Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Jan. 16-22 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

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83 comments:

  1. This week is my one-year anniversary of being pushed out the door. After being golden for more than 12 years. It's when the bean counters want bodies. So brace yourself.

    Still recovering. Can't believe what I've lived through in the last year but, by the grace of God, I am better off now than I was there.

    Good luck to all.

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  2. Sometimes there's a tribute posted here to an employee who passed away. But then it disappears. What's the deal with that?

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  3. 2:48 Please ignore those comments. The poster is just looking for attention.

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  4. @11:34 a.m. yesterday .... yes, those initials were C.S.
    (Sorry for the late reply ... I was off enjoying my furlough .. an entire day without Gannett. I even took the day off ftom reading Gannett Blog. No wonder I felt a strange sensation of peace and contentment).

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  5. The latest greatest news yet.. Indy is moving print operations to Louisville and Lafayette , In. will pick up the scraps and the other local IN, Papers

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  6. 11:06 Is there a memo announcing that move?

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  7. Hi, 11:45 Were you able to land another job? If so, was it outside the news industry?

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  8. Indy has to invest in millions of dollars in press upgrades within the next year or so. GPS is not sure this is worth it. Rumor has it going to Louisville, makes sense Jim, Very good source.. no memo yet sorry. Keep you posted. Sounds like a long shot, but so has a lot of other plant closings as well were shockers

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  9. Chicago Tribune offering voluntary buyouts.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-tribune-offers-newsroom-voluntary-buyouts-20120116,0,4691931.story

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  10. Regarding the Indy press "news": no source = gossip. It's gossip.

    12:41, haven't you heard? That poster started a business, turned a six-figure profit in the first quarter, hired 50 laid-off Gannett employees, and is already almost in the Fortune 500. But he can't tell you the name of the business because then Gannett would find out.

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  12. 2:12, those of us who did post that we found better paying jobs and/or had success with our own businesses post-GCI layoff have stopped chiming in the same tune and have moved on (to our far, far better lives). How about if you take up a New Year's resolution to give up the tired "no name/no business" mantra that you've repeated incessantly for the last year? We don't need to prove anything to you. The proof is in our bank account statements.

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  13. Good post 3:42.
    You speak for a lot of us who have gone on to better lives post Gannett and have tired of being critized by the likes of 2:12.
    Our happiness does not need to be proven nor do our bank accounts.

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  14. New York Metromix shut down. Staff got word today.

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  15. To those looking for a job or thinking about leaving, a couple things I learned a few years ago after I was pushed out (and got a unrelated job 8 months later). A paid company that writes resumes looked at mine and told me my entire resume was based on reducing expenses, eliminating unnecessary costs... Painful as the reality was, I was living the old Gannett way of reductions, not what new employers want which is benefits to the company. I didn't realize how limited my thinking was until pointed out. I was also told to remove any mention of newspapers from my resume and focus specifically on skills and competencies that are transferrable. Unless you're looking for a job with another paper (and don't), these are helpful hints that dramatically increased my responses to resumes. Good luck.

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  16. Metromix Jackson (miss) laid off its producer but didn't shut down. Instead, they're demanding that one of the 2 remaining online producers now devote more than half her time to Metromix. This takes away from the main website, which is already understaffed. Gannett wisdom at its finest.

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  17. 6:45 Thanks for that. Makes good sense to me, now that you wrote it out. Will look at my cover letters and resume. Very good perspective.

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  18. Is Lafayette, IN a union print shop?

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  19. The Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN is a NON-UNION operation.

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  20. Metromix - done
    Buyouts- coming and 2 weeks pay
    Gracia - non-dubow

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  21. 3:42, you could prove it even more by providing the name of the business. The argument that big, bad Gannett will come after you makes no sense. If your business is so successful, what can Gannett do?

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  22. Are the totally shutting down MetroMix or just laying off the remaining producers and asking remaining staff to pick up the slack?
    As for layoffs and 2 weeks... Do you mean 2 weeks for every year of service or 2 weeks period, regardless of years? If so, that'd be a slap in the face worth stormin'the Crystal Palace over

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  23. 10:33

    1. Totally shutting down
    2. 2 weeks for every year of service

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  24. Anyone else scratching their head after that meeting in Westchester today? That's the Newsday plan? Huh?

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  25. 2 weeks for every year of service for layoffs is the best Mama G has ever offered. The first couple of rounds were 1 week of pay for every year of service than came abomination of Transition Pay.

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  26. @10:49. Sorry, but that is incorrect. The first round of buyouts offered two weeks of service for every year worked. I know because I took the offer.

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  27. first round was 2006, one week for every year; then in 2008 the deal was one week, plus 3 years added to pension and 3 years of company benefits. then there was one for 2 weeks, but that was capped at 26 weeks, so if you were here 13 weeks you got the max. but if you were here more than that you lost out. then they came up with almost criminal transitional pay. recuclik

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  28. Anyone would be nuts to take this package. What will you do after six months of pay and no benefits? You do not qualify for unemployment and then have no health benefits. This is totally screwed and no one in their right mind, unless they are independently wealthy, would take this offer.

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  29. 12:41 - I am 11:45. Sorry, just now glancing back here. Took 6 months to find another job. It's in the industry but not newspaper. 70 percent of what I made the last year at Gannett, but I feel there is a future. Plus, my last 2 years of pay were inflated by bonuses for doing periodic "RIFs" so salary was inflated. I am happier, but it was hard getting to this point.

    Why do I come back here? Therapy. I'll quit soon, I hope. I always think I may be able to offer hope to others, but the loud shouters make it not worth it.

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  30. Gannett Failures:
    1. Metromix
    2. Cozi
    3. Bold Italic
    4. Planet Discover
    5. High School Sports
    6. Ripple6
    7. ShopLocal
    8. The pay wall company...I cannot remember the name
    9. Classified Ventures
    10. 4Info
    11. BNQT
    12. GMTI

    Should we continue the list, or do you all get the point? These are the stupidest people on Earth leading this company!

    Gracia, give it up! You suck as a leader and you have wasted billions of shareholder value!

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  31. 11:28-I would take that package without thinking twice, mainly because I already have other job prospects and the thought of having a double paycheck for a 1/2 year sounds pretty good to me.

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  32. Very helpful, 6:45. Thank you!

    But a quick question - your paid resume service wasn't one recommended by Career Builder, was it? That would be beyond ironic, 'remove any mention of newspapers'.

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  33. At my location, the 1st buy out was 2 weeks for every year, capped at 52 weeks. Company insurance, 401K and life at then current rates then.

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  34. 10:15: Blah, blah, blah. Same line you play over and over and over again.

    Nobody succeeds in business while opening criticizing an ex-employer. That's something that people who are successful in business know. That's why we accept Jim's terms here of posting anonymously in order to offer some semblance of hope here to those still with GCI.

    Why don't you try to come up with a new line for 2012? You've been trotting this one out for more than a year and not one of us who have done more than fine in our post-GCI careers have taken your bait. That's because we're just a little smarter than your average fifth grader on a playground, which is essentially what your tactics amount to.

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  35. 2:43, interesting that you list Planet Discover and GMTI as Gannett "failures." What is the basis for that assessment?

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  36. And considering Gannett's most recent move with Metromix, I'm guessing they don't consider it a failure at all.

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  37. Verticals@ usa today are huge failures.

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  38. 6:33, no it wasn't Career Builder and I had the same thought a few years back. To anybody working on a resume, removing newspaper references focusing on skills and experience is unbelieveably refreshing. While it took a few days to re-write, I felt great as I could see a light at the end of the tunnel that didn't include newspapers, and more importantly, further distancing myself from Gannett.

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  39. What are your thoughts on Gannett's Design Studios idea? Will these succeed? Fail?? Will there be layoffs there as well?

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  40. Saw a great title for someone at USAT: Director of Sales Enablement.

    I guess we can be happy it's not a VP title.

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  41. Once Gannett no longer prints newspapers, the Design Studios will be irrelevant (3-5 years).
    Aren't they all housed in unoccupied space in the newspaper buildings they already occupied? That's a big tip off.

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  42. I suspect buyouts/layoffs will be timed in conjunction with the FY2011/Q12012 earnings report 1/30.

    My guess is that the Thursday/Friday before that date (1/26-27) would be days you'd want to keep an eye on your company Inbox.

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  43. The reason for confusion over the first round of buyouts MIGHT be that Usat and the community papers had different offers.

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  44. Whoever said they are getting rid of MetroMix for good was wrong. It's staying at our place. Just means more work for our under-staffed online producers, which means the main website will suck even more so that we can continue to have pictures of drunk girls showing their cleavage on MetroMix. I had no problem w/ MetroMix -- until they deemed it a failure and laid off the dedicated MetroMix producer and told our shrinking online staff to pick up the work. Typical Gannett plan: do more with less. If the site is a failure, shut it down.

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  45. So we had the big staff mtg. at the JN in Westchester yesterday. Total dog and pony act with promises of a REAL digital future...this time. Good luck selling that to the troops when our "digital guru" just got hired away by the competition.

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  46. 12:40 The digital guru just got hired away by the competition? Really? You must work for the competition if you think that person was the digital guru. Kinda funny.

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  47. @12:39 PM, please post a URL to "pictures of drunk girls showing their cleavage." I'd like to verify your accusation personally.

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  48. 12:44- I got a Big laugh at that too. Digital Guru. There, Now i'm laughing again.

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  49. Except for a few doofus jock types (the usual under peforming sales types that last about three months), I don't know a single person on staff in house who doesn't cringe at Metromix being featured on our website. When it first came out a reader could still comment. I guess they got tired of all the "nice titties" comments.

    Oh wait did I say our website? I meant Gannett's. There is no our.

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  50. 12:40/12:44...

    I don't work for Newsday, that's why I used quotation marks. Only CY and CR really believed that clown was a guru.

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  51. Planet Discover...FAILURE! Local Search...WTF. Nothing there.

    GMTI a bunch of washed up techies in Norfolk, VA that do nothing. Big cost center with over 150 people milking the cow!

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  52. Can we add Make the Charts as another Gannett failure!?!?!

    Another shitty business with a wasted $2mm budget run by Gracia's former lackey, Michake Maness.

    Yep, that is another great failure!

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  53. The digital guru was a guru at making people believe he knew what he was doing, just like his mentor (12th letter in the alphabet, 14th letter in the alphabet) use to do until the BS act ran dry and he was shown the door.

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  54. 2:40 pm. Hey, SB. How's Patch working out for you?

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  56. Anyone out there with the slightest doubt about what the real draw of Metromix is need only go to this Metromix site at the Cincy Inq. to see what the main attraction is. Please scroll through the "Lux" photos.

    http://cincinnati.metromix.com/bars-and-clubs/standard_photo_gallery/grand-opening-of-luxe/2845691/content?odyssey=mod|dnmiss|umbrella|1

    Need we say more? This is the gathering place for 15-year-old boys everywhere!

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  57. 4:46 ... Sadly, the reporter who shoots "who's out at the bars" photos for our Gannett paper can't find any drunk, cleavage-baring females. I asked. He's tried.

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  58. If those are Cincy moms, I seem to recall reading here what they do best - without Moms Like Me, guess they found a new arena....

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  59. Management Failures:

    1. Tom Donovan
    2. Jack Heidgerd
    3. Don Lemire
    4. Randy Sutherland
    5. Cindy Detwiler
    6. Tony Simmons
    7. Bruce Klink
    8. Michael Kane
    9. Janice Hanson
    10. Gary Sherlock

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  60. 15-year-old boys and others: Here's what you are looking for from Metromix:
    http://brevard.metromix.com/home/roundup/beach-galleries-2011-brevard/2542535/content

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  61. Following the Will-It-Fail theme:

    How about Gannett Local? Is it viable? Is anything happening? Why does it churn on when other things get closed down?

    Is it just a place to keep Brad Robertson out of trouble? Is it scalable? I hear nothing to think it is succeeding....

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  63. 8:57:

    Thanks for the hearty laugh. There is so much wrong or unintentionally funny with your post.

    First, you are not providing a semblance of hope. You are throwing lies onto the board to convince people to believe you and quit. To be honest, anyone who is foolish enough to believe your baloney should suffer. But the claims of huge profits and massive hiring have been repeated too often without a speck of proof being provided.

    You can end all of this now. Just name the business. You aren't criticizing Gannett, after all. You're touting your own success. If you can't manage to do that, then stop with the tall tales.

    Want these responses to stop? Then either stop making the claims or start naming the businesses. I, too, plan to keep taking advantage of the privileges here to call out people like you.

    Offer names, or stop making the claims.

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  64. So 6:56, when were you shown the door?

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  65. No, I left on my own, sorry to disappoint you.

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  68. I am working for a digital publishing company/very specific niche news. And yes, in leas than 6 months I've been promoted once, received a 10,000 raise, hired 8 very energetic and positive people who are very happy to be back in their line of work. Pay isn't stellar but it's better than any of us, mostly over 50, expected to ever see again short of the lottery. And hey, 7:05, please don't apply. You are the very essence of what I don't want around. Name the company? And open myself and my employer to harassment from the likes of you? Yeah right. I'm not the least bit concerned with Gannett knowing where I am. They know. They don't care. Why would they? That's not why anyone declines details. It's to avoid abuse by the likes of you.

    Now I answered your question. Answer mine. Do you still work for Gannett? Are you paid to post? Or are you delusional on your own? Are you gone and can't find a job with that great attitude of yours? Is this how you justify your own failure, convincing yourself no one else can really find a job either?

    Whatever the answers, I sincerely recommend some counseling. I hope you get better, and good luck

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  69. 3:12/7:46 Why the attitude about people who left, particularly the person you infer left the remark? I know him personally and he's working two jobs to support his family. And since you brought it up, he's doing some real nice work for Patch. Why do you imply the folks who were let go are somehow beneath you? Are you the "Digital Guru"? If so-you have nothing to say- the previous posters have said it all. Lighten up on the smug attitude- Karma's a bitch.

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  75. Gut the Wetschester newsroom staff - both content and production - over the past several years and then try to make everyone do more? What a joke!!

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  77. Wow what a bunch of losers.

    Seriously. Who would have sympathy, empathy or anything else for any of you?

    You hate the company, hate the bosses, hate your career, hate your future.

    On the other side, you hate the employees, hate their requests, hate them having other opinions, hate their challenges.

    Its all incredibly weak, defeated, ugly and lame.

    Wow.

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  79. Jim, 10:16 is right. Start fixing things. Too much whining and bitching here.

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  80. Jim - you've got to let people fight back against these corporate posters. I think you get sucked in by them as well.

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  81. 12:17, your way of "fighting back" is to make up lies about running successful businesses or to throw out blanket criticism of all managers.

    Both approaches are tired. It's 2012. The 2008 style wore thin a long time ago. Stop reaching back for it.

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  82. Every time they redesign my website we lose 15-20% of our traffic. we were doing over 8 million pageviews a month until GO4 then we were lucky to hit 4 mil. Then Odyssey. 2.5 is now a good month. Thanks for nothing.

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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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