Sunday, November 14, 2010

Week Nov. 8-14 | Your News & Comments: Part 4

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36 comments:

  1. Something is cooking in Fort Collins. Wait and see. The place is making money and may be attracting attention from others.

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  3. 1:38 AM: If incomplete sentences and typos (which is standard-operating procedure for an online forum) and Jim's role as the "court jester" bothers you so much that you're venting online here at 1:38 a.m., then I gather you need a hobby or something. Or more sleep.

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  4. Jim---how about a list of where layoff didnt happen yet? Those are the places where bigger changes are coming next, and are why this wasn't an official company wide layoff.

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  5. Does anyone believe that the layoffs and changes
    are finished? I do not.
    Maybe the worst is yet to come.
    The budget shortfalls are too vast for a small
    layoff situation to cure them.
    How does laying of 4 people in Des Moines ,for example, account for millions of dollars
    short of revenue projections for the year?
    The huge profits expectations have not gone away
    and the end of year bottom line has to be solidly and hugely black.

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  6. Executive editor of the Asheville Citizen-Times, Phil Fernandez, is leaving for a position as editor of the Bristol Herald Courier in Virginia. "In addition to guiding the Herald Courier, Fernandez will oversee six weekly newspapers and grow the partnership with WJHL-TV in Johnson City."

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  7. I guess the big question is how much of a bonus will executives get this year?? This is total B.S. If each one of these people would take a 15 to 20% cut in pay and no bonuses the bottom line would greatly improve.
    This place is in dire need of a TEA PARTY type movement!!!!

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  9. 7:20 p.m. said:

    This place is in dire need of a TEA PARTY type movement!!!!


    Really? Let us know how that works out for you!

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  11. Any word out there about 1st quarter furloughs, or ones for the whole year? A week for each quarter could really boost the bonuses in the Crystal Tower!

    And has anyone heard anything more about the "long-range" plan to reduce overall Gannett jobs by 5,000 or so?

    Is there any target date for this? Any plan for shifting Gannett's emphasis - like becoming a chain of shoppers?

    Also, in light of last week's cuts at Westchester, are there any moves to cover Westchester and Poughkeepsie with one publisher and one editor?

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  12. Westchester's top news management apppears immune to the ax. The daily gets thinner and more lame every week, and the insignificance of the so-called Express is an embarassment. The Web? Well, it's like other Gannett sites: BORING!

    How long does corporate allow a repeatedly failing news management team to operate?

    Apparently until it kills the paper. Westchester's isn't quite there yet, but it's getting close, and taking down three markets - Westchester, Rockland and Putnam - all at once.

    Beautiful!

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  13. For 40 years, my Gannett paper (a supposed flagship) excelled at covering high school sports because there were no local professional teams. Beat writers were excellent. When there were multiple critical games, they used great stringers and correspondents to deliver stories of record. It was with sadness Saturday I looked for the high school football playoff results. For 14 games of note, I saw one 12 inch story, a 2 inch story and 12 two line summaries. This is what all this foolishness has come to - a pretend paper.

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  14. 12:10..Tea Party,let us know ....
    There's a democrat for you...
    Yes , the Tea Party works pretty well,and the republicans here know that pretty well!!!!!!

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  15. To all remaining Gannett employees. You have known for at least two years now how ruthless Gannnett can be and is towards their
    employees.
    Yet,have you left,have you interveiwed anywhere,have you developed a start up business plan,have you even fined tuned your resume or
    added some additional skills in preparation
    for your almost certain departure from Gannett
    payroll. How many of you still believe that Gannett is your career until retirement?
    Maybe you missed this round of layoffs,do you feel secure in your job for now,or for even six months?
    Do you leave work and relax in the comfort of knowing that as long as you do your job well, your employment is for the long term? I'll bet the answers are all no,and your life is centered around the stress of not knowing if you will be unemployed next week or next month.
    The Gannett stress rules your life,and more than likely you have trouble sleeping and enjoying life away from work.
    You don't have to stay ,nobody is forcing you to
    endure the life Gannett is making you live.
    I know about all of the above.I left and got my life back!!
    I no longer give my soul to Gannett in return for a paycheck.

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  16. 11:28: You sound just like a reformed smoker or evangelical -- never content with your own decisions and actions, you must try to convert all others. Go away.

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  17. 1:59
    I am not only content,I am in the publishing business,making good money,and HAPPY!
    I am not trying to convert anyone,just trying to
    let whoever will listen know it can be done.
    Hell,you may go ahead and suffer if you want.

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  18. 11:28: This isn't anything new, but a great number in GCI corporate (McLean) are going nowhere because they get away with too much now that they wouldn't get away with another employer: unaccountable, over the limit vacation/sick days; managers not giving a damn that staff isn't actually working; making their own work schedule with extended lunch hours. If these people are comfortable with getting away with these "perks," there's no reason to leave.

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  19. Craig Dubow is a socialist! And he was born in Kenya! I demand he produce his birth certificate!

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  20. Leaving Gannett is one thing. Standing up to them and calling the company out on injustices like age discrimination and workplace bullying and all is quite another. Make today the day you make a difference.

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  21. Maybe Gannett should be treated as the enemy.
    They seem to have so many captives ,that at this point, are afraid to leave.
    I know at this site there are at least 4 in sales who are just collecting their checks,as they haven't had enough to do with their time in more than a year.The customer base has gone ,
    and prospecting for new accounts is a thing of the past as no advertisers want to do business with Gannett since there are alternatives.Moral is so low you might think you work in a morgue.So they put in their time and wait
    to be laid off so they can get unemployment.
    What a company!

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  22. What ever happened to Garry Watson? And what would it take for a vote of no confidence/confidence from the stockholders? Even if it fell short, how do you get it on the ballot?

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  23. With all apologies to Bill Mahr: New Rules, if you tell us you quit and found a new job paying way mote money and lower medical premiums, tell us the name of the new company and the title of your new job. Lots of big talkers who still use the annonymous button. I am calling you out!

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  24. I am still in Gannett because it's still a good deal in terms of pay, etc. When I find something better, I'll take it, though.

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  25. I quit .
    Gannett Salary ,$50,000 per year.

    New job.
    Started New Business From Scratch,No Bank Loan
    New Publication,
    Job Title :Owner/ Publisher
    Late 2009 Beginning Salary $800.00 per month
    End of 2010 Salary $8,000.00 per month
    Great Pay,Great Benefits,employees love their jobs.
    No Gannett Backstabbing Bastards to deal with.
    How's that Bill Mahr, New Rules!
    By the way ,How'that Hope and Change working for you ?

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  26. 8:54 -- Congrats, but I don't understand your post. Is it meant to slam Obama or praise him. According to your example, the hope and change is working great ... at least for you.

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  27. I feel physically ill thinking about going to work every day now. So jealous of 8:54.

    And I love what I do. But I hate the company, work with a despicable person who has ruined so many - either their reputation, their passion for the job, or just manages to fire people (yet keeps getting praise and promotion from corporate).

    And then, the stress of never knowing if you're next to get chopped. Doing everything I can to save money, cut expenses at home, etc. with hopes that I can soon leave by taking something with less pay. Just to get out.

    No point here. Venting. And, it's Sunday night which means the return to what has become such a sad, sad place to spend so much time is getting closer.

    (For those who will, I'm sure, tell me to stop whining and get another job: I look every single day, but there is very, very rarely anything in my field here and moving is out of the question.)

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  28. 8:54pm- I'm available...Call me!

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  29. 8:54 Here
    Life is good. The last year and a half have not been easy by any means.Lots and lots of 16 hour days and sleepless nights.But I knew it was all for MY company and not Gannnett,who could care less about how many hours a week you work or how valuable you were to them.
    I have been in advertising for 20 years,always knowing I could do this better than the company I worked for.
    The last year a half have been very tough with getting the business rolling,keeping ahead of the overhead and payroll.But we now have a great publication with a loyal following of just wonderful advertisers who believe in us as a local viable publication.
    I try to be very certain that each and every customer is treated as though it is our only customer.Our small group of employees take pride in their work and I treat as though they
    are all part owners and it shows in the pride that they take in their work.
    Hang in there all of you something good always
    comes from enduring something bad. I am not a rocket scientist or a an MBA,and it's working for us.
    As far as HOPE and CHANGE.
    It IS NOT working for the country as a whole or the Democrat party.I would say my venture is a rare example.

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  30. The anonymous crazies are running wild in this thread.

    I'd say 50-75 percent of what is posted here is either an exaggeration or an outright lie.

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  31. I'd say you're wrong.

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  32. 11:33, sorry but you are very wrong. Most of what I've read here is true as I have seen with my own eyes the crap that has gone down.

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  33. 8:45.. Help us know how to start. Is there a blog primer on what you did?

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  34. 11:33 P.M.
    The ONLY lie(s) I've read were your post!
    How do you explain that? Oh, forget it as it
    will probably be more of your lies!

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  35. The biggest lie in this thread is 8:54's post. The follow-up would be next. 9:04 a.m. is the standard rumor-monger. Jim loves those.

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  36. I have to agree: 8:54's claims about his company's income rising to $8,000 a month from $800 a month seems hard to believe.

    However, I wrote about entrepreneurs for USAT for eight years, and I saw a lot of success stories.

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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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