Saturday, May 26, 2012

May 21-27 | Your News & Comments: Part 5

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57 comments:

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

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  2. The people that have been let go from the papers are not obsolete they were replaced by overtime, and outsourcing. There was a choice made to throw out experienced workers to cut cost. No decisions were made that improved the product, production, or circulation. Why should advertisers increase spending?

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  3. A US military contractor launched a disinformation campaign against two USA Today reporters who exposed the contractor as a Pentagon propaganda outfit. Yesterday, a co-owner of that military contractor admitted responsibility and said he would sell his remaining shares in the company.

    Score one for the good guys!

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  4. Sad to see my furlough week coming to an end. Has been so pleasant to be away from toxic Gannett even without the pay. And I got a lot of resumes sent out.

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  5. USA Today Sports group laid off a bunch of veteran staffers, including much of the staff's minority journalists. http://www.theroot.com/blogs/nabj/usa-today-lays-5-black-sports-journalists

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  6. On this Memorial Day weekend, Gannett wants to show you the true meaning of patriotism: boobs.

    http://www.bnqt.com/photos/photo/Star-Spangled-Banner-Bikini-Girls-Gallery/21317

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  7. What's the word on 3 Q furloughs for the GPS unit? Any one with credible information

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  8. Yeah, the first thing that comes to mind when remembering those who died while serving in the armed forces should be boobs. Speaks volumes about Gannett: pathetically cynical and low-brow.

    Sure, the holiday's meaning has been steadily diminished ever since the 90th Congress came up with the Uniform Holidays deal (three-day weekends) back in the late 60s.

    Still, one would expect at least some focus about the occasion's original, profound significance of remembrance.

    Here's a fun "to do!" Check out the U.S. flag in front of your location's site before noon on Memorial Day! The flag is supposed to be at half mast and then raised at noon. Don't be surprised if it isn't; be surprised if it is.

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  10. Up to Jim whether he removes that last comment, but I'll say this -- if you have any idea what Dave has been through in the last five years and you say something like that, you have no soul. (Yes, I suppose that means you're qualified to be a Gannett executive, but seriously -- take a look in the mirror, dude.)

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  13. 12:57 These were excellent journalists. Sorry you think that people only get hired because they fit a profile. Once upon a time, you had talent, loyalty and diversity. When you did a great job, you were rewarded. It doesn't seem to matter. Dave Morgan didn't even leave his office in Los Angeles to interview these people in person --he strung them along, on the guise of "re-org" then he laid off most of the minorities left in Sports. I think he wants to dismantle the USA Today Sports department for whatever reason that may be. He's in LA, managing who? What? USA Today Sports? No. His own people, whoever they are.

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  14. Did anybody see the memo from Newsgate last night that page proofing was delayed because of the high volume of pages? I know Memorial Day weekend papers were bigger than we've seen in a while, but they're still small compared to a few years ago and tiny compared to Thanksgiving's ad choked papers.

    If these Memorial Day papers can choke NewsGate imagine what awaits around Thanksgiving.

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  15. Yes, it was a slow and frustrating night all around for us NewsGate sufferers.

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  16. Dave is simply not qualified to run a digital news operation. Why? He has never been a reporter or editor. He's not even a good people manager. Spending time in the newsroom instead of his cloistered office doesn't change things. People are afraid of him, they don't respect him and they don't want to work for him. In other words, more of the same from the leadership that brought you John Hillkirk, Heather Frank, & an underwhelming cast of other C listers.

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  18. Fun to read this blog, NOTHING HAS CHANGED, just gets worse to worse!

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  19. "worse to worse"?

    Translation?

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  20. 11:50, no one is bitter or whining. What makes him qualified? The website is a joke. Who do you blame for the decisions?

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  21. If we're talking about Dave Teeuwen, then please, may he be the first one shown the door if and when Larry Kramer decides to clean house. If you're looking for reasons why embarrasing crap keeps getting posted online at USA TODAY, look no further than the inept children he's put in key positions as he defends his digital distribution turf and pretends that experienced journalists don't "get it." Send Chet Czarniak out next.

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  23. Anonymous said...
    It's is amazing the number of current and ex employees of Gannett that want to see this company fail, crash and burn. Ready to see the cracked Crystal Palace crumble along with all the drying up offices out there. Treat us like shit, treat the readers like shit, treat the advettisers like shit and we'll all strike back. Count me in as one of those many who is determined to end this nightmare from the inside out. A warning to the top brass. Watch your arrogant, padded asses.

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  24. Hostile? How about the 3:32 post?

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  25. The truth is not always pleasant, 4:47. Most people at USAT who actually know what's happening consider Dave T a complete non-entity. He only understands programming and metrics. He has not a clue about content. None. It will be damn interesting to see how the little "distribution" empire he and Chet built after the most recent reorg will handle a new publisher who seems to care about the quality of the content, as opposed to the volume and hyper-micro-managed placement of it.

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  26. We get it. Someone who keeps posting on here has a weird vendetta against Dave, a truly nice guy who has been through a lot in the last five years, and Chet. There are plenty of other people on the masthead I'd cut before them -- in some cases, people who had a really questionable rise.

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  27. As a former G A N N E T T reporter, I don't want to see it or any other newspaper company fail...I hope it can right itself, and start adding quality to its business plan. That's a long-missing element.

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  28. You think the Memorial Day crunch was hideous. Wait til the early Christmas Eve deadline papers, especially with only a handful of papers currently on Newsgate.

    As they always said at the end of the cliffhanger Batman episodes, "The worst is yet to come."

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  29. No one is disputing the personal hardships Dave or Chet have/are going through. Or if they are nice guys. And the comments are coming from more than a couple of disgruntled people.

    Fact is, the power split and arrangements made a couple years ago are not working. Nor is leadership or the inexperienced crew they have assembled. Digital needs to be run like a virtual newsroom, staffed by better quality amd more experienced reporters and editors. You can no longer do it on the cheap with fresh faced kids.
    You need people who actually know about news and content managing digital. That's especially true going forward under Kramer.

    Are there people on the masthead who need to be shown the door? Of course. But weve been at
    King the importance of digital through three publishers and have yet to get it right. The sooner we get a sophisticated web product up, the quicker we can sell ads and maybe actually charge for some decent content.

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  30. Gots to sell a HELLA lot of ads on digital to even come close to print, say 20x more placements than print to capture equivalent revenue. Yea, that's right, 20x.

    So digital only needs to grow the audience like 10-15x current levels, no problem, right Kramer?
    Good fucking luck with that!

    This is what undereducated, inexperienced and bumbling Finance managers like oh, Susan Motiff, or even our most esteemed Meritocracy Mumbler can't seem to figure out. Oh and thanks for the awesome dashboards, Motiff. What BS.

    Gawd damn, is this so hard to understand? The Finance never-weres are driving Gannett out of business, and thankfully their names are all over this rotting, stinking mess.

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  31. I was at a party in Shreveport tonight when the topic turned to how sad the videos are on the website. And I quote, "They look like they were taken with someone's iPhone with absolutely no editing." I was actually embarrassed.

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    1. Must have been a pretty boring party if this was a topic!!!!

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  34. Turn out the lights, the party is over. I don't know why people try. Why does this happen at a once great company. So promising then nothing. Why do people not want quality news anymore. My younger sister thinks the gossip websites provide real news. She has no clue who Joe Biden is. She thinks the stock market is evil and banks should be closed. I am in a parallel universe.

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  35. 1:19 a.m., I'm embarrassed too. I see "raw video posted" in my inbox, and that alone embarrasses me. I can't even look at the video anymore because they make me cringe. They get a few hits here and there on the web, but not enough to make it worth it. And we announce the launch of our paywall soon, and I'm already dreading the readers' reactions.

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  36. Dubow was a nice guy, too. Where did that get the company?

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  37. Some posters claim the Courier-Post is losing money. That's
    opposite everything I've heard over the years - the C-P was one of Gannett's biggest percentage
    profit papers.
    If the C-P were losing money, surely Gannett would only keep it as some sort of a tax write-off or
    have sold it by now.

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  38. Great post, 8:26! That's what I was thinking.

    There was no party, though. It's just this guy trying to throw something at the wall.

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  39. 9:37, you're right, we are all making this stuff up. It came up because they know I work at the paper and they were making sure I knew what a piece of shit it has become. It ain't just the employees that aren't happy, it's our consumers, too. Most companies would cringe at the thought that their customers aren't happy. As 8:26 and 9:37 prove, Gannett doesn't listen and Gannett doesn't care. Sad, sad state of affairs with this company.

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  40. Yeah, 12:51, pointing out your lie means we are part of the company.

    Keep those delusions coming!

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  41. 1:32 continuing to disparage anyone who posts negatively about Gannett indeed means you are part of the company. Why would you care otherwise?

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  43. I don't consider myself whining, obsolete, crybabies when pointing out that the public is complaining at a party about the poor quality of the iPhone videos. I, as well as anyone who reads this blog, finds it pathetic that no one in charge cares anymore. It speaks volumes as to why we're losing readership by the hundreds on a daily basis.

    11:53, you are trying so hard to turn the tables on the blog readers by making the people who post here seem like whiners. Unfortunately, you come across as mean and ignorant to Gannett's problems which, in turns, validates what everyone is talking about. Keep the insults coming!!!! The world needs to know how Gannett truly feels about and treats its employees.

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  44. Trying so hard, yet failing so miserably. Think of what he could do if he focused just a fraction of his time on his job. It could actually help improve the company.

    Guess we know where his priorities are.

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  50. 12:26 - I think you're the only believer in Gannett. Lauging my ass off! All anyone has to do is read an article or view an iPhone video to know that the papers suck due to bad decisions made at the corporate level.

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  55. "This comment has been removed by a blog administrator."

    No offense to those with legit comments, but lately this is the best thing I see on this blog.

    Keep up the good work, Jim.

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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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