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| Eberle |
Eberle failed to mention that companies chasing these sort of tax breaks often show little long-term commitment -- companies like, oh, Gannett.
In Tulsa, GCI accepted $259,787 in Oklahoma tax rebates in return for creating at most 165 customer service jobs at a call center -- jobs the company eliminated in March, when it closed its Center of Excellence, less than five years after it opened.
Not sure what’s more amazing, Eberle’s fanciful Ford example, which is B.S. at best as the profits all roll up under one umbrella let alone digital posts ads on Eberle’s paper (a job they once did), or that he exposed his dishonesty in print further eroding that newspapers credibility.
ReplyDeleteReaders with lower IQ’s may fall for it but its doubtful intelligent readers and Fort Myer’s business community will.
Fort Myers editor Eberle has his green eyshade on too tight: It’s not that Gannett has (necessarily) done wrong; it's that by accepting government tax dollars to improve corporate profits, Gannett and the News-Press became egg-eaters in the government-handout henhouse they’re supposed to be watchdogs of.
ReplyDeleteAnd, by waiting for days to respond to the coverage of three area TV stations, Eberle and the News-Press look like Weiner trying to belatedly explain his Twitter junk or John Edwards finally coming to grips with his Rielle big problem.
Terry, if locally-based Chico’s accepted job-creation funds to improve its corporate profits as it fired workers in its area Soma stores, would you question it?
If local green fuel-maker Algenol accepted a job-creation tax check to improve its production division profits while it terminated workers in its local labs, would you report it?
If a competing media company accepted 105,000 government tax dollars to subsidize 35 corporate sales division jobs, and simultaneously laid off 14 workers at its local newspaper, would you editorialize your concern?
If you would not, you’re not doing your job.
If you would, you are hypocritical.
The taint of accepting public funds for your corporate profits leaves you and Gannett to choose between these defects.
That bad taste in your mouth comes from talking out of both sides of it.
Terry Eberle has apparently gone from watchdog to puppet.
ReplyDeleteSquirm, Terry, squirm...into the fecal matter.
From the comments field of the article on News Press website
ReplyDeleteForwardThinker
7:30 PM on June 26, 2011
The News-Press reminds one of a terminally ill patient. The paper gets thinner and thinner each week.
I suspect with the continued cuts this trend of thinner papers will just keep getting worse
You have to remember those 14 were just this round of layoffs...News-Press had a few layoffs at the end of last year and jobs lost to attrition over the past year. We can't forget some positions switched from News Press to these newly created "Gannett" jobs as well. It's more likely to be negative job creation at this point.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that this was even addressed in this manner is laughable. The readers are not uneducated idiots that you can pull the wool over their eyes. Why don't you tell them how the funds were used GANNETT? Where did those big TV's and cool couches come from? We know the cubicles just moved from one area of the building to another and you didn't buy them.
Jim, are you still trying to guess at those Tulsa job numbers? You've had months to nail that down.
ReplyDeleteYou probably shouldn't be commenting about job numbers with all of the problems you've had in that area. Just saying.
9:31: Your attempt to change the subject is lame. This Fort Myers debacle is Gannett's second big screw up in less than a week since the layoffs. I told you it wouldn't take communities long to figure out how out of control this company is once the employees who have been let go start talking. Gannett's reputation sucks. The more layoffs, the worse it's going to get. The less ads that will be sold. It is obvious that Eberle took days to respond to the accusations because he had to make sure corporate could tell him how to respond. If his explanation was on the up and up there would be no reason to delay a response. It amazes me that the executives are seeking answers from the idiots at corporate who are running this company into the ground. They're spinning stories. They have no idea what they are doing. Will anybody out there challenge them? When did all these executives become corporate puppets? It's sickening.
ReplyDeleteAnyone from Ft. Myers explain what happened to Doug MacGregor. Eberle says he's been laid off, but that his cartoons are still going to appear in the paper. So is it a freelance deal they've made, or are they just going to rerun old cartoons? Both Eberle's column and a good-bye piece from Macgregor avoids using the word freelance and I'm not there so I don't know.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't laying someone off and then having them do freelance work be illegal?
ReplyDelete10:43 That's why I am asking the question. Sorry, I'm a reporter and there's a huge hole in the story Eberle wrote, and that is what consideration is Macgregor getting for the cartoons that will continue. If I gave a story like that to an editor like Jim, he would naturally ask me that question, I think,
ReplyDeleteThere's a separate story about Macgregor being laid off with a cartoon, and it has the same hole that needs to be filled somehow, or should never have been allowed to run.
ReplyDeleteNot there, but if there's a freelance deal, it nixes unemployment checks because you have to be fully unemployed to get unemployment checks.
ReplyDelete11:23, can you share the other article? I am sure tracks are being swiftly covered if there was a plan to operate on a freelance basis.
ReplyDelete11:45: As I said, neither Eberle's column nor this second story say anything about what the deal is, but as you see macgregor seems happy from the way he drew the cartoon.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011110626001
I think what happened to Macgregor is that Ft. Myers didn't want to see him go to the adjacent Naples Daily News (Scripps), which has been moving in on Ft. Myers for readers.
ReplyDeleteThis may have been written for Publisher Mei-Mei Chan.
ReplyDeleteLooks to me as if Macgregor has some gig with the Alliance for Arts, located on Macgregor Boulevard in Ft. Myers, to begin teaching art classes:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dougcreates.com/Site/Welcome.html
Why do you say that Jim?
ReplyDeleteBut wait, the Fort Myers stuff gets better:
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Who represented the News-Press when it bought the neighboring fire station property from the City?
Answer: Jim Moore, who is now the director of economic development and in charge of awarding (and accounting for) the grant money Gannett received.
Question: Who led the public-private council that advised county commissioners on economic issues when Moore was hired?
Answer: News-Press publisher, Carol Hudler.
Now, does any of that mean something evil is going on? Probably not. But the questions represent the kind of journalism I would have expected from the News-Press. That is, if the story weren’t about them. And if there were any journalists left in the building.
Nothing to see here, folks. We’re like a Ford plant.
And to think, a few years back, Gannett made people sign statements that they read the Code of Ethics, which included avoiding anything to appear to be a conflict of interest.
ReplyDeleteBut of course, management is excluded. Well, there's a shock.
I made a second read of Eberle’s letter justifying a local tax handout for Gannett, in which he likens The News-Press to a Ford auto plant.
ReplyDeleteIn recent years, Ford has laid off tens of thousands of employees and shuttered more than a dozen plants, contributing to Detroit’s population shrinking to less than a million for the first time since the 1920s. At the same time, top execs got tens of millions of dollars in bonuses.
Terry is not an idiot; he is a savant.
Several people here have no idea what they are talking about, as usual.
ReplyDeleteFirst, it's not "illegal" to give freelance work to someone who's been laid off. Also, you don't have to be "completely unemployed" to receive unemployment checks, at least in this state.
11:20, you need to stop kissing butt. Things like what I've mentioned here get thrown onto this blog all the time, and Jim does N-O-T-H-I-N-G to correct them.
Finally, to 10:13, the question about the Tulsa jobs is relevant. Why are we still getting this "at most" phrasing? Either get the correct numbers or find a different way to refer to the situation.
7:55 If you are drawing any salary while taking unemployment benefits, then that is most certainly illegal. Unemployment benefits are only for people who are unemployed. I am sure the local attorney general's office would be happy to straighten up any misunderstanding of this point, both for the employer who hired someone who was drawing unemployment checks, and for the person who got those checks. Ask an attorney, and you will see I am right.
ReplyDelete7:55 Where did you get this garbage from?
ReplyDelete1. Here is a link to a legal page which will tell you it is fraud to get any payments for working while you are drawing unemployment benefits, and it doesn't matter if its Florida or not:
http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/Legal-FAQs/Labor-Employment/Alabama/what-will-happen-if-i-draw-unemployment-benef.html
2. 11:20 wasn't kissing butt. He was saying he is a reporter who found a big hole in a story, and it gnawed on him. He said Jim would probably back him up on this because Jim has worked as an editor. This is not ass-kissing.
8:03, it depends on each state's laws for receiving unemployment. In NY, for example, you can work, but you'd receive less benefits. If you work one day, you lose 1/4 of your benefits for that week. And that one day can be any time, even if it is an hour.
ReplyDeleteHate to break this, 8:03 and 8:12, but you're wrong. In some states, you can work and still get benefits. Not the full benefits, but you'd still get benefits.
ReplyDeleteI don't need to ask an attorney. You're wrong.
Now if someone doesn't report getting paid and takes the full benefits, that's a whole different animal. That might be what you are going on about.
No, read the legal citation. Your unemployment benefits stop the moment they discover you are getting a paycheck from any source. How do they discover this? Because when an employer issues a paycheck, he needs to put the recipient's Social Security No. on it to report the payment. This then goes to the federal government, which has huge computer capabilities, and discovers someone got a paycheck while they were drawing unemployment benefits. The feds then alert the state employment agency and the state withholds further unemployment payments until they can get the person in and explain what happened. If it is an innocent one-time mistake, a friendly bureaucrat might restore someone's unemployment benefits. But if it then happens a second time and the computer reports a paycheck while drawing unemployment benefits, then more serious action is taken.
ReplyDeleteUnemployment insurance is for those who are unemployed. How hard is that to understand?.
8:25 is correct. If they didn't do it this way, there would be no way to stop people who are still working from drawing unemployment benefits. And you know there are people who would defraud the government if they could get away with it.
ReplyDeleteNo supporters for Terry and news press?
ReplyDelete8:25 The only way around this problem is to give cash and have an employer claim it on an expense account as a lunch with a source, or whatever. The problem with that is that it is clearly fraud, and if it was discovered and reported to a local prosecutor would involve the person who gave the cash as well as the company as well in a federal investigation of conspiracy to defraud the government, a very serious offense indeed.
ReplyDeleteWhen you sign up for unemployment, they tell you the rules that are involved. Trust me, I know.
ReplyDelete8:25, it must be very hard for you to understand because you are still wrong.
ReplyDeleteSome states let people collect benefits if they don't earn more than a certain amount of money.
Just admit you're wrong. You just dig the hole even deeper when you write some lengthy defense of your inaccurate viewpoint.
9:18 Check it out for yourself. Just call your local unemployment office and ask if its possible to earn ANY money for working while drawing unemployment benefits. Tell them you think you might be laid off, and you are considering your options.
ReplyDeleteThen listen to the answer.
11:06, it is possible. So I don't need to call. I know I'm right, and I know you're wrong. The law is different in different states. You still have to report how much you made, but you can earn money in some states.
ReplyDeleteIf it didn't mean revealing the state, I'd shoot you down in a heartbeat.
Now, stop spreading B.S. The law in some states is not what you think it is. Adjust.
Hard to believe there is another dispute about benefits here.
ReplyDeleteLook, to the people who come in here screaming about how things are illegal and trying to paint every action with the same brush -- stop. Get a hobby or something. It starts to get old after a while.
The people who are saying you can't work while on unemployment are wrong, depending on the state. A relative kept his benefits for months while he worked part time for different places. He was never a full-time employee for any of those places, and he reported what he earned.
It's not the same rule for everyone. Stop screaming about it as if it is.
Well, I know how to settle this. The next time I see a Macgregor cartoon in the Ft. Myers newspaper, I will send a signed letter to the U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill (who I know) suggesting he check to see if the newspaper has some employment contract continuing with Macgregor after Macgregor put an application in for unemployment insurance because the newspaper laid him off. Then let's count the days before you get a court-ordered subpoena from O'Neill's office seeking access to the Ft. Myers News Press and Gannett payroll records. If you are right, you won't see any subpoena. If I am right, you will, and there will be all hell to pay and I will be happy because I was one of those the newspaper laid off and didn't get any similar special deal to Macgregor.
ReplyDeleteP.S. While I am at it, I will also be certain to ask O'Neill why he doesn't look into that curious deal where Gannett got $105,000 to create 35 jobs, even as the company eliminated 14 with layoffs.
ReplyDeleteGo for it. But other states' employment laws might not be the same as Florida employment law, so you won't really be proving anything.
ReplyDeleteIf it keeps you away from here for a while, though, then it would be great.
Ok, but remember you can't count on comfortable old Doug Malloy to bail you out of legal troubles with the U.S. attorney's office, can you?
ReplyDeleteCall Center? Yes it was a call center. Center of Excellence? Ummmm, no.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteDo you think NBC-2 would be interested in this weird macgregor deal of paying him a salary after he's been laid off?
ReplyDeleteKeep it up NBC-2. Looks strange to me, too. Fraud?
ReplyDelete12:22 The only one who can keep me away from posting on this blog is Jim, who kills items he thinks are off-topic, wildly incorrect or embarassing to workers. I am going to keep posting items I think are accurate because that is the way reporting works.
ReplyDeleteYour items aren't accurate, though. This has been explained to you repeatedly, and yet you keep posting them.
ReplyDeleteDifferent states have different rules. It can't be any simpler than that. How are you still confused?
The layoff vs. freelance argument is likely moot.
ReplyDeleteEditor Eberle -- after justifying Gannett’s suck on the government’s teat -- promises readers about laid-off cartoonist Doug MacGregor, “You’ll still be seeing his work in the newspaper each week.”
For years, MacGregor inked a non-editorial series in the News-Press about life in sunny, touristy Fort Myers, called “MacGregor’s Boulevard” after a similarly named main thoroughfare here.
Dollars to donuts, Eberle plans to use those “evergreen” pieces as a way of having Doug in the paper without having Doug on the payroll.
That filing cabinet full of cartoons? They’re all within reach.
9:57 If that is the case, why is Macgregor smiling so broadly in his departure cartoon, and why wasn't it stated in the stories? This all started because of a hole in the stories that some reporter thought needed to be filled. Read above and you will see, and also read how he was shot down in subsequent posts.
ReplyDelete..or she.
ReplyDeleteHere’s an interview with Doug MacGregor from the day after he was laid off.
ReplyDeletehttp://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2011/06/23/doug-macgregor-laid-off-from-news-press/
Alan: Will you still be contributing to the paper in any way and if is, how many?
Doug: No plans at the moment.
It would seem unlikely that any contract for new work would be negotiated between this Wednesday interview and Eberle’s Saturday night letter.
Why keep paying the cow when you already have a filing cabinet full of milk?
So then what's the deal that neither Eberle nor Macgregor wanted to disclose to us in the departure stories? Macgregor should not be that happy about being laid off, especially when you consider the bum reaction to layoffs of the others laid off.
ReplyDeleteIt is odd that he drew himself happy to be laid off.
ReplyDelete1:08 You got it. It is very odd.
ReplyDeleteTerry walks around the news press with that same stupid grin he has in his photo. He comes across as an arrogant ass to me. Wonder if that is reality to those reporting to him.
ReplyDelete