Monday, August 08, 2011

Aug. 8-14 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

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51 comments:

  1. Gannett management downgraded to AA morons by S&P. Watch out for more lunacy!

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  2. NYTimes lets readers offer feedback BEFORE they launch features on their website. Some nice tools there!

    http://mashable.com/2011/08/08/nytimes-beta620/

    Wonder what G A N N E T T readers would have said about Deal Chicken?

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  3. United we stand, USAT folks. Let's not just sit in the auditorium on Thursday and listen to this crap without comment or question. We're doing all the work. We know how to ask hard questions. We deserve answers.

    I mean, what are they going to do? Fire us?

    Yes, you say? I've got news for you: They'll eliminate your position and fire you anyway.

    But if you're really worried, here's a non-monetary bonus: You're safe from retaliation if you're from the newsrooms: Hunke has NO idea who you are, and that's a given, even if your picture appears regularly with your column online.

    Hunke's apparently too busy counting his bonus money and hiring VPs to actually read the online "product" -- you know, that thing that's supposed to save us all with its digital pennies.

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  4. Speaking of having no idea who someone is or what they do: I hope our Director of Employee Engagement (aka Hunke's former secretary who was given a plum newly created position amid massive layoffs in the fall while he hired a new secretary) finally makes an appearance.

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  5. A & E just announced a new show. They are going to send cameras to the Journal News in Westchester County. It is going to be called " Journalicious."

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  6. Steamed Employee Shareholder8/08/2011 9:22 AM

    Wow, $10.8 a share, soon we won't be able to buy a Happy Meal with out 401K's. Maybe we can all apply to be pool boys or house servants for Craigy or Dis-Grace or any of the other 5 failures. Notice they have traditional pensions, what does that tell you?
    Stellar job, you doublespeaking executives. We know what your "Passion Topics" are, increasing your personal wealth at the expense of the company, the share holders and the employees.

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  7. Sandra Michek, please let us in on the plan for marketing. Let's start with who is doing Ed Cassidy's job now that he was eliminated. I feel the pain already.

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  8. Back into the office and get the news about Ed Cassidy. What is going on with this company? Slicing out one our best? Would have liked some sort of heads up from Jones.

    What's the next handicap you're going to throw at us Hunke?????

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  9. Micek has no plan but to do exactly as she is told by Banikarim - already gunning for Hunke's job and getting closer day by day.

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  10. Chances are that stocks will take a hit today,and Gannett stocks an even bigger hit.
    How many layoffs will this mean?

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  11. Wait. What's happening on Thu? I'm out of the loop. Sorry.

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  12. Stock market down 200 points at opening.

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  13. 9:22: If you have Gannett stock in your 401k, it's your own damn fault.

    You work for the company; that's enough commitment -- you don't have to bet your portfolio on it, too.

    It's very easy to convert Gannett stock to other, more diversified investments. I've done it anytime my Gannett stock approached $1,000.

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  14. Thu is another one of David L. Hunke's worthless updates. With Cassidy booted out the door for no reason anyone can understand wonder who will now handle the calls from media and businesses asking wtf? when they hear his latest drivel.

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  15. Ed Cassidy is now the poster boy for all things wrong at Gannett.
    Even if you don't know him, you should care about the fact that his position was "eliminated" meaning more consolidation of marketing at Gannett.

    The USAToday brand will suffer with this move.

    How do you let a stellar employee go? Gannett couldn't find a place for someone who was outstanding at building the USAToday brand among advertisers, within the company, and with the media at large?

    I hope we ask some tough questions of Micek on Thursday. She will have zero credibility if she ignores this at the meeting, given the disgust by most staffers over firing Ed Cassidy.

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  16. Jim I would really appreciate if you would stop calling my house at 6 am using your gmail phone account. You are getting to the point of stalking me. Don't even think about deleting this post. You know I am telling the truth and everyone should know the means you go to. Borderline stalking.

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  17. 10:07
    Great post idiot ,what does that mean to any of us here?

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  18. Gannett stock at $10.22. Wow.

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  19. Hang on to your office chair people !
    Stock at 10.22,,heads will fly and layoff lists created in a bigger rush than usual.
    get your unemployment info ready.
    Oh well $375.00 per week for 99 weeks!
    What the hell at least some stress will be gone.

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  20. The stock price really has no effect on day-to-day operations. It is all about the bottom line.

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  21. Well Gannett has lost a big percentage of net worth.....What was stock at opening on Thursday,
    $12.00 ,that is a nearly $2.00 loss times x amount of shares ,HUGE loss ,HUGE

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  22. I heard something from a good source that troubled me and wonder if anyone else knows about this.
    I'm told that many former GCIers were given substantial settlements after suing or threatening to sue Gannett for age discrimination violations. As part of the agreement, the settlements are kept private.
    If that's true, I'd appreciate more information on how to go about this. If it's not true, I'd like someone who knows for sure to weigh in.
    Has Gannett selectively rewarded older firees?

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  23. 10:13 am it means that I want all the readers to know how insane and mentally ill Jim is. He has been calling my house at 6 am waking me up to try and get information. He stalks me! He is a creep and should be stopped. Don't believe what I'm saying ask Jim. Caller ID shows 760-705-8888 (gmail phone account) everytime he calls and most of the time when I don't answer and some else does he hangs up like a middle school child making prank calls. Leave me alone your fuc*king psycho!!!

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  24. I have no idea what this poster is talking about. For one thing, I don't have a Gmail phone account.

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  25. Dubow, Matore, et al hide a lot behind how their transforming Gannett, but the fact of the matter is they’re really missing a key piece.

    Cutting staff, shrinking newsprint sizes, merging and outsourcing services, tightening newshole, and consolidating control of more papers under fewer chiefs is hardly transformative without this: a deliberate plan to formally engage more of the thoughts and skills of those who are left.

    Where are those efforts? Thomson, a Gannett peer did it more than a decade ago the action of which got all levels of management and employees involved in working on, and creating solutions that worked. An act that really did result in making the company more colaberative, acts that other companies included in thier transformations too. Yet, apparently not Gannett.

    To exclude that from Gannett’s “transformation” holds it back and really only results in letting many of the same people who drove this company into the ground to only do so faster.

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  26. Seems like a common problem. I Googled "760-705-8888"

    http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/voice/thread?tid=7fc82372b061b94e&hl=en

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  27. A Google search on that phone number shows many, many people are reporting problems with false calls.

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  28. Jim you lying fuck! You are complete scum. Own up to the fact you stalk me and my family. Call my house at 6 am asking for me!! You fucking low life!

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  29. Jim,

    10:07 AM
    11:06 AM

    The posts sounds too fake and phony and more like one of those "corporate paid to post" bloggers. In any event they're not fooling anybody other than themselves.

    Something very big must be getting ready to go down!
    Oh damn! Let me make sure I don't run out of popcorn!

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  30. 11:51 post your number and we'll all call you.

    Seriously, seek professional help before you stroke out.

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  31. Found the below link. Worth the read!

    http://newmediamike.com/2011/01/who-is-760-705-8888-and-why-are-they-calling-me/

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  32. Jim, if the guy thinks it's really you, he must either have some serious dirt he's hiding and paranoid about you or another reporter finding out or he is just a lunatic.

    Either way, really bizarre day on the blog!

    I knew it was BS because 6am is 3am your time (West Coast) and you aren't going to be calling people at 3am. Total BS from a crazy poster.

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  33. Stock came with 4¢ of single digits: $10.03.
    Pretty soon LEE is going to be able to buy GCI, LOL!

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  34. Hey 10:43, consider yourself lucky at $375/wk for UC. The max in Fla. is only $275. It's even worse over in Mississippi, I think like $180-190.

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  35. "Jim you lying (bleep)! You are complete scum. Own up to the fact you stalk me and my family. Call my house at 6 am asking for me!! You (bleeping) low life!
    8/08/2011 11:51 AM"

    Craig, don't you have a company to run?

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  36. 12"35 Lee is trading at 73cents. Worst of all the newspaper stocks.

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  37. @12:41, and in Arizona, the max take-home is $214 per week, not really enough to even survive.

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  38. The attacks on Jim stemming from his (admitted) mistake only proves how this blog is hitting the mark at corporate. The came out with pitchforks and torches in the hope that this one transgression would knock him off course. Hang tough Jim.

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  39. Jim...please spike these scurrilous trolls or block the IP addresses so that the rest of us can focus on useful discussions - like today's stock market drop and what it means to the Big G and whatever is left in the news biz.

    You do not deserve the abuse. You admit when you've made an error of fact of judgment.

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  40. Jim, hang in there. There are way more of us for you than against you. Matter of fact, it's only those in Management at Gannett that would like to see you hang it up, not the worker bees. THANK YOU, THANK YOU and THANK YOU for all you're doing in keeping all of us informed.

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  41. I have a question. When I left Gannett in July 2010, I received unemployment plus the difference to equal my final salary. Do the people let go by Gannett now receive the same arrangement that I did, or do they only get unemployment compensation?

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  42. 4:54.... I was just let go in the last round of layoffs, and yes, I received the transitional pay. Supplemental pay was one week for every year worked. The funniest thing happened today, I got a letter from the Cincinnati Enquirer trying to get me to buy the paper. HAAAA HAAAAAA HAAAAAAA HAAA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I would use it to line my dog cage maybe but I won't buy it. Perfect reviews, nearly perfect attendance, no credits and accounts liked me. I worked my rear end off, got promoted, and the raise I received was the fatal sword. In other words, you are a number. If you think hard work matters to this company, think again.

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  43. Do we have to deal with the TeaParty on this blog too, attacking Jim and making all kinds of false accusations? It's BS we've seen it before and we will see it again.

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  44. @8/08/2011 11:06 AM honestly you should seek mental treatment. Either you are drunk or you are on drugs either way it's not funny. It actually sounds like someone I know, hopefully it's not this person again. He went off his rocker for a while and had to beg for forgiveness to save his job.

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  45. 5.49 and in all that time you didn't subscribe to the paper. That's like working for Ford and driving a Toyota. Wow

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  46. I think 11:06AM and the other trolls are just setting Jim up for a new "Blasted Blog" comment during one of this month's corporate meetings.

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  47. 2:52 and the other lemming trolls need to give it a rest. Jim is insane, and anyone with a brain knows it after Saturday's mayhem.

    Stop blaming corporate and accept reality. The only people here crazier than Jim are the ones who foolishly gave him money.

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  48. Troll Patrol8/08/2011 11:09 PM

    10:36 Accept which reality? Like our bosses are more clueless than you are? Corporate is charting the course for this company and that looks like it's heading for those pretty pretty icebergs over there.
    What is corporate to blame for?
    Declining customers. Check.
    Declining quality. Check
    Declining value for the money? Check.
    Taking a once great company and leaving it a shell of it's former self. double check!
    Reality check? You are a troll and a blind one at that. The only people crazier than you are those who believe you and the corporate line of B.S. you spout. Now go collect your $5

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  49. That made no sense, 11:09, and it had nothing to do with Jim being a nutcase. I guess that was your goal, though -- to distract from that point.

    Big failure on your part. Jim is insane, and he proved it on Saturday. It won't fade away.

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  50. Why can't these trolls post without name-calling, just once? Why can't they write some sort of reasoned rebuttal?

    Could it be that they tried and nothing came out?

    The disgusting Homophobic Troll has disappeared. The ineffectual Everyone Here Is A Moron/Idiot/Pinhead/Lemming Troll Troll is losing his voice from screeching. And now we have the Jim Is Insane Troll, who won't last long either.

    Why? Because you aren't part of the conversation. You're just background noise.

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  51. Troll Patrol8/09/2011 9:30 AM

    Actually 1:06, what I had to say was ON TOPIC, about the condition and direction of the company. The constant "name calling" and labeling Jim "insane" and a "nutcase" "makes no sense", but then you're only following orders. Like a loyal troll until corporate sends you marching over the cliff.

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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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