Anonymous@3:33 a.m. today says that Publisher Leslie Hurst told employees in a memo yesterday that CEO Craig Dubow and other members of the top brass are scheduled to visit The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., next month:
From: "Hurst, Leslie"
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2011
Subject: Gannett CEO to visit
Everyone,
Craig Dubow, Gannett's CEO, along with Gracia Martore, president, and Bob Dickey, president of Gannett's USCP division, will visit Jackson Wednesday, Aug. 17. To the best of my knowledge, this will be Craig and Gracia's first visit to The Clarion-Ledger. Bob was here last March for the first time.
I don't have many details, but they will host a town hall meeting during which there will be a Q&A. I will let you know timing and other details as I know them.
-- Leslie
Earlier: It's a long road to Pensacola . . .
Corporate rarely takes its road show to just one site; executives almost always visit other locations. Are you on their list? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.
So, this idiot, Dubow and his puppet master, Martore, have been with the company for decades AND have both been in their roles as company leadership since July 2005 (SIX YEARS) and this is the FIRST TIME they are visiting this newspaper? Pathetic!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat have they been doing for the past SIX years? How many other sites have not been visited by "top brass, like Dubow and Martore?
Seriously, should anyone be happy about this? How many times have they visited PointRoll, their big moneymaker company? What about other broadcast stations vs. Newspapers? Clearly there is a bias toward broadcast than newspapers.
Jeffrey Louis and Howard Elias should take note of Gannett's Management Team's lack of travel to customers and local sites.
What gut-wrenching news is in store? Wonder if they'll drop by the La. properties? Just down the road from Jackson.
ReplyDeleteI remember the question being asked on the Blog if anyone had met these two because they never visit the sites. Looks like they're making an effort. Let's see if they can handle the criticism, explain their vision and move in a forward direction. I hoe they come this way. I find it interesting that Jackson is first. Could they be on a layoff run of the top execs?
ReplyDeleteLet us know if questions have to be submitted ahead of time.
ReplyDeleteThis of course means that Hurst will be spending most of her time in the week leading up to the visit sending out e-mails to staff telling them to clean their desks.
ReplyDeleteHurst always has the cleanest newspapers in the company. We even cleaned up Lansing when she was here.
ReplyDeleteMontgomery August 17.
ReplyDeleteClarion-Ledger just announced that executive editor Ronnie Agnew leaving to become executive director of Mississippi Public Broadcasting.
ReplyDeleteIs anyone having problems with the severance-like process Gannett has recently laid-off workers tied into?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.clarionledger.com/article/20110712/NEWS/110712025/C-L-editor-take-over-MPB?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CHome
ReplyDeleteJust do us all a favor and stay the hell away from our sites. You have nothing to contribute and continue to take your insane bonuses. PLEASE do us a favor and get the hell out of my newspaper. You never gave a damn about it before and you don't now. We don't need your BS. We just want to produce a newspaper! If you felt the same way you would give up your bonus and actually TRY to save what is left of Gannett. Retire already. You have done NOTHING to help us grow!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you @1058. I find it astonishing that these so-called leaders could be at the helm for half a decade and never visit so many of its papers. But they don't get the newspaper side of this business. They just get the bonuses.
ReplyDeleteI really hope someone who loves this work and shares the calling gets to steer the ship someday.
Hey Jackson, was Leslie beebopping around the paper yesterday in a way you'd never seen her before? Every time a corporate visited Laffy, she would walk around the whole place, chatting with employees (most of whom had never seen her) like it was something she did all the time. The first two or three times it happened, most of us just thought, "Wow, that's nice. She's making an effort." Then someone made the connection that the only time she came out of her hole (or showed up to at the office some months) was when someone was visiting from corporate.
ReplyDeleteSo they're leaving corporate to do site visits at the same time all the top editors will be at corporate? That's... interesting.
ReplyDeleteHurst met with reporters and sent congratulatory emails on stories she liked for the first few weeks. Turns out she was under peer review at that time. Jackson's flaky OC, ignoring warnings from those in her past, gave her high marks. The compliments went away, replaced by invective-laced accusations against her top personnel. Rarely seen, in the building or in the community.
ReplyDeleteIn Lafayette, she chased off one of the corporations top executive editors, her top assistant and its award-winning sports editor. Competition for the replacements was so weak, the Lafayette paper had to settle for a sports editor twice previously fired in other companies for harassment of that uncomfortable nature. Because of her complete comfort with laying off staff, Hurst makes numbers, thereby assuring her standing in this wonderful company.
ReplyDeleteThese clowns, when they visit a site, arrive in individual rental cars, top of line, of course. They require visitor parking be cordoned off, then come in and lie, brazenly, to unbelieving staff members forced to listen and ordered not to ask troublesome questions. With the current authority vacuum in Jackson, here's betting some executives get venom.
ReplyDeletebwahahahahahaha, just read the 7/22 post about Hurst chasing of "one of the corporations top executive editors" and her "top assistant" in Laffy! Stop it. Really. That's making my side hurt.
ReplyDelete