It's for vice president, corporate communications in McLean, Va. -- the position Robin Pence held from July 2009 until recently; Corporate has yet to publicly confirm her departure. The job was posted yesterday on LinkedIn.
Reporting to Gannett’s SVP & Chief Marketing Officer, this position will be responsible for leading corporate communications efforts for Gannett, including USA TODAY. This executive will strengthen the company’s competitive positioning, formulating and communicating the company’s strategic position by leveraging the communications functions as a powerful tool to drive growth and meet business objectives. Key to this role is the understanding of strategic communication, crisis management and internal communication. This role leads, develops and executes communications for the company as a whole, all its major divisions and its key executives in order to create a cohesive communication strategy across the organization. In this capacity, this leader will provide advice, counsel and support to all senior leaders regarding all communications-related issues. This individual will serve as chief spokesperson and be responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with key media that cover the span of Gannett’s interests -- newspapers, broadcast and digital. This is an exciting opportunity to help build and motivate a high performing, integrated, best in class, corporate communication function at one of the largest and highly respected media organizations based in McLean, Va., Gannett’s headquarters. Ideal candidate must work for a current media company.
Of special interest
I note the following among major responsibilities in this job:
"Develop and implement a strategy of open communication with Gannett’s employees ensuring they receive timely and accurate information about the company -- its goals and accomplishments through all available channels including direct communication, the corporate intranet and company blog."
"Company blog?" Corporate registered www.gannettblog.com on April 21, 2006, but has yet to use it publicly.
My early advice for Pence's successor: Don't repeat this mistake.
Earlier: the 2009 job description for former publicist Tara Connell's replacement.
Reporting to Gannett’s SVP & Chief Marketing Officer, this position will be responsible for leading corporate communications efforts for Gannett, including USA TODAY. This executive will strengthen the company’s competitive positioning, formulating and communicating the company’s strategic position by leveraging the communications functions as a powerful tool to drive growth and meet business objectives. Key to this role is the understanding of strategic communication, crisis management and internal communication. This role leads, develops and executes communications for the company as a whole, all its major divisions and its key executives in order to create a cohesive communication strategy across the organization. In this capacity, this leader will provide advice, counsel and support to all senior leaders regarding all communications-related issues. This individual will serve as chief spokesperson and be responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with key media that cover the span of Gannett’s interests -- newspapers, broadcast and digital. This is an exciting opportunity to help build and motivate a high performing, integrated, best in class, corporate communication function at one of the largest and highly respected media organizations based in McLean, Va., Gannett’s headquarters. Ideal candidate must work for a current media company.
Of special interest
I note the following among major responsibilities in this job:
"Develop and implement a strategy of open communication with Gannett’s employees ensuring they receive timely and accurate information about the company -- its goals and accomplishments through all available channels including direct communication, the corporate intranet and company blog."
"Company blog?" Corporate registered www.gannettblog.com on April 21, 2006, but has yet to use it publicly.
My early advice for Pence's successor: Don't repeat this mistake.
Earlier: the 2009 job description for former publicist Tara Connell's replacement.
The posting says: "Ideal candidate must work for a current media company."
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'll apply.
I'm going to apply I was fired, sued and am currently under federal indictment. Hope they can take a joke:)
ReplyDeleteWhat the heck does this mean?
ReplyDelete"formulating and communicating the company’s strategic position by leveraging the communications functions as a powerful tool to drive growth and meet business objectives."
Whoever wrote this job description has been spending too much time eating mushrooms in the Southwest. This makes absolutely no sense. Who could even write something like this?
If you don't believe me, roll it around on your tongue a few times and see if you can figure out what it means.
Was she fired.. Pence or did she quit?
ReplyDelete8:15 Banikarim may not have written that passage, but since this executive will report directly to her, she must have had at least a hand in it.
ReplyDeletePence resigned on her own. But was not wanted by Banikarim. My bet is Banikarim already has this job candidate and is posting only to follow corporate policy.
ReplyDeleteWho wants to wager it will be another one of her co-workers from Univision or NBC?
What the heck does this mean?
ReplyDelete"formulating and communicating the company’s strategic position by leveraging the communications functions as a powerful tool to drive growth and meet business objectives."
It means: "When you don't have facts, dazzle them with bullshit!"
9:06 that is exactly what folks do on this blog. Facts never get in the way
ReplyDelete8:45 Agreed; it would be surprising if it wasn't from either company, or one in an immediate orbit.
ReplyDeleteIf they registered it back in 2006, there's little chance that anyone left knows how to access it or prove the company owns it. Those folks are long gone.
ReplyDeleteHere's an idea. how about hiring someone with actual journalism experience for this post? That way Gracia may be able to keep the corporate bullshit to a minimum and issue press releases that actually say something.
ReplyDeleteHow about Gannett being upfront with their employees? How about Gannett just speaking in plain english instead of this criptic corporate bullshit? How about Gannett exec's tightening their belts instead of ours? But then that is how Gannett got to be the company that they are... keeping everyone in the dark. It's made them a lot of money.
ReplyDeleteIt's one of the hardest jobs in PR. How do you find great stuff to talk about when all the mainstream press is writing about Gannett layoffs, linking to this blog which shows disgruntled employees, and seeing bad reports on wall street.
ReplyDeleteIf you are a true PR professional, you would google search Gannett and find a lot of bad press about Gannett.
The job should be called, "Chief lipstick-to-pig applier"
ReplyDeleteJim, you have yourself to thank for that highlighted paragraph from the job description. Nice work.
Two things strike me:
ReplyDelete1) How ANGRY the job posting sounds. It has a "nobody we've had so far understands what we want" tone that makes it sound unappealing from the get go. Yuck.
2) Anyone who would write this sentence -- "This executive will strengthen the company’s competitive positioning, formulating and communicating the company’s strategic position by leveraging the communications functions as a powerful tool to drive growth and meet business objectives.'' -- shouldn't be in the communications business to begin with.
Wow. Whoever wrote that should really examine themselves to see if there is any "there" there inside. Total gobbledygook that means absolutely nothing.
In contrast, I bet THIS concluding sentence, which is upbeat and smart -- "This is an exciting opportunity to help build and motivate a high performing, integrated, best in class, corporate communication function at one of the largest and highly respected media organizations based in McLean, Va., Gannett’s headquarters.'' -- was written by someone else who DOES know how to communicate.
What a sad commentary when biz-speak replaces plain talk.
It certainly does sound like an angry posting. No matter who gets the job, this has become, and will always be, a revolving door position. The turnaround time will probably be every two years or less.
ReplyDeleteHas Pence found a new job?
ReplyDeleteYes, Pence has found a new job. She is a consultant hired by companies to write more clear and concise job descriptions. Gannett will be her first customer and becomes the 85th consultant the company currently employs.
ReplyDeleteEveryone's ignorance about a PR/Communications role at a major company is appalling. This line: "This executive will strengthen the company’s competitive positioning, formulating and communicating the company’s strategic position by leveraging the communications functions as a powerful tool to drive growth and meet business objectives." ....is totally clear to someone in this business.
ReplyDeleteI very seldom, use a business pr whore. I usually, just called the person direct. Got friendly with a lot of executives's staff. They feel comfortable with you after a while. If something goes wrong in the business, they know why and feel safe talking to someone they already have some type of relationship with. In one case with Gannett, could not fine out anything, so I went to Gannett's daughter blog.
ReplyDeleteThat's the problem,12:54. It's a business that talks to itself.
ReplyDeleteWho is rmichem? I've been around the business a long time and never heard of him/her. He/she pontificates like they are a journalism legend. Anyone have a clue?
ReplyDeleteI like this line referring to Gannett:
ReplyDelete"....one of the largest and highly respected media organizations based in McLean, Va., Gannett’s headquarters."
How many other media organizations are based in McLean, VA?
Congratulations, Gannett. You are one of the highly respected media organizations in McLean, VA where there are...exactly one media organizations.
7:21 That line just needed some copy editing. If only minor changes were made, it could have read:
ReplyDelete". . . one of the largest and [most] highly respected media organizations. Gannett is based in McLean, Va."
But that entire paragraph is a disaster
Best in class? Really?
ReplyDeleteIf this is another piece of maryim's handiwork, she ought to spend more time in her office thinking about strategy before pepper spraying notes like this. Stay off the road, too. We need revenue, not more corporate bullshit.
ReplyDelete11:21 "Best in class" (or, sometimes "best of breed") has been a popular Gannett buzzword for quite a few years.
ReplyDeleteTo 7:21 I am someone who has the balls, to say somethings and put my name to it, unlike some COWARDS, who hide behind Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteThe best PR person on the planet cannot distract from what's really happening: corporate execs and the board fleecing a dying company for all its worth while throwing employees overboard. That's why this job is a loser. Reality cannot be sugarcoated.
ReplyDeleteI suppose you can be best in class when you are the only game in town. But USA today management has an incredible inferiority complex. Filled with apologists and no nothings who would be laughed out of the WSJ and the NYT. No ideas. No management skills. No ability to motivate or even communicate with the troops. Lazy and entitled if not cluless. W The edicts and memos are delivered in a haphazard way, with little thought about how the message is intended. Gracia, if you are serious about reallocating resources, start with upper management. Do we need a dozen senior level editors when less than half would do. Do we really need a half dozen senior managers whonwer hired don oversee the verticals who do absolutely nothing all day? Look at the job titles and the allegedly responsibilities and tell me any of them would be missed.
ReplyDeleteWhy do they need someone for pr if gracia and Marayim are making all the proclamations? Another pointless vice president coming on board?
ReplyDeleteNo way Pence resigned on her own. Unless that was a condition for a better severance deal. She had been out of work for well over a year after her exit from AES before becoming Dubow's savant.
ReplyDeleteRobin Pence was the worst person I have ever worked with in my life. I am so sorry for Choice Hotels and anybody else who ever ends up with her. She is an awful person and a worse manager.
ReplyDelete