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Thursday, December 08, 2011
53 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."
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Judge Hits Blogger With $2.5 Million Charge for Not Being a Journalist http://mashable.com/2011/12/07/blogger-vs-journalist/ via @mashable
ReplyDeleteAt USAT, odds of Team Ellwood-Silverman replacing Hunke-Hillkirk may have suddenly improved.
ReplyDeleteGannett's quota hires should all be fired, and the entire system should be scrapped. No more tokens!
ReplyDeleteJim, agreed on the first part, Ellwood replacing Hunke, but as for the second, I'm not so sure. Have you read the website that the woman who posted here a week or two ago has up about Mr. Silverman? I'll bet they have read it in the Crystal Palace. While she looks a bit of a head case, it doesn't reflect very well on him. Naming him as editor might invite unpleasant scrutiny and attention.
ReplyDelete9:59, take your hate elsewhere, please.
ReplyDelete10:27 This seems like a far, far, far longer shot for USAT editor, but: Keith Moyer?!
ReplyDeleteIf they did not GIVE Craig 37.1 mil would we still have a furlough in Q-1? That equals 740 employess at 50K for one year!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAnyone remember the "Mainstreaming" phase the newsrooms were forced to undertake about a dozen years back? It was a mandate that stories and photos include minorities in them- Committees were formed to come up with ideas for this each day. Tallies were kept to keep track of how many stories or photos each reporter/photographer successfully "mainstreamed". It became a surefire open gate to page one play even if the content of the story or photo didn't merit it. It was supposed to provide an more accurate reflection on the communities covered. What it became went like this each day: Send a reporter/photographer to a wealthy, mostly white community and interview or photograph the one black person they found. Also had to get business cards or other contact info so they could be called upon to comment on future stories. So much for impartiality.
ReplyDeleteAt least at the surface level, management seems motivated to go outside for a new editor. Headhunters are being hired to facilitate the search. Who knows what they'll come up with.But I don't know a headhunting firm that specializes in news media hires.
ReplyDeleteAn outsider could be a good move. But someone clueless with an "interesting" resume could take that job and do far more damage than Hillkirk.
USA Today needs a hands on, energetic, engaged leader who can motivate an unmotivated staff. Is there someone from the New York Times or Wall Street Journal who fits that bill, as opposed to an AOL or Yahoo retread or some young goofball who has never been a reporter?
God, let's hope so.
If they are going to repurpose a Gannettoid for the top spot at USA Today, Susan Weiss would be a far better choice as far as internal candidates go.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope she has the fortitude to shake up the moribund verticals team and appoint some sharp deputies to kick ass.
11:40 is correct: headhunters are being retained for the search.
ReplyDeleteRegarding headhunters, Freedom Forum used Isaacson, Miller of Boston to find its latest CEO, James Duff.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope they don't use the same headhunters used to find Heather Frank.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea if they'd talk to Keith Moyer, but he would be an excellent choice. He's a great editor and a great manager of managers.
ReplyDeleteToday is L-Day according the anonymous posters. Let's see if they're right.
ReplyDeleteGannett corporate has a sales job open under Banikarim.
ReplyDeleteTwo points:
1.USAT fired top sales people, likely a move to afford more Corporate sales people.
2.Why would any sales person want to report to the CMO?
If Gannett is serious about Corporate sales and cross-platform ad deals, hire a senior sales chief reporting directly to Gracia.
Is Silverman still running around with a girlfriend on the side?
ReplyDeleteEven if layoffs don't happen today, they'll definitely happen before the end of January. Someone has to pay for the executive holiday bonuses and all of the new VPs.
ReplyDeleteExpect layoffs this week or early next week. They need to happen to close out the year and start the new one with some prospect of recapturing revenue.
ReplyDeleteAnything that gets Hunke out is fine by me. I've worked for six publishers in 20-plus years, and Hunke is, by far, the bottom of the barrel. What an unmitigated disaster. He makes Moon look like Aristotle.
ReplyDeleteI heard that the production of USA Today newspaper is being transitioned into another Gannett facility, to curtail production costs. It seems like a logical evolutionary approach for a company with multiple products to abandon a “silo” approach to production. Kudos to the Gannett team for embracing the full benefits of digital-technology/transmission to conserve a considerable amount of working capital for the company.
ReplyDeleteLet the layoffs begin.....
ReplyDeletethe layoffs have started
ReplyDelete7:58 These days, most newspaper Journalist under the protection of the shield laws, are not Journalist. A Journalist, will go out and fine out the truth no matter, what the cost in time and money, to his publisher, "TO BE A WATCH DOG." Which is the main purpose of the first law. Today newspapers' Journalists, just practice writing literary filler, between advertising.
ReplyDeleteThey have definitely started today - i am living proof
ReplyDelete12:15, if you embrace the full benefits of digital technology and transmission, what do you do when ... power is out at the RTC or design center or whatever? when the reload times on files drag? when the remote site is behind? How do you explain that to your press -- which is another company and charging you when you're late?
ReplyDeleteAny details on these "layoffs"?
ReplyDelete1:28-here's the details. At our site, people who walked into work today with a job are in the process of leaving without one.
ReplyDeleteWhich sites 1:33 and 1:07 (Sorry about losing your job-but life WILL get better)?
ReplyDeleteThe Arizona Republic is advertising for a Page One editor. Dunno if someone left, or if they are adding to the staff. Anybody know?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteDear 1:24pm,
ReplyDeleteYour rebuttal does not give definitive reasoning since these problems, that you have sited, could also happen within an independent silo-location. You have not made an argument to validate the retention of separate locations. My advice, to 1:24pm, is not to let your emotions take over solid business sense. My additional advice, to you, is to move forward along with technology and embrace it. If this “change” directly affects your employment, I am deeply sorry for your loss. Unfortunately, the only constant in life is change. Learn to embrace this “change” and make a new life for yourself. May your next path, in life, reward you in ways you never anticipated. My best wishes to you and yours. I wish you prosperity on your next path.
They need to cut from the entry level positions such as DSM so they can name another vice president.. Company is a big joke.. Glad I don't work there any longer. Most of the folks that I know that still work there are looking hard for other jobs.
ReplyDeleteI heard layoffs for USAT Production, at the Crystal Palace...
ReplyDelete1:40, i am (should say WAS) in Louisville, KY
ReplyDelete1:07 and 1:28 You said you were laid off today as well as others, my regards to you..please enjoy life out side of the hell hole called Gannett..What positions did you 2 have, and what site's
ReplyDeleteBlogger Jim Romenesko notes that the Pensacola News Journal published the following "retraction" on Saturday:
ReplyDeleteA 1A story on Wednesday about the funeral of Army Pfc. Matthew Colin of Navarre incorrectly stated that his father, Ken Colin, and uncles drank a beer in tribute to the young soldier as they stood graveside at Barrancas National Cemetery during his funeral. The News Journal regrets the error.
How'd the comment string go from 1, 2 then 6?
ReplyDelete12:15 sure on the surface it sounds logical. So do a lot of things that, in reality, are not. USAT's production is a vastly different than what any one site does within Gannett and for a lot of reasons, first being that one late page equals 30+ late press starts. And so forth.
ReplyDeleteSo before you hand out kudos to the cash infactuated, you might want to get a clearer understanding of the magnitude of change this will bring.
Can you name one paper in Gannett that comes even close to the print volume, quality and product consistency of USA TODAY? Neither can we.
Yes! Layoffs are a major life change scary as hell, psychologically dangerous even, but it's not the end of the world. I regret my career being gone, sure, badly -- and I despise what Gannett's leadership has become, short-term personal profit at the devastating expense of long-term viability via an extensively experienced staff.
ReplyDeleteThis is about cliques or "who likes who." This is a business -- and very, very poorly run one.
The result: one loses their job or even their career.
And even with a severely limited employment horizon at my age, all this time spent there so earnest, I haven't been happier knowing that no matter what happens, at least I no longer work for this fiasco of a major company as it stumbles and slips into oblivion.
After all, failing at journalism within the just the past decade, it now defines itself as a "marketing solution."
Sorry? Solution? Problem? The only problem with marketing is content, which Gannett does not provide and seems hell-bent on not providing while it rolls out pay walls.
Gannett's corporate makeup is a lot like Congress: totally rich and utterly disconnected.
2:37 I've corrected the headline; it now says, Part 3.
ReplyDeleteHave there been any layoffs in the Louisville newsroom?
ReplyDeleteDear 2:38,
ReplyDeleteThe prepress process is constructed with multiple safegards to avoid late pages. If you are truly in danger of a late page, at your location, than this is an indication of an issue with staff members and/or management. The new centralized-approach will not risk the production-time or quality of the newspaper. Please retort with a legitimate explanation for sustaining the additional location, in the spirit of a debate.
I just heard the production manager for Jackson, MS was laid off. Any other layoffs taking place?
ReplyDelete3;32 drop aname
ReplyDelete2:17, I was with single copy CSS in Louisville, KY
ReplyDeletemany others go with you 3:30?
ReplyDeleteMy view on the current layoffs and the ones to come prior to the First period, which begins I believe Dec. 25th..Production Managers who have Director's over them. Most pre-press, due to the new centralized ad production centers / tonning center,what ever they decide to call them this week
ReplyDeleteMore Circ Directors, a circulation manger will report to the regional VP. Same with Production
On and on. I think I will be right about most of this
Confirmed on the person over production/building maintenance/etc. in Jackson, MS. Also 1 production person cut to part-time. Haven't heard if there are others.
ReplyDeletelets take this to the new post, some one just posted about Indy shutting press down and shifting to Louisville
ReplyDelete3:32, none that i know of
ReplyDeletePressmen at Brevard were told today their jobs are gone by the end of 2012 Q1.
ReplyDelete