Friday, March 16, 2012

March 12-18 | Your News & Comments: Part 5

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31 comments:

  1. Was there any follow up from the meeting somebody said they were having about changing review dates?

    My manager has 80 direct reports, if she only has to change the name she can run the reviews off on the copier.

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  2. Pointroll NOT being SOLD3/16/2012 7:36 AM

    Well, as we all suspected here at Pointroll, Rob Gatto and Sarah Ripmaster have been lying to employees that they (and Gannett) were in conversations to sell the company.

    So, I decided to pick up my phone and call Chris Saridakis because if anyone would know, he would. And he confirmed for me that he has not heard about Pointroll being sold and especially given Pointroll's decline, he doubted anyone would want to buy it today. Especially the names that were mentioned (Aggregate Knowledge and DG Fast).

    So, for all of you fellow Rollers that were hoping the company would get sold (hopefully to Saridakis) and this management team would be fired and we would get out from under the thumb of Gannett, sorry to disappoint you.

    What we have all learned is that Rob Gatto is someone that has his days numbered and he and the rest of our management team have lost the trust of all of us at Pointroll. Certainly Gannett already dislikes him. Even is recent town hall meeting discussing the Congressional investigation was absurd and proves what a lightweight he is.

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  3. Any word on how many people are accepting the buyout offers at your site?

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  4. Gannett shares are still trading at the ridiculously low multiple of 7 times earnings, both on a trailing and full 2012 basis. The only reason why the stock has climbed is because of the "rising tide" stock market that floats all boats. The stock goes up as indexes go up, but nothing is happening to lift GCI on its own. Essentially, GCI is a "show me" stock, and for eight years now it hasn't had anything to show but declining revenue, declining net income, a slashed dividend, a muddled strategy somewhere between content medium and tech company, a consistently uninspiring management team, and, above all, a board of directors with no sense of creating value for shareholders, either organically or by putting the stock in play.

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  5. to 8:24pm from yesterday.

    The other direction in IT these days is in ITIL-based management. You can pull that off with a Bachelor's and some ITIL certs. I'm 35, and the youngest in my department by 15 years.

    I worked on the back-end of the Gannett IT world. In IT, no one holds a grudge against GCI journalistically. All they see on my resume is that I ran an enterprise-level network with 2,000+ web and file servers on it. The content doesn't matter to the IT world. Hell, I only went to Gannett sites if someone called in and said a site was broken.


    Also, Gannett was smart to put their IT support (GMTI) in Virginia, a right-to-work state. When I moved to the Northeast, recruiters saw what I was responsible for on a daily basis and literally felt SORRY for me when they found out how much i made commeasurate to my responsibility. GMTI could hire two of me for the money I'm making now.

    Pad your resume, and get the hell out!!!

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  6. No, they weren't smart. They bought InfiNet, an ISP located in Norfolk, and merged them with GMTI which was based in Cincinnati at the time. Over the past few years they have decimated the Cincinnati office so much through layoffs and not filling positions after people left for better opportunities (so much so that they no longer have their own office space and now lease part of the 20th floor of the Enquirer building) that the HQ was shifted to Norfolk.

    The fact that InfiNet is located in Virginia was coincidence.

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  7. What's wrong with Gannett? Among other things, they don't practice what they preach...

    "Exec's parting salvo shows what's wrong with Wall St."

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/story/2012-03-15/Goldman-Sachs-Greg-Smith/53555118/1

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  8. That exec's experience makes you think of Gannett under Dubow and company.

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  9. What in the world is happening at the Journal News???? I have heard reports that all the remaining single copy drivers, truck drivers were released. Which leads me to the questions.....Who in God's name is delivering this paper?

    Jim , I am shocked that all of you are discussing Florida, New Jersey, Yada, Yada, Yada !!!!
    What is happening in Westchester New York is a disgrace! Report on it!

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  10. Report on Shreveport too. I heard there is a major reorganization going on in the ad department. People are being forced to reapply for their jobs. Don't they have a new publisher and ad director? Sounds like they're being groomed to be corporate puppets.

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    Replies
    1. Something's in the air. We had similar news in Fort Myers today.

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    2. Any other sites going through this?

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  11. Sounds like someone is asleep at the switch here

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  12. Look at some of the dates on these. The Super Shopper hasn't been updated since August. Crime and Courts? January. http://www.statesmanjournal.com/section/blogs

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  13. But the Statesman does have welovesalem.com (user-generated vids are slow in coming) AND offers to publish 650-word passions
    http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012203110309

    Meanwhile, the print layout changes daily and there are two pages of Idaho news daily

    Good thing they're the only media in town...today.

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  14. The board needs to spin off TV to create value for shareholders. no buybacks, no branding campaigns and no more Buesses.

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    Replies
    1. I will take 100 Beusses any day of the week

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  15. 12:13: Wont happen. The plan wont be deviated from, even continuation of the diasterous shsre buyback program.

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  16. @2:03 -- that's nothing! Courier-Post head honcho Gene Williams still hasn't updated his blog since March 2011!

    http://blogs.courierpostonline.com/ireely/

    From the page:

    "About the author:
    Gene Williams is a man living his life in the dark, watching movies and reading books, often at the same time, and has opinions on just about everything, which he is willing to share. Whether you want him to or not."

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  17. In the words of Jim Morrison I can hear playing "this is the end, the only end my friend"

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  18. 4:13 - that's awesome! Nothing like up-to-date information!

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  19. How's that list of accomplishments coming along, Maryam?

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  20. So tired of David L Hunke pontificating. The puppet actually thinks he is a man. As for that nose of his...it does grow longer with every lie and assurance that we're on the right track.

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  21. PIO's pissed off - The recent subscription of local news has sent Gannett's reporters scrambling like confused privates in a fire fight.

    Back off - The color of the dog hit by a car is neither newsworthy nor thorough reporting - just annoying and time consuming.

    A constant barrage of inquiries regarding minute stories, or trying to get a 5 min lead over TV channels will result in delayed responses to emails and phone calls or referrals to general press releases.

    Have a good weekend.

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  22. What do Martore and Banikarim have against men?

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  23. Neither suffers fools.

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  24. You mean like David L Hunke?

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  25. You take 100 Buesse's. I'll raise a couple of Rudd's. Where's Waldo?

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  26. Gannett's WBIR and ND have parted ways

    http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/mar/16/wbir-news-director-part-ways/

    This seems very interesting. The station has gone SO DOWNHILL lately. Oh, Lovely Gannett.

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  27. Man am I glad to be out of Gannett. It seems like there's never any GOOD news coming out of any site, just more news about furloughs, layoffs, "reorganization", etc. If this news about having to reapply for jobs is true, it is an ultimate new low for Gannett.

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  28. 12:39 - It is very real. Lowest of the low.

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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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