ,is
really impossible to know from this blog alone.
That is especially true since Gannett is doing everything possible to keep it all secret.
So who knows how high that actual number might be.
Why were all the interesting adages stated at the top of this thread deleted?
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ReplyDelete9:09 pm: Interesting, yes. But they didn't have a clear Gannett/media/news connection.
ReplyDeleteBig announcement coming soon for Asbury Park Press and the other 3 NJ papers near it --- and it will explain why there has been no layoffs yet for them.
ReplyDeleteWhen will we get the APP announcement, this week, next week, next month next year? Can we expect layoffs or are we safe this round?
ReplyDeleteYou'll get the announcement from APP about five minutes after the Publisher in Wilmington retires.
ReplyDeleteTrouble in Kronos land... after the labor day holiday it appears as if Kronos over paid some folks and yet for others who worked overtime it didn't quite pay enough. The company of course wants its money back. I was wondering if any other sites have had Kronos issues like this or is it local operator error?
ReplyDeleteI don't work there anymore, but I would bet my money (if i had any) that the Daily Record and HNT become satellites, as CN is now, and APP becomes their central hub and the other 2 Jersey papers get absorbed into Delaware in the same fashion. This is purely speculation, of course.
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ReplyDeleteI have still not seen a post here from anyone
ReplyDeletein the Des Moines Register system.............
Are they afraid of being CAUGHT, oh no !,
by management or what ???
WOW ...are they trained like puppies !!
Pansies !!
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ReplyDeleteHollis Towns is frothing at the mouth over the expansion of his news empire from the APP to the colonies beyond.
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ReplyDeleteI looked up some information on cyberbullying, and it sure seems like all those distasteful posts aimed at Jim fit the bill.
ReplyDelete10:09 a.m.: The Blogger software I use to publish Gannett Blog doesn't make it possible to block and IP address. And, as many Gannett webmasters know, a determined poster can move to a new address anyway.
ReplyDelete10:09 Won't do any good. It is simple to get a new IP, thanks to anonymizer programs. I do think the best approach is ignore and let Jim take care of it in a somewhat laborious fashion.
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ReplyDeleteThe CN is still a "newspaper" of its own. DR, CN, HNT will most likely be absorbed into APP and renamed. Waiting...
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ReplyDeleteInformation getting too close for comfort at the NJ group? or someone on heavy meds....When will the consolidation take place?
ReplyDeleteThe CN hasn't been it's own since they merged with the HNT nearly two years ago.
ReplyDeleteBut I can see a merge being possible, since they already share everything except A-1, A-3 and local sports.
Wasn't there some talk of a New Jersey Today a few years back?
I remember hearing about NJ Today years ago. But I think the idea didn't have much merit since FL Today wasn't working out so well. That's how I heard it. I'm out of the loop after getting axed July '09.
ReplyDeleteI am finally done! No more Gannett no more idiot management no more fear no more gloom and doom no more doing more with less for less no more questionable ethics no more being degraded and belittled. The freedom feels great!
ReplyDeleteHow about, Jerseylicious Today?
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ReplyDeleteDo the NJ papers still have their own Publisher, EE and ME? would they have all that if consolidated? What else might be consolidated into the Hub
ReplyDeletedoes anyone know once the TPP payments stop if they unemployment amount goes up? it would have to wouldn't it...
ReplyDeletedoes it depend on state...
ahhhhhh this part is the really frustrating part..
No, 3:05 p.m., the unemployment benefit doesn't increase when the TPP ceases. The combo of the two is to equal your full salary, and in fact will be more because you won't be paying into Social Security. When TPP ends, the unemployment check can continue depending on the number of weeks allowed.
ReplyDeleteThank you 3:29pm, 3:05pm is obviously an idiot if you can't figure out a simple severance plan, oh boy!!!
ReplyDeleteMike Romero to the rescue!!
ReplyDeleteFort myers had 4 layoffs and 20 jobs lost through attrition in the past couple of months. Corporate has taken some of our best people.
ReplyDeleteAt least there are people at some sites who have the gonads to write in and let us know
ReplyDeletethe story.Hear that Des Moines ? Wednesday
already and not one post. Laura H. has them trained to love their Gannett job,because they are not good enough to work anywhere else.Never be critical of the hand that FEEDS you.NEVER be
critical of the Mother ship.
Trained like house breaking a puppy to go on
the NEWSPAPER.Oh Brother ,what wimps.
6:01: Were any of those layoffs in the past two weeks? What about any of the 20 jobs eliminated?
ReplyDeleteThe 4 were announced in a staff meeting today. The others have trickled and I don't think anyone relaized how many it had become. No wonder people are stressed.
ReplyDeleteWho is Mike Romero?
ReplyDeleteOMG, I hope he is not the "Mike Romero" from the Fort Collins Coloradoan. If so, there is nothing but @#%$ ahead!
ReplyDeleteFurloughs will be announced soon I bet. With such a jump in paper cost we would be sticking our heads in the sand to think otherwise.
ReplyDeleteWhy they would take the sales force OFF the streets when more sales are needed seems ass backwards. Why not pay half the normal pay for 2 weeks so all cylinders are still firing to get the engine what's needed. Revenue.
Regarding jobs on journalismjobs.com not showing up on the Gannett website. The Gannett website gets its feed from CareerBuilder. Some editors have chosen to use JJ for recruiting as the quality of candidates through CB is usually pretty low.
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ReplyDelete9:37: I've been told you can bank on Q1 furloughs.
ReplyDelete@Jim: I've been told by my publisher that because we have already taken at 5 percent pay cut at my site, furloughs on top of that would be unlikely, because that would be, in his words, "double-dipping."
ReplyDeleteLet me rephrase that: You can bank on Q1 furloughs on a site-by-site basis.
ReplyDeleteFor Part 3 of this comment thread, please go here.
ReplyDelete