Sunday, June 24, 2012

June 18-24 | Your News & Comments: Part 5

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

44 comments:

  1. Who is J. Overman, and what happened to him?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Who is Larry Kramer, and why is he nowhere near the floundering newsroom or digital operations?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, when one is raking in huge bucks off the now-desiccated corpse of Gannett like some Diptora, why work?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kramer is at the bank with Banikarim and Micek cashing in their fat paychecks.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Maryam, what did you bring us back from the French Riviera?

    ReplyDelete
  6. If anyone here is working for Gannett, can you ask him why Chris Tolles is declaring a monopoly on hyperlocal news for Topix - Gannett is one of the owners of Topix - and claiming a big part of his successful "formula", is to keep costs down by not hiring journalists?

    Has Gannett sabotaged his own industry?

    http://streetfightmag.com/2012/06/05/topix-ceo-to-make-hyperlocal-publishing-profitable-be-a-monopoly/

    ReplyDelete
  7. What is with people from New Jersey? The Des Moines Register had an article about someone running cross-country. It says the New Jersey roads are littered with "busted glass and nails" (Needed a copy editor there) and that drivers flipped off the runner.

    Maybe you people from Jersey need to stop messing up the floors and start learning how to behave.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Looks like most of Wisconsin's sites announced the paywall online today. Except Manty and Oshkosh.

    Touting a digital experience readers should pay for, and they can't even get that story online?

    ReplyDelete
  9. If the runner goes to the beach, let's hope the shoes are puncture-proof. Gotta avoid those busted syringes and beer bottles.

    If someone is running down the road here - probably screwing up traffic by himself or with an escort - I'M flipping him the bird as well.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Appleton Post-Crescent announces paywall. I would guess other Wisconsin sites will soon follow.

    http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20120624/APC0101/306240097/Genia-Lovett-column-New-P-C-subscription-model-provides-full-access?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s

    ReplyDelete
  11. Perhaps the Fort Collins situation this weekend will begin to shine the light on the stupidity of decimating copy desks. The wildfires so overwhelmed the Coloradoan on Saturday that it had to enlist the help of copy editors in Phoenix. Not that Phoenix is bursting with copy editors these days, but at least it's in a better situation. Copy editors also were being sought for Sunday and Monday.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Appleton P-C uber-editor Dan Flannery has separate editorial touting more family-focused and watchdog reporting. Doesn't say they are going to do it with one-third the staff they had back in the day. I am all for a paywall but today's newspapers can't pretend to bring back the old days or try to be something they are not.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Where the fuck is Kramer? He needs to start getting his hands dirty.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Not huge news, but the Detroit Free Press is raising its Sunday local newsstand price from $1.50 to $2, the same price it already is outside the metro area. There's a little announcement on today's front page.

    ReplyDelete
  15. what's all the bitterness now directed to Larry Kramer about? he only just got here... he is the real deal and will give us a running chance? Its as if you guys dont want things to turn around? guess what everything takes time... and just getting rid of the dead wood (of which we know we have plenty) is a project in and of itself. give the man a chance. and frankly if you are still at the company give yourself one too.

    ReplyDelete
  16. what ever happened to Ed Cassidy. Everyone was always talking about what a good guy he was. Then folks said he couldn't do his job but that Hunke was afraid to get rid of him cause his wife and Ed were tight. Did he get another job?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Looks like Appleton's subscription rate will go to more than $200 a year...I'm thinking that's like double what it was (for a lot less content).
    Without subscribing you can still get free obits and 10 articles a month, and I don't see many Gannett papers in these markets with that many worthwhile. Plus, with all 10 Wisconsin papers running the same stuff, you can get 10 free each, plus get around the paywall by using Google or other engines.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Whatever happened to Jack Kelley?

    ReplyDelete
  19. What ever happened to Rocky Mortimer? Last I heard he was at a west coast paper.

    ReplyDelete
  20. What happened to Stoney La Douche?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Ed got another job almost immediately. He's a good guy and I'm sure he never looks back. Not everyone sits around hanging on the old days of a job long past.

    Only the blog likes to keep the ugliness alive.

    ReplyDelete
  22. 1:29 You can find Ed Cassidy on LinkedIn. He seems to be doing just fine.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Whatever happened to Derek Osenenko?

    ReplyDelete
  24. Who's making story calls at the Arizona Republic on weekends? Their centerpiece story on the local front was a feature about a school with a pet tortoise. 2000 people showed up for a vigil and protest against the local sheriff and they couldn't get a photo in the paper?

    News value aside, school's been out since May and the protest was a real event. They expect people to pay for six week old tortoise features? I couldn't even find a slide show from the protest online.

    ReplyDelete
  25. A young reporter I have been mentoring believes he will be receiving an offer from a Lee property in Elko, Nev. He is looking for advice on what to do, and I know nothing about the paper or the area. Any assistance anyone here can provide would be appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Cassidy was tight with Moon. When Moon quit it was only a matter of time before Cassidy got cut. Lavington tried but couldn't get rid of him. Micek's redo of marketing didn't have room for him so he bolted. Smart man.

    ReplyDelete
  27. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  28. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  29. What happened to Matt Sullivan?

    ReplyDelete
  30. Who cares about the ex Gannett employees. We should be more concerned about the current leadership who have no vision, no concept, no direction and no PURPOSE.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Last I heard Elko was best known for its down-to-earth, affordable (legal) brothels.

    And if that isn't enough for your young man, he seriously needs to adjust his priorities.

    ReplyDelete
  32. As Tropical Storm Debby moves into the panhandle of Florida aiming towards Tallahassee, that Gannett paper is all over it.
    They've posted ONE photo they got off someone's Facebook page, LOL!
    The local TV station, which of course is video by nature, had a gallery of still photos posted this afternoon.

    I'm sure they'll justify this in the next paywall price increase.

    ReplyDelete
  33. The paper in Fort Collins has done a great job on the fire. It has also allowed access to their website numerous times. I have been able to keep updated on the situation and it is reasuring when you have someone in Fort Collins area. Keep up the great work.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Re Kramer; people expected him to hit the ground running and get rid of the dead wood at a much faster pace. Especially regarding the disaster that is digital. A cosmetic redo wont cut it. Its about content and news judgement, both sorely lacking now,

    ReplyDelete
  35. Arizona Republic is doing some impressive things some might call "Thinking Out Of The Box", online stories covered in other media days earlier, print stories covered in their own newspaper days earlier, local stories as mentioned earlier without pictures and showing stupid stories with pictures in their place, see big turtle story in place of Illegal Immigration story. Someone mentioned last weekend that a Starbucks only had 5 papers at 6:30 which I saw today. Which actually makes sense, if you put out a crap product, expect to sell less of them.

    ReplyDelete
  36. The Republic's making plans for a paywall to launch in September, as well as steep hikes in circulation rates. Somehow, I don't think stories in June about a school with a pet tortoise are going to cut it with readers either online or in print.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Jim, how about tracking the daily and Sunday subscription rates before and after the rate hikes coming with the website paywalls. Someone above writes about Detroit, and rumor has it that my paper's circulation rates are going up 30 percent. Soon, just the 1 percent will be paying for newspapers -- or maybe that's the goal, because they'd certainly be attractive to advertisers.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Is Banikarim committing us to more of this waste of money with the Cannes festival?

    http://yhoo.it/L6VQf1

    ReplyDelete
  39. At my site, they shoot photo galleries of events they used to cover. That way, they can say they had a presence there, but unfortunately, it's a shallow one. The pictures are boring, shot by the B team, and they all have the same generic cutlines. And if the photog misspells his name, by golly it's that way in all 34 pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Anon@649PM: Phoenix's Giuliani-like sheriff Joseph Arpaio discontinued all jail visits with no warning, which set off the protest. Most Phoenix TV stations covered the protest.

    Don't expect hard-hitting coverage of Arpaio from the Arizona Republic or KPNX. Gannett has always treated Arpaio with kid gloves even when he sicced his deputies on the local alt-weekly.

    ReplyDelete
  41. @6/25/2012 9:23 AM:

    The editorial page editor/director is married to the sheriff's daughter.
    'Nuff said.

    ReplyDelete
  42. 6:49- Are you kidding me?? The Rag takes every chance they have to do hit pieces on Arpaio and The Governor- JJ Hensley is their own in house pit bull.

    ReplyDelete
  43. 6:49- Are you kidding me?? The Rag takes every chance they have to do hit pieces on Arpaio and The Governor- JJ Hensley is their own in house pit bull.

    ReplyDelete
  44. 12:27 is correct. The Republic got Hayworth. Then they got Thomas. They've been after Arpaio for years, but can't get a credible enough candidate to puff up.

    And NOW they're going after Babeu in Pinal County. But they face the same problem as they do with Arpaio. Heck, they're even running a re-tread in Bearup, who couldn't beat Arpaio.

    The RAG? EASY on Joe??? As John Wayne once said, "That'll be the day."

    ReplyDelete

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."

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.