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Thursday, May 03, 2012
65 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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Does no one take any pride in working for Gannett? Seriously, knock off the attitudes and work to better the company.
ReplyDeleteThe Gannett ethics guidelines state that, "We will differentiate advertising from news."
ReplyDeleteCan someone explain, then, how the new "voices" area of azcentral.com, the website for the Arizona Republic and KPNX-TV, says it's a "network of community blogs and information" but turns out to be dominated by advertising and advertorial messages -- all without a word about this being an advertising area.
For example, the "spotlight" item at this hour is a post about "20 new things in downtown Vegas." If you click on the author ("Las Vegas"), you'll discover that it's from Harrah's in Las Vegas.
http://azcvoices.com/blog/2012/01/20/20-new-things-in-downtown-las-vegas/
What gives? Is Gannett selling its soul these days? Are the ethics guidelines that we have to sign each year no longer in effect?
You have bean counters running this company. They know nothing about ethics and journalism.
ReplyDeleteJust got done reading the accounts of the man rightfully shot by the New Jersey State Police, ending a car chase. Read the NJ.com (Star-Ledger account) and the APP.com (Assbury Park Press account). No comparison. NJ.com blew APP.com's doors off. I think I know which website I would pay for.
ReplyDelete10:25: No pride here. Raises are few and far between as top executives loot our checks and the company in general. Just markin' time until the June layoffs. See last year's June layoff victims for references. Pride can be bought!!!!
ReplyDeleteWow. Just wow. It looks like no one is monitoring the AZ site. The blogger lists in the other categories are disheartening. The politics category seems to have no real community voices--just mouthpieces for various parties and political consultants.
ReplyDeleteHey 11:05 PM it's worse than you know. The Republic's staff directory (http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/newsroomphone/byname.php) still lists people who left the paper months ago. Some through buyouts, some layoffs and some quit.
ReplyDeletePride in working for Gannett?
ReplyDeleteTo borrow from Larry the Cable Guy:
"I don't care who you are, that's funny!"
Gannett will be on the scrap heap of journalism before the end of the decade, destroyed from within, but not in the same ways as Knight-Ridder.
7:25: I tried that and was rewarded by getting laid off, as were many others.
ReplyDeleteAmen -- did that for 34 years!
DeleteCompanies still receive more loyalty than they give.
ReplyDeleteCompanies still receive more loyalty than they give.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't what Gannett did, it's how it did it.
ReplyDeleteMany longtime, loyal employees could have been treated with dignity on their way out if management truly cared about its frontline workers. Healthcare could have been provided in some cases, for example. Buyouts could have been more individualized.
Instead, GCI went about its business in an inhuman manner, staying subservient to tight financial targets no matter how badly some longtime employees suffered.
Other companies -- Advance, for one -- did a much better job adjusting to the new future. Advance reporters and columnists were given packages that only GCI publishers and editors could match. Apparently, Advance leaders felt obliged to make the transition as painless as possible for those most profoundly affected.
Someone at GCI, once the leader in diversity because "it was the right thing to do," should have stepped forward and demanded that "the right thing be done." Because that didn't happened, GCI's reputation is stained forever. Shame on the board that let it happen.
Unless I'm missing something, Gannett's commodity is information. Until now, GCI has made its money selling subscriptions and ads in return for information...aka news.
ReplyDeleteOdd, then, that more effort hasn't been spent making that info/news as current, deep and well-presented as possible. GCI should be dedicated to giving customers in the information they want and need when they want and need it.
So why is it that GCI is so off-track? Why is it that so much time and energy is being spent on delivery systems while the thing to be delivered on that system is being gutted?
GCI needs a top executive with a deep news background at the top. It needs to focus and it needs to get back to what it did so well in the beginning. Those already cashing in on the new age are those that maintained high journalistic standards -- The NY TImes, Washington Post and WSJournal.
USAT? Not so, which is the symbol of corporate's failure.
12:409 must be one of those people from 2009 who didn't understand COBRA.
ReplyDelete12:50, the Post is not exactly winning across the board right now. If you think this, then the rest of your comment has no credibility because you have no idea what you are talking about.
This means the comments at 12:40 and 12:50 should be flushed. Clean-up on aisle three!
While budgets are being cut across Gannett, Washburn in Cincy is on a spending spree to reconstruct the Enqy HQ. It must have been driving her crazy that other people had offices too, while hers wasn't grand enough or more the center of attention. The new layout will definitely feed her ego better.
ReplyDeleteIf you're not moving forward then you're moving Banikarim. Errr, I mean backwards.
ReplyDelete2:48 am, get your fucking head out of the HR sand. Many were tossed out of Gannett with minimal severance, no health continuation, stocks cut out, earned vacation time ignored, age discrimination, and performance reviews aand job descriptions altered without staff awareness. It goes on and on. Get yourself prepared and stop being such a Gannett ass- kisser.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteHuman Resource's role is to protect the interests of the company, not to help the people who work for them.
ReplyDeleteLet's fist be clear about that.
What they miss is that a company's people (employees) are everything in terms of how the company will move forth, stand still or go backward.
Pride in the product,pride in Gannett,pride in your work!
ReplyDeleteHell, that has been gone since 2008.
The layoffs hit and keep hitting.
In 2008 the profits margins were still great,and still panic layoffs.
Now, most sites are really in serious revenue trouble even after hundreds,no thousands of layoffs 4 years later.Now the print products are no longer viable.The experienced,professional newspaper
people are mostly gone and there are very few employees who could help bring the corporation back.
Top management has no clue about the newspaper business and therefore,no clue as to how to bring it back from the dead.
So more layoffs are coming.It's the ONLY and final solution that Gannett knows.
9 a.m., get some new material.
ReplyDelete7:33, get some facts. You are wrong on every count in two different posts.
Work shall make you free.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWork won't make you free, but if you work for Gannett that's probably close to what you're getting paid.
ReplyDelete(CP oligarchs not included.)
Gannett's business model is simple:
Take money out of the local markets and put it in the pockets of those aforementioned greedmasters.
Of course HR’s role is to protect the company, but its also to protect employees and the business units they represent when managers cross the line, a role some in HR who are still here knowingly ignored.
ReplyDeleteHere’s just a few examples:
• Throwing items at employees, even OC execs.
• Having zero respect for peoples’ time, that is unless yanking some even out of doctor’s visits for no reason is acceptable.
• Aggressively dressing down managers in front of even their subordinates, screaming inches from their face.
• Terminating employees without cause who if they fought it would find peers with far worse records that should have been fired first.
• Quietly allowing terminated employees to receive extra weeks of pay, avoiding signed severance agreements so the details of why their gone doesn’t reach the group and/or corporate level.
• Ignoring how overtime and comp time is tracked to avoid the obvious.
• Looking the other way when questionable, ethical lapses in business decisions are made.
• Failing to use common sense and even budget guidelines in administering compensation.
Allowing repeated acts like those and that too many others have shared on this blog over the years is how HR has failed this company and its employees and the culture that’s resulted is proof. Truths that some like 7:41, 9:07 et al don’t have the courage to admit even anonymously which speaks volumes.
Good news! We've been told by our group finance person to begin drawing up expense contingency plans (ranging from 2 percent to 5 percent). Thank goodness we're going to just be firing more people, rather than messing with those pesky furloughs (still in our budget for Q3, but Bob said we're not going to do them any more. Yea! More content initatives, pay walls, passion topics and, do you really need all those people in the IC?
ReplyDeletewhy is the gannett corporate home page not loading properly?
ReplyDelete9:41, all this POS company ever hired for HR directors were "Catberts". Or worse.
ReplyDelete10:46 p.m. ethics guidelines, you ask?
ReplyDeleteThey only matter for the peons, who do things like sign petitions to recall our lying, ethically and perhaps criminally challenged governor. Can't make a buck off it, so off with their heads.
Boo hoo to the poor publisher who got lambasted by our readers for publically chastising us. What comes around. ...
10:25 PM is definitely a troll. I guess I'll feed the troll. How can anyone take pride in working for an organization as corrupt as Gannett? I thought working at my last company wasn't great, but then I entered and was laid off by Gannett and realized I was actually treated like a human being with feelings at my other jobs/internships.
ReplyDeleteIt just makes no sense to be given a promotion to a new position, and then two months later get laid off. Why was the position even created if it was to just get eliminated not even 2 months later? Makes absolutely no sense, and shows that we are all just cogs in this machine that is Gannett. Not human beings, just replaceable cogs. Ok, probably shouldn't say 'we' anyone since I'm (thankfully) gone from this place that will no doubt be extinct before the decade is over.
The interviews are lining up on my end, so looking forward to showing this black hole of a company what they decided to pass up on.
"Enhanced website coming soon! Click here."
ReplyDeleteUp pops a real estate ad.
Huh?
Just recently started using CCI Newsgate. It was invented by Rube Goldberg, right?
ReplyDeleteTaking up a collection for Hunke's going away gift. Stop by any of the vice presidents offices. A suggested donation of $20.
ReplyDeleteTaking up a collection for Hunke's going away gift. Stop by any of the vice presidents offices. A suggested donation of $20.
ReplyDeleteI've got a present for him right here.
DeleteOWS HAVE TAKEN OVER THIS BLOG!
ReplyDelete5/03/2012 9:48 AM We've been giving the same marching orders on cuts and furloughs for 3rd quarter at USAT. There just is no end in sight for this.
ReplyDeleteRe: 11:31
ReplyDeleteIf only NewsGate had been invented by Rube Goldberg.
Sadly it never rose to Mr. Goldberg's standards. It was invented by his idiot cousin, who desperately wanted in on the invention business and considered NewsGate his crowning glory. He also invented $600 hammers for the Pentagon. That was the invention that caught Gannett's attention.
How is anyone supposed to take pride after the blood bath of 2008-2009? Gannett / USA TODAY doesn't deserve our pride or our blood, sweat and tears after the way so many hard-working, loyal employees were dismissed with virtually no thought or kindness. We'll do our jobs, but we will never go the extra mile after seeing what happened to our dedicated colleagues. The only way I will do anything extra is if it is related to getting out of here and into a better job. That sort of selfishness is what Gannett / USA TODAY instilled in many of us. That is exactly what this company deserves after ruthlessly lying about the real reason for layoffs that destroyed so many careers. The recession was a convenient smoke screen that allowed those in power to go after anyone over a certain age or perceived to be making too much money, while they padded their bank accounts and boosted stock prices. To believe anything else is simply naive. The bad karma created in recent years will linger for a long time.
ReplyDeleteOccupy Gracia's Brain.
ReplyDeleteLots of room for everyone!
Ms Martore will continue to "match expenses with revenue.'' That is: cut staff further, reduce content to nothing, abuse remaining employees further, and lard out the cash to herself and the rest of the C-suite until she can't get away with it any longer. Then head up to the Vineyard laughing all the way. On the corporate jet.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't anyone in the Ad department sell an ad for USA Today print? Are they trying?
ReplyDeleteSell an ad? Who reads USAt - it's a platform that is sinking and advertisers don't want it - plain and simple
DeleteI wiped my feet on one when I got to my hotel room.
DeleteIF Horning plays such a tremendous, instrumental role in helping Gannett manage its most important asset – its employees, then what message does Gannett send by letting her leave in just 30 days without naming even a temporary replacement all while Hunke’s departure, results in that and Gannett asking him to stay on to oversee a much smaller segment for months?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, decisions like those easily sum up Gannett’s real priorities.
Interesting to see sudden mass of ads for PointRoll on such pub sites as Mediapost, AdAge, etc. Last gasp?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pointroll.com/
5/03/2012 1:36 PM -- You'll have to ask King Lee Jones and Queen Maureen Consavage why they can't sell a USAT ad.
ReplyDeleteJesus Christ, just look at that stock tumble.
ReplyDelete10:52 said:
ReplyDeleteIt just makes no sense to be given a promotion to a new position, and then two months later get laid off. Why was the position even created if it was to just get eliminated not even 2 months later? Makes absolutely no sense....
It makes perfect sense! My bet is that you may have been in another job title/category with others that was deemed 'necessary to the operation' but when you were promoted into a new job it was later found to be 'not necessary' so you were laid off.
I've seen that happen at my property before and it's just another way for management to bypass complying with various labor laws.
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ReplyDelete2:21 re promotion to layoff. Yep! Saw that at my site as well. Brand-new position, lots of overwrought hoopla, then -- boom -- one morning that dude and his position were pink mist, and they loaded those responsibilities onto his assistant.
ReplyDeleteHey 12:40 AM I could not agree with you more. I was offered a SHIT Buyout that was worse then getting laid off after over 30 years with the company. They should have bridged longtime employees longer then a couple of years. In my case you had to be at least 60 years old to even think about the buyout.
ReplyDeleteAnyways whats done is done but it was not done correctly. Working for Gannett as long as I did I was not surprised how they treated us. I saw it happen to other people through out my years with the company. It finally got to be my turn!
There's no pride in working for Gannett. After leaving the company on my own terms for another job .. which pays better, treats you better and offers so many benefits .. you realize how awful Gannett really is.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, 1:18 p.m. Could not have said it better myself. Keep those great posts coming. As a matter of fact, there are lots of great posts today. Must have something to do with the crash of CCI Newsgate for the umpteenth time. Oh, bring back the previous computer system, please!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe Board of Directors and the shareholders should launch an investigation into the arrival of CCI Newsgate at Gannett. We are in the midst of another lengthy crash _ almost four hours. That's four hours of lost production time and four hours of late pages. That's four hours of people standing around doing nothing. Material will have to be placed into the system via e-mail. The crash will cost millions of dollars. CCI Newsgate is the fault of Martore, Dickey and Marymont. Each should be fired in an elaborate ceremony at The Crystal Palace. Think of the beating our coveted stock price is taking. Dickey can drive off in a golf cart after being canned. Whoever signed the CCI Newsgate contract should be forced to put a newspaper out on the system, then be fired.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI worked for seven different Gannett newspapers over 21 years. Without exception, HR directors were the weakest link on the OC at every one of those papers. And the weakest award goes to the former Shreveport HR Director. How she ever got several President's rings is beyond me.
ReplyDeleteI used to work with you and hon you we're no walk in the park!!! You should be the last to judge someone!!!
DeleteIf they get rid of the umpteen management hires Hunke made and the overiced, severely underworked Heather Frank team, there would be no need for furloughs. Now, as for staff reductions, if you are not producing or editing content or you are doing little of either, you should be let go.
ReplyDeleteAre you listening, Gracia? You can't have management bloat forever. Look at what most of the corporations in this country are doing. They are keeping productive employees and actually getting rid of middle and senior management as well as non producers. It isnt about settling scores and keeping ass kissers.. That's where you can truly cut expenses and keep some semblance of quality content.
Best regards.
If you worked for 7 Gannett papers, I feel very sorry for you. Two is too many.
ReplyDelete11:21, Usat's in house database not only long gone employees, but dead people, too.
ReplyDeleteupdating the photos should be the responsibility of Hunke's Director of Employee Disengagement.
ReplyDeleteYou know Banikarim's goons are out when they tell posters to get new material. We would, but you continue to provide a,ple fodder for us until we determine what you've actually done for the company.
ReplyDeleteTweeting like a 12 year old at a black tie event doesn't count.
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ReplyDelete