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Thursday, June 16, 2011
54 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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Re: Yesterday's discussion of GPC rolling into Phoenix.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were rolled up, there was a lot of surprise in the rest of the building when the actual day hit - people just didn't know, outside of advertising. They had heard something was going on, but even today I have no idea where the finance consolidation rests or where my paper sits on the design hub calendar.
Big site like Phoenix before a holiday weekend? Could be bad, but I was surprised at how easy Memorial weekend went. Mandatory overtime cures all ills.
I feel sorry for Phoenix. The GPC will ruin you.
ReplyDeleteHey, check out the Wall Street Journal's jet tracker. Corporate took 12 flights up to Newfoundland. We own a paper up there? Oh, they get ferried to vacation, too. Yes, but times are tough, and we need more layoffs, furloughs and pay freezes. Where is the board to hold accountability? Maybe they're on the plane, too. (In more ways than one.)
ReplyDelete5:37am, the first week live on GPC is a cake walk. I'm sorry to tell you, but you're about to enter the living hell of GPC. Expect credits to go up and revenue to go down. Reps to spend all day babysitting their ads, proofs coming back AFTER the correction deadline. Customers upset after 3-4 proofs with the same error.
ReplyDeleteMy your god have mercy on your souls.
GPC= GANNETT PIECE of CRAP
ReplyDeleteThey do NOT
- pay attention to instructions
- have any idea how to be creative
- care if salaried employees work til 8 pm because they have to wait on proofs
- have any idea how time consuming it is to work through someone not local
Remember they are a "production" house. They give you back exactly what you give them. You are responsible for selling it and designing the ad now..... Most 6th graders could do better design work in publisher than the GPC
The issue with GPC, COE and most Gannett initiatives is that they are intended to give the appearance that upper management is doing something to save money. It does not matter if they are screwing things up or not management can still point to these monstrousness when telling our clueless board of directors and Wall Street what they are doing to control costs. That is why they are all rushed in without proper planning. The quicker we get them in, the quicker management can say we are doing something. If it looks like we are doing something then the board gives Craig and Gracia even bigger raises. The impact on the operation is immaterial. Only thing that counts is that Craig and Gracia make more money (that is also why it is important we eliminate as many jobs as possible). So to summarize these initiatives are not intended to actually work well they are intended to make it look like we are saving money so management can continue to get big raises.
ReplyDeleteCOE - Center of Excellence, because "Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can't Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too" was already taken.
ReplyDeleteSomeone commented that 5 employees quit.
ReplyDeleteThat is what we need to know about here.This is the same as layoffs, they just chose their own time and didn't wait to be pushed out by Gannett.Those who left are probably very relieved by now.More of these reports here would be good to read about here.
These strategic initiatives do not build the business. They provide short-term gain and lead to unitended consequences.
ReplyDeleteUSA Today is bleeding hands-on staff, from new media kids to veteran print journalists.
ReplyDeleteThere appears to be a hiring freeze going on at the same time.
My best guess from the sidelines? That layoffs are a-comin' (no advance warning like last summer, which caused a rush for the doors of people we actually needed) and they want those "dark" positions to count against the ordered head-chopping.
Maybe My Boss will weigh in, but I'm not optimistic.
(word verification: intsuck)
To 6:20 p.m. in Part 3, thanks for the link to the story about the print Metromix demise in Indy. The reader comments were telling, as well. Here's one:
ReplyDeleteAt least the pictures of the trampy, chunky gals hanging out at LandSharks will still be available online. Thanks goodness for that.
7:09 Obviously, you have never been to Gander, Newsfoundland to see the Northern Lights. They are absolutely spectacular there, more than they are even in Alaska but perhaps equivalent to what you get in Hudson, Alta. I was in Gander once when they were on display, and I could not sleep all night for the delight of watching the Northern Lights.
ReplyDelete7:09: Far be it from me to defend the habits of high-flying executives, but I suspect those flights to Newfoundland were for refueling. The flights were all en route to or from England, where GCI does have newspapers.
ReplyDelete11:16 Long haul jets like the Boeing 747 or the Airbus A330 don't have to stop off to refuel. My guess is that it would be much cheaper to use them, even if first class tickets are bought.
ReplyDeletep.s Air Force One is a 747 and goes everywhere without refueling.
ReplyDeleteTo the whose papers ad production has been consolidated to GPC, did your paper keep any artist? I believe PHX has 23 artist and I am curious if they will get rid if everyone? If they kept some artist did they have to reapply?
ReplyDeleteWall Street Journal Jet Tracker Link: http://projects.wsj.com/jettracker/
ReplyDeleteProvides dates and estimated flight costs.
Well, it can't be a newspaper. The largest newspaper in the area seems to be Anglican Life in Newfoundland and Labrador, which I can only guess involves what issues. The census gives Gander's population at about 10,000.
ReplyDeleteIf they bought a chain in England, and Gracia said recently that it is very profitable, then I guess they could try Canada as well. But Gander doesn't make much sense to me.
ReplyDelete11:42, what the sites consolidating to the GPC have done is keep a small number of "ad traffickers" on site to basically troubleshoot. But at my site, they've already laid off some of those. And it's a craptastic job, for sure.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone identify the property where the five employees quit?
ReplyDelete@11:32 AM:
ReplyDeleteTotally off-topic, but you do know that AF1 would be refueled in-flight by a KC-135, right? That is, it would not land specifically to refuel without some other reason.
Not sure what the range of AF1 has to do with anything else, though...
Can't be just refueling. There are 12 landings in Newfoundland, but only four at Farnborough in England. So what happened the other 8 times in Nfd?
ReplyDeleteDubow said recently that newspapers aren't on the company's current shopping list. GCI wants to expand its digital portfolio first.
ReplyDelete12:29 AF1 is a 747. Look at the map, and you see 747's and Airbus make it everyday across the pond to Europe without stopping to be refueled, or refueled in mid-air. I don't think they make commercial jets that can be refueled in air and AF1 has that capability only because it might be needed for a Doomsday mission that would keep the president in the air for days.
ReplyDeleteGannett corporate jet needed for Doomsday mission, too
ReplyDelete11:42, in Reno, Nev., the artists had to re-apply as if they just stepped off the street with no years-long history of talent and dedication, as if all their annual reviews must have been written in Sanskrit. Execs didn't even bother with 'em, there was that much arrogance.
ReplyDeleteEight colleagues, once a cohesive department, competing against friends in private "presentations" for three completely different positions, none having much to do with design. Tacky as hell.
Unlike Gannett, I have some ethics. I refused to participate and accepted that the job at which I excelled for so long was gone -- especially with a company that had become so clueless.
Craig, the employee review process at my Gannett site is a joke. Only one or two managers make a sincere effort to evaluate the work employees have done and no one asks what employees' goals are, because no one cares and it doesn't matter. We are all pretty much expendable.
ReplyDeleteBaxter Bulletin in Mountain Home, AR... GPC go live date is July 18th...is it the last one?
ReplyDeleteBaxter County did get moved after Phoenix recently.
ReplyDeleteEvidently their electricity go-live was running behind. Cue banjos.
3:58: What are you talking about? Baxter County newspapers has not gone live yet. Don't go until July 18th. Duh, don't know what you are talking about obviously. Troll.
ReplyDelete@3:58..yeah that part of Arkansas sometimes seems like a scene out of "Deliverance"..lol
ReplyDeleteLouisville CJ lost it's VP of finance this month. Dispute with the Publisher. That should be in the Louisville list. More to come, by the end of the year most of the finance department will be gone.
ReplyDelete5:34 Good point; I've added that job.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSo Craig if I have this correct you chose to take your ball and go home even though you considered yourself one of the most talented artists in the room? Seems like a highly talented individual like you would have waltzed into the job. I wonder if your colleagues and your managers felt the same as you do about your talents? I'd love to ehar from them. Just wondering out loud since you apprently have continued to tell everyone how accomplished you were/are.
ReplyDeleteA longtime Gannettoid on the TV side is now going to compete against Gannett. Anita Helt is moving from president/general manager of KXTV "News 10" in Sacramento to vice president/general manager of KNXV "ABC 15" in Phoenix, effective Monday.
ReplyDeleteDays later, and still no proof of the layoffs. No proof = gossip.
ReplyDelete5:43's post is another example of why no one can post here with a name. Craig is a clueless wonder, but he doesn't deserve that attack.
Can someone explain the Louisville VP of Finance situation?
ReplyDelete7:20, can you clarify the "situation?"
ReplyDelete11:42 AM, at my site when we went to the GPC they kept 4 ad artists and let I think 12 go. The remaining 4 work their butts off correcting GPC screw ups.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeletewhat's the story with the vp/finance in louisville? he was a great guy and knew his stuff? And the pub (from my dealings) was a great guy too. also, what is the store about the vp in louisville leaving - has the position been filled?
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbppl.com/
They've won the Gannett Award for Best Supplier of the Year.
Four prepress jobs lost in Nashville this past week.
ReplyDeleteGive it up, 9:23. No proof = gossip.
ReplyDeleteJim, why did you delete my posts? Layoffs early next week, huge numbers. Check with your contacts. No drip drip.
ReplyDelete6/16/2011 12:29 PM - I am not comfortable saying the site but I will say - Fla. They didn't all quit either. It was a cobmination of quitting and firing in different departments. There may be more that I am unaware of.
ReplyDelete6/16/2011 11:42 AM - We have ad traffickers. They are on GPC cleanup duty and dealing with the issues from GPC. They get very little time to be creative. There are also couple of artist as well (less than 5). They handle high priorty accounts the GPC can't be trusted to handle.
5:43: Wow. Love the attack. Love assumption! Sounds like an exec never reading my reviews. I was only describing the proven ruthlessness of Gannettculture. I don't think myself god's gift to anything, but I did my my job well, and I was told so. Direct from a supervisor, direct from sales people, direct from advertisers. This guy seems to think that such a deal is impossible, some ego trip. And I bet he still works at Gannett.
ReplyDeleteI am a "clueless wonder," 6:50? Really? Where did I work for 25 years?
How did I keep that job for 25 years? By being a slacker? By doing shit work? By being clueless?
I should just go back to posting anonymously so I can get slammed by your ilk for being anonymous.
What's interesting to me is while one can describe working conditions witnessed, experienced, one's life intimately and adversely affected, one can equally guarantee a fuselade of personal denigration on this site for doing so. That's how one recognizes the execs.
ReplyDeleteSO IF YOU VOLUNTEER FOR A LAYOFF YOU DON'T GET UNEMPLOYMENT? JUST ASKING
ReplyDeleteRe: 11:51 - that's what I was told. Of course if you have a decent boss who understands your request and places your name on the "list" and takes somebody else off with no formal notation that the layoff was voluntary then who would know? But at my site the Executive Editor was not willing to do that when I asked about accepting volunteers for layoffs.
ReplyDeleteIt probably doesn't help that, at least my site, the people "laid off" were pretty clearly targeted, at least in my department.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete11:02 Please consider e-mailing me a few more details. (Such as how you know this. I won't share anything you provide unless you tell me to in writing.) As always, I'm at jimhopkins@gmail.com
ReplyDelete