Saturday, November 26, 2011

Nov. 21-27 | Your News & Comments: Part 4

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50 comments:

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

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  3. 11:48 PM, "At USA today, the plan is to protect the old guard at the top and replace all"?

    Many of the "old guard" have been pushed out, too. JW, SL, LL, BD, then EC and more recently LE, TH, CW, GE...

    No one is safe. But I agree, they are replacing these people with younger, less experienced people.

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  4. There is no new great pool of advertising revenue.
    This has been the top priority for advertising managers for more than 3 years.It is suddenly going to be discovered? This is not high tech manufacturing such as Apple and Steve Jobs inventing a new faster,cheaper,self tuning,do even more computer.And then selling to everyone in the world.
    This is print advertising!There are hundreds of small businesses(advertisers) closing every week. There is not a growing money supply to spend on advertising.The economy is in a deep recession. Ironically the first cut-backs that businesses make is in their ad budget.This is exactly opposite of what they should do,but that is not the logic used.
    So get ready for more Gannett layoffs. It is the only way this corporation survives.

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  5. Jim,

    Why did your blogging software change to go to the bottom of the comments when you click on them instead of starting at the top?

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  6. Just a couple observations...
    1) Appleton's Post-Crescent charged Sunday price for Thanksgiving Day edition. Not sure if that was new this year or not.
    2) Parking lots that in past years have been full of shoppers early in the day on Black Friday. Only appear to be about 2/3 full. (must be due to all the midnight openings).

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  7. At paidcontent.org jobs this week: "Gannett Digital, a Fortune 500 and top 20 digital media company is seeking a Business Development Director with legal contracts background to be based in their Tysons Corner headquarters." http://bit.ly/rIBr0V

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  8. 9:10 I don't know. It's likely a bug; those occur now and then when the folks at Blogger software are doing an upgrade.

    How long has this been going on? (I ask because I access comments via a dashboard that's not visible to readers.)

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  9. Been going on for at least a week if not longer. Kinda annoying.

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  10. 1:06....Kinda wineeeeey. Just deal with it. Matter-of-fact; I like it. Easier to get to the most recent comments rather than scrolling to the bottom. What's the difference between most recent first.

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  11. I like it. It's a pain to have to scroll through the previously read comments all the time.

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  12. I like the change too
    Would rather start at the bottom

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  13. Small paper Publishers are gone by the end of December.In the loop
    We can not afford to let go of any press Op's were I work, heck we only have 2 on a shift, so were getting OT and looking for another press guy. We had some problems a few weeks back with The Sunday Main, about 3 hours late, when Corp. found out we only had 2 guys running the press, the shit hit the fan.. Keep laying off GCI, it is starting to bit you in the ass were it counts, I was off that night and I laughed all the next day hearing this wonderful news

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  14. Jim
    Who are the New Regional VP's of Production, Circulation? From what I understand the Publisher's have no role in this and do you know who are the new head honcho's.
    And what is the Northern States Division? Any one know what that is?

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  15. 6:03, surely a fine company as open and professional as Gannett would provide all of that information right up front.

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  16. Rumor mill at The Arizona Republic:
    Bob K. to retire
    Facilities manager gone
    Loss of one weeks vacation for everyone
    Mailroom and pressroom supervisors reduced
    Housekeeping may be farmed out
    Tis the season and lets not forget the layoffs and furloughs

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  17. 4:10 -- What is considered a small paper? Under 50,000 circulation?

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  18. Rumor 2: Mark Silverman will be brought in to kick ass at USA Today. Those who miss stories, fail to boost story quotas and think ass kissing can still cover their moribund work ethic will be dealt with harshly.


    This guy means business. He may not know what that business is, but he means it, dammit. you think life at Usa Today was a bad place to work before? Just wait. Silverman won't be the last Gannett manager coming in to make trouble.

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  19. 12:42 I haven't heard anything about Mark Silverman and USA Today.

    Interestingly, Silverman was a candidate to be the paper's top editor in 2004. That job went to Ken Paulson.

    Also, Silverman and Susie Ellwood -- USAT's No. 2 executive, and the next likely publisher -- worked together at the Detroit newspapers in 1997-2004.

    Silverman was publisher and editor of The Detroit News. Ellwood was vice president for market development for the Detroit Media Partnership joint operating agency.

    Ellwood has been USAT's No. 2 since June. She would have a major hand in hiring any new very senior editors.

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  20. 11:10 YES Small Daily's under 50-42k would fall under that list as well as Community weekly papers

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  21. @8:49 p.m., housekeeping? What's that?!

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  22. Crotchfelt "Here I come to save the day"

    New Products - None
    New Revenue Stream - None
    Super Bowl Revenue Strategies - Poor
    Energizing the Staff - Poor

    Ding Ding Ding

    We have a winner.

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  23. Found a Wisconsin site that's telling their readers about the change to story chats via Facebook. It's not quite accurate, since the writer says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has made the change. It has, but it also allows readers to use their current accounts if they don't want to use Facebook.

    http://www.thenorthwestern.com/section/blogs06?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&U=119a90bf-b481-4a01-804a-1b845f64e2ee&plckPostId=Blog%3a119a90bf-b481-4a01-804a-1b845f64e2eePost%3a598387e6-1f6a-474c-9107-28e961398e37&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest

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  24. This will be the fourth year of wondering about
    being layed off just before or just after the holidays.
    The stress levels will once again mount and mount.How many health related problems will occur once again this time around? How many ulcers,mental breakdowns and broken families will this corporation cause before it's all over? Think about late 2007 and 2008, the losses of revenue percentages were far less than now and the layoffs began.My site was only down about 3 1/2% and layoffs began.
    Now,the revenues have been going steeply down ever since to the largest quarter loss yet in the third quarter this year.
    Where will it end.It is time to abandon this sinking ship.

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  26. The layoff alert button? Stay classy Jim.

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  27. This will be the fourth year 10:55 has posted those messages on a daily basis.

    How much worse can the punctuation and grammar get? How poorly can this person spell? How long can he or she keep whining?

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  28. 2:30
    Wrong,you egotistical,know it all,spelling geek.
    You sound like a nose in the air Gannett manager.
    We are all not as perfect as you must think of yourself.

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  29. Here's my take (and I'm not 2:30).Seems to me if one works in the profession -- the media! -- one could, I "dunno," at least spell, eh? I don't think that too much to expect, let alone it being egotistical, but I'm seeing more and more of that basic deal as being some high bar.

    Example: The movie "Idiocracy" took on a whole new meaning for me when a colleague called an apostrophe a "doo-hickey." And then didn't know how to use it. "It's plural, right?"

    Seriously, I doubt that's where we want to go. I guess degrees are easier now since journalism has turned into marketing especially under the Gannett model.

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  30. 4:21 again, as in posted by. My point, I mean everyone. No matter the department. Work in the field, any aspect? Spell. Use grammar. Either that or welcome people to Wal-Mart. Oh wait... lots of educated people get to that anyway now. Never mind.

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  31. Did you ever think that posts her are written in a hurry as most have better things to do.
    They are probably not proof read or spell checked.Posting here is not a main goal for most(I would hope anyway).You type a thought and hit post.
    Anything more than that, I would say and I would write a damn book and get published.These must damn well be editors posts.

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  32. " ... lots of educated people get to that anyway now ..."

    Didn't you mean "lot's of educated people get to DO that anyway now ..."

    (Those who live in glass houses ...)

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  33. 5:27, I don't think that. I've told you what I do think -- you post here daily and seem to get worse with time.

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  34. 8:49 yesterday appears to be correct and as 6:03 pointed out, nobody knows who's responsible for what other than several people have been doing a lot of traveling. Gannett appears to have found a way to be too confused to be held accountable. No clear plan, people are rumored to be losing their jobs and nobody knows what the new organization is other than it appears to already be in place!

    Perfect, a communications company that's deaf, dumb, blind and stupid.

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  35. Oh come on 6:55pm, give Gone-nett its due. They are also untalented, narrow-minded, foolish, short-sighted and socially irresponsible.

    And to be totally fair, don't leave out that GCI's leadership is made up of industry nobodies, they are all terrified of the CEO, they have middling work pedigrees, they reward the mundane, and the C-suite is primarily fixated on fleecing the company for personal gain.

    Now THAT is a perfect communications company.

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  37. In Reno, a Guy, and a full white bear, robbed a Wells Fargo bank.
    http://www.rgj.com/article/20111125/NEWS01/111125023/Reno-Police-searching-Wells-Fargo-Bank-robber

    Post has been up for 2 full days. With no corrections. Employees of the Bank should consider themselves lucky, that the bear was full.
    A hungry bear may have resulted in casualties.

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  38. 12:42 I've had the misfortune of working for Silverman and Paulson. Both have huge egos and are toxic the core. Silverman is publicly aggressive, the guy who brandished the Louisville slugger. Paulson likes to give off the vibe of laid back guy who is obsessed with music. Just as quickly he will throw a temper tantrum and knife you in the back. They have both gotten to where they are by destroying others.

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  39. 7:48 - The comments on the white bear are pretty funny. Yes, it's unfortunate that the error wasn't caught or might never be corrected, but it's still funny!

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  40. I would actually welcome an Anger Management candidate like Silverman to come in and instill fear. There is no way to " get our swagger " back if managers dont do their job. Forget about pride of ownership. I would settle for basic competence. This bunch is barely mediocre. Ass covering and waiting for edicts from corporate are not what is needed to grow the iconic brand Martore claims we are.

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  41. Paulson never fooled anyone. He cut his deal and left. Just another Gannett carpetbagger.

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  42. Give me a break about Silverman. He's good at publicly displaying anger, but not much else. He has terrible personnel judgment and loves nothing more than to follow corporate edicts right off a cliff. If he's named editor of USA Today -- a highly unlikely prospect given that he is not currently running any Gannett department, let alone paper -- he'll ratchet up the fear and loathing, But he won't turn around that mediocre publication.

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  43. Silverman could improve the quality just by intimidating subpar editors out the door. How bad could that be? You don't think Hillkirk inspires more than contempt and complacency, do you? jim Henderson? Rodney Brooks? Chet or David Colton? Please.

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  45. We need an impressive memo. Susie, did you leave any in your pre holiday outbox? Inspire us.

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  46. 11:32 don't forget the redundant night desk, copy desk and web droids.

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  49. Are the verticals now back on track now that content is under control of Susan Weiss? Have seen no news on the blog lately.

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  50. 5:27, no, no glass house here. I literally meant "get to that" -- as in "get to that [point]," an inference. But thanks anyway.

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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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