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Thursday, May 19, 2011
41 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.
ReplyDeleteAll your furloughs are belong to us.
ReplyDeleteTo 11:50
ReplyDeleteThose of you who still care about Gannett.
You all need a team of therapists.Any many
appointments per week.You are enablers.
You are dependant on the Gannett Corp abusive
policies.You take their money for work given
and how do feel on pay day ? Relieved that you have another check in hand or more likely, do you wonder how many more you will recieve.
I still have friends and former co-workers at the site I left.They are zombies compared to a year ago when I worked with them.They dread every day and even week-ends because they know Monday will come too soon.Every week they are worried sick wondering if this will be the last week.They see and talk to me and realize that I am happy as can be,have no stress,and am prospering tremendously.They cannot believe that there is life away from Gannett. This is in the midwest,where jobs are available. Why do they and so many others whore themselves for this miserable corporation .I will never,never understand the mindset that makes them stay.
It is as though they still believe that Gannett
still cares ,like a lover who has left years ago.
@8:50 a.m. It's heartbreaking sometimes but I have to agree. I know a handful of people who have hung on in Gannett. And the bottom line is, there's just no excuse for it. The people who couldn't stand the abuse at the very least went to work for other media companies. Those who had the stomach for it switched to PR/marketing. And those who could switched fields altogether.
ReplyDeleteThe people I know still at Gannett are indeed like zombies. All of them I speak to think Gannett is on the fast track to falling apart completely. Some of them actually want that, I think, in their heart of hearts.
Personally I find it hard to understand or sympathize with these people. If I were still at my old Gannett paper, I would be trying to get the sad sacks still there to organize, unionize, anything. But we all know that will never happen in any Gannett newsroom.
8:50 AM ...like a lover who has left years ago...
ReplyDeletebut still haunts you -- coming back from time to time to screw you over, taunt you, steal from you, and show total disregard for your well-being. And still expects you to love them with total loyalty.
Look at the NYT: the paywall works. Stock is soaring after publisher said paywall results exceeded any of their expectations:
ReplyDeletehttp://finance.yahoo.com/news/NYT-CEO-very-encouraged-by-apf-3420981745.html?x=0&.v=1
NYT has stuff worth reading. Others...not so much.
ReplyDelete"Look at the NYT: the paywall works. Stock is soaring after publisher said paywall results exceeded any of their expectations"
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that NYT publishes compelling unique content that people are willing to pay a premium for. All G A N N E T T publishes is generic boilerplate content that can be acquired just about anywhere. People will not pay for that.
It would be very helpful if people in the know would send Jim copies of Gannett's shakedown demands on its papers/stations. Let's get this out in the open. Gannett forces publishers to lay off workers in order to remit the savings as homage to the royal court. This is so feudal. Also reminiscent of the economic tyranny imposed by the Brits on colonial America. Time for a -- hate to say this -- tea party!
ReplyDelete9:24: NYT stock is soaring? Since the 2009 meltdown, NYT is up 50% while GCI is up about 300%. NYT is down 25% since March, GCI down 10%
ReplyDeleteSo why don't we give content worth reading, then we can put up a paywall to get money and keep going?
ReplyDeleteDear 8:50 am. As one of the people still on the deck of the sinking ship, I have to say that I have a life outside Gannett. And that's what gets me through the work week. On weekends and my down time, it is the LAST thing on my mind, because I am living my life. Which is why we work, right? On Friday when I get in the car and head home, that place is the last thing on my mind. To those who obsess about it, my advise is go out and live. Run, go to the park with your family, swim, ride a bike, play a game with your kids, go to dinner with your folks, see a movie, rent a DVD, do something silly with your kids. Laugh. That is why you put up with the Monday to Friday torment. Do I worry about what's happening at work? Hell yes, but not 24-7. If you want to get back at Craig, (dis) Grace and the other failure, go have a life and live it well with no thoughts about the Big G in the off hours. And when they ask on Monday how your weekend was, smile and say "great"!
ReplyDelete10:25 I believe that 9:24 is referencing the fact that NYT closed more than 10% higher yesterday after management spoke bullishly about early revenue results from its new paywall.
ReplyDeleteIn this new economy, we need revenue either from advertising or from circulaton. The salaries of all these new executive hires at USA Today have to be paid by someone. So since we're obviously not getting enough revenue from ads to satify our needs, so why not a paywall? It would require a decision from above, something they are very reluctant to do.
ReplyDeleteHave never had a publisher, editor or assistant editor ever ask me how my weekend was in almost 20 years of Gannett servitude.
ReplyDeleteRumor that Saridakis is backing a big investment or buyout of PointRoll's largest competitor. People at PointRoll are all worried about.
ReplyDeleteSome people who incessantly post here about leaving Gannett remind me of some people who quit smoking.
ReplyDeleteWe get it. Good for you.
Now shut the #%*@ up about it, already.
12:32, I've had bosses at Crystal Palace who never wished me a happy birthday or anniversary.
ReplyDelete2:46 They must have got a non-compete when Saridakis quit, or someone was asleep at the wheel. After selling PointRoll to Gannett and then being involved with a big competitor strikes me as a conflict of interests.
ReplyDelete3:00
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoy your Gannett paycheck and then your unemployment check.
Amen, 3 pm....If you left and are so much happier than ever or anyone else why the hell are you even reading this blog?
ReplyDeleteWe former Gannetteers spent years devoted to
ReplyDeletethe work we did while at Gannett.
We were loyal ,hard working and dedicated to a corporation who now treats employees as disposable trash.We come here accasionally to get
updates on how they are now screwing over employees as they did to us.
Paywalls will never ever work for gci because of a culture of medicore, shallow, "good enough" journalism that people will not pay for. How many times have you been ordered to write a story along the lines of "the rain caused inconvenience yesterday" or "gas prices are high and people don't like it..." We are not offering journalism worth paying for. Surely corporate understands this. The three paper experiment was prob just cover so they could say they made an effort to look into paywalls if they work elsewhere and wall st analysts come calling
ReplyDeleteI'm paraphrasing a bit of a print article here (I can't find it online anywhere to paste the link...) in this month's issue of OMNA, in the context of the discussion here about paywalls. Author Eric Sass writes that he, along with others, are now "self-rationing" the online content they read on the NTY, using this process to circumvent the paywall system. He's an ideal candidate for an online subscription (as am I - I'm a former Gannett employee) - reads newspapers religiously. He, along with everyone else, grew used to the idea of getting newspaper contnet for free over the past decade. He, (as have I), has modified his online behavior, to avoid running into the paywall without consciously meaning to. Specifically, he preemptively rations NTY articles. He only allows himself to look at an article every other day...the most important ones, which gets him to about 15 a month, and therefore leaving about five discretionary articles left for important news cycles, etc.
ReplyDeleteIf he, and as I suspect many others are doing, follow this same path of "self-rationing", this has to result in readers reading less online content and therefore, undermining digital ad revenues.
Gannett still has a LONG way to go to truly figure out the digital paywall strategy, as do other large media companies. But paywalls are coming to all Gannett sites, soon.
This has to be of significant concern. There is NO WAY digital will ever recoup the revenue stream that print has enjoyed for the last decades. And with that in mind, so goes the continued cutting of this company down to a size where digital revenue can sustain the size of the company. It won't be this year...it won't be next year. But soon, people soon, Gannett will be only a shadow of it's current self.
What's up with the Cincinnati Enquirer Columbus bureau. Both Metro Editor Julie Engebrecht and an assistant, Carl Weiser, went dashing up there today. Some "big" announcement do tomorrow?
ReplyDelete5:13 is throwing crap at the wall again. None of that happened.
ReplyDelete5:03 I would think the NYT is clicking its heels in glee over self-regulators if they are as described. These are people who come to the site still every day, so bring that revenue with them. And eventually there is going to be such an attractive story they won't resist anymore but give in and subscribe just to get it. The NYT is like the New York Review of Books and the New Yorker. It has a loyal audience of followers who love the paper and the paywall is cleverly engineered to tug on those strings as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I think Jim said a week or so ago that he gave in.
ReplyDeleteIts been way too quiet at corporate. No silly (non) progress memos from Craig, no VP level hires. Something scary about to happen?
ReplyDeleteJon Craig was laid off today. The Enquirer has forgone Statehouse coverage and now has zero presence in the state capital.
ReplyDelete8:38 So something did happen in Cincy after the Dickey visit. Are more to come?
ReplyDeleteRe: 8:32. Source now says that Jon Craig was let go and that Enquirer plans to replace him.
ReplyDeleteFrom now on, the Enquirer will require politicians to submit press releases with quotes if they want news coverage. The practice works in the business section. It was a logical time to extend it.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know where Skip Hidlay is going after his Kansas stint?
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is “ Great job, Gannett, you have screwed yourself again.” All the young, up and coming sales people are now disgusted and ready to leave ASAP due to the new job descriptions. Great job against Gannett corporate. You have now chased away the young sales reps that were your future.They were making goal, they actually cared and once again you have screwed yourself over and your bottom line. When will you ever learn that you have to reward people for a job well done? They will not work for peanuts. These are young aspiring people — people you need and want, yet you continue to lose them. Maybe someday you will wake up and see the damage you have done and why our numbers are down. What a bunch of over paid in the dark idiots you are!
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, thanks for the pay cuts, the furloughs, the frozen raises, and making people work extra hours for nothing — while threatening them if they actually post their real hours that could be fired or worse. There are many of us who have documented out hours and you will pay for it in a law suit. I ask every Gannett employee to NOT lie on your timesheet. It is now time to make Gannett pay the piper. This is total bullshit that we have to work extra hours and lie about it. I for one, am not going to do it! And Gannett, if you don't like it — see you in court, because I have documented every hour with emails and correspondence. You WILL pay me for my extra hours worked and I am not afraid of your fear tactics. Go ahead — MAKE MY DAY!
ReplyDeleteI refuse to falsify my time sheet so that craig and the others can get bonuses. I am going to be the 2011 Norma Ray and tell the truth about the hours I have worked. If you want to lay me off — then so be it. I refuse to lie for your benefit. As stated, it is all documented and as I said “make my day, Gannett” because I will make sure you pay all my extra hours and then some. I am not afraid of you or your fear tactics. See you in court my friend and I WILL win.
ReplyDelete12:32, some of our upper management looks straight thru you when passing you in the hall. That feels awesome! Our top advertising manager has even been known to ask a rep how it's going out in a different territory which is in a completely different city from the territory they've had for 4 years. Confusing your team members is wonderful when you are down to only about 50 people.
ReplyDeleteI have seen several folks talking about falsfying timesheets. Please explain why anyone would do this? You clock the hours you work. Period.
ReplyDeleteI have seen several folks talking about falsfying timesheets. Please explain why anyone would do this? You clock the hours you work. Period.
ReplyDelete5/20/2011 6:02 AM
This would happen in the classified department (not sure about retail) at the Arizona Republic. Employees had to fill out time sheets but were told to just put what their official start time was (not what they actually worked). If an employee's time card showed more than 8 hours in a day then it was changed to reflect 8 and the employee was told not to do that again (to keep things on the down low the employee's whole performance became under scrutiny and were basically bullied to mark their time cards no more than 40 per week. I was a manager there and witnessed this on several occasions because two managers were always required to be present during the employee bullying stage so a united front could be presented to HR if it went that far which it never did. I do feel bad that I was part of this standard process. No longer a Gannett employee.
Timesheets were also modified at the Asbury Park Press all the time. They did not want you putting down more than 8 hours of work a day.
ReplyDelete