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Thursday, April 14, 2011
44 comments:
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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For Part 3 of this comment thread, please go here.
ReplyDeleteRumor has it that the very lame and weak Pointroll management is bracing for another round of departures of employees who are leaving to join Saridakis at several of his companies at GSI. Apparently, the last 8 people all quit PointRoll the same day and joined him at a company called ClearSaleing.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, Pointroll is moving offices from Conshohocken to King of Prussia next week. All 150 "Conshy" employees will be within a few miles from GSI Commerce.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThe CDO is supposed to be doing something about the sexual harassment issues at Pointroll? True, or no sign of him?
ReplyDeletePointroll is typical Gannett. They buy a property, strip it down, turn it over to a lackluster leader who follows their directives, and then they wonder why the revenues aren't forthcoming as they thought. They did the same thing with the newspapers they bought.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone else notice the random font change for 1 day (yesterday) on the USAT nation/world page? It was just the headline font in the briefs...
ReplyDeleteDo you all have plan B ready ?
ReplyDeleteThat should be the only priority !
You should be ready for the next round of layoffs that will certainly begin soon.
Why consider how to make Gannett print better, criticize fonts or content or to much bonus money paid out.What difference does it make ?
You are being used in a big way and at the whim of a manager you are gone ! Does any other
point mean anything.Just a way to get out !!!!
9:18 a.m. I did notice that and wondered if it was a permanent change.
ReplyDeleteSo how did USA Today get involved in this fraud:
ReplyDeletehttp://yeslab.org/archive/GE-USATODAY.html
The story shook GE stocks on the exchange, but turned out quickly to be a hoax when GE scrambled to knock it down. But it appeared online with USA Today. Does that indicate an editor decided to post it, or are stories appearing under a USA Today title directly from the wires? I should not other publications scoffed about this story being true, and didn't rush to run it.
I have to agree with 9:41 a.m. All this yacking about working conditions and typefaces etc is fine for those planning to live and die with
ReplyDeleteG A N N E T T, but really misses the chief issue: Get the heck out! Why stand around beating a dead horse?
G A N N E T T is a lousy company to work for and IT'S NOT GOING TO GET BETTER!
Agree with 10:13.
ReplyDeleteHow can you complain about petty font or content
problems, or mismanagement ?
The dynasty is over!
Gannett is falling apart ,at first slowly and then picking up speed and now collapsing at a rapid rate.
What difference do your comments as to how things can improve make ? Do you really think it helps,or is your head in the sand and you are still believing that you can plan a future around Gannett.
Do you believe that top management gives a damn about what you think or do they care about the constant stress nearly every Gannett employee is feeling as they wait for layoff news.
Hell no.You are an expense,a huge expense,that they would love to illiminate completely.
Get over the trying to improve this selfish
monstrousity of a corporation and get on with life.
I never met Saridakis when I worked there, but given all the raving testimonials by subordinates, I wish I had. Sounds like he not only has the Midas touch, but also treats employees like actual people (which is certainly rare in GCI management).
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone applied for a job at one of the regional hubs? Heard anything?
ReplyDeleteWhat's up today? Nothing but the sound of one hand clapping
ReplyDeleteI think we should round up former Gannetters who left on their own (like myself) and create a satirical video for those still left behind; and remind them of better opportunities...I call it "Gannett: 'It's not going to get better.'" :-)
ReplyDeleteFurlough's for everyone except sales people in Salisbury announced today
ReplyDeleteThere's something I just don't get. Of all the comments that get left on here, negative or positive, the ones that just leave me confused are those of an almost gloating tone by former Gannett employees such as 8:17. There's folks losing jobs, struggling to get by on the wages they might get paid if they're not told to have another furlough and you're talking satirical videos?
ReplyDeleteI'm a former Gannett employee, and I got out because I realised I had no faith in the leadership of the company, locally or centrally, to make tomorrow's company better than today's. And when I walked out of the door, I felt a great lift of freedom.
But that doesn't stop me looking back at my former work colleagues as they struggle to make their voices heard. Or from listening to former readers who I still regard as friends when they ask me what the heck is going on with the paper these days. Or looking at that paper that I cared passionately about and feeling heartbroken that it is being destroyed by a company that knows how to cut but not how to create.
Compassion shouldn't stop the moment you walk out the door, and an attitude of mocking those left behind isn't far off the selfish attitudes we criticise Gannett's management for.
I am compassionate to those left behind.
ReplyDeleteHowever,I feel that after more than 3 years of layoffs and furloughs,the idea would finally sink in to those current Gannett employees that their demise could be tommorrow or next week or next month.They should all realize by now that there is no future with Gannett,and even if they do survive the layoffs and remain employed , it a is life of pure hell and stress.I think even though still employed by Gannett it would be a terrible way to live.The point is, that to those of us who got away feel that those who remain live with Gannett of their choice.Their hell is self imposed.To remain with a corporation that will continue to use the layoff scenario as a
major part of the Gannett business model ,is just asking for a life filled with stress and uncertainty.
Heck I am not a MBA or a PHD ,but I am now very
well employed, well paid and happy as can be.
I probably speak for the large group of those that left.There is life after Gannett,a good life.
I come back to this site and read about what is going on because Gannett was once, and for a long time,the dominating force in my life.
So yes, the video idea ,although maybe not the spuffing or ridiculing kind,maybe not such a bad idea to show that there is much happiness within those who left.Sorry,left behind, but you can still get away,the choice yours,don't let it be Gannett's.
To 9:13.
ReplyDeleteI agree. And, to take things further, why don't these FORMER G A N N E T T people who have an axe to grind do so without being anonymous? What do THEY have to lose by sighing their names?
No courage of their conviction?
10:03 I've always wondered the same thing. "I started my own business and make double the pay." no name. "I told my boss to shove it." no name. My Boss said..... No name. "I left the company a year ago and have never been happier." no name!
ReplyDelete"I love my boss, I love my job and I make a nice living"
Anonymous and Loving It!
Look at this.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jobpath.com/CSH/Results.aspx?csh=CSH_GANNETTDIGIT&jl=%22Operations+Manager%2c+Social+Commerce+Gannett%22
10pm, actually got the satire. It isn't to poke fun at our former colleagues who are stuck behind. It's a satire of Trevor Project, and everyone saying, "just hang in there, it will get better." My last two years at GCI, I heard that same line over and over. When I left, I felt an enormous weight lifted off my shoulders.
ReplyDeleteI think we should collect clips of former GCI employees telling of their tales of leaving Gannett and finding happiness and better life. Gannett under the current leadership will not re-emerge as the company we all enjoyed.
Even though it seems scary. "It will get better." Stay at Gannett and it will be the opposite. Take a long, long look around you. Just saying.
Signed the Anonymous and now Infamous 8:17pm. Why anonymous? Because it is SEXY! :-)
10:26, sounds like a deal chicken about to hatch to me
ReplyDeleteFor those of you who continually bellow that old advice -- leave, leave, leave your job -- I'd like to tell you why I don't. I love working for my hometown newspaper. I feel like I work for the people who read it & our web site. If I can make a difference in our community -- give them something they need to know, something to think about, a way to connect with something that makes life better for them or helps them understand something better -- I'm glad to be a journalist.
ReplyDeleteI'm disgusted with GCI's upper management, the big bonuses, the heartless, gutless treatment of so many employees. But in my town, this paper is it. I'd like to give my best journalism to my town for as long as I have this job. If GCI decides to kick me to the curb or kills the paper or insults the intelligence of readers so much that they all bail out, well ... I'll move on to another challenge.
But right now, all this writhing about what-if, what-then, what-next is just a draining waste of emotional strength. What can I do to enlighten the GCI braintrust? They don't know I exist. All I can do anything about is my work, my town, my newsroom.
So I'm paying off bills and getting things in order, but working hard to do the best journalism I can do for as long as I can do it.
That's why I'm still here, resigned to life with self-absorbed leaders. They run the only newspaper in my town. I still love that newspaper and hope it -- or a worthy successor -- survives long after I'm gone, which, of course, might be sooner than later.
Hold to your hats in the USCP today kids. It's going down.
ReplyDeleteCan anybody tell me what social commerce is? Are we going to be hiring ad reps to sell ads to their friends? Is the next big thing... ad parties, like Pampered Chef, Tupperware, or Amway? Or are we just going to drop the pretenses and sell their services direct to the customer?
ReplyDeleteI'm not knocking it, necessarily. Makes more sense than this Yahoo partnership ever did.
"social" in today's world is social media I.e. facebok, twitter, foursquare and any other way people play and or connect on mobile and computers.
ReplyDeleteI am sure there is a "groupon" or "social living" type product or partnership coming. Too bad we are late, AGAIN
6:47, the Yahoo partnership makes tons of sense for advertisers. You must be on the news side to make such an idiotic statement about an opportunity that enables local companies the chance to reach customers via another vehicle without adding another salesperson into their adverting planning.
ReplyDelete7:16 if it makes tons of sense, all of those goal thermometers in advertising would be pretty red, nearly 3 months in.
ReplyDeleteTo my idiot eyes, there's still a lot more white than red - businesses must be finding some other way to do adverting.
7:26, is the thermostat the goal for thr year? If so give your reps a chance. It isn't an "easy" sell in this economy because advertising is expensive. Especially here at GANNETT. Yahoo actually just increased rates so that's making it even more expensive. Training could be better than it is to speed of the reps comfort level but we have o make it work.
ReplyDeleteDespite that it is logical partnership and a great solution for our advertisers that are looking to sustain and grow their business.
7:16 Yes, it's an impressive idea except it's Yahoo. The news today is that Bing is about to overtake Yahoo as the second most popular search engine behind Google. So Gannett has attached its future to a declining search engine.
ReplyDeleteThe key to Google's success is that it has put advertising interests to the side of its main function of providing a search service. There's a lesson there for Gannett as the company dismantles the walls between editorial and commercial. The column on the right side of the Google page is the part that is paid, and you don't have to click there if you don't want. That gives users the impression they can trust the results of a Google search more than the others. That's why Google beat out Ask.com, Dogpile and other engines, imo
ReplyDeleteThis hed has been up since last night. For shame. Does no one at the site even read their own Web site?
ReplyDeleteWisconsin's congressional delegation laregly votes in favor of spending cuts
So is 6:12 just a fear monger or does he/she have some real knowledge?
ReplyDeleteThe reason why ex-GCIers who went on to much, much better things go here to say so is: Because it shows those still with this rotten company that there are other options, and better ones at that. When we were with GCI, we felt 'chained' just as those still there do. But when we were pushed off the cliff, we found that there was a way to fly. (Sorry for the trite analogy.)
ReplyDeleteThat said, you won't 'fly' if you continue to slave away in hopes of not getting laid off, only to enrich CD's pockets while he and his crew proceed with a game plan that will inevitably result in your number getting called at some point. You won't fly if you waited until that moment to consider your career post-GCI. Do you need to do a good job for your GCI property? Heck yes. Do you need to do so at the cost of your post-GCI career and personal life. Heck no. Do your job, but take care of yourself at the same time. That's what I did, and when I was shown the door I never stopped working. And, yes, I made (and continue to make) far, far more than I did at GCI. Sorry if that offends the trolls. Still, to be completely candid: It took literally years to set myself up for my post-GCI career. I'm not saying it would take everyone that long. But it takes an investment of time.
Why do we remain anonymous? Because the first rule of any career is that you don't speak negatively of a former employer in public. It can only result in negative consequences. Even a troll can figure that out.
One poster asked why former Gannetteers on this site remain anonymous. I will tell you why.
ReplyDeleteIf you now work for another media company, even one nowhere near a Gannett paper, and you publicly complain about your old bosses at Gannett, those old bosses call your new bosses and complain to them about what you have said.
I know for a fact that this has happened.
So unless you are unemployed, self-employed or don't care if you lose your present job, you need to remain anonymous.
There you go, 10:19 a.m., right on the mark.
ReplyDeleteAnd 1:49 a.m.....If that's how you feel, wonderful. Community news is a great field that offers a lot of quick feedback.
But don't just hunker down. Keep your eyes open for other opportunties. You may find something just as rewarding and without the uncertainty.
Remember that there is only one certainty: As print circulation and ads decline, the staff must be cut to realize a profit. Without a profit there can be no paper.
People don't use Yahoo as a search engine. Google is great at that. Kudos to them. Yahoo is a life engine meeting users at all intersections of their life. Email, news, gossip/celeb, sports, games, social, business - they do so much more than provide a search tool.
ReplyDeleteFurloughs have begun for those making over $80,000 a year. It being kept very quiet.
ReplyDeleteApparently, Dubow and Martore aren't furloughing themselves; that would have been made public by now.
ReplyDelete@1:31: "Life engine"? I hope you're sarcastically quoting from some Gannett marketing piece, or we'll have to call the Kool-Aid Poison Control Center.
ReplyDelete6:58, 1:31 here and my purple kool-aid taste yummy! You should try some (it is best spiked with Vodka, shhhhh)
ReplyDeleteFor the record "Life engine" would be the buzz words used when it was rolled out to the ad dept, you don't like it?
So 10:19 you feel companies other than Gannett dispose disgruntled, whiners too. Thank you formaking my point!
ReplyDelete