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| Zidich |
One of Gannett's most powerful publishers, Zidich was promoted to president of the regional West Group of U.S. newspapers in December.
Earlier: Awkward times for one of GCI's top publishers
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Phoenix | In Fiesta Bowl scandal, a key question
One of Gannett's most powerful publishers, Zidich was promoted to president of the regional West Group of U.S. newspapers in December.
Earlier: Awkward times for one of GCI's top publishers
22 comments:
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I hope his head rolls for this....it's about time someone at the top of the Gannett hierarchy took a hit. Over his reign at the Arizona Republic, he has taken what was once a great newspaper and single handily run it into the ground. He stands by in a hands off manner and lets chaos ensue beneath him, I could go on and on with how pathetic of an executive he is but I leave that for the rest of you to comment on.
ReplyDelete"John Zidich, President/Publisher of The Arizona Republic, is a member of the Fiesta Bowl board of directors and is board secretary."
ReplyDeleteThis right from the last sentence of a USA Today article. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2011/03/fiesta-bowl-ceo-junker-fired-amid-multiple-investigations/1
So John Zidich is claiming he knew nothing of this and he is the board secretary!!! I'm calling bullshit!!! Just because he wasn't as "bad" as junker he DEFINITELY knew what was going on and if he doesn't go down for this, then there is even more of a cover up.... Are you kidding me. I use to work for the Arizona Republic and he always came across sneaky and untrust worthy and now the proof is out.
He can't have it both ways. If he didn't know about it, he shouldn't be on the board of directors who are supposed to know about these things. If he did know about it, then he should be kicked off in consequence of what happened.
ReplyDeleteI find this so typical of a Gannett executive's response when they are put under the spotlight. "Not me," they say, and eagerly seek to shift the blame on some poor subordinate who is expected to walk the plank for the executive's future reputation. It normally happens because the subordinate realizes his life will be hell if he objects.
Look at the subjects posted on this blog in the last week, most involve GCI's declining fortunates and the company's failure to embrace changing technologies. But who is to blame? Did Dubow make these decisions, or was it Gracia? We really can't say because they've shifted the blame downstream.
It's time for people in this company to man up and take responsibility. And that includes Zidich, even though the bill of particulars in this case involves activities outside of GCI's borders.
fortunes not fortunates
ReplyDeleteWhoa, that column writer tells it like it is. I'll bet most people at the Republic agree, but, fearing for their jobs, have to stay silent.
ReplyDeleteHe was the conspirator. Who cares. Where's my furlough. THat's the real question. Please.
ReplyDeleteFrom this morning's Arizona Republic Editorial page...
ReplyDelete"For much of the Fiesta Bowl's history, board membership appears to have been an invitation to the party and little else."
And...
Reporters Wagner and Harris, "...found evidence that board members may have helped circumvent IRS rules about non-profit organizations hosting political fund-raising ecents."
Hardly a ringing endorsment of the publisher. He's toast!
Good riddance JZ, your pompus ass finally got you what you deserve.
ReplyDeleteReno publisher gets the boot over DUI ticket. How does a breach of ethics on this scale rank in Gannett?
ReplyDeleteLet's fact it. Executive Committee usually means you are a member of a select few and you are empowered to oversee the key decisions....i.e. excessive salaries and birthday junkets to Pebble Beach....see ya.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say the Reno publisher "got the boot." Doesn't he still have a cushy position and income elsewhere in Gannett -- unlike a lot of good staff (incidentally, sans DUI) who did?
ReplyDeleteWe in the Republic newsroom know John Zidich to be a publisher who tries to soften or bury news considered an embarrassment to his rich friends or advertisers. Small example in this latest episode: The first story on Junker and the Fiesta Bowl included Junker’s obscene salary. As the figure appeared in follow-up stories, word came down through our newsroom leaders to quit including his salary. No good reason. One can assume either Zidich himself, or Junker via Zidich, thought it was bad PR for the party going on over at the Fiesta Bowl. At one point, the figure did appear again and the reporter and his immediate editors were yelled at for disobeying orders. Zidich leaves those tasks to Lovely / Carroll, but the tone and pattern is all 10th floor. Props to the reporter and his immediate editors for not buckling on this important story.
ReplyDeleteDickey and Zidich go back a long way. John is a member of Dickey's personal and professional intercircle. What happens with John,if anything will be a referendum, on how much clout Bob still has on the Gannett Management Commitee,given the new players who have recently been hired. The outcome will be a mesure of that.
ReplyDeleteI love it when "Professors" fall on their swords over stuff like this. Of course they never made a payroll in their lives but oh, they know journalism. That Tenure thingy gives them great courage!
ReplyDeleteI cannot understand why the newspaper industry allows the guy at the top to be in charge of both Edit and Revenue. That divide is VERY separate in the magazine business. Time Inc has a Publisher and an Editor at equal ranks for every magazine. Publisher drives revenue, Editor diives editorial content and integrity. Say what you will, but Time magazine, Sports Illustrated, Fortune all have editorial integrity. That's the mandate of the Editor.
ReplyDeleteThat makes way more sense.
I cannot understand why the newspaper industry allows the guy at the top to be in charge of both Edit and Revenue. That divide is VERY separate in the magazine business. Time Inc has a Publisher and an Editor at equal ranks for every magazine. Publisher drives revenue, Editor diives editorial content and integrity. Say what you will, but Time magazine, Sports Illustrated, Fortune all have editorial integrity. That's the mandate of the Editor.
ReplyDeleteThat makes way more sense.
4/01/2011 9:30 AM
I agree... but Gannett is way to full of themselves and like to keep their little kingdoms intact; there can't be two kings in the castle. LOL
9:14 you must have missed McGuire's bio on the left side of his column. Here's part of it.
ReplyDeleteMcGuire retired in June of 2002 as editor and Senior Vice President of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. He served in that position since 1992. Prior to that, he was managing editor of the Star Tribune. He joined the company in 1979 as managing editor of the Star. He was managing editor of the newspaper when it won a Pulitzer Prize in 1990. He has been a Pulitzer jurist six times, most recently in 2003. McGuire is a past president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (2001-2002).
So your professor falling on his sword comment has no merit.
What happened to the posts that cited Gannett guru Tom Callinan's praise of the Phoenix publisher? That seemed to counter what McGuire had to say, balancing the thing a bit.
ReplyDeleteBoth McGuire and Callinan are longtime editors and should have credibility on their Zidich observations. Let 'em talk about it.
Oh, good grief. Tom Callinan in no way can be objective. He spent most of his career with Gannett and has a whole bunch of president's rings to show for it. Even though he "retired" from Cincy and now teaches, he is not gonna rock the Big G boat.
ReplyDeleteMcGuire on the other hand has no such ring-kissing in his past. He can be objective. And even if what Callinan says is true, it looks horribly bad that Zidich is on the Fiesta Bowl board in a key position. If he knew nothing about what was going on, then he is an idiot. He should get off the board asap. And if he is interfering in newsroom coverage, he should be bounced off the 10th floor.
Plus Callinan has been gone from the Republic for a long time. Perhaps his moves were not messed with. But that does not mean that subsequent editors did not/have not found themselves in compromising positions.
Editor Randy Lovely is another one who will never rock the boat. Nor will exec ed Nicole Carroll. They have made their careers by not doing so. That is the ONLY way to the top in Gannett.
Poor SCJ....her "boys" are in trouble.
ReplyDeleteThe top four or five editors in the Republic newsroom (Lovely, Carroll, Nothaft, Crosby) will not speak up. The bigger the salary, the tighter the jaw becomes. Other than Carroll (on rare occasions) none of them is a true journalist with any depth of experience. Now might be a good time to go back over the last few years of Republic layoffs/buyouts and figure out who was dumped because they were the polar opposites of those in charge. You'll find a long list of good men and women who couldn't stomach business as usual and paid the price. The newsroom needs to rise up and demand answers in a public meeting with the editor and publisher, no matter the price. YOU are now the story.
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