Monday, January 09, 2012

Jan. 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.)

43 comments:

  1. Jim,
    Regarding your Maryam "elitest" post last week, there was a concerted effort by Maryam and her staff to respond and post on your blog. She was bragging in a meeting explaining how she is the only one who can take advantage of "this blog".

    This is confirmed by several other VP's. You can see it in the trend of responses. The earlier ones were pro-Maryam.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My Boss: I dunno; that sounds a bit far-fetched.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Has "Gattica" arrived at Gannett....It is not my employers business to know what my health is in the terms they have laid out...Gannett should opt out of the insurance business and let each employee find their own health insurance

    ReplyDelete
  4. Maryam is gone by Christmas. Beer please.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ugh, My Boss, at least take your time to spin tales that are vaguely plausible. The Maryam post went up Saturday. Exactly how many weekend meetings are all these VPs in?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bill Bolger in MNCO in Ohio worried in newark.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Every time I see "On the Road" pop into my email, I automatically add "Again" - sorry Maryam.

    You and Willie might be making music with your friends, but if you were truly marketing the company your mug would have no place at the top of the sheet - maybe Ms. Matore's or generic (diverse) shots of audience or employees. Nobody cares who the CMO is or what she looks like - except the CMO.

    ReplyDelete
  8. For your amusement, here's what the executive editor and general manager at Cherry Hill offers as his public persona:

    The blog of Gene Williams --
    http://blogs.courierpostonline.com/ireely/

    Last updated in MARCH! And highlighted by wit such as:

    "You’ll listen to me because I am smarter than anybody else – yes, including you, but that’s alright because I’m also better looking. So I’m going to scratch that itch of yours – just as long as it isn’t in one of, um, those places."

    ReplyDelete
  9. I can say with complete integrity that I posted three of the posts that -- while not supporting Maryam's performance -- was highly critical of Jim's judgement in this case. I also have been highly critical of CD and GCI senior management on this blog, for good reason. That means I'm not a corp for-hire poster.

    We can appreciate and respect Jim on this blog for most of what he does, and still call him out on what some of us considered a highly personal and ill-advised post over the weekend. That doesn't mean we've gone to the dark side here.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have no idea if Maryam uses her highly paid PR firm to combat negative postings on the blog (seems plausible). However, I do know she reads it and it has been part of internal discussions.

    The VPs she has at her beckon call are Michek and Goetz and they would certainly do as she said.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Jacobson out.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Seacrest Out!

    ReplyDelete
  13. "Beckon call" the funniest thing I've read here in a long time...

    ReplyDelete
  14. The correct phrase is “beck and call.” If you are at someone's beck and call, you respond immediately whether he or she beckons or calls; it implies complete subservience.

    Grammar police are back.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Another day, another USAT VP gets hired:
    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Dan-Thomas-Named-Senior-Vice-prnews-3708074097.html?x=0

    ReplyDelete
  16. That explains Lori Erdos and Tony Hill being fired in order to bring in the new guy in sales, Dan Thomas.

    He appears to be another Banikarim associate from Univision.

    If anyone is still wondering who is responsible for most of the firings at USAToday (business side) look no further. It appears Ms. Banikarim's influence is felt far and wide.

    The only thing she has accomplished since joining Gannett is firing people and hiring her friends to replace them.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hey Westchester, did anyone see the Ad count today in The Journal News? Very pathetic

    ReplyDelete
  18. I have more problem with out of their league hires like heather frank and Rudd Davis, who have proven they are grossly incompetent, than someone like Dan Thomas, who has about 30 years of business related experience, according to his linked in profile.

    But I have to say, I'm sick of all these vice presidential hires. How about some veteran hires in editorial?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Can anyone provide an update on USAT Production?

    ReplyDelete
  20. So MB fires skilled veterans and hires her friends? Sounds like she fits right in with the rest of the incompetent elitist 1% running this ship...








    ...into the ground.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Erdos, Cassidy, Cristiano, Hill, Davidson - the Maryam Banikarim axe swings widely and wildly.

    Looks like she'll have no one to boss around at Cannes this year like she did last year. I'm certain she and Jones will have a fun time popping the champagne bottles at the Carlton.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Don't forget Jeffrey Wilkes whom she fired and replaced with her buddy Sandra Michek. And of course she got rid of another high ranking female, Robin Pence, whom she replaced with her favorite PR firm.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Wonder who is traveling with Maryam to CES show today in Vegas and how many are flying first class?

    ReplyDelete
  24. Martore must love having a bulldog to do all this dirty work.

    How do these people sleep at night? Maryam has destroyed so many lives in just a few months. Firing people for a living is not good for anyone's soul.

    It's sad to have a job where you ruin the lives of many, all in the name of power and greed.

    ReplyDelete
  25. When do the 2011 final financial reports come out?
    This report should be fairly dismal in year to year comparisons.
    The posts here indicate that ad counts are way down all across Gannettland.
    Should be interesting as to how the wise leaders combat this in the report to wall street.
    The question is will there be mass layoffs to offset budget deficits.

    ReplyDelete
  26. 2:26, Martore's been firing away since 2008, which is why those two are soul sisters.

    ReplyDelete
  27. 9:17, what an arrogant pile of garbage! With an executive editor sounding like that, it's no wonder the paper is going to hell.

    ReplyDelete
  28. FYI, Cristiano was not fired. She left for a much better opportunity. You will find more people doing the same as the jobs situation improves.

    ReplyDelete
  29. 9:17 - - "judgment."

    ReplyDelete
  30. I want out of this place so bad. I will find another job and I will leave this company.

    ReplyDelete
  31. 8"37 Amen. Fortunately, the job market is getting better.

    ReplyDelete
  32. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  33. The Green Bay Press-Gazette is one of the largest paper in Wisconsin, but that increasingly appears to be by default and not because it's breaking any ground -- on anything. The newspaper, which falls all over its sports writers and their ho-hum 'Packers coverage,' doesn't actually do any reporting. They're much too busy transcribing press conference notes, hosting online chats and writing and 'acting' in videotaped Packers analysis. Previously on this blog, people have complimented executive editor John Dye's background as a 'real newsman.' If he was one, those days are long gone. The newsroom is a rudderless ship (and it has been for a while) and the publisher, a longtime Gannett-er, doesn't care about the editorial content produced by the newspaper or the efforts put forth by the journalists who work there. At a time when this newsroom, covering the NFL's smallest market team in another possible Super Bowl run, needs to be firing on all cylinders, it's being run by a man who is covering his ass enough to get to retirement. And, at a time when newspapers across the board need to be doing things in a more in-depth, thoughtful and purposeful way, the Press-Gazette is headed in the opposite direction and NO ONE is doing anything about it.

    ReplyDelete
  34. This story is about a guy who worked for (Lee) St. Louis Post-Dispatch, but he could have been a colleague to any of us:
    http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/bill-mcclellan/paper-s-go-to-guy-was-caught-between-old-new/article_1c0f83ee-51af-5499-baf8-c0c080fe38eb.html

    ReplyDelete
  35. What's with the new main font in the Journal News?Looks like the default font when a typesetter crashes. Amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  36. LOL 2:41-now when I hear the beginning of the song, Lady Marmalade, I'll be reminded of them.

    ReplyDelete
  37. 9:47 - And what is the message behind that article about the poor dumb newspaper employee who poured his life into his work, only to find himself discarded like old trash? It's the same message behind all that hubbub about Maryam B. and her "elistist newspaper" - that it's all about you and what you can get for yourself. Fuck the company; always weasel out the best deal for yourself and move on when the perks stop.

    ReplyDelete
  38. 9:46, welcome to the company we call GANNETT. You're finally catching up to the rest of us. Soon your site will look like Florida Today's too.

    ReplyDelete
  39. This site is disgusting. It's personal attacks cloaked as indignant populism. Wouldn't your time be better spent actually trying to accomplish something rather than tearing down other people? It's small and unimaginative to bitch about execs you don't really know anything about. How about you focus on getting a life instead of criticizing someone else's?

    ReplyDelete
  40. 1:11 Irony alert: You're criticizing readers for their criticizing.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Head's up. I missed this clue, hopefully you won't. Several months before my layoff in June, my evaluation was due. Previously HR had made a big thing about me getting the self-eval in by their deadline. This time it was no big deal. I turned in my portion and then waited and waited and waited. I asked my supervisor and he told me my eval was in the works and to "be patient." All of my previous 10 annual evaluations were rated "outstanding" so I felt it was OK to wait. They stalled for two months and I never got my final 1 1/2 percent raise before they laid me off. So a word to the wise, if they are stalling on your eval, get a clue.

    ReplyDelete
  42. A "raise"? What is this "raise" you speak of? Is it something like a pay cut in reverse?

    ReplyDelete
  43. No irony. I'm not criticizing the readers, I'm suggesting you find a hobby that's constructive and positive instead of wallowing in the mud. How about you use the energy thinking about the future of journalism and being part of the solution instead of spending your time feeding the anxiety of those who feel their careers are at stake ?

    ReplyDelete

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."

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.