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Monday, May 16, 2011
52 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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Hi. How are you?
ReplyDeleteMiserable.
ReplyDeleteWorried
ReplyDeleteSomeone in the Part 6 thread mentioned the perpetual cleavage on Reno's Web site. My site today has drunk college kids holding beers in the photo gallery, because it was graduation weekend. But there's no cleavage since it was only in the 40s this weekend.
ReplyDeleteThe Asbury Park Press has to be the king on posting T&A prominently on its frontpage. Under the guise of MetroMix they have endless photo galleries of material from their photographers wandering into random Shore bars and documenting all the Jersey Shore-esque shenanigans. Now I'm no prude at all, but I'd rather see this done with a bit more honesty. You might as well have a Page Six girl, but no - APP.com hides behind MetroMix saying, "Oh this is just a lens on what happens on any given night in the bars down the Shore." Maybe. But I can't help but notice that you don't have too may pics of fat chicks or tubby wingmen...
ReplyDeleteAnyway to prove my point if you go to APP.com right now, prominently on the upper right is the photo gallery "Beach Bodies Top 100."
Stay tuned for the new Gannett vertical that will soon roll out at all GCI sites: Tits!
Speaking of verticals....
ReplyDeleteHard not to agree with posters about the abundance of cleavage on Metro Mix sites. That's what happens when you offer a product with very little editorial support. You get something that is just designed to get hits, hits and more hits. I'm always amazed in Cincinnati that no matter how many photos are taken at a bar or a concert, the woman with the largest breasts and her friends are featured on the cover of Cincinnati.com. I agree with an earlier poster, why not just go with a naked page 3 girl. At least then, the product would be honest.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair though, The Huffington Post is just as guilty of this. Many of their top-viewed "stories" are starlets in bikinis. Whatever gets clicks, I guess...?
ReplyDeleteTopless photos,who cares ???
ReplyDeleteLayoffs coming in big ways!
People worried and complaining about about
trivial content such as beautiful women.Hey
sex sells ! Where have you been ?
My Boss ...where's the layoff scoop ?
Are there any sites that the hammer has been dropped on yet,or is it the end of the week
scenario as usual? Maybe June 1st will be the last days of Gannett employment.Nice way to live in Gannettland !
Sunday' ad inches continue to look like a new
startup paper. No revenue, no employees needed.
Oh geez @9:01 a.m., relax. Posting about boobs/manly pecs is a way for some of us to forget, if only for a brief moment, that we work for one of the most soul-crushing companies in the U.S. It's a way to distract ourselves from other thought processes, like, "Huh, maybe I should throw myself out that window over there."
ReplyDeleteOuch! 20 worst-performing stocks
ReplyDeletemoney.cnn.com
Over the past decade, despite market ups and downs, Fortune 500 stocks paid off overall, returning nearly 7% per year to investors. Shareholders at these companies weren't so lucky.
9:01, every Monday morning, really? If you have to beat the same drum every week, at least vary the melody.
ReplyDeleteGannett #18
ReplyDelete@9:13...You should think of other ways to distract yourself. Throwing yourself out a window is arguably less fun than going to work everyday.
ReplyDelete9:31
ReplyDeleteWrong,
First post here in weeks.Know it all.
Or maybe you are just trying to forget that your job is in jepardy.
9:31 thanks for the link. Very interesting. ...
ReplyDeletePorn sells. Look at the top sites on the Internet, and you will find the porn sites. They are coining a mint from hits, and so why shouldn't we lower barriers a bit?
ReplyDeleteThere's really nothing to say about the layoffs unless someone who knows the scoop decides to post. Yes, they're probably coming, but we've all known that.
ReplyDeleteThe discussion about cleavage shots is just a reminder as to why it won't be so bad if we get one of the pink slips. Most of us, at least on the editorial side, probably didn't get into the business to make money by exploiting local college kids. And, yes, there's a pretty good argument that this is what we're doing by posting pictures of unpaid boob models for the sake of gaining hits.
It's not the worst thing in the world, but we play these galleries up like they're the biggest news of the day. And because of that those who take our jobs seriously are realizing we would probably be just as happy working as high school janitors. At least then, you would probably be asked to mop floors and not run around taking pictures of the coeds and posting them online.
Nice tip, 9:31...plus, you get to see that the Big G is hiring!
ReplyDeletehttp://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/fortune/1104/gallery.fortune500_worst_performing_stocks.fortune/18.html
10:35 -- Are you serious?
ReplyDeleteBecause we tell customers we're a place that we can find news. We tell them we perform a public service. If we're going to sell porn we need to brand ourselves as a porn outlet and start doing it well, not half assed like we're doing now. But Gannett doesn't know how to do ANYTHING right.
Also, if the company is going to make its mark with porn, it needs to start paying the premium salaries that some people make in that industry. Oh wait, that defeats the purpose. Gannett wants people who will shoot porn, but pay freelance journalism wages.
There are also a lot of negative social implications to promoting things like this. And that is wretched for a company that claims to be promoting public service in its communities.
In essence, Gannett needs to quit lying to its customers and employees.
10:57 You want to get a paycheck next week, or would you rather continue with furloughs and layoffs as far as the eye can see? It's obvious we cannot stay where we are, so yes porn is an option to take and papers seem to be dabbling in this with the sexy pix. But there are other ways, and we are hoping Maryam comes up with a plan. Where we are is death.
ReplyDelete@10:57 a.m. - I agree with you completely, and your point echoes one I was making earlier. I personally love porn, but I'm also a journalist, and what we're supposed to be providing the public is journalism. I'm no ivory tower monk though - I'm not delusional enough to think that everything we do is some high-minded data from the gods that will change the way the world runs. Often what we provide is salacious or rote or dumb. But the way Gannett plays up Metromix skin is embarrassing for a company that's supposed to be providing straight-up journalism. You can't expect people to value you as a news source when your big story of the day is next to a big picture of some bimbo at the beach with her ass hanging out of her thong (or a dude being all beefcake, no need for sexism here but let's be honest, it's the tits and ass that rule on Metromix).
ReplyDeleteYeah, let's be honest with our readers.
ReplyDeleteI'll start:
Gannett's local papers exist solely to extract money out of those cities and send it to the top floor of the Crystal Palace in McLean, Va!
Curse the Crystal Towers all that you want, but look at that CNN list of the top 20 worst stocks, and compare the failed business plans of the other 19 companies with that of Gannett. Our problem is more than just corporate. It is a failing business. The suits could give back all the money they have pocketed in the last year, and it won't reverse the hole we have dug ourselves into. For God's sake, think. It's your future and mine that is at stake.
ReplyDelete11:13 -- I would rather continue with furloughs and layoffs in a company that is honest about its mission, to both customers and employees. If I wanted to work for the porn industry, I could choose to do that. And I would argue that working in that industry might be more noble than working for Gannett. As sleazy as porn can be, the industry is at least honest about what it is selling.
ReplyDeleteIn short, this isn't the job I was hired to do, but I can't simply walk away because I have to feed my family. A layoff, however, looks pretty attractive.
11:17, maybe I wouldn't be so grumpy if I could see a hunky guy every now and then -- but it's all 20something skinny white girls, all the time!! Makes me almost miss the days of the diversity initiative, when it was at least recognized that someone other than straight white males looked at the paper. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteLook at the NY Daily News, which does a classy job with soft porn. I recommend the Playboy model who turned up a mummified corpse story:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nydailynews.com/index.html
Hey 11:25am –
ReplyDeleteThink?
Are you serious?
How dare I not march lock-step with our "local regime."
Thinking would get me fired!
If Gannett will share which newspapers it might be willing to sell, a group of newspapers people might consider buying a group or one that make sense. Or will they wait until they have to close them, making as much money as they can as the paper tailspins? Media companies anchored by newspapers aren't dead, they are just subject to strategies for the good of all rather than the needs of the local market.
ReplyDeleteUpdate from Asheville 3/4 of newsroom staff re-applyed for their jobs. Interviews to take place this week and we will be notifed on Tuesday 5/24 if we have a job. If not the last day of work will be Friday 5/27.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the higher ups already know who they will keep!! Not sure if any other departments here are going through this process or if they will just be more layoffs through out ACT. Morale is very low as you can imagine!
12:43 -- Thanks for the update.
ReplyDeleteI hope Gannett takes note that 25% of the staff chose not to reapply for jobs. That makes a pretty good argument that the company should seek volunteers for its layoffs before simply axing whoever it feels like. By taking that step first, it might actually maintain employees who still have an interest in making the company work. And it would give those of us who really want out an opportunity to leave with some transition money.
Give credit where its do: Spark in Wilmington was running T&A shots of college kids long before Metromix started, and their still at it -- well, that, and the editor whining about his dead grandmother or whatever he cares about this week.
ReplyDeleteAnybody listen to the Nobel Financial Webcast? Gaaaaaa.
ReplyDeleteCraigie's trying to convince folks that Gannett is hip and happening.
I'd like $1 for every time he said "We have some great opportunities right now" for my layoff fund.
In the not-too-distant future, Gannett papers will have fired all reporters and opened the floodgates to the self-submitted "Get Published" content directly from the readers. Teenaged girls flashing their breasts will prompt best "These are Real" showdowns between rival high schools. Singles, divorcees and hookers will submit mini-slide shows in various garb and nude poses along with their contact information and/or rates. Content loss to Craigslist will be reversed, and GCI execs will trumpet the completion of the "transformation" to Wall Street.
ReplyDeleteDubow makes list of 10 CEOs who got rich by squeezing workers:
ReplyDeletehttp://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/05/ceo-executive-pay-layoffs
How fast are changes coming? In its own press releases, USA has changed the definition of itself in two weeks:
ReplyDeleteMcLean, Va. (May 3, 2011) – USA TODAY, the nation’s top-selling print newspaper.....
May 16, 2011 McLean, Va. - USA TODAY, a multi-platform news and information company, announced today.....
The fact that the company's leadership has not been able to engineer a turnaround during an otherwise historical recovery in the stock market should be both testament to their competency and to their future tenure. Shinier pennies in the jar have figured out how to make money in this environment. This crew is still trying to control the losses.
ReplyDeleteThe comments here are poorly written and poorly informed. Look at 1:05. Is this someone who should be working at a communications company?
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you guys start trying to get smarter instead of coming in here every day and showing your ignorance? I doubt Gannett cares about your criticisms. In fact, I'd say some people at Gannett probably laugh at the crap that ends up here.
2:23, darnit. I was thinking of working for ConAgra, making Slim Jims.
ReplyDelete3:14 is
ReplyDeleteAnother,I am smarter than you critic !
Another,I write better than you,therefore my opinion is more valuable than yours.
Another,don't post here because I am a snob
and only my thoughts should appear here because I am just plain better than you.
You are the laughable one!
3:14 If you feel the way you do, why do you bother reading and then post a comment! Maybe you should just get back to work in your ivory tower!
ReplyDeleteThere are some people who generally care about this company and are tired of all the BS that the they must go through to survive here.
3:14, your ignorance is showing. Several people who post on this website are not reporters; therefore, they are not responsible for writing articles. This blog is commented on by a collection of employees from various employment levels at Gannett and elsewhere, whether it be corporate folks, OC members, reporters, photographers, press operators, the list goes on. I think the one thing everyone has in common is that we all know that the BS that goes on at corporate is unimaginative, unoriginal, and in the case of the bonuses you received last year, criminal. You can belittle the people on this blog but I can tell you that from the articles I am reading in other publications, your ignorance as to the state of this company and the lack of empathy for your employees is disgusting and has not gone unnoticed.
ReplyDelete3:36, 4:04, and 4:49 must be the Three Stooges.
ReplyDelete4:49 is the dumbest of the three. That comment has been made again and again here, and it has never made much sense.
Keep proving how stupid all of you are. I think the company gets a laugh out of it.
And now insanitard Jim will come in and delete the comments pointing out how stupid this stuff is. He wants it to say stupid.
ReplyDeleteHe and many of the people here are insanitards. The company will never miss them. Jim, in fact, is banned from Gannett property. He will be arrested if he ever returns to a Gannett site.
1:05 is still worthless, by the way. All of the back-and-forth doesn't change that.
ReplyDelete5:31, did we hit a nerve? You actually sound rather bothered by it all.
ReplyDelete6:17 Don't feed the trolls.
ReplyDelete6:17, I call it being amused. It's entertaining to see dumb people acting as if their contributions would change everything.
ReplyDeleteLayoffs were scheduled for later in the year, moved up to June. No word on how many, how it's happening, etc. Also, more expense cuts. Again, don't know if it's across the board or just at certain sites. Not much to cut anymore, so those cuts may be in the form of people as well. I know what I know from my boss, so sorry I can't be more specific. That's all I know right now.
ReplyDeleteMore non-credible information. People like 7:30 come in here and shit on their hands and smear it around. And you idiots buy into it! What a bunch of stupids you are.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile the APP just laid off a long time news room staffer (late Friday) who's duty was to run the moms page in addition to write tons of feature copy. Done like a murder in the night. Stay Classy Gannett! Start yacht shopping, Craig and (dis)Grace. Heaven forbid you plow that "saved" money back in to the company
ReplyDeleteThe sad thing about these layoffs is they aren't getting rid of the right people. Time and time again, someone evaluable and a solid contributor is lost, forced out or finally disgusted to leave. At Usat, the attitude from the top is leave, we don't care. Unless you have friends in high places. Otherwise, your a fixed cost that can be cut or reduced.
ReplyDelete