Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Week Feb. 21-27 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

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45 comments:

  1. Don't abandon your laid-off colleagues. One of the worst parts of being laid off is losing work friends.

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  2. During the second "transformation" team meeting in early July, Hunke said that the iPad had been like "manna from heaven" for USA Today. I believe he used that phrase in another staff meeting as well.

    Anyone know how the manna stream is holding up? Are iPad ad sales still firm, or is demand softening as the novelty wears off? I haven't heard much about the iPad since late September. You'd think that if there was good news, they'd be crowing about it.

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  3. More fallout from the mass shooting in Tucson last month. The Arizona Republic and Gannett are being sued for violating the copyright of a photographer who took the portrait of Christina Taylor Green, the 9 year old girl killed in the shooting.

    The Republic reported on the lawsuit on their website: http://www.azcentral.com/business/news/articles/2011/02/18/20110218giffords-wolf0218.html

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  4. 7:43,
    I-Pad sales have fallen like a rock. Clients are trying to get their arms around the metrics for this device (and tablets in general) and until that happens, it will be slow going. Manna from heaven? Yes, for a few months but not anymore.

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  5. I think the Ipad is a fad, our generation's Hula Hoop. It will run about a year or so, then drop off the edge of the planet. Look at the Daily, which is not seeing subscriptions Murdoch felt it would attract. You have to have an app because it is what investors expect, but I really can't see it producing a major revenue stream. I also think the whole tech sector is getting very bubbly. Anyone really believe Facebook is worth $50 billion -- ten times that of Gannett? Like all bubbles, there will be a day when it comes to an end, and the carnage will be incredible.

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  6. Here's a story that should give our trolls something to crow about. It says blogs like this one are passe and being shunned:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/technology/internet/21blog.html?_r=1&hp

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  7. Apple sold nearly 15 million iPads in 2010, blowing away analysts' estimates, which averaged 3.3 million and topped out at 7 million, TechCrunch noted, citing a post on Asymco.

    Research from IDC shows that nearly 17 million media tablets were shipped worldwide in 2010 -- which the firm attributed to demand for the iPad.

    The firm predicts that 44.6 million media tablets will be shipped worldwide in 2011, growing to 70.8 million units in 2012.

    IDC said the iPad represented nearly 90% of media tablets shipped in the third quarter of 2010.

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  8. Jim, interesting and true what you said in your 1:57 comment. However, and unfortunately, for me and a score of others who keep up with each other, our former GCI corporate "friends" and "colleagues" have shunned and abandoned us -- stopped returning calls, e-mails, refuse to respond and serve as references, etc. How's that for you? Pretty ruthless, callous, ignorant people exist at corporate GCI!

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  9. Oh dear, 10:58, where to start?

    You said: I think the Ipad is a fad, our generation's Hula Hoop. It will run about a year or so, then drop off the edge of the planet.

    This may be the single silliest prediction I've seen on Gannett Blog. The APPLE craze may be a fad, but the tablet device is most assuredly not fad. In three to five years you'll be buying the equivalent of today's iPad in a bubblepack off a peghook at Target for $29.99. And that will change everything.

    You said: I also think the whole tech sector is getting very bubbly. Anyone really believe Facebook is worth $50 billion -- ten times that of Gannett?

    Yes, I do. Facebook is worth what the market said it's worth. So is Gannett.

    Never argue with the market. It is judge, jury and executioner all in one. And I say that as someone who is long GCI stock.

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  10. It's unfortunate that facebook has turned everyone into friends.

    In reality, we're lovers, friends, acquaintances, colleagues, co-workers, frenemies, enemies, mortal enemies.

    Being in the same space for 8-10 hours a day doesn't mean we should feel obligated to continue when the situation changes. Out of the 40+ people released from my site in the last two years, I only talk regularly to the one I live with.

    Before condemning former work friends for avoiding you, re-evaluate that relationship. It's quite possible you saw something that just didn't exist - could be they're just not that into you, and never were.

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  11. As far as I could tell, there is only one ad on the USA Today iPad app for today's "edition". Some Chrysler ad. I actually didn't even notice it at first. It only appears on about half of the "sections", the other banner ad is a self promoting one.

    Unless Chrysler is paying mega bucks for that itty bitty ad, I'd say the manna has dried up.

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  12. 12:01 said, "In three to five years you'll be buying the equivalent of today's iPad in a bubblepack off a peghook at Target for $29.99."

    I can imagine that, too. Consider this:

    In the 1970s, my father paid $300 -- then, a very, very large sum -- for an early version of a Hewlett-Packard handheld calculator that could do little more than basic functions: addition, subtraction, etc.

    Nowadays, of course, companies give away far more powerful handheld calculators as promotions.

    Think of iPads and other tablets of the future this way: Publishers of today's printed newspapers and magazines could give them to readers in the near future in return for paid subscriptions. At the very least, a Gannett or other company could sell them at a significant discount, much as AT&T and Verizon heavily subsidize iPhones.

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  13. furloughed fury2/21/2011 1:06 PM

    That would be if the current board of directors and top five execs had the vision to do so. Which they don't

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  14. The ex-coworkers that I was with ... We're constantly in touch whether they're still at GCI or not. We're helping each other network, getting together socially, emailing, etc. Perhaps it's a case of reaping what you sow, 11:25?

    But if those you're trying to remain connected with are GCI corp types in the CP, then it should have been abundantly clear to you: They have no soul to begin with, so why should this surprise you?

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  15. 11:25 is referring to former work relationships with GCI Crystal Palace people, who are a far different (and lower) class of people than those of us out in the GCI units. I heard about it too and have to disagree with 12:19 - it's about common courtesy and respect, which CP lacks. Jim's 1:57 comment rings true.

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  16. Well, we should make the distinction between CP 'corporate elite' types and the CP rank and file, 2:05. And there is plenty of the latter and they are good people who are just as hardworking and anxious as any of the folks outside the CP. Yes, it's a nice (and now much more roomy) building. But don't kid yourself into thinking it's a country club existence there. In fact, the whole building now is full of gloom and doom countered by long stretches of frantic hustle to simply put something, anything out that hopefully at least someone out there would want to buy. (A prospect growing less and less likely by the day ...)

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  17. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  18. Very helpful, 4:06.

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  19. The main carousel at The Journal News' lohud.com for the last hour has had the tab hed "Sh" and the main hed "Shell."

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  20. Gannett-owned 9News (KUSA-TV) in Denver helped break a story with serious consequences for US foreign policy. Scroll three-fourths of the way down to find out how 9News was involved.

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  21. O-kaaay, Jimbo: What in the world was wrong with 4:06's comment? Sounded like helpful, practical advice to the downsized to me. Is this sort of thing now a problem with you?

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  22. I removed it because the same comment appeared in the current post about layoffs.

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  23. What a concept:
    http://www.mediabistro.com/mediajobsdaily/star-tribune-to-give-to-its-journalists_b5822

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  24. The Star Tribune profit sharing is great. The paper seems to be doing well under its new ownership (the Wall Street investment sharks who bought it from McClatchy took their beating and left).

    But the profits come only after hundreds of jobs were cut across the organization, including more than 100 in the newsroom. And the journalists who remain took pay cuts of 5-10%, plus benefit cuts.

    I took a buyout from the Star Tribune in 2007. I estimate that if I had remained, I would have lost at least $10,000 in pay and benefit cuts over the last four years, maybe more. So this $1,100 profit sharing, while a great sign, comes after several years of givebacks.

    And the Star Tribune's revenue is still in decline, although the rate has slowed.

    I really love that newspaper and want to see it thrive, but an objective viewer would say that they're not out of the woods yet. But they've got a much better chance under current ownership than they did under the hedge-fund geniuses that overpaid for the paper and then drove it into bankruptcy.

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  25. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  26. ASBURY PARK PRESS getting layoffs today

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  27. Hey Westchester, a poster says Kate Marymount's in Asbury Park. Will she be coming up Gannett Drive to your place soon? While she's in the neighborhood.....

    If so, is CR cutting anyone to make an impression?

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  28. Another paycheck coming up. 1 day of furlough and 1 day of overtime covering someone else's furlough day. I have doubts that the company is saving nearly as much money as they expected.

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  29. Re: 11:33 During previous rounds of furloughs OT was specifically not allowed. Are things different this time? If so it must be an acknowledgement that the "fat" is gone and there're cutting into bone and muscle.

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  30. @11:47 - here we can't have overtime the week we take a furlough day...my sales partner, who is salary, was on furlough last week so i had overtime for covering for her...i'm hourly and i have a furlough day coming up THIS week so i can't have overtime for THIS week...

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  31. More layoffs in New Jersey going on now

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  32. 12:39 - in what department?

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  33. or what paper?

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  34. If OT is based on a 40 hr. week, you can get up to 8 additional hours covering for someone else's furlough that shows up as straight time, not overtime.

    In that situation you have to actually work 40 before OT is triggered - same as if you took Monday as vacation and then worked 4 ten hour shifts. Saturday would be OT, but M-F you would have 48 hours on your check, straight time.

    Union rule/past practice/state law may be different in your locale.

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  35. Any intel on what department/departments got hit in the asbury layoffs?

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  36. Wow ... I guess Suzie Elwood ran out of money to pay consultants for high-priced suggestions to help the Free Press and News continue to lose more and more money. They are now offering $5,000 to readers for suggestions:
    http://detnews.com/article/20110222/BIZ/102220353/Newspapers-offer-$5-000-prize-for-way-to-better-serve-readers--community

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  37. Whatever happened to that big announcement that one of the anonymous posters had promised for late last week that was going to stun/surprise/shock us all? Did I miss that? Or could that have just been one of those forever angry trolls?

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  38. 5:10 No one revealed the announcement to us, or it never occurred.

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  39. When I was still a Gannettoid, furloughed, we received the same "no overtime" dictum. Mostly, people laughed nervously; mostly wondering if anyone was on planet Earth and when had it been taken over by MBA's from outer space. So here's what they did at my site: they put the overtime on another week. That way, the books look fabulous, and furloughs work!

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  40. Say, John Reinan, who posted about the Strib at 9:41 a.m. Give us your take on how the Pioneer Press continues to exist in the same market. I'd be interested to know from a former insider how this situation continues to exist. I heard a few years ago they were in dire condition.

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  41. Jim:

    On that note, I thought we were waiting for a post from you about stock grants to brass.

    Thanks.

    Scott

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  42. Seems there is a lot of competition for hiring content managers/editors for moms websites now. CafeMoms is seeking:
    http://www.mediabistro.com/mediajobsdaily/stir-things-up-as-cafemoms-new-senior-editor_b5829

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  43. 6:52, the Pioneer Press basically survives because people in St. Paul are very loyal to it. There is a difference between Mpls and St. Paul, and St. Paulites guard their identity fiercely. The Pioneer Press benefits from this. For the last 10 years, while every large paper in the country lost circulation, they consistently broke even or even showed small gains. (Sometimes measured in the hundreds, but gains nonetheless.)

    The Pioneer was owned by Knight Ridder for a long time, of course, and benefited from being part of a well-run chain. Then Singleton got them and started cutting expenses -- but I guess that helped them survive, too.

    For as long as I can remember, people in the Twin Cities have thought that the two papers must inevitably merge, and I agree that it will probably happen one day. But when -- that's tough to say.

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  44. In Asbury Park, one member of the digital team and one member of the projects teams were laid off. Also heard about layoffs in circ and advertising, but couldn't confirm.

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  45. To 11:46 PM: What member of the digital team? Programmer or editor?

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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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