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Thursday, May 10, 2012
56 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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From American Journalism Review: Cutbacks with a Dash of Nonsense http://ajr.org/Article.asp?id=5320
ReplyDeleteNote that the one editor Rem Reider cites that did not BS his staff is not longer an editor?
Gee willackers. Free ice cream! Ping pong tables! Will they be bringing back popcorn? This sure is a fun place to work.
ReplyDeleteBring the sand and volleyball net, it's a beach party too. Gracia in a hula skirt!!
ReplyDeleteThanks to Salesforce (Our World Class TOOL) another rep walks out the door
ReplyDeletePlease keep posting when layoffs happen.There were some in Wisconsin yesterday and others reported. I find it hard to believe that these are isolated.
ReplyDeleteThere must be other under the radar cutbacks happening.This is the only place you will hear about them as Gannett no doubt want no bad publicity.
price increase letters haver gone out and cancelations have gone UP!!! WHY annouce an app when is it not even ready!!
ReplyDeleteThe Gannett way. Slash quality, raise prices. A winning business plan.
ReplyDeleteSomeone mentioned "app like sites" in the last thread, as a way to get around paying Apple 30 percent. I'm sure that will have the quality of, say, Newsgate and everything will work swell.
ReplyDeleteSo when will the "Angry Publishers" game app be available?
ReplyDeleteIf other Gannett newsrooms are like Des Moines, there will be no need for layoffs. Reporters and editors are fleeing to new jobs outside the company all the time. Occasionally they are replaced, but often they are not. Voilà - workforce reduction and the poor bastards who remain pick up the slack.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a cub reporter, I received advice to avoid working for Gannett unless it was at USA Today, and even that advice came with caution. The seasoned Gannett editor who gave me this advice had a birds-eye view of the inner workings of the chain. He said USA Today had managed to somewhat distance itself from corporate, but he didn't believe that would last forever. He also warned of blatant age discrimination at the chain and said to never think of Gannett or USA Today as a last stop in my career.
ReplyDeleteI should have taken this editor's advice 30 years ago because everything he warned of has come true.
At its very core, and often behind the scenes, this is a ruthless company. Don't be naive about that proven fact or over confident that your abilities and work ethics will save your job. In terms of loyalty, Gannett is and always has been the worst media company out there. They will work you to death and discard you for reasons that have little to do with your skills and a lot to do with your age and/or personality. If you aren't the teacher's pet, you're in trouble. If the teacher you've sucked up to leaves, you better be right behind him or her. If you hit 50 and have acquired anything more than a meager salary, you're on the hit list. If you try to improve working conditions or point out obvious wrongs (which at Gannett is called being a malcontent), you're history.
This is a terrible company. They lure you in with promises that they don't keep. They use you. They may even coddle you for awhile, but it doesn't last. It's a company without an ounce of integrity that instills the worst possible traits in its managers. Annual reviews are used as weapons and have little to do with how you actually do your job. Those who are resistant to being corrupted, don't last. Those who play ball do hang around like a cancer, impacting everything from hiring to firing to product quality. So the problem worsens because the will to get rid of these people and this deceitful culture isn't there.
Nothing has changed at Gannett in over 30 years, except it now can use the economy as an excuse to do horrible things to good people. You can often tell a lot about a company by the way it treats its people during hard times. In this regard, Gannett has shown itself to be what it has always been -- an immoral, mean-spirited, cheap outfit that can turn on you in the blink of an eye. They can pay to construct and maintain the Crystal Palace, but they can't weather the financial storm enough to not layoff of a single mom or a senior employee with few options for finding a new job. This, in essence, is why Gannett has "lost the locker room" and will eventually fail as a business in a more competitive era.
C’mon, Gannett doesn’t need better products, just better marketing...here’s Nine New Slogans to achieve success:
ReplyDelete9. M’m! M’m! Less.
8. Fewer Truths, Fewer Devils Shamed, All for a Few Bucks More.
7. Buy this Paper or Your Dog Gets it!
6. Affluent Readers Like You should Pay More.
5. Less is the new more.
4. A third less content really does look great at twice the price.
3. Newspapers. The first quicker picker upper.
2. Just read it.
1. Everything you always wanted. And less.
Our Cincinnati Enquirer is more of a community forum than it is a source of news and community watchdogging. Five to six days of every week, the sole editorial page is handed over to random members of the public to write first-person pieces about random topics or in response to recent news. It's like we abandoned the building and left the doors unlocked for any passerby to sit down at the editorial desk and start typing away. Buchanan and Washburn keep talking about the Enquirer's commitment to watchdog journalism, but when it comes down to it, the paper is now being run by the people we're supposed to be watching.
ReplyDeleteAt my local paper they've hired managers from other News Papers that failed in the area. Those managers brought in the same methods that caused the other papers to fail against Gannett. Now Gannett is embracing those same methods that caused the other papers to fail. They have conducted RIF's they say as part of GPS's next step. Now the paper is hemorrhaging customers, and advertisers.
ReplyDeleteObserver note: Gannett has moved to being a distant follower on industry trends rather than a distant leader. The new leaders are working to transform that position, but they are finding the teams called upon to institute new culture, revive the culture are simply worn out or long gone.
ReplyDeleteGannett has gone from the company everyone talked about as an innovator and trailblazer to struggling.
The pay wall, app raise the price situations are more of the same and modeling others. This is survival, and an OK job of it. If you want good employees, you have to give them something to be a part of and believe in.
That usually is a vision, a leading figure and a clear plan. Those leaders should have a cabal of key people from the front lines, a group identified as positive about the future. They will help carry water and the message.
USAT's health will be a sign of leadership's ability to devise a plan. Will it be filled with the same people who got us to where we are or visionaries in the industry. Please, go hire people from the industry headlines who see the future.
I like it here. Great wages and bonuses. Flexible schedule. Lots of electronic gadgets (I have two laptops a tablet and a phone that's smart). And access to suites and games and good seats to the Yankees. You are whiners. Good luck on your job searches! :)
ReplyDelete1:51
ReplyDeleteYou're right. I too get many perks at my location for all the hard work. Posters here are naysayers and bitter.
The extra weeks of vacation is nice too. Who cares if it's paid or not. Wonderful place to work. I should have stayed.
DeleteI really hate to tell you this, 11:31, but all media corporations are basically ruthless, all of them will break promises, all of them treat employees like crap and, well, the list goes on and on.
ReplyDeleteNo, never worked for Gannett, but I've worked for several others and they ALL sound just like what you described. I have no way of knowing whether Gannett is better or worse than any other, but, if so, it is only by a matter of the tiniest of degrees in any direction.
I've been in the biz at least as long as you and maybe a bit longer (37 years. I feel great pity for those who have been in 15 years or so, invested half a working life and now must watch it go down the tubes.
Interesting comment 12:46 as having joined Gannett via an acquisition it quickly became pretty clear the only lead it had was in papers it owned.
ReplyDeleteDespite its scale, Gannett brought higher costs to every area of our business, including newsprint. Where we had integrated, adopted leading technologies and oversight, Gannett’s assimilative near fief-like bureaucracies prevented all. Where we valued employees and encouraged collaborative engagement across all levels, Gannett’s management prowess demonstrated quite the opposite. Where we encouraged entrepreneurialism and openness, Gannett’s system rewarded status quo obedience, often punishing those who would even dare attempt any risks or honesty. And in regard to customers who this company needs most, their needs were too often an afterthought instead of being front and center. All are reasons why Gannett increasingly struggles.
Frankly, it’s a damn disappointment, more so as little has really changed and little will as many who created this failed culture are still celebrated and in even greater positions of power today.
2:19,
ReplyDeleteHere's the difference. Yes, Gannett is as ruthless as the others. But they also add ineptitude to the mix. That makes them worse than all the rest. To paraphase a great movie line: "Ruthless and stupid is no way to go through life, son."
Bravo 11:13! Great post! That sums up Gannett very nicely!
ReplyDeleteI just had my Ben and Jerry's Rasberry Chunk. It was verrrrry good! Thanks Susie.
ReplyDeletePS: I know the sad sacks don;t want you to know this, but the lines were long. But it was worth the wait.
Excuse me sir....may I have another?
And yet 11:13 and 2:59 you continue to work here. Somehow I don't understand that. You hate it here, no, you dispise it here, and yet you stay. Why is that? Won't anyone hire you or are you too lazy to get another job? Seriously how you can feel that much disgust about a ocmpany and still work here?
ReplyDelete3:28 - It's just a matter of time. Can't wait to get out of this hellhole.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post 11:13.
ReplyDeleteWell written, and 100% accurate.
Signed,
The 99% fungible assets (employees)
It's raspberry, with a 'p'. And those things that look like commas but hang up in the air between the n and t are apostrophes, not semicolons.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a little bit of journalism and the English language was saved by your absence from the keyboard; if so, I bid you 'Bravo!', sir.
3:39 answer my question. Won't someone hire a wonderful person like you? Why are yous till here?
ReplyDelete3:48 written like a true pompous journalist who throughout history has looked down their nose at their readership. Sorry I am not as educated as you. But that "rasberry" sure was good!!!!
ReplyDeleteFolks don't you love it when the only retort a snob has is to put the other person down?
It is business as usual here at pointroll
ReplyDeleteGannett’s investigation of pointroll continues with lawyers seen at headquarters
Sarah Ripmaster and Rob Gatto have been quietly talking to their teams telling them they will both be moving on in September 2012 after their bonuses are paid. Both have remained out of sight in 2012. We are told it is possible these leaders remains in place after September but only if they cannot secure new employment.
In a desperate attempt to keep sales reps on board management has lowered target quotas for reps. This news has leaked and reps across the country who have not been fortunate enough to receive reduced quota are upset.
Second quarter revenue is pacing below target and 2012 is shaping up the same as 2011 with three consecutive misses q2 to q4.
DG and mediamind are busy building a best of industry sales force with Andy Ellenthal leading the team, pointroll sales reps concerned.
Here in Chicago we love Tria and hope she becomes SVP of sales despite rumors that she is actively interviewing.
Clients that were promised audience data from the epic failure AK partnership have been let down.
Another pointroll employee has resigned and will be returning to the client side at ford. This employee was treated poorly and will not be an advocate for pointroll once back at the client
It's not brain surgery. The word was right in front of your pie hole as you shoveled it in instead of doing something constructive to secure your continued employment.
ReplyDeleteAnd knowing you were at headquarters, there shouldn't be any question that you should be fully literate. If not, stay out on the sidewalk and find yourself a hot dog wagon. There's qualified people who could do your job better.
Was Kate Marymont handing out the ice cream? At least that would be some contribution on her part.........
ReplyDelete4:12: "There is qualified people..." Seriously?
ReplyDeleteWe're watching a battle of wits between unarmed combatants....
ReplyDelete3:39 - Someone is hiring a wonderful person like me. It's just taken a little time to get all the details worked out. I'll be out in a month. Can't wait!!!!
ReplyDelete4:12 calm down. It's okay to be a snob and ridicule people who disagree with you. I am sure there "is plenty of qualified" people who agree with you. And as an aside I like working here. There are hundreds of committed, smart folks in Tyson's. Just because you don't like the leadership doesn't mean you should denigrate an entire group of hard working folks. Oh I forgot, you are a snob. I stand corrected.
ReplyDeleteyeah 4:36 of course it takes a month to decide to hire you. Please. Take a look in the mirror and be honest with yourself.
ReplyDeleteThis was funny until it got mean.
DeleteI have already been hired, 4:37, I just haven't given my notice yet. I'm saving that for the day I leave. Can't wait!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhy so much hate here?
ReplyDeleteWhat's at stake that causes people to speak so rudely to each other?
Oh, and as an aside, I realize my leaving on such short notice may put my site in a bind and may not be convenient for Gannett, considering all the people who have been RIF'd, laid off, or just plain quit, but I don't care!
ReplyDeleteWorking here is great. Good leadership, lots of vacation time, solid equipment and reliable resources. You are stinkers to post dribble. Just quit, walk out or resign. Especially the old ones. hee hee
ReplyDelete5:13 - Thanks for stopping by, Maryam! I too am walking out. Gannett sucks!
ReplyDeleteIt's Miss B to you 5:17 hee hee
ReplyDelete5:24 - When we're speaking in person it's Maryam, so I don't see the need for the formalities on the blog. hee hee!
ReplyDeleteYeah if you've got all the gadgets and "perks" I'd get a neck guard if I were you. You'll be on the chopping block next. Good luck with that.
ReplyDeleteI was in the Big House today for some meetings, and we got ice cream. Well, yogert actually. The lines were long, but it was well worth it. Just a little side benefit on the place.
ReplyDeleteRe. 4:45 PM: That's a very interesting question: Why are people so rude here?
ReplyDeleteWell, there are two main camps that post here: A group of bitter, angry current and former Gannett employees who feel that they are very badly treated. And another, smaller group of Gannett loyalists who resent all the vitriol that the first group spews.
Then there's a mysterious third group who seem to focus on personal attacks on Jim and many of the commenters. It is widely believed that these posters are shills, possibly even paid by Gannett in an attempt to discredit Jim and this blog.
I know all that is pretty obvious, but for newbies to this blog, perhaps its helpful ...
10:57, you left out some details.
ReplyDeleteThe first group is generally made up of malcontents who have been unemployed since 2008. They have no marketable skills, yet somehow they blame Gannett. They will never work again, so they have lots of time to post here.
The second group is weary of the dumb stuff that emanates from the first group.
The third group doesn't need to discredit Jim and the blog. Jim and the first group take care of that on their own.
12:28: You've still got it wrong. The first group still work for Gannett, hate Gannett and want out. Hopefully they're working on that.
ReplyDeleteThe Second group are the people who were treated badly by Gannett and are still waiting on their pensions, etc., because this company can't get anything right because so many people have been let go.
The third group are the corporate shrills trying to discredit Jim and everyone on here by trying to convince the non-Gannett employees who may be reading the blog that this company ain't all that bad. All you've got to do is check out our stock after we doubled the dividend to realize that nobody is buying that crap. No matter what way you slice it, this company sucks.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI want to know more about Group 3. Who are these people who are paid to write like 5th grade boys on the playground? Do they bounce from blog to blog posting one childish rant after another? If so what temp agency do they work for? I may need a job after the next round of layoffs?
ReplyDeleteGroup 4: Gannett toadies.
ReplyDeleteGroup 5: Craig Dubow defending his horrid decisions of the past.
ReplyDeleteGroup 6: Gracia defending her horrid decision in the present.
Group 7: Maryam defending her latest meaningless, self-serving interview in the trades.
7:29 - As layoffs and RIF's are happening all around us, if you consider standing in a long line for ice cream a perk, you're mentally unsound and belong at Corporate.
ReplyDeleteToday's Enquirer reports that Singapore is a city in Asia.
ReplyDelete