Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Week Feb. 14-20 | Your News & Comments: Part 3

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46 comments:

  1. For Part 2 of this comment thread, please go here.

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  2. Given My Boss' correct call on the timing of PointRoll's CEO announcement, I am focusing more on one of his/her other tips: that Gannett may be prepping USA Today for a possible sale, assuming a buyer can be found.

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  3. Jim,
    I have to agree with an earlier post that little is reported here about Content One and its staffing. I'm aware a few years back when it was Gannett News Service that some folks took buyouts (I could name two). But I'm also curious if these people are feeling the uncertainty many of us do.

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  4. Jim just feels himself.

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  5. Do we know how much of USA Today is printed by the community papers. With these consolidations of printing, I've lost track of how USA Today is being put out. I do recall one instance where they contracted out to an outside printing company last year.
    As to Jim's suggestion Murdoch could marry USA Today with the WSJ and Barron's, I don't see that at all possible. There would be a revolt in the WSJ and Barron's if that were suggested and the financial community already nervous about what Murdoch is doing would not be happy. He already has national distribution with the WSJ and seems bent on a course to make that his national publication like the Australian and the London Times. If you look at those patterns, you see he didn't buy up national competitors but set about to bury them -- and very successfully he did that, too.

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  6. By "marry," I don't merge the titles. I'm talking about USAT becoming a mid-market read/advertising buy within his existing portfolio.

    USAT could become Murdoch's version of what Germans call a boulevardzeitun.

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  7. The word around the office is "TIRED". Simply put, simply stated. In NJ...so much thrown on us, it is unreal. Help.

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  8. 5:23 - Tara Connell is trying to ride it out until retirement age. Heard that the rest of her crew is just riding the gravy train.

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  9. My Boss is the man. Seriously, this person is definitely in the know. It has to make the GMC nervous!

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  10. I wouldn't be surprised if we have seen the last of My Boss... Couldn't Jason Tafler have been the source for My Boss?

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  11. Just to ease everyone's mind, USA TODAY is not for sale.

    Several people who were there say that Dave Hunke refuted the rumor at an executive meeting of the newspaper's leadership today, saying there was no truth to it.

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  12. 9:18's rumor isn't enough to put an end to the USAT sale/set-aside rumor. As we all know, loose lips sink ships, so people in the know are gonna keep it to themselves. Or, they might try to snuff the rumors so an impending deal isn't aborted.
    At this point, My Boss trumps the anonymous denier. Mr./Mrs./Ms. Denier needs more substance to get into the ring with My Boss.

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  13. So can someone who runs this company tell us how many more rounds of layoffs we should expect this year?

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  14. Managers need to cut the pay of the people that make too much for the job they are (not)doing,& distribute schedules accordingly to the amount of work that is needed to be done in the correct time frame, too many dead weights getting away with little work while the others take on the burden, & that can also be due to seniority. Everyone should carry the load, no matter the pay or time.
    Managers need to prioritize employees schedules to an as need basis. This is not happening.
    Waste of time & pay.
    Consider checking your staff out & reorganize, it can only be a plus
    for all invovled.
    Spring cleaning is good.

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  15. The boulevardzeitun idea is intriguing, but wouldn't it run into big monopoly issues, especially with Murdoch's ownership of the Fox TV network. I know U.S. politicians would be happy to find something to harry the hell out of Murdoch, and threatening to siphon off ads from local newspapers into Murdoch's empire would be a choice one. I don't think Germany suffers from similar monopoly laws, but in fact favors monopolies controlled by the political favored.

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  16. Wow, if MyBoss is right & 5K more are laid off, that will bring Gannett to approx. 23,000 active employees. A 45% staff reduction in 4 years! Absolutely disheartening.

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  17. My Boss is incredible. Could have been Jason.

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  18. Monopoly? You must be joking. There's no barrier to entry. Or requirement of participation at any level.

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  19. My Boss is a blowhard, and you'll see the proof Friday when GCI makes a major but easily forseen announcement. My Boss is plugged in to digital but not much else. Wait and see Friday.

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  20. 11:11 - you're talking out of your @$$

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  21. There's a 'g' at the end of boulevardzeitung.
    No schadenfreude here, just protecting the mother tongue.

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  22. I was at the management meeting this morning where Hunke said the sale of USA TODAY is untrue.

    I believe him and so did everyone else there.

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  23. 11:39 Danke schoen!

    11:42 How closely did anyone question Hunke on this point?

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  24. 11:11 I believe I was in, oh, first grade the last time I heard someone say: "i know something that you don't."

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  25. Anyone who believes Hunke or any other Gannett suits is just plain dumb! Sorry. Those folks lie from every hole in their heads and elsewhere. They are masters of deceit. Wake up!

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  26. Here in McLean, home of the CIA, we understand the usefulness of misinformation and disinformation. "USAT for sale" could be either or both -- and also true.

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  27. Jim's right. Questions might have revealed something totally different, had Mr. Hunke been asked and responded.
    Might there be a partnership of some sort? Will USAT be spun off to stand on its own? Has USAT ever been for sale during your time at the helm? Is it not now for sale because there were no interested takers at a reasonable price? If Gannett is divided up like Scripps Howard, will USAT and Detroit go with the community newspaper group or on their own? And so forth.
    I can see Mr. Hunke somewhere down the road explaining "well, it wasn't exactly a sale...more like a trade," or something lawyer-like. There's a story here and it will surface, sooner or later, but let's be wary of Clintonesque orators.

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  28. He told a story about having to take a phone call from a reporter about the so-called sale.

    Seriously, whatever might be happening with the status of USA TODAY, a sale is not one of the options.

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  29. A sale is certainly one of the options, as a sale is always an option. This is modern corporate America, and corporate entities make moves that they see as beneficial. Whether it's part of a plan or not, who knows, but everything is always on the table.

    If Gannett got a call tomorrow from somebody who wanted to buy USAT and the terms were seen as favorable it would be a done deal. The same could be said for any of the community papers or broadcast units.

    Even in the good days Gannett sold papers. Massive businesses wheel and deal. It's what they do. Gannett may not be actively marketing the paper, but a sale is an option no matter what Hunke would like to think.

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  30. 11:42

    I believe him and so did everyone else there.

    And I'm a Nigerian prince, and I have 123 gazillion dollars I want to give to you.........

    I can see it now- a room full of "bobbleheads."

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  31. I was in a meeting in Detroit where Hunke was asked point blank whether the rumors that he was leaving were true. He paused for a moment and then replied, "absolutely not" or something to that effect. A few weeks later he was off to USAT. I'd be skeptical of an answer to any question that comes out of his mouth.

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  32. Must be real partnership with Yahoo, similar to Patch/AOL and thehuffingtonpost.com. More than just ads--- shared content.

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  33. Anyone else hearing that Dubow is announcing his retirement Friday?

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  34. In Munchen steht ein Hofbrau haus

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  35. 10:03, how should all of that happen when there is still too much dead weight and too many people with limited skills?

    Obviously you have never managed or supervised a group of people, and you are just talking out of your ass -- a common theme at Gannett Blog.

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  36. Jim, 11:29, talk to me on Friday.

    Your friend, 11:11.

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  37. 8:25 Craig Dubow announcing his retirement? That's an ongoing rumor. Still, it would follow Gracia Martore's recent first anniversary as Gannett's No. 2 executive:  She was promoted to president and chief operating officer on Feb. 1, 2010.

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  38. First, I'm just glad to hear that Hunke actually still attends meetings...or anything else here. I was beginning to wonder.

    Second, whether he is to be believed or not, how about making that same pronouncement to the staff and not just a group of senior execs. We all might like to know, too.

    Once this hits the marketplace, it will take on a life of its own and advertisers will start to worry....or worse. No client or agency wants to recommend a publication that's for sale or about to close.

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  39. A Dubow retirement would make My Boss golden. I thought that one was a stretch when it was posted several months ago, and I've been waiting to see if it comes true.

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  40. 6:14 I forgot about that Hunke response to the question of whether he was leaving Detroit. Thanks for the reminder.

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  41. On the USA Today sale idea: these things don't happen overnight. Even if a decision was made, it could be shopped privately and it would take months before they would publicly acknowledge it after likely corporations looked it over. I think a spin-off more likely.

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  42. Jim...Newsuem/Freedom Forum hired a pricey headhunter firm, Isaacson/Miller, to find a replacement for Ken Paulson, now doing nothing in Nashville. If someone is dumb enough to take the job, they will also have to eventually take over for Charles Overby. Who wants to clean up their financial mess? It may be too far gone, unless Big Al's monument to himself is shuttered. Anyone who worked for Paulson knows he has a mean streak and big ego. He enjoys humiliating people, just like his patron, Big Al.

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  43. 11:18 For the record, My Boss recently repeated something he/she has forecast before: "A major executive (GMC) will be announcing a retirement within the quarter."

    GMC is the Gannett Management Committee. It has 11 members, some of them are very new, including recently hired Chief Financial Officer Paul Saleh. On the other hand, broadcasting division President Dave Lougee has been there since July 2007.

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  44. 11:21 But wouldn't a spinoff mean USAT would be capitalized as a separate business, with its own stock via an IPO -- stock that in large part would be given to existing Gannett stockholders as recompense? This seems extremely unlikely.

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  45. Notice how quickly the sleeping corporate troll snapped back when Content One was mentioned? As if an oozing sore had been poked....

    Content One has favored child status, and it is a sore point with almost everyone at corporate. People have been rescued and "hidden" there. Where they continue to accomplish little.

    When Dubow retires (very soon: check his health and umbrella dates), it will soon breathe its last.

    And my boss isn't the man. She's the woman.

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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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