Thursday, July 14, 2011

Louisville | Garson in 2nd day of staff meetings

In an e-mail, a reader says Publisher Arnie Garson is updating employees on The Courier-Journal's prospects today at 10:30 a.m., during the second of a two-day meeting.

Garson
My reader says Garson was asked about the possibility of more layoffs; the C-J cut 50 jobs during June's layoff round. Garson's reply, my reader says:

"'It's complicated.' He then referenced the economy, housing market, and major national retailers dropping advertising. He also mentioned something about centralizing finance, and we may lose jobs there. 'So long as it doesn't get worse, we should be ok,' I believe was how he ended it."

Across the U.S. newspapers, layoffs are virtually guaranteed, according to division President Bob Dickey. In a memo to employees after announcing the 700 layoffs, he said: "We will do all that we can to avoid further layoffs outside of those related to ongoing consolidations."

10 comments:

  1. 'So long as it doesn't get worse, we should be ok.'

    Just WTF does that mean? Why say anything if that's the best you've got?

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  2. Like most of the employees on this blog, I can assure you that the publishers and directors at the various papers are just spewing the bs they're told to spew so that they too can continue to get a paycheck while looking for someplace else to work. Nobody is happy with what is going on, they're just doing the best they can with what they've got. I predict you will see a mass exodus in the next few months.

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  3. In 2005 - when The Courier-Journal axed its state edition - Editor Bennie Ivory walked through the newsroom and reassured the staff that nothing had changed and this was just a move to streamline layout and production. Within a few weeks, they closed all their high-cost state news bureaus but Frankfort. Probably the right thing to do economically - but done in a rather unctuous way. What they say might be true today, but could change tomorrow.

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  4. Speaking of the C-J, the sports section today was a graphic trainwreck - body text in all different sizes, spacings - confusing mishmash of headline fonts, including some normally used in ad copy only. It's going from merely thin to thin AND ugly.

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  5. Well, that ugly sports section was the result of the first night of going live with that part of the design hub -- typefaces changed, and are ugly and less sophisticated than what the CJ and papers that big have used. The section looked like what you'd expect to see at a small-circulation daily that has few resources. This look will be spreading throughout Gannett. Cheers.

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  6. I think they should use all comic sans for the sports section from now on. Lol... Seriously though, sad business.

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  7. Wow, that sounds just awful. Wonder what the reader feedback was?

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  8. Question was asked about the Bonuses the top execs got on the backs of the furloughed and cut employees. You could hear the proverbial record skipping in the background followed by a long silence. He gave a bland answer about how the bonuses were already locked in, The decision was made by the board etc....

    To his defense, at least he had "a pair of brass ones" to answer the highly toxic question. For that, I give him a kudos. Lets hear the yes man drones in the Crystal Palace talk about it......

    We know who asked the question and applaud them for asking it. We should start a fund for when when they get mysteriously let go.

    Cue the Gannett firing Ninjas that drop from the ceiling panels with empty boxes.

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