Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Aug. 8-14 | Your News & Comments: Part 3

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50 comments:

  1. And.....who's TODAY's Hopkins Libel victim? The betting windows are open!

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  2. Hey Hunke,

    Remember at the "transformation" meeting last summer, when some guy asked you whether you would consider resigning if all your changes didn't turn around the company's fortunes? And you said, "I don't quit"?

    Maybe tomorrow you should reconsider your position, and choose a random successor from the audience. It couldn't hurt.

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  3. Craig Dubow decided to start a chicken farm so he bought a hundred chickens to begin with. A month later he returned to the dealer for another hundred chickens because all of the first lot had died. A month later he was back at the dealer for another hundred chickens for the second lot had also died. "But I think I know where I'm going wrong," said Craig Dubow, "I think I'm planting them too deep".

    Deal Chicken to the rescue, with help from Larry St. Cyr!!!

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  4. Dear Dave, thursday, you have provided your staff an opportunity for a usa today progress report and update. Do us all a favor and drop the worn facade of big plans and false promises. Tell us what is working, what isnt and what we can do to help you fix it. Give us the chance to meet all of your new hifh paid hires so we can actually put a face to the names. Most of us have no idea what they look like, on top of what they do. And please, please, please, be honest what we can expect going forward regarding furloughs, or worse. All this may run contrary to how you typically operate, but i cannot stress how much credibilty you might finally gain. You may be close to checking out, but most of your people are not. Please take this to heart.

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  6. How about starting with killing the verticals and streamling your management team? You could save a few million or invest in some decent reporters.

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  8. Amen, 8:20. And USAT folks, have your questions ready and do not quit until you get a real answer. The iceberg is looming. We have absolutely nothing to lose at this point.

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  9. The verticals are yesterday's news at USAT, a failed strategy that resulted in a million dollars -plus in VPs and "general managers" unable to do much now as attention turns to rebuilding the website and the brand.

    The verticals get lip service at best now, and likely will on Thursday.

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  10. About this total rewards survey, if you're a big time ass kisser, then you're a keeper and get to stay!

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  11. Continue to help Jim and visit this site.Even donate to this site ,it has and continues to provide otherwise unknown info throughout Gannettland.
    But for God's sake get the hell out of Gannett!
    Why come here,complain and and tell everyone how much you hate Gannett and their management.
    You despise what they have done to a once great newspaper giant.You post here what huge mistakes the leaders have made.You repeat,and really every site is same,time and again about the terrible decisions leaders have made,the terrible way you are treated,the overworked conditions,the terrible morral,the layoffs,the no pay increases,the worry of more layoffs still.This is all repeated here day after day,
    and still you stay.Love of journalism and the news business is no reason to be whored and pimped day after day.There are other jobs maybe not as wonderful as the once Gannett job but at least you can get your self esteem back and enjoy life.

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  12. I was let go in the last rounds of layoffs .I did not think that after 26 years that I would be this happy. There is life after Gannett. 26 years ago it was a VERY GOOD place to work,not today. If you can get out do it. They have you down as a number not as a person.

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  13. So, where the fuck is Jack Williams?

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  14. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  15. Anybody taken the "total rewards survey" yet? The first question: On a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 being unmotivated and 100 being highly motivated, how motivated are you to do your best to help Gannett and yourself be successful given the current pay, benefits, etc. package?

    Bwwwwhahahahahahahaha.

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  16. If you take the survey it would seem as though you give a fu.. about Gannett.They are going to do what they want anyway in the end so why play the game ? Or how about telling the truth
    and telling em to just make all the layoffs at one time,get it over with and tell the rest
    OK this is your job let's get working.Instead of the slow bloodletting on a month to month basis.

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  17. Hunke and Ellwood, we demand an explanation on Cassidy. What was your motivation? Even clueless pr hack Robin Pence told us he was treated unfairly and said "like a criminal". What did he know or find out you both could not handle and live with?

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  18. Deal Chicken. Why would a business purchase something to build their business from a company that hasn’t a clue on how to build their own business and has a track record of failed products—from targeted upscale magazines to geographically targeted magazines to print publications to attract young readers. Honestly.

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  19. I suspect that the "quote" from Kelly V. regarding DealChicken in Wilmington was posted by a disgruntled person in another market. First of all, DealChicken didn't come to "Wilmington", it came to Delaware. Second, no one uses the term "local reps". And third, there is currently no digital team in place there. Nice try at ruining a good thing, but some facts would be good if you're going to post a fake quote.

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  20. Is this chicken little or little chicken?

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  21. I saw a TV ad for Deal Chicken last night on one of the cable channels. It was obviously done on the cheap. Bad animation, and I'm not sure what the point was with the chicken having problems moving eggs around of different sizes. It reminded me of those low-budget TV ads for shaky web sites like MyCleanPC.com and reputation.com. Not at all the kind of enterprise I would want to associate my livelihood with.

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  24. Dear Anonymous at 12:08: Anonymous postings are the driving force behind incivility. Signed, Anonymous

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  25. It’s been almost two months since Karen Crotchfelt was interviewed by the IBJ after the demise of the Metromix print pub and stated the Star had something up their sleeve to reach the 25-34 year old readers. What strategic initiative have she and the “Star Leaders” launched? Anyone? Buehler? http://www.ibj.com/star-folds-publication-aimed-at-young-readers/PARAMS/article/27750

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  26. Running joke between my girlfriend and I, both former GCI employees:

    we call coming to this blog "checking in on the Titanic."

    I suppose its funnier now that we get our paychecks from more stable sources.

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  27. When I fill out my total rewards survey, I am going to make sure they know my primary motivation is to keep my multi-million dollar bonus flow coming at the end of the year. Wait, that wasn't me, it was top management!

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  28. Where did the get the name "Total Rewards." Some consultant hack 2 years out of college who stumbled on the term when opening her credit card statement?

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  29. When I saw "Total Rewards" I thought they were talking about my Harrah's (Caesar's, Bally's, Showboat, Rio, etc) Casino players card.

    Maybe Caesar's Corp. should sue

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  30. Total Rewards Progam -- www.totalrewards.com

    Unfortunately, pinching this well-known name from a large Las Vegas casino group says a great deal about Gannett. Notably, its continued lack of creativity and it’s propensity to place bets on hands that its peers made and/or walked away from years ago.

    Deal Chicken appears to be its latest though at least that finally provides an answer to that age-old question of what came first, the chicken or the egg. Groupon. A company whose market cap was recently reported as being nearly ten times of what Gannett is valued at today.

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  31. 2:21 p.m. It's the Gannett way. Create an inferior "me too" product long after the innovative companies lauched theirs.

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  32. Well, I can see the casino connection. Working for G A N N E T T is one big crapshoot.

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  33. It's as though Gannett top management strategizes--What can we copy today?

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  34. To 12:39
    I agree with the coming here to check on the
    Titanic's progress towards the iceberg and the inevitable sinking.Much more pleasant now that I am away from the sinking ship and thriving and love my situation.My sympathies to those that did not jump ship when perhaps the job market was better. Maybe now those who were afraid to leave then are even more so now.
    I remember when my site was down in revenue just 5% in 2008 and the mass layoffs first began,and everyone who didn't get layed off were so relieved. Now,with 3 years of losses and with revenues down double digits,living in fear of layoff every day,coming to work must be like opening the door to hell.Not to mention the stock being in single digits and at it's
    52 week low and the corporate value having lost billions .I can't imagine what it must be like!

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  35. http://tinyurl.com/3gpbuea

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  36. Gannett definitely just copies ideas. Perhaps they can move the company headquarters to China and make more "cheep" knockoffs of real products. OOPS- I am not supposed to make chicken jokes- but who can resist.

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  37. From the World at Work website:

    The concept of total rewards emerged in the 1990s as a new way of thinking about the deployment of compensation and benefits, combined with the other tangible and intangible ways that companies seek to attract, motivate and retain employees.

    World at Work is the global association of compensation and benefits professionals (http://www.worldatwork.org/waw/aboutus/html/aboutus-waw.html).

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  38. Think about it....the reason we've hired all these consultants is because we've completely run out of ideas.

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  39. 3:54 ... Don't give them that much credit in the first place ... CD and his enablers never had any ideas to begin with.

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  40. Craig Sevier8/10/2011 4:20 PM

    3:54, "...we've completely run out of ideas." Wouldn't that be "they" instead of "we?"

    The people doing the actual job have (or for those laid off, "had") tons of ideas. They just fall to a one on deaf, arrogant ears because they usually ran contrary to the seeing print as being co-dependent with online to maximize the market, not some exclusive prejudice.

    Tech is tech, but imagination is priceless.

    Yet, even self-initiated written proposals received the weary "who do you think you are to dare suggest anything" response.

    My site had a survey once, guaranteed to be anonymous. I jumped at the opportunity, but disgusted by the mealy insinuation (Anonymous? Why?), I filled it out, added notes and signed my name.

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  41. As a former Gannett employee, I have sympathy for those who can't get out. It's hard to switch careers at any point in any economy, let alone today's economic mess. For those who got out, congrats. For those who remain, keep your head up and your window for opportunity open. Although it is unlikely that something will just fall in your lap, there are still good places to work out there, believe it or not.

    Good luck and keep fighting!

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  42. 6:15 a.m.: A female executive like Karen Crotchfelt is always a safe bet.

    I checked out Jim on Google and found some interesting things. Looks like he's been spinning the platters at raves when he's not libeling people! Way to go, Jim. Party on, insane person!

    Also, Nieman touted his return to blogging, but an astute commentator cited the following:

    (1) Jim has no credibility and botches facts frequently.

    (2) The people who hang out here are the old, bitter folks who were wastes of space in the newspaper offices and wastes of space now. They refuse to move forward and blame Gannett management for changes in the industry.

    (3) If Jim were analyzing a hockey team's loss, he would blame the fact the team was playing on ice.

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  43. White Light/White Heat - The Velvet Underground 1968

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  44. 4:45 pm Sounds like the typical Gannett management strategy and logic. Change the subject and blame the company's downward spiral on someone else.

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  45. @5:00 re: 4:54. You're right, what a joke.

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  46. 4:54 pm "They refuse to move forward." Sounds like you just described the leaders of our company. Although I would change the word refuse to "don't know how."

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  47. 4:54
    A true Gannett loyalist !
    You will be layed off just as easily as anyone else.Even though you think you are better than the rest.
    Yes ,just keep blasting the host and believing that no posts here mean anything to you because you are Gannett worshipper.Post again when you are just anoither of the thousands already let go.

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  48. "Money is not a Motivator"--Harrison, 1989

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  49. 4:54 p.m. The real problem is that Gannett management doesn't know how to respond to changes in the industry. When they do respond, it's a cheap copy of another company's successful venture.

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  50. @421 - You're a class act. Thanks.

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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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