Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)
Sunday, October 23, 2011
37 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."
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Has there been any more discussion/research/analysis on making the sites paid? I thought Gannett was trying it with a few sites.
ReplyDelete3:09, I think they have found what anyone could have told them -- you have to have real content that people want and are willing to pay for, if you are to have a paywall that works. Gannett has stripped newsrooms bare and has too little unique content. The execs know this and are just trying to soak up as much revenue as the can, for as long as they can, from the vast majority of community or regional newspapers before they slip beneath the waves. Slapping on a paywall would accelerate the decline and reduce their cashouts. Not happening.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all Gannett Production Services said they will lay off 1% of the staff by the end of 2011.( 10,000 people in the new unit = 100 lay offs)
ReplyDeleteIf they have a furlough plan as well in the First quarter, who will do the work. We are short now, heck when a person goes on vacation we have to make major schedule changes to fit the work load. We do a ton of commercial work, so I can see mandatory overtime to get the job done if this happens..O well just some thoughts!
From the daily poster in the loop
A question regarding Jim's post in the last thread: Are the furloughs you're hearing about for the South group just for managers again, or for all staff?
ReplyDelete5:04 I'm not sure. But I suspect it's for everyone.
ReplyDelete3:16 - well said.
ReplyDeleteWould somebody please call the editors of azcentral and tell them to have someone else proof the articles. They read like direct quotes from Buckwheat.
ReplyDeleteI have information to all the daily and Sunday net paid circulation to all Gannett owned papers. Jim I would like to email this to you, but it has got to be strictly confidential for you to post. Were can I send it? This is better than the ABC numbers, which are some what manipulated. Hope to here from you soon
ReplyDeleteFrom the daily poster in the loop :)
1:03 You can always e-mail me at jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't identify sources unless they specifically tell me to do so.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteOoooh super secret circulation nu
ReplyDeleteBets!! Here is a secret, I bet they are down. Get a life.
I keep seeing the "It's all within reach" commercials, but only on MSNBC. Has anyone seen it on any other channel?
ReplyDeleteWhy would anyone not think we were getting Furloughs the 1st quarter. We've had furloughs at our site for the last 3 years. They still get the product out so what else would they do.And we are one of the more productive sites.Jim, I guess that there is no way to see the financial breakdowns on individual sites. You would think, that with a publicly traded stock you would have the right to know.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteFurloughs ,hell.With an 8.5% drop in print revenue,furloughs will not be enough.
ReplyDeleteThe layoffs lists begin!
Meanwhile, US Presswire was covering a LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL football game in Tempe (the AZ Republic's market):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.uspresswire.com/sets/114222
Connect the dots here, folks.
The question has come up in other threads, usually from people defending decisions made in the Crystal Palace, how would we improve the company? Here are a couple of suggestions.
ReplyDelete1) Cut the salaries of the top 50 corporate officers by 5 - 10% and use that money to bolster local resources.
2) Change the contracts of CEO, CFO, COO etc to one that is based in improvements in innovation and revenue not just profit and tie bonuses to improvements to Gannett's products and innovation.
3) Recognize that furloughs, pay cuts and layoffs may be necessary but CEO, CFO, COO etc will not get bonuses for those steps. If layoffs are necessary, the first route taken is buyouts. Enough people may accept buyouts to reduce the need for layoffs.
4) Any layoffs, furloughs or pay cuts result in immediate suspension of corporate bonuses. People should not be rewarded for destroying the lives of their employees.
5) Learn from what's successful. The NY Times, the LA Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune have great websites with lots of news that's presented very cleanly. Model our web presence on what those papers are doing. Eliminate nightclub and celebrity slideshows from the homepage (not the site entirely, there's a place for that but on the home page).
There it is 5 ideas that could start the company's turn around.
1:03 am Could you post the numbers here?
ReplyDelete3:16, I'll second the well-said commendation.
ReplyDeletePeople WILL pay for quality.
Steve Jobs knew this.
Gannett corporate, however, does not.
11:33am - great ideas.
ReplyDeleteHowever, from what you wrote, I can tell you have no future in Gannett corporate!
8:31 I see them on CNN and CNBC.
ReplyDeleteGannett's corporate commercials are appearing mostly on the cable news channels: CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX.
ReplyDeleteAnd, 3:50, evidently so do potential advertisers who see them as well -- and take their advertising dollars somewhere else. That "all within reach" campaign is frankly one of the best examples of utter bullshit crafted by opportunistic air bags.
ReplyDeleteOn its face the "all within reach" patronizing, while so clever to the disconnected elite, it's still a lie when substantial segments of the market itself discards this product, reaching for the trash can or the delete key in droves.
People aren't stupid. And people don't like Gannett, no matter how many potential advertisers I steered my local sites' way, nor the subscriptions I generated (not even my job, either), before giving up once it was obvious that what I thought was merely a temporary variation in course, these "leaders" soon ejected, was in fact a train wreck guaranteed.
And the board stayed, like some malignant cancer. A couple of years later, we see the results of arrogance married to incompetence.
This disaster, however, has not been borne only on the backs of the worker-bee widgets (as all talent is surely seen), but extends eventually to the stewards of the enterprise, the board level.
After all, who would want "board member" on their resume for a once leading company that went belly up, stinking to high heaven?
So there is justice after all.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete4:37 PM
ReplyDelete"...what I thought was merely a temporary variation in course, these "leaders" soon ejected, was in fact a train wreck guaranteed."
YES.
4:37 Seems to me that it's only a matter of time before Banikarim dumps the campaign in favor of something of her own devising. This would naturally follow Pence's departure if, indeed, that rumor is true.
ReplyDeleteHere's an edited version of 5:06's comment:
ReplyDeleteThe Cincinnati Enquirer will be laying off upper management monday october 24th. Rumor has it that a lot of people will be suprised.
11:34 today - i will email the documents to Jim, due to the fact it is such a large file, I will let Jim figure out how he can post the numbers
ReplyDeleteThe Daily poster inside the loop :)
To 5:51 pm That sounds good. I hope Jim can take a hard look at the numbers for all of us.
ReplyDeleteOh great Jim. You believe Banikarim is going to do yet another ad campaign and spend millions more before her departure, which is inevitable. She'll get canned or quite within a year and half.
ReplyDeleteThis company is worst than the federal government with all the cash they spend on total BS...like a new ad campaign every year.
Here is an idea for you Gracia. Get rid of the CMO and replace with a Chief Revenue Officer, someone who knows how to sell to Fortune 500 advertisers.
ReplyDeleteWe need revenue (sales).
NOT marketing gimmicks.
7:37 is correct. We need rainmakers, not juvenile daydreamers who have done nothing to enhance the bottom line.
ReplyDeleteInteresting observations on obscene CEO bonuses -- specifically Craig Dubow's. From New York Times writer David Carr:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/business/media/why-not-occupy-newsrooms.html
Carr's column on Dubow is pretty scathing. Worth reading.
ReplyDeleteCarr's column is great. makes my mad, but it's a perfect take on what that SOB did -- is still doing -- to this company.
ReplyDeleteWonder what kind of justification martore would have refuting anything in Carr's column
ReplyDeleteWow, that is a very compelling article. My guess is that Moratore will ignore it like she does everything else and just hope it goes away.
ReplyDelete