Monday, July 18, 2011

July 18-24 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

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57 comments:

  1. Gee, where is USA Today on this Murdoch story today? What a mess. Cameron the British prime minister has fled to Africa to study famine and business relationships with South Africa. Since when has there not been famine in Africa, and isn't South Africa a former British colony?
    So why is USA Today ignoring this? Well, I have an idea. The Murdoch scandal is exposing a long-standing cozy relationship the press has with the British political establishment, the politicians and the police. My guess is USA Today powers don't want readers to remember that Hillkirk dinner with Obama, and Cincy's relationship with a Catholic politician arrested for DUI while driving high on Viagra and with a stripper. What an utter shame.

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  2. Where was the news desk? No one in this profession (particularly those in circulation) cannot see this story is a story.

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  3. Normally, this would be a Money media story, but they do a lousy job on breaking news. Plus their media reporter left in a huff months ago.

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  4. Understand the rush to get stuff on the website, but doesn't ANYBODY edit ANYTHING any longer? This just appeared on the C-J website:

    A 16-year-old girl was wounded early Monday morning after a car fired shots, striking her.

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  5. I was pretty shocked at how bad Sunday's Asbury Park Press was. The main story combined material from a Delaware News Journal writer with stuff from Kirk Moore, one of the APP's few remaining veterans. Local content filled less than two full pages. If you can't even fill your Sunday paper with compelling local stories, it's time to give up.

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  6. Who is Stoney LaDouche?

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  7. 10:42, this is newsroom management under Hollis "My Way or the Highway" Towns.

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  8. 10:28, I like how you spot an error on a Web story and bitch about it here -- instead of alerting your former colleagues so they could fix it. They must really miss you at The Courier-Journal.

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  9. I'm not 10:28, but at my former site, I'd be spending all day alerting them to mistakes. I only point out the big ones anymore.

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  10. Hey 12:13 - I used to tell the incompetents all the time about website errors. It was much cheaper for them to lay me off and keep making the same stupid errors.

    When quality is not important and you can't afford grease, just unhook the squeaky wheel.

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  11. @12:13 p.m. - It's pretty sad that they couldn't find a compelling local story to serve as the A1 centerpiece. In other areas the summer months may be times of slow news, but the APP used to place a priority on putting out strong weekend editions to lure single-copy sales of all the people flocking to the shore.

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  12. Good coverage today of the dividend and Dubow/Martore talking to analysts, Jim.

    A headline not to ignore: Martore saying no current plans for further staff reductions.

    Can be read many ways, but seems a bit of good news amid the spin.

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  13. We are so incompetent we can't livestream a webinar about livestreaming. Really.

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  14. 1:04, I think you're being too optimistic.

    Maybe there won't be future layoffs. But the phrase "no current plans" is the all-purpose escape hatch.

    Also, layoffs and furloughs have been successful to date in keeping the wheels turning and the bonuses coming. Why would the suits turn away from what, in their world, has been a winning strategy?

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  15. Calling Florida Today at Brevard. Anyone out there?

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  16. I wouldn't live and die by anything these guys said today regarding layoffs or furloughs. It could all be different tomorrow.

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  17. 12:13 We miss anyone laid off at the CJ. It's freakin tumbleweed city in this building.

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  18. Lookie here. I didn't think about the American Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Don't we have papers in England?
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/18/news-corp-global-investigation-bribery

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  19. Most interesting, 4:03. Thanks for the link.

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  20. @10:42...why should anyone be surprised by the executive editor's decisions at the APP? Take a peek at his Twitter account - http://twitter.com/#!/tweeter23 - and you'll notice that his big picture has him holding a copy of the Enquirer. Hasn't he been in Jersey three years now?

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  21. This seems much more fair than the G A N N E T T way.

    Cisco to lay off 9 percent of work force in effort to cut costs and raise profits

    SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Networking equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc. is laying off 6,500 employees - about 9 percent of its work force - as it follows up on a plan announced in May to eliminate thousands of jobs in an effort to cut costs and raise profits.

    Cisco said Monday that the employees it is letting go include 2,100 who chose to take part in an early-retirement program. The company said it will cut 15 percent of its employees at and above the level of vice president.

    The company will offer severance pay and assistance finding new employment to those laid off.

    Cisco will inform employees who have been cut in the U.S., Canada and some other countries during the first week of August.

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  22. 5:16 Companies change direction all the time, especially after a recession, and I think everyone understands that or they would seek the security of a government job (not so secure today, IMO) Cisco is a wealthy company with no debt and mapping its future if and when we move to cloud computing, which will require new sets of switches Cisco makes. The difference with Cisco and Gannett is they try to make accomodations with employees impacted by the changes, and Gannett needlessly chisels employees who had been faithful to them. There wouldn't be such a nasty reaction if they treated employees fairly, and corporate trolls wouldn't have things they could use to needle those left behind. I often wondered in recent months why the corporate trolls were so big on the idea more cuts were coming, there were no jobs out there for newspaper people. It struck me as nasty, insensitive and perversely cruel. But then I suppose that's the life of a corporate trolls agreed to live when they began working for Gannett. They cannot be a happy group, methinks.

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  23. Has anyone heard of any lawsuits against Gannett for laying off so many in the over-50 crowd?

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  24. From the earlier post:
    Cisco will inform employees who have been cut in the U.S., Canada and some other countries during the first week of August.

    That's what bothered me about this latest round of layoffs. Seven hundred were let go, yet what assistance did Gannett provide? In fact, within days, a number of Gannett sides were adverising jobs. It seems there could have been some coordination among HR types. You're firing people, but you are also hiring people. Seems almost too easy.

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  25. @5:16 - you are correct! This is a much more humane way of handling the situation! They actually help displaced employees find jobs, they offer a decent severance, and they may even offer advance notice since so many have already opted to early retire. Do you think Cisco top dogs will be taking the same kind of bonuses CD, GM et al did, at the expense of the people? That's not my impression of Cisco as a company, which offers great perks in their offices alone...something Gannett certainly doesn't do!

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  26. @5:49 - haha!! The mention of perks got me to thinking about the perks in my location, and I could only think of ONE! Free coffee! Oh, and once a year, IF your work group was having a holiday buffet, where everyone participated, THEN they would provide the meat! Woohoo!!

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  27. "News of the World Whistleblower Found Dead" http://t.co/y5P8WaM

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  28. Anyone who thinks there wont be cuts and furloughs is delusional.

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  29. Florida Today is having a big restructure meeting tomorrow?

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  30. FREE coffee? FREE???

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  31. 5:34 pm, didn't you know that Gannett doesn't lay off people? Gannett eliminates **positions** (and eliminates the people who worked in those positions).
    If many of those people happen to be "better-paid", over-50 workers, it's not age discrimination, because Gannett has re-structured responsibilities and those positions are no longer needed.
    Seriously.
    I am over-50 and never considered an age suit because it would have been a waste of my money. It's better to just move on.

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  32. Florida Today in Brevard has a lot of people leaving around August 26, closing one press- to print
    USA TODAY in Orlando & also closing their Prepress, is there other news, besides that?

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  33. 6:57 and 7:42 are mastering the "Plain White T" cracker carry technique.

    Each uses a plain oval cracker. The first goes in vertically, parallel to the asscrack, and the second goes perpendicular to the first, forming the T.

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  34. ONE MORE CRACKER JOKE AND I'M HIRING ANONYMOUS TO TRACK YOU DOWN. SERIOUSLY.

    EVERY FUCKING RECENT COMMENT SECTION on the Gannett blog and SHIT FOR BRAINS has to post his stupid fucking cracker bullshit.

    HOW MANY FUCKING TIMES DO YOU HAVE TO GET MADE FUN OF BEFORE YOU REALIZE NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR SELF-HUMORING BULLSHIT?

    SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET THE ADULTS TALK PLEASE.

    You obviously have a lot of time to spend posting this shit, why don't you find a job and stop sucking the tax money out of the lot of us?

    IT'S NO WONDER YOU ENDED UP WHERE YOU ARE IF YOU'RE THAT GODDAMNED SOCIALLY AWKWARD AND ANNOYING IN REAL LIFE.

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  35. 8:55, there is seriously something wrong with you.

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  36. I think it's Dubow.

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  37. your reply to 7:42 was nasty- I posted that & your comment was plain nasty- what I posted was fact & what you posted was uncalled for.
    Jim 1:51 asked & I responded
    grow up & go eat a cracker MR.T

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  38. 5:03 PM Not only is the Enquirer the newspaper shown on Mr. Towns Twitter, but also notice he didn't post at all in 2010!

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  39. Re John Reinan at 9:27 p.m. thanks for the belly laugh!

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  40. I'm guessing there won't be any more layoffs, except those noted, because there is no one left at the properties to lay off. In lieu of layoffs, there will be a reductions in employee hours; hence a reduction in salary for all employees. What do you think?

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  41. I agree- what do you think Jim.
    Know anything else about Florida Today at Brevard?

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  42. In light of this late-breaking hard-hitting investigative coverage from USA Today I'm wondering if Mr. Hopkins would update us on the signal public service he performed enumerating that rag's 27 show-biz press agents. Has the paper hired new flacks? (It seems that way.) Has it grabbed more show-biz advertising as a result? (I doubt it.) Does it continue to insult its readers' intelligence? On that last one I quote the immortal words of Jerome Lester "Jerry" Horwitz, better known as Curly Howard: Why soitenly!

    Which brings me to the unfortunately anonymous remarks regarding Rupert Murdoch. If USA Today has underreported this scandal I'm not surprised; News Corp. is what GanNETt might be if it had a Murdoch -- although God knows Al Neuharth was bad enough. One reason I cannot stand unpaid show-biz advertising is that when the shills aren't looking for work they're looking to help make their employers bigger. News Corp.'s full of empire-building fanny-kissers -- just like the 27 show-biz ad blurbists of USA Today.

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  43. what do you expect from FOX
    duh

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  44. Show biz is attracting eyeballs and ad revenue, but its fluff, not flackery. You expecting something substantive, Life isnt gonna be your cup of tea.

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  45. In NJ, word is Towns has been even creepier than normal the past week.
    What's the word? Usually when that happened in the past, it meant Corporate came up with a new "Plan" for the NJ papers.

    Is he going to add a reporter or two to man the all important 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. website shift? Or possibly reassign two or three editors to try and make up for the 14 copy editing positions that were eliminated in 2009 and 2010?

    Or how about planting some flowers in front of the CN building to boost morale at the Tumbleweed bureau?

    Or maybe a pep rally, those were always worthwhile?

    'Scuse me but i'm just tryin to think like a Gannett exec.

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  46. 7:42 makes an interesting argument. He/she should look to Des Moines for a layoff involving a position that has been eliminated. Sports columnist Sean Keeler's position is eliminated and he's gone. A couple of weeks later, presto, his position is filled by Marc Hansen, former sports columnist turned news side columnist, re-invented as a sports columnist. So Keeler's position was eliminated due to "hard times," but not really eliminated because he was replaced. I'm sure the lawyers have everything figured out. And make no mistake, Gannett has enough lawyers to cover their asses.

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  47. The only reason USAT isn't covering Murdoch very much isn't about conspiracies or pressure. We're plain out of people!

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  48. You ask about Florida Today. Once a jewel in Gannett's crown it has been becoming just another paper racing towards the cliff the past 5 years or so. This latest splurge of negative activity is just going to push harder. Raise the daily price, lose Pre Press and USA Today to our competitor, yet still try to push sales like they really mean it.

    This used to be a pretty good, proud paper. sad to see how everybody from the Circ dir. and other circ management has been allowed to let it nearly disintegrate...with mother Gannett's help of course.

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  49. Jim. We are all pretty confused. Can you explain what the most important numbers are in the Q2 report?

    Many sites headline with net income down 22%, but then we see total revenue down 2.2%. At first I thought a typo, but no, the two numbers are accurate.

    Net income is not the same as profit, right? So what is net income? Where is the profit figure?

    Please don't everyone roll your eyes at once! Which number matters most?

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  50. Why would Brevard print with a competitor? Print in Fort Myers and send a truck to Brevard with the printed papers.

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  51. 7:32
    Print is not our competition anymore. If it saves Gannett money, they need to do it for all of us. Our competition is everything, but a newspaper. Please remember that.

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  52. Anon@732: Fort Myers is on the west coast and Melbourne is on the east coast. 3 hours each way on back roads with no direct highway connection.

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  53. I never thought I would see the day that Brevard became a paper in trouble. What happened to Brevard?

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  54. Melbourne is in Australia - add in 58 hours on jet ski.

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  55. Honestly, who really cares what the name is — does it really matter? You don't work for Gannett anymore and you can throw all the darts you want, but we are still left here to pick up the slack. It doesn't matter who is in charge. Stoney LaDouche or someone else. We all have targets on our backs just like you did. You protected your chosen few and the rest of us were left to the wolves. No raises, nothing. You took care of your circle of friends, that is it. So give up your thing against Stoney. He is no worse or no better than your buddy Curtis Riddle. It's all who is your buddy. We have all learned that.

    Anonymous said...

    Who is Stoney LaDouche?

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  56. If you can't follow through all of the vitriol, Stoney LaDouche is Wilmington publisher Howard Griffin.

    10:50, we'll compare our notes on the newsroom under David Ledford. Come see me Wednesday - I'll be there late doing all kinds of new work. What a party.

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  57. Honestly, who cares who it is! It's all the same no matter who it is. Corporate will use who ever is in charge. It's a name and a title. Doesn't matter who is publisher. It could be anyone. Corporate will do what they have to do to eliminate people and they love the YES people and corporate hacks who don't have the balls to stand up for their employees. If you don't do their bidding you are gone.

    If you can't follow through all of the vitriol, Stoney LaDouche is Wilmington publisher Howard Griffin.

    10:50, we'll compare our notes on the newsroom under David Ledford. Come see me Wednesday - I'll be there late doing all kinds of new work. What a party.

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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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