Friday, April 20, 2012

April 16-22 | Your News & Comments: Part 5

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88 comments:

  1. Did anyone who requested a retirement buyout get turned down? If so, what was the rejection process like?

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  2. I know that the advertising guy at my former site who took a buyout has already been replaced. The newsroom guy was replaced by a PT guy who had been previously laid off.

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  3. Why does Gannett keep secret what they are doing, while reporting on what everybody else does? Shouldn't the communities they serve know what kind of service they will be getting.

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  4. Sports just hired a new GM for BNQT Media Group.

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  5. I think all corporations have developed this secrecy quirk over time. They are so transfixed on their stock price, damage control has replaced reason. It is particularly galling when a newspaper, or a "communications" company such as Gannett, points the finger and yet, puts blinders on to its own transgressions. This company, like so many others, is rotting from the inside out.

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  6. Any cast-aside copy editors looking for a job in Ohio?

    "Cox Media Group Ohio will be looking to add several people to the copydesk soon. We produce the Dayton Daily News, Middletown Journal, Hamilton JournalNews, Springfield News-Sun and Pulse Journals. We're going to be one of two design hubs for Cox, so we're going to be picking up work from Atlanta, Austin and Palm Beach. Looks like we'll continue to be based in Dayton Ohio."

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  7. "NO RESPECT"

    What a bloodsucking,greedy company we work for... customers are getting a 30% increase and carriers are not getting one cent of that!
    New carrier agreements being signed with wholesale rate increases and no change in profit.
    Lose customer base, pay more for gas @.19 cents a mile($4 gal.)and nothing for the carrier. That is BULLSHIT.....

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  8. Look if carriers don't like it go work somewhere else!

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  9. Unfortunately, 1:44, carriers are getting the same shitty treatment that employees get.

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  10. Carriers: The rate changed to include the web/mobile component, why should you get paid for that?

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  11. 4/19/2012 2:27 PM, does this mean that Steve Hyatt or someone else in HR has now been authoriozed and approved to respond to questions and concerns posted on this blog?

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  12. 1:44 , At least you don't work for the Journal News---they hired people who don't speak English to deliver the daily.

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  13. Just checked and paywall remains off at Florida Today. Yet they are still soliciting digital subscriptions. What gives?

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  14. Gannett carriers were and still are the lowest paid carrier force in the country. 1:44 you seem to be a wholesaler still or home delivery. My sympathies to you for not getting in on the price increases to the paper. It could be worse for you. I understand at some papers, home delivery also has to do racks. Just imagine the loss you'd have with 3 dollar Sundays! Other papers have switched to delivery agents. They got 1/3 of their pay cut off and now have to do more work, not less, and have virtually no say in how they conduct their business under threat of their contract being terminated. Yes, you employees are having it rough but you still get sick days, vacations, days off. You're not out there delivering papers to ungrateful customers or putting up with scamming, disgruntled store personnell.

    And to 2:10. Is that all you have?

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  15. I've always hated the Gannett site design. The CMS is lousy, the look and feel is amateur, and the number of ads crammed down your throat is beyond acceptable.

    But what's really bad is the performance. Using Firebug, I can see an average of 18 seconds to load a page when navigating the Cincinnati Enquirer's site. 18 seconds. That's an eternity, even for a high speed connection. I can't even imagine how bad it must be on slower connections (hint - not everyone has high-speed internet).

    In addition, every time I hit the site the browser memory usage spikes to the point that the browser becomes unstable. Try to hit it on an iPad and Safari crashes almost every time.

    They want people to pay for this?

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  16. Groupon (GRPN) just hit a 52-2week low, under $12.
    Was over $31.

    Maybe Gracia will decide to spinoff the Friggin' Chicken? Har har!

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  17. 2:24: Read harder. The writer at 1:44 plainly stated that "new carrier agreements being signed with wholesale rate increases."

    Obviously, the wholesale price wouldn't change if the rate increase was really just for the web/mobile component.

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  18. Wake up people. the top Dogs that are Doubling their salary's are Raiding the company..Why??? the end is near...they will be set for life...We the Hard workers getting paid low to medium pay.Lousy Insurance.we will be screwed...We are taking furloughs again to pay some one who already raided the till... now we have to work Harder for less to pay these Biotch's....Government needs to step in before we all are applying for unemployment!!!!!

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  19. Jim, this blog has gone down the dumps over the last few weeks, no facts, just a bunch of rumors. Lets get it back to the way it was.. also with less copy editors crying on hear on a daily basis

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  20. Wake up people,,,Our fearless leaders are Raiding Gannett...Investors, Reverse the Doubling of these salaries or your investments aren't going to be worth anything... BANKRUPTCY COURT
    Ring a Bell?? We are taking furlough's now to pay somone who already Has raided this company...
    Workers need to show they are unHappy about this situation..

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  21. I've got news for all you you self-important Gannett prima donnas. No one needs your asses any more. Better wise up. The paradigm has shifted. Yes, it has been revolutionary. Get over it...and move on. This web site bores me. Same old, same old whiners and malcontents. Old paradigm. People that just don't get it. So you've been screwed by corporate assholes...find a work-around. What a bunch of weenies. If Gannett sucks, why don't you grow some hair on your ass and get a job driving a fork-lift. I did.


    You're professionals. You're not bright enough to find another job?

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  22. QUOTEAt least you don't work for the Journal News---they hired people who don't speak English to deliver the daily....

    Good for them. Just like my grandfather, and we ended up just fine.

    This blog is really a hate-pit sometimes.

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  23. 5:57: "...why don't you grow some hair on your ass and get a job driving a fork-lift. I did."

    Thanks, 5:57. Great advice for professionals: too bad they all graduated high school. Although a little more information than some need to know about your ass...

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  24. 6:25 here. Hope my post is taken as dry humor.

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  25. I'm sorry, I can't attest to the IQ or literacy of Gannett staffers. I suspect it is average, at best...just based on the mediocre crap I've read in local Gannett papers,including some major metros.

    Methinks you overrate yourselves.

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  26. "This web site bores me."

    Sorry to hear that you're chained to a desk and forced to post here.

    /rolleyes

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  27. Wow - this blog... You're now eating your own. Must now be hosted by GCI!

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  28. More garbage from the Asbury Park Press and its indomitable leader Hollis Clowns. . . http://www.app.com/article/20120415/NJNEWS/304150026

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  29. 6:44.... Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not chained to a desk...but you probably are...for slave wages, I might add. Hope you enjoy the beat-downs from the knuckle-walking cretin editors you have to call boss. Suck up. Suck up. / roll eyes yourself, Pollyanna.

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  30. Jim has shut this blog down before not because of people ragging on Gannett, but because of the haters who are probably Gannett posters who have nothing better to do then to attack this blog.

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  31. 2:10, I'd like to wish you the best of luck in the future jobs you'll fail at. Anybody can go get a better job if they wanted but you should show some respect for those working through the night, 7 days a week, regardless of weather, despite pay cuts and drops in circulation. In fact, I hope you're in a circulation department with some authority and all the delivery people under you heed your advise.

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

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  33. 3:08pm, Florida Today's paywall is still active. I just went there and got a message stating, "12 free articles left. Subscribe today for full access."

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  34. RIF follows buyouts of last week at least at one Louisiana paper. Friend just gave me the news.

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  35. Here's an edited (yes: edited) version of 9:23's comment:

    7:52, he shut it down because he couldn't take the pressure.

    Much of that is self-induced. I laughed out loud when he declared he deleted a post because it was off-topic. Most of what appears here is off-topic from anything the sane population would discuss.

    He lost control of this place a long time ago.

    The bottom line is that Jim is insane. If he gets through 2012 without being committed, he will be fortunate.

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    Replies
    1. Or Jim could offer himself a buyout and then fire himself when he doesn't take it.

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  36. 9:43: Can you provide any more details? Which paper and how many people affected? I'm at one of the La. papers, and it just feels bad at my site.

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  37. A really talented reporter in Detroit announced on Twitter today that he was fired. Anyone have more details?

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  38. Jim,

    Have been away for awhile. Was it ever learned why Rudd Davis was fired? The "official" line was that he was allowed to voluntarily allowed to resign . Right - six weeks after he was named a "president", he quit. Just curious....

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    1. 7:31 Jim made it clear that he was too experienced to follow that story do he left it alone. He would rather write about Deal Chicken

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  39. 10:27, details? Are we just supposed to guess who this might be? How about a name? Or are you the fired person?

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  40. The carrier comments get to me. They are truly the unsung heroes. Reducing profit, lost volumes, gas prices, charges for errors, delivery in rain, sleet or snow 7 days per week, having to wait for late presses, having to purchase panda and bags and much more. There are spreadsheets that show that many are making $2-$4 per hour. But, they have to make ends meet, so they take it. Yes, 5% to 10% are problematic, but the rest are amazing. If you are posting something bad about a carrier, you haven't thrown a route.

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  41. Bands autocorrected to panda. They aren't forced to purchase pandas yet...

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  42. The two Jims - Hopkins and Romenesko - do good work to aggregate, blog and report on the collapsing news industry. They are truly independent and not beholden to corporate interests or being pushed around by bigwig peer pressure. Visit their sites often and click on their ads. And make your own lunch/coffee one or two days this month and send a contribution to Jim H.

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  43. Come on 9:43. We need more details about RIFs coming to a Louisiana paper. The situations at a couple papers here are already pretty bad. More layoffs?

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  44. No other details about RIF other than this friend no longer has a job. Will share as I know more.

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  45. 11:24, don't tell people to click on ads. That costs the advertisers money. People should only click on the ads if they have an interest.

    And who appointed you our adviser? Don't tell us what to do. If you want to waste your money, that's your business.

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  46. I thought Jim shut the blog down in the past mainly to work on his other blog about Ibiza. Whatever happened with that?

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  47. @10:27. Anyone with information about the fired Free Press reporter won't need a name to know who I'm talking about. And no, it's not me who was fired. I'm just a fan from another site.

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  48. Jim was actually on a 2 year furlough.

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  49. In other news, this USAT reporter editor cyberattack is interesting and is listed in their latest news well right now: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-04-19/vanden-brook-locker-propaganda/54419654/1

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  50. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  51. "It's like a machine gun approach. They're trying to generate as much online content as they can," he said. "The person who's behind this, we can give them a lot of credit here and assume they're very sophisticated about reputation attacks."


    Um, kinda like repeating the same attacks on Jim over and over to try to get traction? Pot meet kettle....

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  52. Wow, the obsessive "Jim is crazy" poster is back. Wonder if "no name/no business" is coming back too. Noticed that these and other sniper posters have been MIA lately and was wondering if they were let go by GCI as part of the RIFs ...

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  53. Latest outrage at Statesman Journal in Salem: Longtime sports editor Jim Day was forced out - not bought out - weeks ago. Color promos for his Sunday column still run in the paper. Today it is in the classified section. His blog is still up on the web site as well.

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  54. @ Anonymous 4/20/2012 8:37 AM -

    One can always tell when something BIG is about to go down because the attacks on Jim and his blog increases!

    Everybody sit tight, stock up on popcorn, keep your eyes peeled and get ready for the show.... I guess! LOL
    <@> <@>

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  55. Good story about Groupon's failure. I guess Gannett copied the wrong business venture.
    http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/bad-news-groupon-product-were-betting-future-doesn-130945102.html

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  56. Does anyone have names on who took the buyout in Westchester?

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  57. One day closer to throwing those who wouldn't take the hint and get in the lifeboat recently off the stinking, I mean sinking ship.

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  58. When does the real shit hit the fan at USA Today? Before a new editor/publisher? No way Ellwoodmhas the guts to streamline management until then.

    Too bad. Sounds like Martore wants to move faster.

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  60. Any updates?
    This is from a post on Wednesday, March 7
    Gannett may ask you to reapply for your job.

    This is from a post on Wednesday, March 28
    The FY2012 budget was set with an assumption that 80% to 85% of those eligible for the buyouts will take them. (My site had less than 50%) If we don't get enough to take the buyouts, group presidents will be directed to begin adjustments in the second quarter. If some sites or groups are lagging in revenue targets, they will be asked to trim payroll. These reductions will be scattered and varied.

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  62. 3:17, the Ibiza blog was a huge failure, just like everything else Jim has tried. I assume you know that, though.

    It's too bad the conspiracy theorists here never left. The 5:49 post is half-right -- the blog is worse than ever. But that's because the people posting off-topic crap have not been controlled, despite Jim's flimsy, silly claim in some other thread.

    The running trend through Jim's blog and other activities is failure. That's common with many people here, though. How many were thrown out in 2008 and then have done NOTHING to evolve? Quite a few, I'd say.

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  64. Amen 11:06 ... from one of those copy editors shown the door in 2009 and who has landed on her feet! I cannot believe the speed at which this company is imploding.

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  65. Ban Craig from Posting here!

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  66. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  67. Couple Publisher's let go this up coming week
    Lafayette, In.
    Richmond In.
    Appleton, WI.
    Great Falls Mo.
    Sioux Falls SD.
    Staunton VI.
    Mansfield OH.
    More to come in the weeks ahead. Corp has seen the light, that these positions are no longer needed, which equals a huge savings

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  69. 11:13 I pulled the plug on my Ibiza-named gay travel blog because it immediately became clear that start-up costs -- at least $50,000-$100,000 for the first year -- were too high.

    Since then, I've seen another, better-funded effort in the same industry fail after an even bigger investment by a more experienced technology entrepreneur.

    Plus, it was going to be advertiser-supported initially, and we all know what's happened with online ad rates over the past three years. I hoped to establish a subscription model for premium information at some point, but that wasn't guaranteed, either.

    If avoiding $100,000 in investment losses is a failure, then I'll take that kind of failure any day.

    Now, tell us about your digital start-up experience.

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  70. 12:15 I'd like to see some further confirmation on those publisher retirements.

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  71. Me, too, regarding the publishers. Especially since I work at one of the mentioned sites!

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  72. I can't speak to Jim's other ventures, but I know one thing: he has succeeded in great measure at being a major peeble in the shoe and thorn in the side for Gannett, giving us all a forum to vent. And I know for certain they are reading.

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  73. Speaking of Publishers gone, I hope they get rid of Janice Hasson
    at Westchester: Overpaid for not doing much.

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  74. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  75. I agree that Jim's blog has had an impact.. I am sure that Corporate reads everything on this blog

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  76. 2:10 Wishful thinking.

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  77. About time they are get rid of Publishers, At our site he is only involved in Advertising and The News Dept. everything else has been out sourced, or spun into GPS which they have no control of.

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  78. I was told our Publisher was given his walking papers today in Lafayette, Indiana

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  79. 4:28 I've just called eight different numbers in Lafayette's major departments and all I get is voice mail -- including for the publisher, Gary Suisman.

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  80. Sadly, the day may be coming all too quickly when all you get when you call any of GCI's once-proud properties is this:

    "The number you have dialed is no longer in service...."

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  81. Jim, your avoidance of losses is commendable, but it's not really a unique achievement that demands applause.

    Someone asked specifically what happened to your Ibiza blog. I assume the person was being sarcastic, but the reality is it failed. You might have all sorts of excuses -- just as you seem to have for all of your other failures, misstatements of fact, etc. -- but those don't change the outcomes.

    You know what would be really cool? If you changed your M.O. after the chain of failures, misstatements of fact, etc.

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  82. My publisher is a valuable asset at our site. She is a great leader, cares about the community and gets involved. She has personally made sales and we are better because of her.

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  83. I am interested to see what becomes of Deal Chicken. I saw someone comment that there's whispers of it being sold off?

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  84. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  85. 9:05 I'll have one of those, please.

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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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