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Tuesday, July 26, 2011
52 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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Did you see the sunset last night?
ReplyDeleteAnother Monday and with the new VP sounds like maybe more consolidating,merging, and cookie cutter ideas to be implemented.
ReplyDeleteI think now,the focus may be on the smaller papers and which ones can be trimmed even more,
or a judgement on whether they are worthy and viable enough to even warrant being a Gannett property.The revenues are so small in comparison to the top 31 ,why bother with effort needed to evaluate.In other words,shutter the site and take the loss and forget about it.Employees don't matter and property values are so minimal and with no updated equipment or presses to worry about selling.Just why bother .
Here's an interesting Stanford business blog about failure and innovation -- and how one can drive the other.
ReplyDeleteExcerpt:
Another way to shift people into [innovative] thinking is, paradoxically, to instill in them a sense of "desperation." This is done by cutting resources so that they are forced to devise new solutions. As we know, necessity is the mother of invention.
In India, where we have known the lack of resources for centuries, the practice of "jugad" is part of the management lexicon. It refers to the inventive approach people must take to manage the scarcity that is so often a part of the landscape.
Anheuser-Busch InBev stimulates a kind of "jugad" mentality each year by decreasing the advertising team's budget while demanding increased performance. Following a period of desperation, the team is spurred to look at new, less expensive ways of communicating its message.
Link: http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/research/ShivonFailureandInnovation.html
Green Bay has posted an opening for a copy editor/page designer. Two things about this infuriate me: a) How long will this person have a job before design is relocated to Des Moines and this person is out on their ass? b) The advertised pay range is $25k-$30k -- this being at the third-largest newspaper in Wisconsin. 25K for a copy editor? No wonder "CHICACO" made the front page.
ReplyDelete11:12 a.m. that is crazy. I have heard that the Wisconsin sites' pagination move to Des Moines is slated for July 2012. Hope whoever lands that job spends that $25K wisely.
ReplyDeleteSo they would leave before getting their first job review? How unfair. Denying this person the biggest joy of working for Gannett.
ReplyDeleteWe cant pay copy editors any more than that because every executive
ReplyDeleteWe hire gets at least 25K in annual car allowance. You want Chicago spelled correctly or a Gannett "executive" with a nice ride? Talk amongest yourselves...
Salem is advertising for a page designer/copy editor. Aren't they supposed to be joining a design hub in a matter of weeks?
ReplyDeleteIt is just a matter of time. The end is almost here and I can hardly wait!!!!
ReplyDeleteSaridakis is rumored to be hiring some top people from Pointroll and Gannett Digital. He is also in the process of rolling up the rich media industry to take down Pointroll according several people close to him.
ReplyDeleteIf he does this, it will kill Gannett's golden egg. As it is, Pointroll is already having trouble and given Saridakis's prior track record, it seems like Gannett can have a problem in their hands.
Anyone else here about this?
On his best day C S couldn't have created let alone presented Paybe's Digital plan. CS buys stuff and sells stuff, he doesn't create, unless you consider Rippke 6 which was a disaster. He did nothing while he was here. Sorry sycophants if the truth hurts. He buys, he sells, he makes millions but that's it. He's not putting anyone out of business.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteHey Gannett, my assistant really needs an assistant. Can I get that in my next budget?
ReplyDeleteWatching the Deal Chicken ads on KPNX one thing is clear, those who work at Gannett papers and think Deal Chicken will save their jobs are very wrong. Deal Chicken will not save any jobs at Gannett newspapers. If anything, it hasten the end of those jobs.
ReplyDeleteDeal Chicken may be run out of the local paper and it might use the papers as a mill to grind out the email addresses it needs to live, but it's really a separate entity. In Phoenix, there is nothing on the Deal Chicken ads to suggest that it's a Gannett product. Any profits that DC generates will go straight into corporate. They won't be used to save local journalism. They'll be used to pay down the debt, buy back stock or fatten corporate bonuses.
I'm not saying it's a bad thing or that it's doomed to failure. It's way too early to make those predictions. I'm just saying that newspaper employees can't expect DC to save their jobs. It will stand or fall on its own. If it succeeds, DC employees will keep their jobs, but don't expect the Chicken will be used to subsidize or stabilize newspaper jobs.
@12:24 a.m. I think Deal Chicken is going to fall flat on its ass. It's a poorly executed competitor for other offerings that are far better established in the market right now. There's nothing that Chicken offers people that can't be found elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteYou're saying Deal Chicken is going to lay an egg? Ha ha...
ReplyDeleteRe: 12:24AM " There's nothing that Chicken offers people that can't be found elsewhere."
ReplyDeleteThat's kind of the problem with most Gannett papers and web sites isn't it. Nothing that can't be found anywhere else, and usually in a better form.
Another loss at USAT:
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/jack-gillum-named-ap-campaign-finance-reporter-140704146.html
Did I miss this earlier or did Gannett just quit listing "Insider Trading" as one of the headings you could access when you checked out the stock listing? I thought it was interesting to be able to see all the free options they were giving away as well as how fast the recipients were unloading them.
ReplyDelete10:09, that's the problem with half the internet.
ReplyDelete^^^ used to have to pay for porn, too.
ReplyDeleteThere's free porn????
ReplyDeleteE. Craig Dubow & Co. are scheduled to be in Greenville, S.C., today doing an onsite at what's left of The Greenville News. Since I was one of the victims of the Masacre of 2011 who worked at The News, I'd love to be a fly on the wall. Here are my predictions:
ReplyDeleteDubow, Dickey et al will first of all tell everyone how hard it is to cut positions and lay off good employees. There will be hand-wringing. Then there'll be the assurance that there won't be any more layoffs. But that assurance will come with some kind of caveat: "the price of newsprint" or "shifts in advertising practices" come to mind.
Then they're going to talk about what a great job the remaining employees are doing, and how they are the heart and soul of The Greenville News.
Then the elite management will hopefully be able to get in 18 holes of golf or whatever it is they like to do before flying off into the sunset.
And in 12 months, max, Managing Editor Chris Weston and Executive Editor John Pittman will once again be together behind the glass wall with the doors closed, huddled over a conference call from McLean, Va., getting the pronouncement of how many jobs will have to be cut again.
I feel worse for my former colleagues than I do for myself.
Hmmm, porn. Maybe that's our next vertical.
ReplyDeleteRe: 2:35. They could call the porn vertical "Moms Lick Me"
ReplyDeleteExcept the AOL ex-pats would run it, so we'd have to wait for 200 icons to download at 56k before the good stuff started - followed by the modem crash.
ReplyDeleteHas AOL done anything since 1995? Haven't noticed. We should swipe all their talent.
Matt Jones, VP of Mobile has layered. Looks like he will be looking for a new job along with Josh Resnik. CDO Payne is bringing in his people and getting rid of the old!!!
ReplyDeleteDEAL CHICKEN....ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?
ReplyDeleteFrank Gannett is rolling over in his grave right now! Good job Gracia...Bold Italic, DIG, Content ONE and now....Deal Chicken
Who came up with this piece of shit?
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI am David Payne and I ran Short Tail Media into the ground and now I am responsible for Deal Chicken. Wish me luck!!!!!
@2:52 What do you mean by Matt Jones has been "layered"? Has he been laid off? Has Josh been laid off too?
ReplyDeleteNaughty, naughty at Indy Star
ReplyDeletehttp://bit.ly/pKLvRy
re 5:03 posting. Some Big G doofus screws up COBRA packet for people laid off in Indy. Just great - kick folks who got off and arescared and vulnerable. Full posting on Romenesko.
ReplyDeleteRE: 5:03 - Jesus, this company is much like a dead fish...rotting from the head. When a top HR executive, in concert with corporate HR, f's up a laid off employees' unemployment benefits package...well, how much more incompetent, heartless and blatantly stupid can you get?? The Indy HR director should be fired immediately...and the corporate HR person should be flogged in the woodshed as well. Totally inexcusable! Who is being held accountable for this train wreck??? I hope those who have been affected make a federal case out of this with blog posts, forwards to industry press, etc. to make an example of those who so heartlessly did this to them. Make some noise, people...make some noise!!! You have nothing to lose!!!
ReplyDeleteDuBow gave this blog a shoutout in the Greenville on-site today. Told us not to pay any attention to "that blasted blog" and to ask him directly if we had any questions.
ReplyDeleteHe also feels our pain about layoffs and furloughs. He has to take furloughs just like us. Too bad noone asked if his paycheck takes as big a hit as ours from those furlough days.
The Indy Star healthcare screw-up case seems to affect laid-off employees covered by a Newspaper Guild contract, since they get real severance benefits, including healthcare coverage at rates lower than under COBRA.
ReplyDeleteSo my question is for the Guild: How closely have you monitored this situation in the four weeks since the layoffs? Why have your members been taken by surprise?
8:44 pm: My fucking heart bleeds for DuBow that he has to take a furlough. He lies when he says it's like the rest of us, though. The rest of us don't get bonuses equal to more than 30 times the average grunt's salary. Jackhole.
ReplyDeleteI was at the Greenville dog & pony show. 2:05 p.m. poster nailed it. First time I've ever seen a cane holder (like an umbrella stand). That - and the luxury car - made me realize CD is just common folk like us.
ReplyDeleteYea, 9:32 p.m., I think that everyone in the meeting room was fighting back tears of sympathy for poor DuBow when he said that. (where is that sarcasm font when you need it?)
ReplyDeleteSarcasm font isn't available through the design centers or GIADC. Sorry. Times and Helvetica for EVERYTHING!
ReplyDeleteJim - change your top graphic to read "That Blasted Blog" for a couple days so the Greenville folks new to here know they've found the right place.
ReplyDeleteIt's been about one month since I've left Gannett. I have never been happier!
ReplyDeleteHey 9:37....a cane holder? What's with that -- does CD walk with one?
ReplyDeleteFun fact I learned today in Greenville: CB said Rupert Murdoch is a friend of his.
ReplyDeleteSorry, it should be CD, not CB.
ReplyDeleteWhat Dubow didn't explain is that a furlough for him is actually an additional benefit. Since the majority of his compensation is paid in bonuses and stock options (things that wouldn't be affected by a furlough), the only money he loses is off of his base pay. I believe Jim has reported that number as somewhere around $1 million a year. That means the furlough would cost him a little under $20,000 each time, a number that's easily made up when you regularly pull down $6 to $8 million in bonuses and stock options.
ReplyDeleteNote that Dubow's last compensation report was double that of the year before, and there were furloughs both years. So, the real money is in the bonuses.
That means, for Dubow, a furlough is nothing more than an additional week's vacation. And, since he's in the top income category, it probably means something like an additional three weeks vacation. Add that to the four or more weeks that I'm sure he has in his contract and you're looking at 35 business days off per year. Add in weekends and holidays and he gets another 100 or so days off per year. So, with furloughs, Dubow is being paid around $9 million a year to work less than 230 days.
A real leader wouldn't take the furlough. He would take the pay cut, plus another 20 percent cut and work the furlough days anyway.
The real problem with someone like Dubow is he thinks the people who work for him are actually stupid enough to believe his bullshit.
I think it would be great if people started calling the corporate office to talk to Debow personally since he extended the offer. Anyone know the number to his direct line? Sounds to me like he wants to connect with his people.
ReplyDeleteAnd when you call from work, tell him it's "annonymous" calling to talk about the state of Gannett. You were personally invited to speak with him.
ReplyDelete@1146 Interesting calculations! And of course we don't believe his benign polysyllabic ramblings. But the board likes it when he shoots sunshine up their skirts.
ReplyDeleteSo, let's say he works an excruciating 250 days a year, just to be more conservative than your calculation. At $9 million, that's $36,000 a day.
And remember -- his salary was doubled after that year he was out for four months recovering from back surgery. He probably hurt his back carrying all that loot home. Good thing he didn't have to rely on COBRA like those poor souls in Indy.
So cheer up Greenville! Craig thought you were valuable enough to spend a $36,000 day with you!
Blasted blog.
Oh, you can be thankful CD only "works" 250 days a year. Think of how much more he could screw up if he worked a full year!
ReplyDeleteSigned: A Gannett retiree who luckily got out before he was forced out.
Dumbow and Disgracia - what an embarassment.
ReplyDeleteLol @ 10:54, well done!
ReplyDeleteWEll I got "Clucked" for using Deal Chicken. I purchased a deal, they charged my card and then sent me to a screen where I have nothing to print, nothing in "my Deals" box to proove I did the purchase. Now the Scam Chicken has my money, and I have no proof I did the purchase well, except my card has been charged. Now I have to dispute the charge and Deal Chicken has my card info. My first purchase has put a bad taste in my mouth. I will NEVER use Deal Chicken again. DEAL CHICKEN.....GO "CLUCK" YOURSELF!!!!!
ReplyDelete