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.)
Thursday, March 01, 2012
44 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What is your salary range if you are one of the few remaining reporters? Can you afford to live in the city you cover?
ReplyDeleteI am a gannett vp. I earn 275k, plus bonus. I have a nonsensical title, I rarely come into the office and have no idea what most of my fellow veeps do. I seem to work at cross purposes with them and other newly hired people with important sounding titles. But no, I certainly do not feel I am overly paid. In fact, I am angling for a promotion and a fatter salary.
ReplyDelete275k that's bull. As a VP I only started with 225. How do they expect you to survive on 225? I mean with the kids, food and gas. Gas here is at 4.25 gal and my Mercedes-Benz doesn't do all that well getting the best gas mileage. I'm trying but, I think all VP's should start at the same amount. come on, fair is fair, right? I do get a 50% bonus but hey, that's only once a year and I've got to hit all my numbers to get it. Just not fair, just not fair.
ReplyDeleteThat's why you can earn a President's ring, to make up for all the inequities. It's a damn shame, hardly even fair when you think about it.
ReplyDeleteYou would think that a blog from a media company would be shocklingly clever, fiercely imaginative and edgy smart, even in its complaints.
ReplyDeleteInstead, it is obvious that the traffic here is mostly from the drone parts of the operation. Latest example: Thinking that the "VP" posting above was the real deal.
As valuable as this blog is, it unfortunately is the province of the disaffected, the powerless and the, in truth, often clueless. Yes, they need a voice, but it is revealing how angry no matter what that voice is.
I don't expect the Onion here, or the New York Review of Books, but can this please get a little less drone socialist and more 21st Century.
If I was reading this from afar, thinking this is the best of the Gannett workforce, I'd think, what a loser company!
The Tennessean Tech/IT dept just got a new VP I think he will be over the South Group.Maybe he will be worth his pay, It appears he went to Berkeley, and seems very with it..We are wishing he can turn it around and get the Department going and getting work done.If anyone knows how this is ran at The Tennessean they know what I mean.. I see a culture clash here with Good Ole Boys being made to tow the line and a New VP who will make it so.. The IT people are really OK, its the Tech Service people that are a Joke.even the IT guys are laughing at them.
ReplyDelete8:26 obviously the above posters were joking. Where is your sense of humor?
ReplyDeleteI have found the discussions on the blog this week to be quite valuable.
It seems intelligent people from all aspects of Gannett have been chiming in...not jut the disgruntled.
With 50,000 page views a month, the blog is hardly just a place for only a few.
8:26, lighten up, will you? Only a fillin the blank here would fail to see the ironic humor in the earlier posts. Perhaps you have been in your isolated work space a bit too long. Stop and sniff the money bags.
ReplyDeleteThis blog is a most valuable tool for those transitioning out of Gannett.It helps to know that there are thousands of others,either being forced out or wanting out on their own accord.
ReplyDeleteEspecially now as Gannett will continue to cut it's workforce to the bare minimum.This will happen,no doubt, as the trend toward more digital becomes a reality.Print products require a much larger number or workers than digital.
3:35 and 7:42 it's funny that you brag or bitch about your pay, I just don't see the need for you!
ReplyDeleteinstead of being a Jones why not be frugal and have what you need only. You both are over paid, you actually probably deserve the
40,000 that the rest of us get paid.
I know that real employees do more work than the stuffy guy at the supposed top.
There really is no need for your position it's a waste of space and pay!!!
Quit your fussing you poor thing!
Well I kind of thought everyone would get that the two VP postings were jokes but no at least o e person didn't get it. I don't understand how people can be so dense. So as a benefit to the stupid, "the two VP postings were not real. They are satire".
DeleteI just discovered there is no entry for 'gullible' at www.dictionary.com!
ReplyDeleteThe Arizona Republic continues to run behind the national media on coverage of the Arizona presidential primary. In today's story, the Republic reviews the results of exit polls reported by the New York Times and others on Wednesday. Can't Gannett's second-largest newspaper do better?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/2012/02/29/20120229arizona-win-romneys-most-decisive-yet.html
http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/primaries/states/michigan/exit-polls?ref=politics
There are some areas that are very difficult to survive in. The McLean area, is extremely expensive. When I started my career at Gannett,they would only give me 30K. About five years later I was up to 40K, then another five years up to 50K... However, with the furloughs that were issued, that particular year, I was back in the 40's. I was laid off, months ago, finding it difficult to find employment in this economy. Because I'm on unemployment, my income is about 25K. It's extremely difficult to survive and at times very depressing. I would welcome back struggling int the 40-50K range.
ReplyDeleteOK, hard to believe anyone would think 3:35 and 7:42 were anything other than satire. But apparently, as Dave Barry once put it, the humor-challenged exist out there. (Not that the post were all that funny. But humor-challenged refers to the inability to even recognize something was a joke.)
ReplyDeleteAs for 10:54: Hope things work out. Like me, I'm sure you found that a healthy share of CP workers (not the elite level, but people with good to enviable positions there) simply had to work side gigs to get by in NoVa. Chat up various people from various departments and you'd discover folks with side photography, writing ... home improvement and even landscaping businesses. Catering, copyediting/proofreading, accounting, etc. too. And, yes, some in retail as Tyson's Galleria was just a short drive away.
I gather this extends to those with even more than enviable-sounding titles, since Ms. Gersh seems to be advertising a consultancy on her site. More power to her.
Sad, really, that it had to come to that. On the positive side, when we were laid off, it gave us an established, legit source of revenue to work while we attempted to get our careers back on track. As horrible a company as Gannett was, managers there never discouraged this. Heck, it allowed them to stick with the next-to-nothing raises we'd get every year.
In the end, Gannett's indentured servitude approach to the hardworking talent it employed forced us all to become survivors before getting shown the door. And that, in turn, helped us survive the downsizing. So, in a weird way, I'll say "thanks Gannett!"
Even in Poughkeepsie, my salary was so low I had to frequently dip into savings to cover basic expenses. And then pay freezes, 1% raises, furloughs and increased health insurance kept slashing my take home.
ReplyDelete1:18 if that is the case why did you accept the job in the first place? Honest question. Please give an honest answer. You were looking for a job. Someone at the paper offered you a job. The pay was unfairly low but you took it. Why didn;t you take a job with another company that paid more money?
ReplyDelete1:18 seems to make it clear that s/he would have struggled by, but the furloughs. increased contribution to benefits etc. meant major pay reductions.
ReplyDeleteRe: 1:28's question, "Why didn;t (sic) you take a job with another company that paid more money?"
ReplyDeleteI want to move to the planet 1:28 inhabits.
You know, the one with all the jobs and the luxury of choice.
Today's thread is yet another example of how the clueless here have taken control of the blog.
ReplyDeleteJim, you have 75 minutes to clean up this mess. If it's not gone by then, there will be consequences.
Maybe he should start with your post, 2:48.
ReplyDeleteI demand my free product is exactly how I want it! You have 37 minutes until I close my browser window!
ReplyDeleteOh, the humanity.
2:52 Amen.
ReplyDeletePlace your bets on 2:48 and 2:49 being the same person, either with duality issues or trying (poorly) to fool everyone.
ReplyDeleteMight want to let some more time lapse between posts, tricky one.
Florida Today's discussion forums under the General heading are now showing last posts as 458 days, 589 days, and 1,433 days, among others. Seems all posters are now gone.....poof!
ReplyDeleteAlso, when you click on any story, a box pops up telling you you have 14 more articles. Go back an hour later....you get the same thing. Paywall/subscription model sure looks like it's working wonders.
I had the exact same experience that 1:18 did, and I'll answer 1:28's question.
ReplyDeleteI took the job because, believe it or not, it paid more than the small-town paper I was working for. And at the time I joined Gannett, they had a very good reputation for promotion, both within the paper, and within the company.
Years go by, I never got a promotion, although I did the paper did once promote some diversity seminar in which they flat-out boasted that they had promoted a minority woman to a management job.
And life circumstances kept me at the paper, rather than moving to a larger one, and soon, I wasn't that qualified to look outside because Gannett insisted on keeping the same ancient technology, and wouldn't train people for anything else.
And I would trudge along, with my 3 percent raises, which would only cover the health insurance premium increases, because I would never get a 5 on my performance review. Even though my bosses all said I had never done anything wrong, they said they weren't allowed to give me a 5.
Then the 3 percent raises became 1 percent. Then zero. Then the furloughs hit. I tried to look elsewhere, but the economy crashed, and I was one of Gannett's layoff victims so Dubow and Martore could collect their six-and seven-figure bonuses.
Now, I'm at a larger non-Gannett paper, and, while I haven't received any raises, they haven't laid anyone off or made them take furloughs (yet, knock on wood. I know it won't last forever, but I'm very grateful for the opportunity that they provide. And I feel like they are concerned with giving me training for my eventual future.
Why did we work for less money? Some of us believed what we were doing was important. We did not mind making less than other industries because we were proud of where we worked. That has somewhat changed. Our papers don't cover what they once did, and our websites were full of pics of young women in clubs. So now the money thing and furloughs and layoffs are too much to overlook. And yes it takes time to find another job, whether at a newspaper or somewhere else. There are still good small papers that care about journalism, most of them are not Gannett.
ReplyDeletePaywalls will make up for this?
ReplyDeleteNewspaper ad revenue adjusted for inflation, 1950-2011:
http://reason.com/blog/2012/02/29/chart-of-the-day-newspaper-ad-revenue-ed
Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, La, is losing its ad director to Austin American-Statesman. Friday is last day for Executive Editor Brian Tolley, joining Leslie Hurst in Jackson, Miss. Publisher Ali Zoibi leaves in a few weeks. The new published they hired backed out before he got here. Wonder what they know that the rest of us don't. And Hurst, vp over Lafayette, interviewed a possible ex. editor yesterday, someone from Wisconsin, who'll be a great fit since she knows so much about South Louisiana. She's actually been to New Orleans once on business.
ReplyDelete"I wasn't that qualified to look outside because Gannett insisted on keeping the same ancient technology, and wouldn't train people for anything else ..."
ReplyDeleteAnd, if you honestly thought this one relatively minor detail was keeping you from advancing in your career, you didn't go out and get the training you needed on your own because ....?
This is such a classic sentiment expressed on this blog. "I was unable to do X because of Y ..." and, somehow, "Y" is never, ever because the poster failed to take control of his/her own career.
Regarding the PR job at Gannett:
ReplyDeleteThe first thing any experienced PR professional will do is run a Vocus or other tool to see the press about Gannett. After all, his/her job will be managing that press.
What they will find is most of the news is negative in sentiment.
That will be enough to scare anyone away from a job as Gannett's PR hack.
Austin American seems to be a popular place for ex Gannett ad executives. I believe that is where Brewer went after her stint as National Sales Team director.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with the corporate poster @5:12. It is nice when the company invests in good equipment and good training (not that CP initiated buzz word crap training of the month). But when they don't, we owe it to ourselves to learn on our own. I am thankful I read every book, searched on the net and networked for my own self worth. I wanted to believe I would never need it outside of Gannett but I did. A srvivor who is succeeding beyond the Gannett compounds.
ReplyDeleteIn the corporate webcast last week they referred to Gannett as the Yankees of the media industry. Perhaps corporate is. Our location is more like the Pirates.
ReplyDeleteIs Louisiana the new New Jersey? Last one out, turn out the lights...
ReplyDeleteUSA Today Sports newsroom reorg. Everybody, top down, has to apply for jobs. Reorg to be completed in 90 days. Discuss.
ReplyDeleteI can't understand why people would leave Gannett to work for another media company.
ReplyDeleteFirst, consider that 2012 already started with furloughs and buyouts. Also, think about the corporate wide pay wall plan.
ReplyDeleteThen, ponder this big picture prediction. Three steps, five years.
1. Paywalls go up based on corporate research at staggered times across the country. To pad the numbers in case some markets do worse than anticipated, corporate structurally lays off employees in many markets.
2. Paywalls have less than desirable effect in on profits. Corporate can't just go back to free news. To cover the losses of reality vs. predictions, corporate consolidates the smallest of markets and slashes low circulations days at more medium sized markets. To justify eliminating the print produce on certain days of the week, corporate cites heavier dependency on digital platforms, primarily tablets and mobiles.
3. After realizing new revenues streams of mobile downloads for aps and online subscriptions mixed with sustained and new ad dollars, corporate all together eliminates some print products pushing only online devices.
Also, note that I'm just a rank-and-file reporter and recent college grad. I don't have inside sources or something. No need to freak out.
9:16p. Former Chief Digital Officer, Saridakis stated, prior to leaving, that pay walls for Gannett and USA Today content will not work. The only research that was produced by Jack Williams was that people in local communities would pay for...OBITURARIES! That gives you a sense of the geriatric ward that most of our leaders occupy. The AARP runs Gannett!
ReplyDeletePeople will not pay for local content online. This shit is free and easily available. Sorry Gracia, you are screwed!
Amen!
DeleteWhy does gannett think people will pay for digital news when they have been steadily dropping the printed version of there news for years. It's not that people don't want to pay, they don't want to pay for garbage. My god! whose came up with the notion that everyone needs to have crap sold to them all the time and Gannett needs to profit from it??
ReplyDeleteAlso, why are the paywalls going up before the websites are relaunched, under the plan now underway within Gannett Digital?
ReplyDeleteWell said, 9:16. Be sure to use this time to broaden your skills and be ready to get out quickly.
ReplyDeleteJim, excellent question.
ReplyDeleteAnswer: websites are taking too long and gannett is desperate for money.
The whole place just smells of one desperate measure after another.