May 30-June 5 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

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Banikarim hired to 'bring all the pieces together'

Banikarim

Identified as Gannett's first chief marketing officer on March 14, Maryam Banikarim tells Advertising Age in a new story today that Gannett is "not necessarily a company that's been out there building its corporate brand. Part of what I've been brought in to do is to bring all the pieces together. . . . I have a pretty long history of getting different parts of an organization to work as a whole."

Ad Age named her one of 23 women to watch. Other executives include women working at Walmart, Heineken USA, and Home Depot.

Banikarim, a former NBC Universal marketing executive, says she's worst at "sitting still." She plans to grow the Gannett brand both by connecting people internally and by bringing in outside perspectives, Ad Age says. One of the first programs she has introduced since arriving at Gannett is a speaker series in which other marketing leaders talk about how they built their business.

She's also been busy going on field visits to meet employees and share communication. "People are surprised at how much you actually learn when you listen," she told the trade publication.

Chief Operating Officer Gracia Martore told Ad Age: "I think you're going to see some wonderful new things coming from Gannett, and they're going to have Maryam's handprint on them."

May 23-29 | Your News & Comments: Part 6

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Green Bay | Pub in quixotic war against GCI dies

Frank Wood's long newspaper war with Gannett in Wisconsin's Green Bay, from 1980 to 2004, was chronicled in The Chain Gang: One Newspaper versus the Gannett Empire. The book was written by Richard McCord, hired by Wood to tell the story of his paper's battle against the publishing giant.

Wood died yesterday in De Pere, Wisc. He was 82, the Green Bay Press-Gazette said today.

Wood bought what he renamed the Green Bay News-Chronicle in 1976. The paper had started four years before by a labor union striking against the dominant Press-Gazette over the paper's conversion to cold type. GCI entered the market in 1980, when it bought the Press-Gazette.

Wood eventually gave up the fight, selling the News-Chronicle plus 22 other dailies and other publications to GCI in 2004, for an undisclosed sum.

In a statement announcing the deal, GCI said no immediate changes in operations were planned for the News-Chronicle. Wood, then 76, said he was pleased that his employees would "have the additional opportunity offered by becoming part of a much larger organization." The statement also quoted Ellen Leifeld, then publisher of The Post-Crescent in Appleton saying:

“We want to spend some time to better understand the publications, get to know the employees, and develop a plan to carry on the tradition that Frank started 51 years ago when he and his wife, Agnes, bought their first weekly newspaper in Denmark, Wisc.''

A year later, June 2005, GCI closed the paper, merging its operations into those of the Press-Gazette. At the time, blogger Jim Romenesko quoted a GCI spokesperson saying: "The Green Bay News-Chronicle is a business that has not been successful for years. It’s a business decision.”

The shuttered paper's circulation had fallen to an estimated 5,000 copies, according to this Wikipedia article. Today, the surviving Press-Gazette's weekday circulation is 43,278.

May 23-29 | Your News & Comments: Part 5

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Sponsors | From a generous supporter: $50

I've recently received a $50 contribution from a reader whose previous donations included $300, in March. Thank you! Repeat donors are among my most important supporters. Her gift brings me to 45% of my goal -- but with barely a month remaining. The breakdown:

• Reader donations: $444
• Advertising: $1,338

I'm trying to earn $4,000 quarterly, through donations of $5 per reader, plus advertising sales. Please use the PayPal "Donate" tool in the green rail, upper right. Or mail cash and checks payable to: Jim Hopkins, 584 Castro St. #823, San Francisco, Calif., 94114-2594.

Indy, Nashville finalists in food journalism contest

The Indianapolis Star and The Tennessean at Nashville are among 54 finalists in 15 categories for awards in the annual competition by the Association of Food Journalists, the group announced today. Winners will be disclosed Oct. 6 at a banquet in Charleston, S.C.

How much Gannett spends to relocate top execs

Photo shows a typical $2 million house for sale in Great Falls, Va., an exclusive community near Corporate's headquarters, where CEO Craig Dubow and other members of the top brass live:

Gannett Bloggers have been debating whether top executives need to move their residence near Corporate headquarters at McLean, Va., when they get major promotions -- and at what cost to the company. (The debate starts here in this comment thread, about Chief Digital Officer David Payne.) One question raised: Does Corporate buy an executive's home as an incentive to help them make the move?

Anonymous@5:36 a.m. today says no: "Gannett doesn't buy executive homes anymore, period. You can lie -- oh, sorry, speculate -- all you want, but it doesn't make it true."

In fact, it depends on how you define, "buy." In recent years, Corporate has spent at least $940,000 relocating the company's most senior executives, a figure that mostly comprises payments to help executives sell and buy homes. The payments were made under GCI's relocation policy "applicable to management employees generally,'' according to documents filed with federal securities regulators.

The documents do no detail the benefit rules, nor do they say which management executives are entitled to receive them. In the past, however, they've been made broadly available. (In 1996 and 1991, GCI paid my moving costs when I got promoted to jobs in Boise, Idaho, and then Louisville, Ky.)

Overall, the biggest payouts go to the company's most highly paid executives -- about a half-dozen top officers. These payments are the only ones publicly disclosed. Many thousands of dollars in other payments to executives at the level of, say, publisher or general manager are not made public.

Dave Hunke

Last year, in one high-profile example, Corporate paid USA Today Publisher Dave Hunke $19,473 to reimburse him for closing costs on his new McLean-area home, plus another $13,084 tax "gross-up" payment to cover the income taxes for the closing costs reimbursement. That's according to the 2011 shareholder proxy report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In 2009, Hunke got paid $250,000 to reimburse him for "a loss incurred as a result of the sale of his former residence in connection with his relocation to USA Today headquarters." He also received a tax gross-up payment in the amount of $118,732. And, finally, he got an $85,000 relocation bonus. These amounts are disclosed in the 2010 proxy report.

Hunke was promoted to publisher in April 2009 from CEO of the Detroit Media Partnership, which publishes the GCI-owned Detroit Free Press and MediaNews Group's The Detroit News under terms of a joint operating agreement. Home prices fell when the Detroit area economy took a nose dive under the weight of the auto industry's near collapse.

Saleh

Paul Saleh, who was hired as chief financial officer in November, almost certainly would have been entitled to a relocation bonus. However, his job was at a company based near McLean, so he may not have had to move his residence. The 2011 proxy report does not disclose any relocation benefits paid to him; instead, he received a $150,000 signing bonus.

Two other recent high-profile hires -- CDO Payne and Chief Marketing Officer Maryam Banikarim -- likely aren't paid enough to require public disclosure of any relocation benefits they got.

Other examples include:

In 2008, Corporate paid U.S. newspaper division president Bob Dickey $245,000 to reimburse him for a loss incurred as a result of the sale of his former Phoenix-area residence for his relocation to headquarters after his promotion to division president. It also paid him a tax gross-up payment of $116,357 to cover the income taxes on the initial $245,000. (Phoenix' real estate market took one of the biggest hits in the housing industry's failure.)

Also in 2008, Dickey's annual $360,000 bonus included "a $90,000 relocation bonus in connection with his promotion to President/USCP,'' according to the 2009 proxy report.

In 2002, Craig Dubow got paid $158,000 in "other compensation" that included relocation benefits after he was promoted to president of the broadcast division. He had been living in Atlanta. The company did not break down the dollar amounts, but it said the overall figure included a country club membership fee of $70,000. (See: 2003 proxy report.) Dubow became CEO in July 2005.

May 23-29 | Your News & Comments: Part 4

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May 23-29 | Your News & Comments: Part 3

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May 23-29 | Your News & Comments: Part 2

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Springfield | A dramatic tornado photo display

Missouri's Springfield News-Leader used both the front and back pages this morning to show in a single aerial photo the destruction left by Sunday's tornado in Joplin, Mo., about 90 minutes west of Springfield. The twister, the deadliest in six decades, left 122 dead, 750 injured, and 8,000 structures damaged, the paper says today.

Got a Gannett front page to recommend? Find it in the Newseum's page one database, then post a link in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: Newseum]

May 23-29 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

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Signs the company is shrinking: Vacancy rates

From a story Saturday about a fitness club's plans to buy The Journal News building in Westchester, N.Y.: 

The 38-year-old Journal News building has been for sale for more than a year, following a downsizing trend that left the newspaper building at about a third of its potential occupancy.

Gannett is looking for new space to lease to house what's left of the newspaper's staff. The press was shuttered in March 2010, when printing was shifted to a non-GCI site in Rockaway, N.J.

May 16-22 | Your News & Comments: Part 6

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Sponsors | From three states: $65

Over the past 24 hours, I've received $10 from a reader in California, $30 from one in Michigan, and $25 from Doug Rankin of Fort Myers, Fla. Still, even with advertising sales, those gifts bring me to just 39% of my goal -- and there's only five weeks left in the quarter. The breakdown:

• Reader donations: $394
• Advertising: $1,164

I'm trying to earn $4,000 quarterly, through donations of $5 per reader, plus advertising sales. Please use the PayPal "Donate" tool in the green rail, upper right. Or mail cash and checks payable to: Jim Hopkins, 584 Castro St. #823, San Francisco, Calif., 94114-2594.

Tech 101 | This is your Gannett director on video

Five members of the nine-seat board of directors are on the Digital Technology Committee, reflecting the heightened role of all things digital. They include CEO Craig Dubow, and Howard Elias, who is president and chief operating officer of EMC Information Infrastructure and Cloud Services. (Yup: cloud services.) It's part of the information storage giant EMC. Elias, who is 53, has been a GCI director since 2008.

Here, Elias plays host in a new training video that EMC posted online Tuesday; it's about as nerdy as corporate videos get. He's discussing the changing IT landscape, and "the need for new virtualization and cloud training and certifications." In a Zen-like moment at one point, Elias tells his audience: "The journey to the private cloud will be led by architects."

USAT | This is the last print issue you'll see *

* This is the last print edition before tomorrow's predicted end times, where all press operators and other of God's believing people will be taken into heaven.

As USAT's Ann Oldenburg writes in the opening paragraph of her Page One story this morning about Oprah, "The end is just days away." And Oprah herself told the paper: "It is done."

So, there you have it! 

According to Wikipedia, tomorrow's Rapture is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. local time as it rolls across time zones. The end of the world as we know it will actually take place five months later, on Oct. 21.

Related: on USAT's Faith & Reason blog, a handy FAQ on tomorrow's big event.

May 16-22 | Your News & Comments: Part 5

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Layoffs | Reminder: I'm tallying quarterly job cuts

Is your worksite represented on this read-only layoff spreadsheet? It shows an estimated 51 jobs eliminated at nine sites so far this quarter, which ends June 30.

If not, please add your paper's information in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

May 16-22 | Your News & Comments: Part 4

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Mail | How to sell more ads? Quit the pep rallies!

Anonymous@5:55 a.m. writes about Monday's company-wide advertising sales rally, one they called "a complete waste of time."

Time that could be spent resolving billing problems, or working on the 18th proof you got back from the Gannett Production Center (that still looks like a 6th-grader did it with clip art and Word), or maybe even squeeze in a little time to actually sell something once you're done with all the admistrative crap that's been building up on your desk.

Once again, they have proven that they have no idea how to move this company forward. I still can't believe somebody thought this was a good idea. Even more, somebody above that nimrod green-lighted it.

It's pretty simple, Gracia. You have to spend money to make money -- if you want to generate more revenue. Hire more sales people. Or at least bring back some of the support staff positions you elimiated so we have time to go out and MAKE MONEY.

As always, other views on this topic are welcome. Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

May 16-22 | Your News & Comments: Part 3

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Sponsors | This just in: $35 in donations

Yesterday, I got $20 from a reader in Florida, $5 from one in New Jersey, and $10 from an extra-generous one in Texas, who once again gave twice my suggested amount. In an e-mail, they wrote: "It's time for my quarterly donation, Keep up the great work, Jim."

I'm now at 34% of my goal. But I've got fewer than six weeks to go! The breakdown:

• Reader donations: $307
• Advertising: $1,055

I'm trying to earn $4,000 quarterly, through donations of $5 per reader, plus advertising sales. Please use the PayPal "Donate" tool in the green rail, upper right. Or mail cash and checks payable to: Jim Hopkins, 584 Castro St. #823, San Francisco, Calif., 94114-2594.

USAT | Stars in alignment: Maria Shriver Edition

"She's really good friends with Oprah (Winfrey), so you have to think that maybe Oprah is helping her get through this." 

-- People magazine's Joey Bartolomeo, speaking to USA Today, about the news today that Arnold Schwarzenegger had fathered a child with a household staffer while married to Maria Shriver. Not missing a celebrity beat, the paper's story also quotes an expert saying the scandal could boost the actor's brand as he re-enters show business.

USAT | A big shake-up disclosed at USA Weekend; VP Frank takes reins as mag merges with Your Life

In another power grab, USA Today's consumer media vice president, Heather Frank, is taking control of editorial content at the nation's second-biggest newspaper magazine supplement -- further tightening her grip on a risky digital bet by Gannett's most visible brand.

Frank

The newspaper disclosed today that Frank will oversee a new editorial team comprising the merged staffs of USA Weekend and the daily's six-month-old Your Life online vertical.

The struggling paper also said it had appointed a new general manager for Your Life, and confirmed that it hired a Washington Post editor for the site, which focuses on subjects meant to to draw female consumers, including health, food and beauty.

The moves come amid other shifts in resources at USAT, which at one point accounted for as much as 10% of GCI's overall revenue -- illustrating the high stakes in the paper's turnaround under Publisher Dave Hunke. Two weeks ago, Corporate disclosed that USAT would absorb much of the remnants of the old Gannett News Service, now operating as the ContentOne news distributor.

Frank was among a clutch of newly created vice presidents that Hunke named last fall in a reorganization of the paper to reverse sagging advertising revenue and circulation. Your Life is one of five planned verticals that form a centerpiece of Hunke's risky bid to get the paper back on track, so has drawn considerable attention across GCI and the newspaper industry. The paper prints 1.8 million copies, but trails The Wall Street Journal in overall circulation, including digital subscriptions.

Today's statement said USA Weekend's president and publisher, Charles Gabrielson, would continue to manage sales, marketing, research and affiliate relations. The magazine prints 22.6 million copies weekly, distributed by its more than 840 affiliate newspapers. Conde Nast's Parade is the top title in the Sunday supplement market, with 32.2 million copies in more than 510 papers.

The statement was unclear on whether Gabrielson would report to Frank, saying only that "the new management team" will report to her. That would at least include the merged editorial staffs.

Combining 'core strengths'
Frank said: "The combination of the highly tenured content teams represents an opportunity to bring together the core editorial strengths of USA Weekend magazine -- engaging, celebrity-driven coverage of social issues, entertainment, health, food -- with the core strengths of USA Today's Your Life -- outstanding health, medical and fitness coverage and a vibrant online platform."

Frank's editorial takeover today is likely to deepen the angst among some Gannett Bloggers, who have expressed concern about the authority she is gaining at the newspaper.

Like the other verticals, Your Life has its own general manager, a position similar to a deputy publisher for the paper. The new GM is Christine Allegro. Like Frank, she is an AOL veteran, and got hired last year "to drive new content strategies across multiple content niches,'' today's statement says.

The statement was equally unclear on whether Allegro and the new editor from the Post, Nancy Kerr, were hired into new positions, or as replacements for existing managers. I reported Kerr's hiring last week. Denise Brodey was Your Life's GM at its launch; as I post this, her photo is still illustrating the site's introduction to readers.

Today's shakeup suggests Hunke may be unhappy with Your Life's progress since it was launched in November -- a concern, given the attention he's focused on the vertical sites as sources of new revenue and readers. Corporate has disclosed little about Your Life's traffic since a lone report in GCI's annual report to federal securities regulators.

About Frank's bio
Word for word, from a USAT statement, announcing her promotion to vice president of vertical development last September; her title has since been changed to VP of consumer media:

Frank joined USA Today in 2010 as general manager of USAT’s Your Life health and lifestyle vertical. Previously, she led the content programming and operations teams for RevolutionHealth.com. Prior to that, she was the editor-in-chief for Meredith Corporation’s women’s lifestyle sites.

From 1997 to 2003, she was an executive at America Online, where she led editorial teams in developing programming in response to popular culture and current events. Prior to joining AOL, Frank was the general manager for new media at WHERE magazines. Frank is a graduate of Newcomb College.

Memo: GCI eliminating dozens more finance jobs

In another jobs consolidation, CFO Paul Saleh has warned finance department employees across the country that their work will be shifted to the two Shared Service Centers, in Indianapolis and Binghamton, N.Y. At least one of the centers was established, I believe, in the summer of 2008.

Saleh

Saleh's memo, dated May 9, lists nine tasks that will be moved over the next 18 months -- from posting cash receipts to customer accounts to handling property and sales tax returns. He doesn't say how many jobs are at stake. I obtained a copy of the memo from a reader last night.

Two newspapers have been testing the move: those in Indiana's Muncie and Richmond. More than a dozen others will follow in June: papers in Cincinnati; Salisbury, Md., Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and the Media Network of Central Ohio group.

The memo does not say whether the consolidation includes other divisions, such as Broadcasting. These job eliminations will come amid a broader consolidation of work that has contributed to more than 20,000 cuts through layoffs and attrition since Craig Dubow became CEO in July 2005.

As with all such communication from Corporate, Saleh -- named CFO in November -- manages to avoid the use of the word "layoff" to warn of the obvious consequences. He writes:

"Further centralization will most likely result in the loss of some positions at our field locations. Local management at each site along with SSC management and division finance VPs will work through a process for determining position reductions. To help determine remaining staffing needs, functions remaining at the local unit will be identified along with the skills, knowledge and experience required to do them."

His memo continues: "The termination dates for employees losing their positions will be determined by the implementation timetable. Employees not being retained will qualify for the transitional pay program (TPP) as long as they are on active payroll on their termination date. This next phase of the Shared Service Centers is an important part of Gannett’s strategic transformation, and I appreciate all of your help and support during this time."

Shortly after Saleh was hired, Corporate disclosed that he received a $150,000 signing bonus simply for coming to GCI, on top of his $600,000 in annual base pay. He also is eligible for a traditional annual bonus.

Related: So far this quarter, Gannett has cut 36 jobs at six worksites, according to the reader estimates in this spreadsheet. Plus: read the full Saleh memo on Google Documents -- or see it below:

Mother Jones: Dubow rich by 'squeezing' workers

Mother Jones magazine ranked Craig Dubow No. 6 on its recent list of 10 chief executives who got rich in 2010 by squeezing their workers -- a year when corporate profits grew an average 38.8%, the biggest gain since 1950.

Dubow -- who in Mother Jones' research got $7.9 million, up 80% -- was in Blue Chip company. No. 1 on the list: Michael Duke, CEO of Wal-Mart. Although his pay dropped a smidge, 4%, to $18.7 million, he cut 13,000 jobs vs. Dubow's 2,400, the magazine said.

For its article, Mother Jones used a more conservative estimate of Dubow's annual compensation, one compiled by the Associated Press that doesn't include certain amounts. Including all the items in Gannett's own regulatory filing, Dubow got $9.4 million -- double his 2009 pay.

Dubow has another distinction: He was the only CEO to appear on two recent Mother Jones lists. In late April, Dubow ranked No. 10 on the magazine's list of the most overpaid chief executives, based on their paychecks and the lackluster performance of their companies' shares. GCI stock closed Dec. 31, 2010, at $15.09 vs. $14.85 at the end of 2009, Google Finance says.

"These 10," the magazine said at the time, "vividly illustrate what veteran compensation consultant Bud Crystal views as a broad problem in many boardrooms: 'You have almost no relationship between pay and performance when it comes to the CEO.'"

For that story, the magazine offered another quote on Dubow's 2010 pay -- from a Gannett Blog reader. "Pure and simple," the reader wrote, "a laugh in every employee's face."

Related: about Mother Jones.

[Image: the May-June issue's cover]

Sponsors | Reader makes good on pledge

I recently received $5 from an Ohio reader, who earlier challenged other readers to contribute to this blog. In an e-mail via PayPal, the reader said: "6:55 putting her money where her mouth is." Thank you -- especially for contributing donations two months in a row!

Still, with that gift, my fundraising is really lagging this quarter. With barely six weeks to go, I've earned just 32% of my goal. The breakdown so far:

• Reader donations: $274
• Advertising: $1,016

I'm trying to earn $4,000 quarterly, through donations of $5 per reader, plus advertising sales. Please use the PayPal "Donate" tool in the green rail, upper right. Or mail cash and checks payable to: Jim Hopkins, 584 Castro St. #823, San Francisco, Calif., 94114-2594.

May 16-22 | Your News & Comments: Part 2

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Dubow nixes more newspaper, TV station buys

CEO Craig Dubow spoke to Wall Street media stock analysts early this afternoon at the annual Noble Financial conference, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Here's a link to a video of his presentation. The question-and-answer part starts at minute 15:00.

Highlights of Dubow's responses to some questions:

• GCI will continue to focus on expanding its portfolio of digital businesses, as opposed to buying any newspapers or TV stations that may be on the market. "The real drive is going to be to build out our digital portfolio first."
• The nearly year-old experiments with three different paywalls at newspapers in Greenville, S.C.; St. George, Utah, and Tallahassee, Fla., have shown there would be no single paywall model for all the company's properties. He did not give a timetable for any expansion of paywalls. But he added: "I would say it's not too far in the distant future.''
• GCI and its partners in the giant employment advertising site, CareerBuilder, are focused on continuing to expand into international markets. There are no plans now to spin off the site or sell it through an initial public offering.

May 16-22 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

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May 9-15 | Your News & Comments: Part 6

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USAT | Rating a story that's No. 1, with a bullet

USA Today's closely watched Your Life vertical has such an overarching coverage theme -- health, fitness and food -- that it could include pretty much any story.

Today's example is headlined, "CDC: U.S. murder toll from guns highest in big cities." Written by Seven [sic] Reinberg of the HealthDay online news syndicate, the story delves into one of the more hot-button subjects: gun control. No wonder, then, that it's the most popular article on the site at the moment, and has drawn 246 comments.

It's an OK story -- but with a significant shortcoming. The author (his first name is actually "Steven") refers 12 times to various murder rates cited in a Centers for Disease Control study that's the basis for his article. Yet, Reinberg never once provides any of the crucial per-capita rates; I had to dig up the original CDC study to find them. Such are the shortcomings of USAT's relying on low-cost syndicates for news and information to fill up a web vertical that's ostensibly authoritative.

But USAT's readers were nonplussed. They found plenty of grist for intelligent, umm, debate, based on my review of the comments that earned the highest reader scores. Word-for-word, here's one posted by reader mvbrooks at 11:39 a.m. today:

"And, in particular, 86% of homicides are gang related crimes.... and not just gang related, but racial *minority* gang related, in particular, black and Hispanic. The conclusion, so kindly provided by the authors, is that blacks and Hispanics are innately dangerous animals that ought not be permitted to live amongst us. THANK YOU! If a conservative had published that sort of conclusion, they would be accused of racism, but seeing how that is coming from a liberal, a Brady Bunch lefty at that, I am quite certain that the conclusion is inevitable. I await your suggestions for dealing with these minority animals. Do we simply flat out kill them, deport them, lock 'em up, or is there some form of early intervention that has a chance of civilizing them?" [Updated at 10:40 p.m. ET: After I posted this, USAT removed the comment.]

Earlier: Needing juice, Your Life gets a new editor. Plus: USAT smacked for "assembly-line" travel content.

["No. 1 with a bullet?"]

May 9-15 | Your News & Comments: Part 5

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I've restored about 60 comments lost in the outage

Using a workaround, I've now found and republished nearly 60 comments lost during the recent Blogger software platform outage.

They're a bit trickier to read than comments published normally. That is because I was required to post them in batches, under my own name. Wherever possible, I included the original time stamps.

You'll find a couple dozen under this post about layoffs at the Asheville Citizen-Times. And there are about three dozen more under this Real Time Comments post.

Meanwhile, Blogger says it's working through the weekend to restore the millions of original comments lost during the outage. At some point, then, you may see them reappear in those two posts.

Sorry about all the confusion!

May 9-15 | Your News & Comments: Part 4

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Louisville | GCI spreads new wage-and-raise policy

The Courier-Journal in Louisville yesterday became at least the eighth U.S. newspaper this quarter to institute Gannett's new, more limited wage-and-raise policy for many employees, according to one of my readers.

Wages at the Kentucky paper have been frozen; only a handful of employees will receive pay increases, based solely on merit, and drawn from a pool set aside for raises, staffers were told yesterday, according to my reader.

The size of the pool will be based on the paper's profitability, the reader says. This policy has been instituted for all of the U.S. papers, but the Detroit Free Press, the reader says. However, I don't know whether this policy also applies to USA Today, and I don't think it applies to any employees covered by union contracts.

Any raises will be granted at the start of each quarter, a shift from the long-standing practice of giving raises on employment anniversary dates, the reader says.

Newsroom employees were told about the new policy orally, according to my reader, rather than through an e-mail or other written communication. That follows other Gannett Blogger reports of a new GCI policy for many months now, where details of layoffs, furloughs and other such internal news are not distributed in writing, perhaps to slow leaks to the public.

Related: spreadsheet lists wage freezes, site-by-site.

Earnings | The sun'll come out, next quarter . . .

Dubow

Gannett's stock closed today at $14.61 a share, down 15 cents. Shares have now fallen 8% 11% from a year ago vs. a 16% gain in the S&P 500 index, according to Google Finance data. Other newspaper publisher stocks have fared even worse.

Wall Street media analysts are expected to quiz CEO Craig Dubow about GCI's prospects on Monday, when he makes a presentation to the Noble Financial Seventh Annual Equity Conference -- a meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., that Corporate announced today.

Following are select Dubow remarks about the results of what he's called GCI's "transformation" during the nearly six years he's been the company's chief executive officer:

"We continued to make progress on our goals to provide engaging, relevant content any way the consumer wants while also expanding our reach and offering better solutions for our advertisers." 

-- July 16, 2010, in the second-quarter earnings statement.

"We continue to see positive results from several strategic initiatives." 

-- Oct. 15, 2010, third-quarter statement.

"We further accelerated our transformation to position Gannett to continue to adapt and operate successfully as our industry evolves." 

-- Jan. 31, 2011, fourth-quarter statement.

"We accelerated the pace of our strategic transformation efforts to further strengthen and position our company for growth." 

-- April 18, 2011, first-quarter statement.


Earnings 'n' revenue got you down? Little Orphan Annie had a musical solution for that:

 

Why competing publishers hire Gannett managers

"She has been trained by Gannett and I think Gannett is one of the top trainers in the industry." 

 -- Charles Pittman, senior vice president, publishing for Schurz Communications of Mishawaka, Ind., speaking about Kim Wilson, who was named publisher yesterday of Indiana's South Bend Tribune. Wilson was publisher of the Fort Collins Coloradoan until December, when she left the paper without explanation.

The Tribune's circulation Monday-Friday is 62,170; Sunday is 80,154. Fort Collins Monday-Friday is 21,086; Sunday is 25,982.

Calendar | GCI in Noble conference on Monday

In a statement today, Corporate said CEO Craig Dubow would discuss current operations with Wall Street media stock analysts during a presentation to the Noble Financial Seventh Annual Equity Conference at noon ET on Monday. Typically at these events, GCI executives update analysts on current earnings forecasts.

Corporate will provide a live webcast of the event, which is being held in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Details, here.

Related: statements by Dubow and by COO Gracia Martore at last year's conference.

Note | Software glitch slows down Gannett Blog

The web-based publishing software platform I use, the Google-owned Blogger, suffered a nearly 24-hour-long outage that ended earlier today, the longest such downtime I've experienced in the five years I've been using the service. The outage came during a software upgrade that began Wednesday evening.

Blogger said it temporarily removed millions of posts on sites using the service, but expects to restore them in the near future. (We're missing at least one post, about 12 newsroom layoffs at North Carolina's Asheville Citizen-Times.) During the outage, Gannett Bloggers were unable to post to the site.

Related: Blogger explains what happened, and its efforts to restore lost material.

May 9-15 | Your News & Comments: Part 3

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.)

Asheville | Tipster: 12 newsroom jobs to be cut; move would come in broader GCI retrenchment

Employees at North Carolina's Asheville Citizen-Times were told yesterday that 12 of 47 newsroom jobs are being eliminated, according to a reader, who says certain staffers will be required to apply for some of the remaining positions. A Corporate representative is expected to help supervise these re-application interviews during meetings next Tuesday and Wednesday, my reader says.

The timetable for completing this reorganization is unclear. Any layoffs would come as Gannett continues trimming costs through unannounced job reductions and other austerity measures at least across the U.S. newspaper division, the company's biggest and most financially challenged.

Higher-paid newspaper employees are taking one-week unpaid furloughs this quarter. At one of GCI's biggest worksites, The Arizona Republic, all employees on Tuesday were ordered to take off an unpaid week by July 30 -- a mid-quarter move that suggested a sudden deterioration in results.

"Top line revenues remain short of where they were a year ago," Publisher John Zidich told an estimated 1,500 workers in a memo. "While the longer term prospects for the Arizona economy appear to be improving the short term environment remains difficult."

GCI's first-quarter revenue fell 4% from a year ago, to $1.3 billion, amid an even steeper 7% decline in newspaper advertising revenue. Net income plunged 23%, to $90.5 million, the company said last month.

The Citizen-Times' circulation Monday-Friday is 32,962; Sunday is 49,537, according to ABC data for March 31.

So far this quarter, Gannett Bloggers have reported that 36 jobs have been eliminated at six sites. (Spreadsheet gives site-by-site figures.)

GCI employs about 32,600 worldwide; 22,400 of those were in the U.S. Community Publishing newspaper division as of Dec. 31, the most recent figures available. Last year, that division's employment fell 9.3%, when GCI's overall employment fell a smaller 7%.

[Image: yesterday's paper, Newseum]

Readers: GCI has now cut 36 jobs this quarter

[Updated at 10:50 a.m. ET.] A Gannett Blogger says up to six advertising artists got notice this week at The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif. -- the latest related to the continued build out of the two Gannett Production Centers in Des Moines and Indianapolis.

These bring to 36 the number of estimated job cuts at six sites so far in this quarter. (Spreadsheet tracks site-by-site cuts.)

Also this quarter, six sites have disclosed wage freezes. (Spreadsheet.)

Gannett ended 2010 with 32,600 employees worldwide.

Earlier: During the first quarter, an estimated 277 jobs were eliminated at 30 sites.

Ex-N.J. pub quits Kansas daily after just 14 months

Skip Hidlay had been publisher of McClatchy Co.'s Wichita Eagle since March 2010, after leaving the top executive's job over two Gannett dailies in New Jersey: the Courier News and the Home News Tribune.

Hidlay

Today, the Eagle said he had resigned, effective immediately. Hidlay did not disclose his immediate plans, according to the paper's story.

However, it quoted him saying: "I have felt for some time that I was ready for a new challenge after 31 years in daily journalism. I want to make better use of my knowledge of strategic communications and digital journalism, my writing and editing abilities, and my talent for community leadership and marketing."

[Photo: Eagle]

In 'challenging' Q2, Zidich orders more furloughs; memo says 'revenues remain short' from year ago

Publisher John Zidich just distributed the following memo to Phoenix employees, including those at The Arizona Republic. Phoenix is the largest of Gannett's worksites after McLean, Va., home to Corporate and USA Today. GCI no longer discloses employment by site. I'd ballpark the Republic's workforce at around 1,500. Just before the first of a series of mass layoffs, starting in August 2008, Corporate said the paper employed about 2,600.

From: "Zidich, John"
Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 12:00:19 -0700
To: Everyone at PNI

Conversation: Announcement
Subject: Announcement

This morning I shared with the management team that we would implement a furlough. This decision was extremely difficult but made necessary by a challenging second quarter. In April, a limited furlough was put in place. Today's action would be for the remainder of the organization. This, quite frankly, was an option I had hoped to avoid but top line revenues remain short of where they were a year ago. While the longer term prospects for the Arizona economy appear to be improving the short term environment remains difficult. It's important to know that this is not an issue of declining Republic Media market share. There simply is not as much media dollars available in the market.

Zidich

The furlough period will run through Saturday, July 30th. All non-union employees will be furloughed for five business days. Exempt, salaried employees must take one full payroll week. Outside sales people will take five days that can be completed at any pre-approved time during the furlough period. Non-exempt, hourly employees will also take five days at any pre-approved time. The attached FAQ should answer other questions you may have. We will be communicating separately with union representatives to discuss the treatment of bargaining unit employees.

In my career I have never been more proud of the great journalism and services you all provide to this community each and everyday. This organization has accomplished much and will so in the future. I know furloughs are very hard on you and your family. I'm sorry for that and very much appreciate your commitment and great work.

JZ

Related: spreadsheet shows estimated GCI-wide site-by-site job cuts so far in this quarter. Plus: this spreadsheet lists wage freezes. And: annual 2010 pay to GCI's six highest-paid executives.

Earlier: Zidich is named GCI's publisher of the year for 2010.

Deal Chicken | Answer: Gaggle of Chicks was first

Earlier today, I wondered which of two similar-sounding online coupon services got launched first: Gaggle of Chicks, or Gannett's newly expanding Deal Chicken?

This much is clear: Gaggle of Chicks got to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office long before the Chicken, according to Trademarkia, which tracks applications to the federal agency. The USPTO registered Gaggle's mark on Jan. 18, after the New York-based company filed an application nearly a year ago: June 8.

Deal Chicken, meanwhile, didn't file its application until four months ago: Jan. 6, according to Trademarkia, which says only that the service's publication review was completed April 25.

May 9-15 | Your News & Comments: Part 2

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Which came first: the chicken, or the chicks?

"Not the only chicken in the coop?" asks Anonymous@3:06 p.m. "It's true. Gannett's Deal Chicken, part of a flock of hundreds of Groupon wannabes, is not even the only chicken-themed contender."

There's online coupon service Gaggle of Chicks . . .

. . . vs. newly growing Deal Chicken:

Sponsors | Thank you, to a new donor

I just received $10 from an Indiana reader. That helps bring me to 27% of my quarterly goal. The breakdown:

• Reader donations: $270
• Advertising: $799

I'm trying to earn $4,000 quarterly, through donations of $5 per reader, plus advertising sales. Please use the PayPal "Donate" tool in the green rail, upper right. Or mail cash and checks payable to: Jim Hopkins, 584 Castro St. #823, San Francisco, Calif., 94114-2594.

Logo loco: It's all within reach for Groupon to grab

[Death stars: Theirs vs. ours]

Leading online coupon service Groupon is preparing to launch a new Groupon Now mobile application. It would follow the company's original app, sold through iTunes with a logo eerily similar to the old Gannett "G,'' says Anonymous@1:50 p.m.

Earlier: Logos, from newsboys to "fresh and modern." Plus: GCI's Deal Chicken coupon site poised for big expansion.

Here are the new ABC numbers for most papers

You can now search for your daily's new, March 31 circulation figures, using this Audit Bureau of Circulations look-up tool. Previously, the only data publicly available was for the top 50 papers.

Related: Poynter's Rick Edmonds cautions on ABC's new methodology.

USAT | Amid Wilks questions, a related job posting

[Updated at 2:02 p.m. ET. That didn't last long: Barely two hours after I posted about it, the listing has changed to read: "The Job You Selected Has Expired."]

Earlier: Following is an excerpt of a job opening notice I found this morning for a vice president marketing/brand development at USA Today. The listing says it was posted a week ago. That was just days before Gannett Bloggers began wondering in this comment thread about the employment status of Jeffrey Wilks, named USAT's senior vice president of brand marketing on Oct. 19.

Listing excerpt
This position is located in either McLean, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C., or New York City and relocation to either of these areas would be required.

Gannett’s USA Today Brand Development Department is seeking an innovative and motivated individual who will be the voice of the consumer and customer by understanding and anticipating their needs and using those insights to drive audience engagement/development through the creation and execution of progressive, productive cross-platform marketing plans. The role leads integrated on/offline teams in B2B and B2C marketing along with communications and events.

Earlier: Needing juice, USAT's Your Life vertical gets new editor.

Related: the newspaper's at-a-glance plans for verticals.

May 9-15 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

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.)

Stockholder 'no' vote on exec pay bucks trend

[Exec pay panelists opposed: Harper, Magner and McFarland]

Holders of one in five Gannett shares stockholders rejected last year's top executive compensation payouts, at a time when such thumbs-down votes were rarely recommended by proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services, according to data cited by The Wall Street Journal.

GCI's votes were on pay to CEO Craig Dubow and five other senior executives, cast during the annual shareholders' meeting on Tuesday. It was the first-ever non-binding advisory "say on pay" vote mandated by a new federal law. Corporate disclosed the results in a regulatory filing late Friday afternoon.

ISS recommended investors vote "no" on executive pay at just 13% of the proposals it reviewed this proxy season -- 186 companies, the WSJ says. The firm advises mutual funds and other large shareholders how to vote in corporate elections. I could not find a list of those companies on ISS' website, however.

Funds and other such institutional investors typical control most of the stock at publicly traded companies. At GCI, 93% of shares are held by such investors.

GCI shareholders, also by the same 20% margin, voted against the re-election of three members of the board of directors' executive compensation committee: Arthur Harper, Marjorie Magner and Duncan McFarland. The committee recommends annual pay to senior executives; the full board makes a final decision. (A fourth panelist, Karen Hastie Williams, retired at the meeting, so was not up for re-election.)

In the end, the pay policy won overwhelming support, as did the overall re-election of the full slate of nine directors. Still, large numbers of shares voted against management are unusual. Tuesday's dissenting votes, especially against the directors, suggest the resolve some big investors had in sending a message to the board and to management about corporate pay practices.

Last year, Dubow got paid $9.4 million, twice the amount he received in 2009. COO Gracia Martore's pay also doubled, to $8.2 million, according to the summary compensation table in the annual shareholders' proxy report.

The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act mandated the "say on pay" vote for all but the smallest companies. Although it is not binding, several large companies changed their executive pay policies or lobbied ISS to mollify unhappy investors, the WSJ said. Those included General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.

WSJ: Why you work more -- and enjoy it less

In a new story today, The Wall Street Journal reports:

Emboldened by an unemployment crisis, businesses have asked employees to take on extra tasks that have little to do with their primary roles and expertise. And some believe this shift is permanent.

Workplace experts say the superjob is the logical next step in management's quest to make the workplace more cost efficient.

The latest shift started when businesses redistributed the workload during the recession; last year's nascent recovery intensified the process. In a recent survey by Spherion Staffing, 53% of workers surveyed said they've taken on new roles, most of them without extra pay (just 7% got a raise or a bonus).

Note: most WSJ stories are behind a paywall.

Speed up the line!
To be sure, you're not the only ones working harder:

May 2-8 | Your News & Comments: Part 4

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.)

Louisville | Today is the 137th Kentucky Derby!

The Courier-Journal, published under that flag for 143 years, once more hauls out the big guns to cover Louisville's biggest annual event: the Run for the Roses. Post time is 6:24 p.m. ET on NBC.

Last week's royal wedding doesn't have a monopoly on hats; check out the ever-popular derby hats slide shows, here and here. The C-J has a Derby app for iPhone and Android. Pray for sun amid a forecast that could bring rain. And pray, pray, pray that the paper's presses don't fail -- like they did last year!

Got a Gannett front page to recommend? Find it in the Newseum's page one database, then post a link in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: Newseum]

Urgent: Investors cast 41M shares against exec pay

In the first such shareholder advisory vote, 40.8 million shares -- about 20% of all -- were cast against Gannett's executive pay policy, Corporate just disclosed in a regulatory filing.

The breakdown from Tuesday's annual stockholders meeting:

• For: 124.2 million shares 
• Against: 40.8 million 
• Broker non-vote: 36.5 million 
• Abstain: 3.5 million 

In contrast, at the New York Times Co., just 5,760 shares -- less than 1% -- were voted against the executive pay policy vs. 766,466 in favor. Nearly 21,000 shares were counted as "broker non-vote." There were no abstentions.

The Sulzberger-Ochs family controls 18% of the NYT Co.'s shares.

The filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also breaks down the votes on re-electing all nine members of the board of directors, including Chairman and CEO Craig Dubow.

Dubow was re-elected with 164 million shares vs. 4.2 million withheld.

McFarland

Notably, three directors drew heavy withhold votes: Arthur Harper, Marjorie Magner and Duncan McFarland -- each, about 32 million shares. McFarland's is significant because he is now the board's presiding director, a position akin to deputy chairman. He replaced Karen Hastie Williams, who retired at the annual meeting.

The three were on the executive compensation committee that recommended Dubow get $9.4 million in pay last year, double the amount he got in 2009. They each lost about 20% of the vote, the same proportion as those voted against the executive pay policy. (Williams had been the fourth committee member.)

Corporate had previously said shareholders re-elected the directors, and approved two advisory votes on executive pay. Today's filing gives details on the vote breakdowns.

Beware 'disgruntled' investors
Last year's Dodd-Frank Act for the first time required most companies to put top-officer pay packages to an "advisory vote" by shareholders, beginning Jan. 21 of this year.

"Their advice is not legally binding," Reynolds Holding says in a Reuters column today, "but that hasn’t stopped disgruntled investors from calling in lawyers to enforce their views. Rather than fight, boards might be smarter just to listen."

Earlier: For some directors, Gannett's stock is a bad bet.