Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Jan. 16-22 | Your News & Comments: Part 2

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58 comments:

  1. Big wigs at Florida Today this week. Much speculation as to why. USA upping thier single copy draws to ridiculous levels. Othersd making sure all the cute little signs are out at every store. Connected to the $3.00 Sunday fiasco coming up? They're expecting somewhere between 35-45 percent drop in Sunday sales with the price increase. Cut costs as opposed to making the product better to sell more. What a business concept.

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  2. Don't worry! The folks at Florida Today are a very nervous bunch. They are just in town to give Mr.Campbell a leadership award. Congratulations Bob!

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  3. Just got a Groupon offer for Orlando Sentinel home delivery to Brevard: Thursday-Sunday papers for one year for $20.

    Seven-day home delivery of Florida Today has gone up to more than $300/year.

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  4. Just saw this and thought I would pass it along
    https://wiki.pointroll.com/display/PRRC/Careers

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  5. Jim -

    You do a great job and I know it is hard to decide what to delete and what to leave. But seriously, what about these corporate posters? They don't even deny what they are. They call legitimate posters liars. They fling mud and are illogical, with their "you run businesses, you are lying."

    First, no one is saying that. But what if they are? This is harassment. It is making it hard to care about this forum. You are letting them win, Jim.

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    1. If someone disagrees with you Why are they a corporate poster. Is there ever a possibility someone is wrong? I think it's called freedom of speech. Ad long as it is civil what's the problem?

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  6. Freedom of speech has nothing to do with anything on this blog, until Mr. Obama starts restricting posts.

    Goodness, I get that most of us don't understand benefits but we're all in a business specifically protected under the First Amendment, we should try reading it.

    (Read it tomorrow - wikipedia is closed today...)

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  7. Jim has become the
    "The Comment Deleted King" by removing posts for no apparent reason.
    What happened to the "Free for all
    comment zone" theory.
    Whatever,soon there will be so few left it will all be irrelevant.
    This to will be deleted.

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  8. Political races and the Olympics will save Gannett's bottom line in 2012. unless this company gets it's act together real fast, all the bullshit hires and ridiculous initiatives will mean nothing after this year. USA Today's business model is not workable post 2012.

    If a decent buyout offer comes along, my advice is take it.

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  9. Is eveeryone nervous about the 2011financial report which will be out in less than 2 weeks?
    Is it possible that it will be worse than 2010 which was way down?

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  10. Actually, there's a theory about the regular poster here we'll call "no name/no business" (now apparently "no name/no claim" in an attempt to freshen it up for 2012) ... That this poster is actually not a corporate-paid one, that the poster comes from the side of employees who feel the "life after Gannett" posters are corporate plants attempting to encourage people to quit to thin out the ranks and cut payroll costs.

    OK, I know that sounds a bit Spy V. Spy here. But I am curious:

    "No name/no biz" (or "no name/no claim"), what exactly is your agenda? Because your attacks on legit posters here who have simply offered encouragement/guidance for folks here have been obsessive. Why do you feel so strongly that it's impossible for someone from Gannett to market talents effectively and either make a successful transition to self-employment/consulting on their own or get hired by another employer? Or work solo for a few months and then get hired full-time?

    Why does this come across as such a Utopian fantasy to you that you immediately launch into your standard attack in an attempt to 'out' the well-meaning poster?

    After more than a year of this, time for you to just come right out and explain your motivation here. We don't need name/rank, etc. Just where exactly you're coming from.

    Jim, would appreciate your not deleting this one. It's not a repetitive post. It's a request for some clarity. Perhaps it will even put an end to this odd string of posts once and for all.

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  11. Is Gannett diabolical enough to plant phony posters who wax about the good life post-Gannett? I seriously doubt it. This is a company that can't even come up with coherent memos to employees.

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  12. @9:40 good one. Your comment made me chuckle. So true.

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  13. Wow, Gannett stock over $15 this morning, first time since last May.

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  14. Yeah, 9:40, it is one big reach of a conspiracy theory. But we've constantly aligned the 'no name/no biz' with the corp side. Yet, it's quite possible this poster has actually been rank and file all along, with some wild theory that all of the 'you can survive and even thrive without Gannett' posters are part of some corporate motivation campaign to trim costs.

    I just want to know from the poster direct: Is this the case? Are you really a non-top managerial Gannett worker who thinks the company has planted all of these posts to encourage people to leave to further trim budget but in a benign way?

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  16. Corporate is at Florida Today to interview candidate for vacant publisher position. That decision is expected to be made by end of January. Price increase and paywall implementation not expected to affect print sales and will actually give online traffic a boost. Now people will have to pay to view our product as they should have been doing all along. There is no competition and where else are locals going to go for high school sports scores, city council meeting coverage, space stories or obituaries? Feb. 1 marks a return to viability and congratulations to all staff and management.

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  19. To 10:48, not sure what you have been smoking. The place is a disaster and morale is at an all-time low. If the executive editor survives the first quarter it will be a miracle. Layoffs and buyouts on then horizon and I'm expecting another staff realignment. And if you think requiring people to pay for what has been available for free since the late 1990s will boost traffic, I think you are delusional or spending too much time with the managers.

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  20. If you work part-time, can you keep your insurance? If you qualify for long-term disability, can you keep your insurance?

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  21. @10:48 - OMG!! You really drank the kool-aid, didn't you? LOLOL!!

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  22. With its streak of ever-declining revenue and profit, Gannett goes into "stroke Wall Street" mode every quarter. The foreplay consists of providing under-the-table "guidance" to analysts that numbers will be falling. That causes analysts to lower their EPS expectations, thus giving GCI a greater likelihood to "beat" the consensus EPS estimates. But GCI likes to put a little whipped cream and a cherry on top of its quarterly results, and that often takes the form of a layoff announcement or some other cost-cutting measure, primarily, of course, impacting the rank-and-file workers.

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  23. The Tampa Bay Times (until recently the St. Pete Times) has extended its 5% employee pay cut for another four months. Apparently revenue in the fourth quarter was still not where they needed it to be.

    I don't know if this is a sign for Gannett and other publicly traded newspaper companies; the TBT is just one newspaper.

    But I can't help but wonder if it represents what's happening in the industry right now.

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  24. The answers to the people making false claims about starting successful businesses have been deleted. So in the future, don't bother asking for motives.

    Just remember: No names, no claims. If you can't name the business, then it doesn't exist.

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  25. So just answer the question, 12:05, as it's a perfectly reasonable one: What's your motivation? Why won't you shed some insight on that? Why do you hide behind the "no names/no claims/no business" mantra and never indicate what you really think is going on behind what you contend are false claims?

    Why do you suspect anyone would be motivated to make false claims about either going into self-employment successfully or getting hired somewhere else for either equal or more pay in either circumstance? Why do you make it sound like this perfectly valid scenario is an impossible dream of sorts? It happens all the time, in all kinds of industries.

    Are you rank and file? Do you honestly think corporate is planting these posts to "prune the herd" here? If so, just say so. If not, we'll assume you really are corporate then.

    Just tell us where you're comin' from. We're all ears.

    Jim: If this poster is actually attempting to provide such insight and there aren't any personal attacks, stop deleting it.

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  26. Jim: Only if he has something new to say, and will really answer honest questions. Then leave him. Otherwise, bless you for deleting. In effect, he is calling us liars and ignores information that shows otherwise. He is either corporate or unbalanced.

    Which isn't necessarily a matter of "or", of course.
    Speaking as a former corporate person who knows most of 'em .... : )

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  27. Ha ha. Good one, 12:56 ... You know how the high-end sausage is made from the inside there, clearly.

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  28. Someone earlier mentioned the Olympics as being lucrative for Gannett papers. Normally, a staff of about a dozen GNS sports reporters handled the Summer Games for whole chain. Anyone know if that's the case this year, in light of recent cutbacks, or if it's a smaller crew?

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  29. John at 11:57. Fourth quarter was mixed, which means layoffs/buyouts. The Seattle Times laid off people as did Newport News, Virginia. The Chicago Tribune is buying out yet again. Continue to expect more stealth-like cuts, 20-30 at a time, without announcements and making soon to be ex-employees signing non-disclosure forms to get severance.

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  30. A Forbes report says board member John Louis bought 2000 shares of Gannett stock on Tuesday at 14.88 a share.Close to 30,000 dollars. Could be why stock price is higher today.

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  31. Louis is one of a very few non-exec board members to own lots of GCI.

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  32. Anyone else in Reno scratching their head over the decision to completely rearrange the newsroom at the same time we're all getting trained on the new computer system? I'm packing my boxes while trying to figure out how to send a story to the city desk. The timing is bad, and the stress is worse than ever. I'm all for painting the First Amendment on the wall, but jeez, must it all come down on our heads at once?

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  33. From 10:48 "Price increase and paywall implementation not expected to affect print sales"

    I bet you don't even work there do you? People in this county will not pay for local news they can get from Orlando TV stations and radio sites for free. Overheard someone say they expect 40 % drop in Sundays with some of those taking daily sales with it. Your statements are out of the blue and baseless. People now-a-days don't need that stuff.

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  34. Seriously, people.

    Anyone who thinks "corporate" is encouraging people to come here and post that they left Gannett and have started their own business and are doing fine, as an encouragement that employees will decide it's OK for them to leave voluntarily...

    ... is outright insane.

    Seriously.

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  36. People like 10:48 show how low some people will crawl to keep their job. You can believe that all you want, but the truth is, circulation and online traffic are in for some very tough times at Florida Today.

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  37. Hot rumor from the Midwest Group that no one is yet talking about -- A top editor from one of the biggest sites is being courted by someone outside Gannett. I found out because I'm friends with someone at the other chain that's targeting him. This would be considered a big loss for Group boss Laura H and folks at the Crystal Palace. But don't be surprised if there's a defection before spring. Who is it? Stay tuned.

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    1. Way to keep the editir's secret. That shows a lot of respect for a colleague

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  38. GCI closed up $15.15! All right. I made money today.

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  39. Clearly Rick Green. Not a lot of others important enough to matter in that part of the world anymore....

    There has been interest shown in him before. If he's smart, he's already packed.

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  40. Does anyone know the number to call for pension information?

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  41. Operation Manger FROM Lafayette, In. is rumored to be headed to Rochester. He AS RAN OUT OF THINGS TO DO IN Lafayette, CAN'T BLAME. NOT MUCH GOING ON IN THE HOOSIER STATE. Anyway he will be missed at the J &C. Super sharp guy. Not a very personal type guy, all bizness. NY is picking a top notch OPs manager

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  42. NJ folks: why was JJC's column killed? And he is still an editor at the C-N?

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  43. $15.15 stock price and you made money!
    Not hardly,unless you were foolish enough to buy recently.
    How about down from what? $80.00.
    That would be a $65.00 loss.

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    1. Heh Mr. Downer, if you buy at $9 and it goes to $15 you've made money. Take a business course.

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  44. 7:55 I don't like Gannett or the way the industry is going, but your line of thinking is very mistaken. You don't know when the person bought Gannett stock and Gannett was trading below $10 in Sept of 2011. Perhaps you have no idea how the stock market works. Re-think who you're calling foolish.

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  45. "Corporate" doesn't interview publishers or station managers or any other heads of units. Those are done withing the divisions. Corporate just doesn't get involved with such inconsequential things.

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  46. 12:43/12:56: Those questions were answered, and Jim deleted the responses. You don't get new ones.

    I will speculate as to why people here make up lies about starting successful businesses, though. I think they have failed to do much after Gannett, so they make up tales. Then they try to lure people to make the same mistakes in a weak attempt to soothe their own consciences.

    Of course, those people could disprove that by naming the businesses. They refuse to do this because the businesses don't exist.

    No names, no claims.

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  47. Just when things started to turn around in Des Moines, RG is leaving? What is it about this company that can't keep editors who actually have passion for this business, care about their staff and are good journalists? Where's he going and when?

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  48. 11 pm. PLEASE leave Gannett if you haven't. PLEASE leave the blog. PLEASE leave North America ....

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  49. You first, 11:53.

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  52. Rick Green isn't going anywhere. Where do these silly rumors come from?

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  53. The rumors come from fools here, of course. They are encouraged to throw things at the wall to see what will stick. When they are wrong, they pretend nothing was ever said. And no one here, outside of Jim, Reinan, and a couple others, ever posts with a name, so there's no accountability.

    Great ship you've built here, Jim.

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  54. Confucius say...1/19/2012 4:22 PM

    ...poster who bitch about anonymity without leaving name forget I say 'Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.'

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  55. Confucius: Hate to point this out and ruin your "clever" comeback, but I'm not posting stupid rumors that already have been called out as being stupid.

    Maybe you should take some advice: "Better to stay silent and have people think you might be clueless than to speak up and remove all doubt."

    Try to do better. Again, originality. It's not 2012. The stuff from 2008 doesn't play well these days. Use your imagination.

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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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