Wednesday, July 04, 2012

July 2-8 | Your News & Comments: Part 2

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.)

34 comments:

  1. So Newsgate gave us another fringe benefit break last night. Just what we needed the night before a holiday.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy Fourth of July. Not so much in Wilmington.

    Dickey's martini boy has peter principled what was a solid newspaper with a solid management team to the bottom tier of 82 Gannett newspapers. Sitting as he stated so eloquently to whats left of his management team - "we're dead stinking last."

    The man without a scent of self-awareness now manages five newspaper properties that sit at positions 78,79,80, 81, and 82 in revenue versus YOY performance.

    Michael Kane has thrown his trusted aid Claybaugh at one of the bottom five reporting to the Anchor Man to stop the bleeding and perhaps send a signal that the clock is ticking?

    Clearly on his way to destroying his third newspaper operation, how much longer before Ron Burgundy exits stage left? Stay classy Wilmington.

    ReplyDelete
  3. How many age discrimination lawsuits have been filed? And where?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Did Indy lose the contract to print USAT? Any one have some facts, was reported in the blog yesterday. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  5. To 10:12, age discrimination lawsuits in Indianapolis and Cincinnati.
    http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-24937-lawsuit_alleges_enqu.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. Just saw the MB video (http://yhoo.it/L6VQf1), how can a senior level person say "inspirational", "creative", "creativity" with a straight face while saying nothing. This is just terrible and another example of the sad state Gannett is in. When asked why USA TODAY sponsors Cannes she should of just said "we don't really know why we do things" which is actually what she fumbled around saying for 2 minutes! Here's a new tag line Gannett should adopt based on her remarks- "Think Globally, Screw-Up Locally".

    What's worse, I'll bet she's been highly praised for her remarks or will simply highly praise herself.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Here's the head on the big (lead) item on the home page of USA Today as of noon on the Fourth of July:

    "Midyear tax checkup makes sense"

    The Washington Post, CNN and NYT all have the scientific discovery of a one of the most significant particle every found as the lead -- indicated by both position and visual weight given to the story.

    Another day, another poor news judgment decision by USAT. I am not saying you have to follow the herd, but damn, USAT.com, a fabricated tax story with large art? Really?

    I am not sure what is going on in the USAT newsroom, but boy, there is something seriously wrong. USAT routinely gets beat on big stories or misplays them. It's making USAT look like it's being run by a bunch of third graders or people with zero journalistic credentials.

    This kind of stupidity will eventually impact the bottom line at the nation's newspaper. Not sure when corporate will realize that, but you can't have a national media brand always lagging behind or showing how inept it is at producing solid enterprise.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Bye bye Detroit jobs (via Romenesko):

    http://jimromenesko.com/2012/07/03/detroit-free-press-moves-into-gannetts-u-s-community-publishing-unit/

    ReplyDelete
  9. Someone in the previous list asked about USAT printing sites. The Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester took over printing from the Batavia., NY Daily News several years ago after many years printing USAT for upstate NY, parts of Pa. and maybe northern Ohio. It was a good deal for small-ish (under 20,000) Batavia. Gannett upgraded the presses there.

    ReplyDelete
  10. GANNETT sounds exactly like BAIN, You employees will be left in the dirt while management gets the pay offs!! WATCH!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. 12:16, I couldnt have said it any better. The sooner Kramer replaces dot.com's inept senior managers, the better. This has been going on for years, and it is critical that we have experienced journalists with news judgement making decisions regarding play and content. Ullman, Colton and Horwich, who should be proviiding input as newsroom leaders, still focus on print. They dont get the web and continually defer to those making mistakes on the digital side.

    The time for change is NOW.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The CJ reported it on July 2 in this: http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012307020074 that the USATODAY will now be printed at the CJ for our area instead of being trucked in.

    ReplyDelete
  13. maryam is quickly becoming an insignificant non entity at Gannett. Shell be gone within a year at most. Maybe after her book comes out.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Things seem to have quieted down in Schoolmarmville. What's happening, Cinncy?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Yes, Indy did indeed lose the USA Today printing account for the Kentucky/southern Indiana area.

    Nashville may have lost a few thousand too, but Indy is the big loser here.

    ReplyDelete
  16. The God particle story was all over the USA TODAY and others' websites on Monday night and Tuesday.

    USAT happily has gone on to other things. If other sites are still leading with it, that's THEIR problem, not USA Today's.

    Another idiotic and empty charge....

    ReplyDelete
  17. To 12:16, you made a faulty and embarrassing assumption about USA Today being beat on and not appropriately displaying the particle story. By noon, the particle story had been on the website for several hours. Please refrain from making hasty generalizations based on flawed logic.
    Also, the physicists cautioned that the discovery is not necessarily of the "God particle," but something consistent with it. The conclusion that it is the "God particle" arguably would warrant prominent display for a longer period. Your comments reflect poor reading comprehension and critical thinking skills.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Zanmiller was a fair man until THEY took his title, office, vehicle, pride - he showed his true color when THEY treated him like THEY treat all of us.

    And then THEY gave us Bailey and we are now doomed!

    ReplyDelete
  19. If I'm reading this correctly, USAT's web page is running a CNBC story based entirely on a Joseph Stiglitz editorial in last week's Financial Times.
    http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/story/2012-07-04/american-dream-a-myth-stiglitz-says/56000698/1

    ReplyDelete
  20. Just heard capatain Campbell is gay and coming out of the closet. He is giving all the credit to Anderson Cooper.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Did Gannett serve any pie for the fourth of July?

    ReplyDelete
  22. I'm not a Gannett employee nor ever was, but 12:07 was correct and I'm wondering as an outsider, what is the relevance of USA TODAY sponsoring Cannes? I'm also confused as to who that person was in the interview and does she have any training in speaking in public or in front of a camera? It sounded like she was told to use big words whenever possible.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Just caught up to the Maryam Banikarim video. What a crock, beaten only by the video that comes up next, with her interviewer taking to a scooter with a helmet cam, pointing out her passenger's favorite Cannes pizza shop.
    Obviously, Yahoo can't figure out why they're there either.

    ReplyDelete
  24. At the dawn of USAT, the newspapers for the northeast -- much of it, at least -- were printed in Westchester and Rockland counties in New York. In Westchester, an entire press line was added and additional color decks were built for other presses. In Rockland, across the Hudson River, press capacity was increased and color decks expanded. Back then, both locations were part of Gannett Suburban Newspapers, with nine newspapers with their own nameplates( and a couple with multiple editions) in Westchester and The Journal News operating in Rockland. GSN was highly profitable and The Journal News was the driver for that profit. But, robbing Peter to improve Paul, GSN robbed talent from Rockland to try to improve Westchester. Instead, both slipped. When USAT began printing in GSN pressrooms, Westchester and Rockland circulation and the USAT runs kept the presses busy through the night. But over a decade, Westchester circulation dropped, followed by Rockland's. USAT printing shifted elsewhere, in part to produce papers closer to their destinations and in part because the numbers dropped. Press crews, naturally, were trimmed. In 1998, the Westchester nameplates were dropped with all the local papers there consolidated under the Journal News banner. With layoffs, redlining of communities that don't generate ad dollars or circulation, fewer and fewer papers were being printed. With USAT gone from Rockland, that print plant was shut and the Rockland paper printed in Westchester. But even that wasn't the end. The consolidated Journal News outsourced its printing a little more than two years ago. The presses there were dismantled and more than 250 press operators lost their jobs. The building that became home to Gannett Suburban Newspapers in about 1973 and later became so ocercrowded that two floors were added is slated to be imploded in the next few months to make way for a high-end recreation and fitness complex. What's left of the newspaper staff will be moving into an office building (with many amenities) a short distance away on a road that was once called the Platinum Mile. But IBM, AMF, General Foods, Texaco and others have moved on, joined now by a once hugely profitable newspaper publishing company. Some of that was the evolution of the newspaper business. Some was the impact of the early 90s dip in the economy and the lingering recession. But some of it was the result of GCI plundering the Westchester-Rockland profit center and then allowing mismanagement for the last decade that couldn't figure a way out of the spiral. It's all so sad.

    ReplyDelete
  25. The clarion-ledger lost a valuable employee Tuesday and paid for it dearly Tuesday night.
    Keith Warren, newsroom IT guru, former Gannett Unsung Hero Award winner, finally got tired of having more and more shit piled upon him, found a new job, and told hurst she had run another off. He left for good Tuesday around 5. At 7:30, the system crashed and we missed deadline by about an hour. Karma is a bitch.
    Without Keith there will be many more problems like we had Tuesday.
    Also Tuesday, veteran reporter Gary Petus resigned. That is a huge loss for a newsroom that Whitaker/Hurst have absolutely shredded over the last 4 years.
    When the buyouts were finalized in April, Hurst sent an email promising more resources to help rebuild the newsroom in the wake of the cuts and impending paywall it's July and nothing has been added.
    Meanwhile, the most productive news reporter, the metro editor, the computer expert and now the top enterprise writer have all bailed in the last month.
    At this rate, there wont be anyone left to produce any kind of content when we start charging for our content.
    Memo to Dickey, marymont and Hurst: this is not a good business model. Quit running off your best employees. Quit shredding the newsroom. You should be adding staff, not still cutting.

    ReplyDelete
  26. 2:57, usat happily goes on to other things? seriously? Most of the time its third eye blind.

    ReplyDelete
  27. As a former Gannett employee,I am puzzled why so many still work for a company in constant state of RIFs. The situation at Gannett hasn't changed for 4 years and the obvious trend is that the layoffs will continue.Why stay? According to mainstream media, the economy is on the upturn and unemployment is going down,so why not leave?

    ReplyDelete
  28. Bailey will never measure up and the employees and the Shreveport community have noticed. This is what Corporate wants, third rate employees. The THEY you speak of can't tolerate having someone work for them that outshines them in every way because it makes THEM look bad. The company Zanmiller is going to work for can't wait for him to walk through their doors because they are growing quickly and they know how talented he is from his dealings in the community. Godspeed and congratulations, man. Trust me, you will never look back.

    ReplyDelete
  29. 4:36. Your comments reflect someone on the inside trying to protect their job. It's pretty widely known in the journalism community that usatoday.com has been consistently beaten on breaking news and tends to overplay stories of little significance. It doesn't happen every day, but it happens often enough to make seasoned journalists and serious media observers wonder about the qualifications of the people working in the USAT newsroom these days.

    ReplyDelete
  30. 5:34 I knew it!!!!
    Sounds like there could be some truth to that. There would have to be a big closet though!

    ReplyDelete
  31. 11:07PM


    are you entirely sure that the Unsung Hero didn't set something up to go off after he had left the building? Wouldn't be the 1st disgruntled former IT guru to pull that trick.

    ReplyDelete
  32. 9:01, is this the reason why you always ask about layoffs?

    ReplyDelete
  33. If you think Keith set that up, you don't know Keith. He was not disgruntled. He didnt want to leave. Loved what he was doing, until they made his job impossible. He was disillusioned, so he found another job. Many others doing the same.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I thought the game was always to succeed despite corporate interference but make the best of their top down, "we got it figured out" initiatives. Take the best of what corporate offers and discard what doesn't work in your market. Make your numbers, come up with some effective ideas and do some journalism worth talking about. If corporate gives you an initiative you can't live with, leave.

    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.