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Friday, February 03, 2012
43 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."
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What did Kate Marymont say in yesterday's web conference? Did it make any sense, or is she still spouting corporate gibberish?
ReplyDeleteIncredible display of buzzwords. Introduced a new one: Platform perfect. Huh? Said we'll get the real news on Feb. 22.
ReplyDeleteTwenty-somethings have a lot to learn with regard to people skills these days, including writing and speaking, and being able to maintain a face to face conversation with eye contact. Not something you're seeing much in Gannett land.
ReplyDeleteKate quickly brushed over the horror story unfolding known as design hubs. Said they are aware of some issues w/ newsgate and are working to solve them.
ReplyDeleteNice job USA Today on the Super Bowl coverage, too bad nobody saw it since the papers were 3 hours late. On top of that, our DM told us the Monday coverage will be covered by a Chrysler ad.
ReplyDeleteWe really want to sell newspapers, just give us a chance.
I am saddened that comments on your on line product must go by way of face book..pushing your customers to a source that is trying to take everything over is foolish..f.b. has no value in of itself..the users give it value..do I need f.b....no..does f.b.need users yes...do I look at f.b ads..no..do I look at the ads in the paper yes..having both local producs at hand is the best
ReplyDeleteto continue...why not set up a community product similar to f.b.in gannettland..your ads would be more productive ,your customers would be more inclined to use your product and you would put money in your pocket instead of f.b. pocket and you could dovetail with the print
ReplyDeleteGannett revenues are DOWN, once again...
ReplyDeleteProfits are DOWN, once again...
Therefore, it is time, once again, for the BIG corporate BONUSES for doing such good work!
"Forty-fifty-somethings have a lot to learn with regard to people skills these days, including writing and speaking, and being able to maintain a face to face conversation with eye contact. Not something you're seeing much in Gannett land."
ReplyDeleteFixed.
Gannett used to use something "like" Facebook for comments. It was called Pluck, and it was terrible.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm not one to believe for a minute that age is any indication of maturity or job performance. I've met a lot of fifty-somethings who were absolutely clueless.
Hell, one of them is running Gannett into the ground. I mean, if that's how it's going to be, let a 25 year old at the reins. It won't get any worse. Chances are we'd see actual improvement.
Sure USAT is delivered late. No one left to keep the trains running on time on the front end. Talk about a newspaper that keeps shooting itself in the foot! Penny wise, pound foolish.
ReplyDeleteI love this title: Director of Sales Enablement. Someone actually has that title at USAT.
ReplyDeleteAlso, USAT on a big sales push with single copy. Staring up stores who never had or wanted USA's, that only sell 1 or 2 dailies and sundays a day. Woo hoo! That'll help save the whale!
ReplyDeleteOh yea.....and not get the paperwork straight with the local paper doing the deliveries and billing.
The Millennial Equation:
ReplyDeleteThe degree to which 20-somethings 'empower' themselves with their over-entitled mentalities is inversely proportional to their command of the very basic of professional skills.
You can't dispute the science here, can you?
I was a former 20-something Digital Sales Manager in the West Group. I can say without a doubt that there is no training or "guiding" of any type. The only thing I could hang my hat on was that I knew the key accounts very well and was adept at selling digital and making it work. Was I the best at actually "managing" people, probably not. I can say that it doesn't help when you have a lapdog Advertising Director from Kentucky or a micro-managing Publisher grasping at any straws that could make him look good to Captain Ziddich.
ReplyDeleteThis is not about older workers against younger workers. Stop doing that to each other. It's about corporate greed, health insurance and benefits. All Gannett cares about is the bottom line to shareholders and their own bonus. Gannett doesn't care about journalism, the future of the company or it's direction and they never did. Never all the news all the time reality is: All money all the time and to hell with the employees. #occupygannett.
ReplyDeleteWell said and thank you. It's all about the challenge, the maturity and the training. Not the age.
DeleteFrom someone over 50 at a Gannett t site
1:02, were you in Phoenix?
ReplyDelete12:50, USCP has Directors of Sales Excellence.
ReplyDelete2:51,
ReplyDeleteWe're fine with just be "enabled" here at USAT. We have no desire for "excellence."
Either way, they're meaningless corporate jargon-of-the-day job titles.
Posters have mentioned many times that Gracia should get a new hairstyle and photo. She truly does not look the part of a CEO of a forward-thinking company ready to roll out a new business model. Image does matter. I’m surprised corporate hasn’t hired a stylist to at least give the company leaders the appearance of being capable of leading the company into a successful future. Why look the part of an old, dying industry?
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteWhile I like the new comments format on your site (It fits nicely in my smartphone's window), I'm wondering how it's affecting your ad revenue, since the ads are no longer appearing alongside the comments.
I hope it doesn't decrease the paltry amount you make from this very useful and popular blog.
http://jimromenesko.com/2012/02/03/letter-a-familys-frustration-with-gannettindianapolis-star/
ReplyDeleteThis is terrible. How many other ex-Gannett people are in this situation?
1:59, I visited Phoenix but I was not stationed there.
ReplyDeleteCorporate Crystal Palace hiring a stylist, 3:36? Please... there's enough money wasted around there already!
ReplyDelete5:13 PM: You are right. This is terrible. My husband is a Gannett employee and needed some assistance from Gannett HR. There is a corporate HR person that is stationed in his building but he cannot go see her (except when payroll said he needed to and called ahead for him) and she does not answer her phone (only takes calls through the national number). He's had better luck with the 1-800 number and when he happens to reach someone based in another state. COBRA should be available for at least 18 months and maybe longer depending on the circumstances.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else having similar problems? This would make one of those "consumer stories" that Gannett TV stations love to do!
Exactly what is wrong with having to pick up the phone and asking someone a question? I mean how is that a bad thing?
Delete9:41, welcome to the new HR model. You have "Business Partners" at some sites and I forget the term for the other group at other sites. They can't handle the other's responsibilities. Business Partners are suppose to be strategic thinkers, assist in things such as discipline and employee relations. Mundane questions like COBRA and other benefits are suppose to go through the 800 number and you don't know where that person is located. I'm available to answer HR questions as I can. I was a victim of that reshuffling.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it is about age at USA today. Fresh faced youngsters aare being hired with little to no experience. They are on the front lines representing a national newspaper against other national competitors with vast, deep benches of journalists whove been around the block, and then some.
ReplyDeleteThese kids aren't going to learn the skills they would being out in the field at a small paper. They aren't even likely to get out of the suburban office parks of Tyson's corner. training? Ain't gonna happen because editors are busy word processing, attending meetings and passing the buck among each other and upper management.
This is the future of a once decent publication.
It goes beyond reporters,10:04. Way beyond.
ReplyDeleteI don't care what any of these executives project in terms of style. Give me results. Motivate the troops. grow the business. Create an environment of trust, not of fear. Make this a place people want to work at instead of fleeing. You can wear a burlap bag for all I care.
ReplyDelete"Once decent" is about right on the 'glory days' of USAT, a publication always much more well-thought of internally than externally. Don't get me started on the incredibly souless, tin-eared writing "voice" that dominated the Nation's Newspaper even during its heyday.
ReplyDeleteBut it was, as 10:04 puts it, "decent." Good and sometimes great reporting. Good if incredibly formulaic presentation. Not anywhere near the sublime reading experience of the WSJ. But, on its better days, darn good. Writing-wise, however, always hopelessly lacking to create an almost robotic, sterile reader experience.
Today ... what a joke. The exodus of proven talent to make way for the kiddos who know their way around dozens of social-media sites and have a hundred apps on their smartphones -- but are utterly inept on the actual practices of journalism -- is absolutely stunning.
The perennial excuse is: We need to make way for the young people who understand the Internet. Really? My 75-year-old mother is on Facebook. This stuff isn't rocket science. What Gannett is doing is flat-out age discrimination. That's a no brainer.
Happiness defined: A life outside Gannett.
ReplyDeleteDespite making drastically less money, my life is far better since I left the company. This is my first time looking at this site in months and I'm sad to see that nothing has changed.
It may seem impossible, but if you're unhappy working at Gannett, consider leaving. Money isn't everything.
I will be leaving Gannett and making more money than I do now. Imagine that.
ReplyDelete2:01, I don't have to imagine. It's reality in the life I've been living post-GCI job elimination now several years in the past.
ReplyDeleteBut, shhhh, don't tell that to "no name/no claim," who's been remarkably quiet here ever since several of us challenged him/her to reveal the precise motivation/theory behind those relentless, bizarre postings.
Tomorrow Florida Today carriers are not going to like their draws. For whatever reason FT/Gannett...whoever does their single copy draws...instead of cutting some in advance of the 1.50 to 3.00 price raise, they actually raised some of the draws. Really? Carriers are bringing back 300 to 500 returns now as it is. Even heard their 1099's were messed up. Does anybody have a clue? Talk about wasted paper and ink! Good luck carriers...you'll need it.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the case of "age" discrimination will hold up in court. Companies have been eliminating "higher salaries". And, in most cases individuals with higher-salaries are older... But, you can't say that it was age-discrimination. The sad thing is the only answer, here, is "money." They were not let go because of "age", they were let go because of "money."
ReplyDelete11:51 - Your claim for proof is way more tiresome than someone coming to this blog saying they have found something better. I'll bet Mark Mikolajczyk is a much happier person than he was two months ago.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteOMG 4:19 SO WHAT IF THEY ARE??
ReplyDelete4:58, are you referring to the people who refuse to get answers about benefits, or to the people who won't try to confirm the rumors they post here?
ReplyDelete