Friday, April 13, 2012

April 9-15 | Your News & Comments: Part 5

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67 comments:

  1. Hey, Maryam! Let's have a list of your achievements so far! Sandra, feel free to chime in!

    And hey: That new USAT logo. A dot. Really? Take a brand logo with worldwide recognition and change it to... a dot? Really?

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  2. Oy. I heard about the possible shift to a "dot" USAT logo two months ago.

    Are they really going through with it in the prototype? Does anyone have an image to share?

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    Replies
    1. Sounds like a retread Robyn Pence idea.

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  3. The paywall at Florida Today appears to have been turned off. Wonder why after less than a month in operation. Could it be that minimal content has yielded less than satisfactory subscription results?

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

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    1. Are they gettting rid of all the Hebrews? Josh, Monte Lorrell. Rudd Davis. all gone. Is this why Susan Weiss on her way out?

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    2. There are still a few of us left!

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  5. Wasn't this guy Josh fired last year? We haven't seen him in Digital since November!

    Who the hell is he going to advise?

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    Replies
    1. Usa Weekend deals. Heather Frank has big plans.

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  6. Yes, Josh was fired many moons ago, but they kept him on payroll until he found a job.

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    Replies
    1. Obviously, that didnt work out.

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  7. Very strange about Florida Today's paywall being shut down. I noticed that yesterday too.

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  8. What is your Gannett site doing to honor long-time workers retiring (being shoved out the door) re: buyouts? At ours, they got cupcakes and a $100 Visa gift card. So touching!

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    Replies
    1. What would you like to see them do? Please share your vision

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    2. And I'm sure the tax for the GC will be on your final paystub. That's the tacky way they do things.

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  9. Stacy Cunningham was the one who got Josh fired.

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    Replies
    1. That's BS. It was his decision to leave. Grow up

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    2. Yea, right. Like Hunke.

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  10. Anyone else see a definite negative post trend here? Are the Gannett loyalists cruising in Tahiti this week? I know at our site the 2nd quarter furlough announcement pretty much put everyone in a "I don't give a shit anymore" mode, that hasn't gone away yet. I look at it as one more week to spend with family and get trained for a new job.

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  11. 6:34 & 8:01 Maybe because they never got it to work right. People found out very easily how to get around the "free article countdown", not to mention the correct assumption that their online site leaves a lot to be desired. Late with stories, keep stories prominent for weeks.

    FT has the readership out there. It just has to get back to what got them to where they were not too many years ago...give them a product worthy of the price they're asking.

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  12. 8:10 Maybe not have forced those who still liked their jobs and wanted to stay, out the door.

    Apparently institutional knowledge counts for nothing these days.

    Bet there's an app for that.

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  13. @8:03: We gathered round the newsroom and heard stories about the old days and longtime friendships. Then the EE gave each "retiree" a framed letter from him, making sure to note it was not a form letter. Then he cut off an old-timer's story, saying, Are you finished? Then he announced a new position created to fill in for a "retiree."

    Then we ate cake.

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    Replies
    1. Let them eat cake!

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    2. Classy, EE. Very classy.

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  14. paywall is off in Wilmington too.....................

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  15. Ooooh more on the paywalls, er, "new subsciption models", please.

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  16. FT paywall working when I went to the site just now.

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  17. We had a 2 1/2-hour tribute to the dozen folks leaving the Cincy newsroom. A table of appetizers and punch, an emcee to introduce each "retiree." It reminded me of a roast. Other reporters stood up and gave presentations about each person leaving. Gifts were framed photos that were geared to each person's interests, i.e. baseball and other stuff.
    It really was a decent sendoff for what it was. The resounding theme from the "retirees" was lamenting that those who had been laid off did not get the same treatment.
    Afterward, about 30 folks met at the Moerlein Lager House near 312 Elm. CW showed up and basically opened her company credit card for beers and food.

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  18. Jim, put up the Huffington Post piece written by the kid fired in Wilmington.

    Very well done.

    Gannett should make this right. Where is our publicity hound Banikarim when you need her?

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  19. Would love to see the new logo if anyone has it. Speaking of logos and rebranding...look at the fine craftsmanship Maryam pushed through for NBCUniversl.

    Enough said.

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  20. Proof that there's life after Gannett:

    Veteran political journalist journalist Howard Wilkinson joins 91.7 WVXU

    http://www.wvxu.org/news/wvxunews_article.asp?ID=9950

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  21. 10 am I've added a link to his Huffington post here.

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  22. This Gannett paywall thing is such a joke. It uses cookies to track how many articles you've viewed (before you're supposed to pay), and can EASILY be defeated using any up-to-date browser:
    Chrome - Incognito mode
    Firefox - Private browsing
    Explorer - InPrivate browsing

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  23. I'm itching to see a new USAT logo and the necessarily huge promotional effort Gannett will mount to launch a new brand identity.

    Oh, wait...

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  24. I saw that Jim mentioned Mary Byrne's hiring in yesterday's comments thread, but it deserves more attention and more comment. Could it be that Morgan and company are going to be more open-minded toward hiring women and covering sports outside the NFL/MLB/NBA triumvirate than we might have thought?

    On the flip side, Marlen Garcia's departure bodes ill.

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  25. Y'know, I don't think the young man should have been fired but this part of his Huff Post piece is soooooooo telling about this generation's self absorption:

    "I figured someone had seen the post because it was on a public Tumblr page, a public Wordpress blog and I tweeted a link to it ..."

    As if all of us with busy schedules have nothing to do but "follow" your every tweet/posting out there in the social-media universe. As if everyone reads everyone. No wonder that generation never gets any actual work done.

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  26. Gannett is all about self absorption, 11:11. Reporters are told to brand themselves, get out on social media. And, yes, identify the newspaper they work at by name. Credit where credit is due, after all.

    Does this Wilmington News Journal guy have a healthy ego? Probably. That's something else Gannett thrives off, and always has -- somebody who gets an ego charge from his byline might not be as likely to ask for more salary.

    When all is said and done, the reporter was fired for doing what his generation naturally does: blog. He's didn't lie, he didn't plagiarize. He just communicated.

    His lawyers will love that he was fired for breaking some unwritten policy (or if it was written policy, it couldn't possibly have been conveyed to him yet). Yep, he may not win such a lawsuit for bragging about his new employer. But the press and attention he, and Gannett, will get will be fascinating ... I'm looking right now at how many Gannett newspaper bloggers incorporate their newspaper's mastheads into their social media chatter. Guess they'll be firing sports columnist (NAME DELETED) at the Cincinnati Enquirer, and metro writer (NAME DELETED) at the Indy Star, and, oh, who can forget (NAMED DELETED) at USA TODAY.

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  27. Bottom line is that he should have simply shown a supervisor what he was going to post before he posted it. That's as old a CYA rule as there is. For him to write in Huff Post, "Well, I put it out there on Tumblr and my blog page ..." is the height of self-absorbed arrogance. Hey kid: The rest of us are actually trying to get a paper out, OK?

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  28. It's not arrogance. It's naivete. It's how things are in today's blogosphere and social media world.

    Jodi Gersh, Director of Social Media Gannett, might think twice before blogging about her life at Gannett too.

    Maybe journalists are held to a higher standard.

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  29. Wow!!! #hireKrisBrooks is getting major support on twitter.

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  30. Another perspective:

    http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/how-to-avoid-getting-fired-for-blog_b12301

    Brooks did a silly thing, but in my opinion, the folks he thought would soon be his new bosses did an even sillier one. (In my honest opinion, I think they come off looking out-of-touch and overly cautious for a news organization currently force-feeding its employees the “digital first!” company line, and he comes off probably having dodged a bullet.)

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  31. No, it's arrogance. As in, "but I put it out on my Tumblr/blog/Twitter account ... you mean you're NOT following my every utterance on there? ... how could that be?"

    Plu-ease.

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  32. #hireKhrisBrooks on twitter.

    correction.

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  33. The kid might not end up being a good reporter because his judgement was self-serving but he's a helluva PR exec.

    Hire him to do PR/social media.

    He's WAY better than Banikarim.

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  34. From GAWKER (maybe somebody at the Delaware News Journal needs to think about the last time, if ever, they got this kind of national attention!)

    Top Stories

    By Hamilton Nolan
    Get our top stories
    follow gawker

    Newspaper Fires Reporter for Showing Mild Sense of Enthusiasm

    Khristopher J. Brooks is a young reporter who was excited to be hired by the Delaware News-Journal last week.

    He was immediately fired, because NEWSPAPER WORK MUST NEVER BE FUN.

    Well, that's what happens when you go to work for the top secret U.S. Delta Force. Oh, sorry, no—it was actually a newspaper. He'd been hired at a newspaper. My mistake. God forbid a newspaper editor's "hiring-letter quotes" get out into the world at large. That could almost be construed as news. And god forbid anyone see a newspaper's logo on the internet. That could, theoretically, lead someone to read this newspaper. That's an immediate firing offense. And happiness, about being hired into the newspaper industry? Sign of mental instability. Fire him at once.

    http://gawker.com/5901338/newspaper-fires-reporter-for-showing-mild-sense-of-enthusiasm

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  35. They did the kid a favor. He learned a lesson and is about to get a better job.

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  36. Kristopher Brooks has gotten more press for Gannett than Banikarim did in her first year at the company.

    The power of social media is far greater than a bunch of corporate press releases.

    Wake up Gannett.

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  37. Google has been known to fire people for same kind of shit.

    Companies hate the fact they can't "control" employees anymore, given the fast communication channels employees use for themselves: FB, twitter, blogs.

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  38. "Strange reading all the acidic comments about David Hunke. Back in Detroit, Hunke was considered a very good publisher who cared about journalism, not just the bottom line. The editorial staff actually loved him. If he could not help USAT perhaps it's because the USAT business model and gannett's backbiting culture in DC can't be fixed. No wonder nobody wants the job."

    Good luck finding anyone who would take that job, given the reputation of the place.

    Susie does not want the job.

    Best thing that could have happened to USAT was to be sold. But that time has come and gone.

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  39. 1:25, Hunke way way over his head at Usat. That's not the staff's fault. Well, maybe advertising. But that's Hunke's supposed strong suit. On a local Level, , he may have been a star, but he made a string of horrendous decisions here that will reverberate for years until they're unwound. Good riddance to him.

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  40. 12:04 is correct. The sleazy double standards for the have and have nots at this company are killing morale and productivity at many sites.

    They should make this kid reapply for the job. The Gannett way.

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  41. And GCI's krack marketing group has managed to get some press from Motley Fool's "5 Dumbest Stock Moves"

    "4. Gannett cans it
    Gannett (NYSE: GCI ) fired a new reporter at its News Journal newspaper in Delaware before he even had a chance to start.

    The publisher of USA Today and several local newspapers dismissed Kristopher Brooks after the NYU grad student reported the News Journal hiring in his Tumblr blog. Was his slightly amusing press-release-style post appropriate? Maybe not. Was it cool for him to use the paper's masthead and quote snippets of his acceptance letter? Probably not.

    However, the reason that the paper unearthed the release was because the original announcement was going viral after being covered by other parties. In other words, News Journal is firing an ambitious reporter who gets noticed.

    Gee, and you wonder why print journalism is dying."

    http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/04/13/this-weeks-5-dumbest-stock-moves.aspx


    Nice.....

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  42. Dave Hunke was also very well liked when he was publisher at the Democrat and Chronicle in Rohester. Never heard a bad word about him from anyone - from his direct reports to entry level folks. Makes you wonder if the poor decisions he's getting blamed for at USAT were not really his decisions.

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    1. Good guy. WRONG choice for Usa Today, but only one in a string of wrong choices. Susie Ellwood, clean up the mess. Fast.

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    2. If he wasnt making the decisions, who was?

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  43. Jim,

    Why do you let 7:50 a.m.'s post stay up. Somebody anonymously just calls somebody an idiot, and that's okay? Josh Resnik is a classy guy who deserves better, and it seems like you should be a better moderator of civility than you are. You're making it too easy for folks just to label their co-workers for whatever purpose from behind a curtain. I'm unclear what purpose it serves, but I'm clear on how mean-spirited and spineless it is. You should hold this blog to a higher standard, and you're the one who makes the rules and sets the tone, as any blogger does.

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  44. 11:43 is exactly right. The unrestricted name-calling here makes this place an embarrasimg cesspool, and a complete joke. The nobody is any good theme just goes on and on. It is quite unpleasant and near mass psychotic.

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  45. Hunke's bullshit might work on a local level where you're dealing with carpet stores and auto dealers. It doesn't play in the national world where smart people actually see through you empty promises, bravado, and general horseshit. He was out of his league. Good riddance.

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    1. Hunke thrived on the local level like many other publishers did in the good old days when advertisers had no other alternatives and there were more retailers, retailers and auto dealers. those days are long gone. Hunke needed to ramp up advertising at Usa Today. He needed smart people, not just MORE people in high places. Virtually every one of his big moves is a hugee flop.

      Nice guy? Sure. But his massive meddling has left the place in shambles.

      Delete
    2. All the veeps he installed should be very scared.

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

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  47. Here's an edited version of 7:50's post:

    From: Resnik, Josh
    Date: Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 11:06 PM
    Subject: Leaving Gannett and Starting a New Venture
    To: Josh Resnik , "josh@avidcapitaladvisors.com"

    As some of you know, Friday will be my last day at Gannett. Though I’ll miss working with the talented people here, I’m excited for my next step.

    I’m launching Avid Capitol Advisors, an advisory firm centered on fueling growth and development for companies in media, commerce, and technology. I’ll be building on my past work with early stage ventures by adding to my existing portfolio and expanding to companies at all stages.

    Going forward you can reach me at:

    josh@avidcapitaladvisors.com
    resnik.josh@gmail.com
    tel. 301-254-4192
    LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joshresnik
    Twitter: @joshresnik

    Please stay in touch!

    Josh

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  48. 2:43 You are right. I've reposted an edited version of 7:50's comment.

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  49. Agree on all the Hunke points. Local newspaper barrons could be weak managers or just plain dumb in the old days when they were doing 20-25% margins and the biggest decision an advertiser had to make was to run a full or a junior page. Printing money right along with the news print. This didn't exactly present much of challenge for Hunks....even at his abilities. Unfortunately, it's not so easy at USAT.

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  50. I'm not from the news side, but Gannett was my first job and it has been over 20 years. I am close friends with many newsroom employees. I'm with 12:04. Blogs, tweets, Facebook updates are relatively new tools for news, taking in to account that many Gannett papers have been around for over 100 years. Still, in a typical newsroom, until they eliminate all current positions and post new positions that will require updating blogs, tweeting, posting online, etc. (coming soon), there are seem to be no SOP's or quantifiable goals for digital. At community papers, Reporter's personal Twitter or Facebook accounts seem to be just hard news and all newspaper business or a hybrid of personal and newspaper related, or personal. There is not a clearcut hardline. But, the climate is to post, go digital, tweet, Facebook without specific regulation. It is a regular
    practice if you are thriving and morphing into the reporter of the future. To set an example of this employee seems extremely harsh. Many other employees have crossed lines online. In hindsight, yes, probably not the best idea. But, again, what is the expectation, what is the standard and what is the limit?

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  51. Anyone hear from Sandra Micek lately?

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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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