My survey of Gannett newspapers today found that 43 of 47 print front pages featured at least one element of the Corporate-driven weekly jobs series. I counted three elements: a story; a "refer" to an inside story; a refer to the A-section CareerBuilder job listings, or a combination of any three. Today is part five of 12 in the Sunday series, designed to promote the GCI-controlled employment site.
Note: I examined only those pages appearing in the Newseum's daily database. (I didn't count two N.J. papers -- the Home News Tribune and the Courier News -- because of apparent glitches in uploading their Sunday pages to the database.)
Which four papers didn't include any Page One presence? See my spreadsheet.
Which four papers didn't include any Page One presence? See my spreadsheet.
Some papers are missing on the spreadsheet - Tulare Advanced Register and Visalia Times-Delta?
ReplyDeleteThat is because they weren't in the Newseum's database yesterday.
ReplyDeleteAnother step as Gannett moves away from news and toward its being a marketing company.
ReplyDeleteDid the participating papers get more newsprint, more space? Did this eat into local news space? Are other "projects" coming up?
Career Builder can probably kiss its ass goodbye, just like our classifieds did when Craigslist came along, with the launch of this new, nonprofit .jobs thing.
ReplyDeleteWhich non-profit jobs thing?
ReplyDeletethis one:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.goto.jobs/about.asp
This morning I did not get my local Gannett Sunday morning newspaper the Hattiesburg American, this happens frequently, I'm now on a first name basis with the Circulation Department, so frequently earlier this week I emailed the General Manager and was told delivery of the American is 'contracted out'! Her statement as copied and pasted: "Thanks so much for taking the time to email me with your concerns about the Hattiesburg American’s delivery. As General Manager, I am ultimately responsible for all operations here at the newspaper. I agree 100% that our delivery service is not what it should be. About 3 years ago, the Hattiesburg American made the decision to contract out the delivery of the newspaper. We now have contracts with three delivery Agents responsible for the delivery of the Hattiesburg American, the Clarion Ledger and the USA Today. This decision has been beneficial in many ways but has made it much harder for me to manage the delivery process. Please know that I am working diligently to improve our service."
ReplyDeleteLike thousands of other locals I have elected to not renew my subscription when it expires in eight or so weeks. It is disgusting to me that over the past four or five years too often the American has not been delivered, I live in the city limits with paved streets and street lights within 5 to 10 minutes from two Universities.
It is not surprising newspaper advertising sales are down on a local and national level for Gannett, I understand the dramatic impact the weak economy, Internet and television has had on the industry, regardless when the product cannot be delivered to those of us who want to receive their local paper, pay for their subscription in advance and still don't receive the paper ... the question is not what can be done to increase advertising sales, rather it is how soon before the paper stops publishing? It will!
If I were a stock holder in Gannett I'd bail out when the market opens tomorrow morning, there is no potential upside for a company that does not deliver its product to the consumer.
Additionally, I read the news release of July 18th:
"Gannett Co., which publishes USA Today and more than 80 daily newspapers, reported a 22 percent decline in its second-quarter net income on Monday ... " In this news release the COO responding to a question was quoted as saying:
GRACIA MARTORE, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "With regard to newspaper ad trends during the quarter, I'd say obviously April was a little bit better month because of the later Easter, and also we had some things earlier in the quarter in the U.K. that helped numbers. I think June actually was a better month sequentially. So felt good about the way we closed out the quarter, and I'd say as we look into July, the sense we've gotten, and remember, it's extremely early in the quarter, is that things are perking along about in the same way.
A little bit of improvement here and there, certainly nothing that looks less satisfying than what we achieved in the second quarter. So I think overall the quarter is getting off to the same sort of momentum start as the second quarter ended."
The COO says he 'felt good about the way we closed out the quarter" ... down 22% in net income?Mr. Martore talked like a member of Congress, talking out of both sides of his mouth, spinning facts, not addressing the issue, ending on a positive note! As if he were talking to people that didn't have the ability to understand his bull shit. I found that type rhetoric insulting!
Milton Waldoff