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Thursday, August 23, 2012
44 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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WTF? David L. Hunke gets an Ad Week award for destroying USA Today?
ReplyDeleteKeynote Remarks: Movements in Awesome
By Rob Schuham, Founding Entrepreneur, COMMON; Vice Chairman of Innovation and Strategy, Match Marketing Group; Founding Partner, Undercurrent
Silver Medal Award presentation to:
David Hunke, President & Publisher, USA TODAY
The DC Ad Club, in collaboration with the American Advertising Federation (AAF), honors one person annually who has made outstanding contributions to advertising and who has been active in furthering the industry’s standards, creative excellence and responsibility in areas of social concern. Recipients of the Silver Medal Award are recognized for their contributions to their companies, the general advancement of advertising, and the community and for their creative ability.
He's up for the Exxon Valdez Award, too.
DeleteAnybody care to share what the big meeting is at Florida Today this morning? Sure are a lot more cars there than usual.
ReplyDeleteAs a former Gannett employee,I read this blog to find out what is happening in my former long time workplace.
ReplyDeleteI have been gone for more than 2 years and I left on my own accord.
I was so weary of the constant stress,the terrible workplace morale,the constant wondering if this will be a month of layoffs, and on and on.That was a long time ago.I wonder how and why you all stay after all this time.Are you taking your check now and waiting for the layoffs so you can draw unemployment for 2 years?Do you think the corporate situation will improve and become stable and growing as was once the normal?
Do you believe you will be spared if a layoff happens again?
I am just curious as to why so many would suffer for so long and not get away,after all it is now just a job.
People need a means of feeding their families.
DeleteObviously you were not a writer. All is well with Gannett. We're just like any other company trying to survive in bad economic times. Do yourself a favor and move on. The loved ones around you will appreciative it.
DeleteLooks like Teflon Tony worked his magic at the CJ.
ReplyDeleteIs Fla. Today going to 3 days a week in print?
ReplyDeleteJim, please use your contacts to confirm this.
10:49: Be prepared to be blasted for your post but I find myself wondering the same thing. If you're in your 40s or younger, why do you stay?
ReplyDeleteBecause they pay well and there are not a lot of jobs out there. Next question.
DeleteAnd if you're gone two years, why do you still visit and keep neglecting to punctuate appropriately?
ReplyDeleteAt least you haven't told us that layoffs are coming, per usual.
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/business-news/the-biz-blog/185165/newspaper-investor-randy-smith-breaks-silence-to-speak-up-for-gannett/
ReplyDeleteChecking on 401K amounts this morning on gannett ehr website, noticed that pension amounts are no longer listed under retirement benefits, just 401k amounts??
ReplyDeletePension estimates were never part of the 401k statement.
DeleteIn response to 10:49:
ReplyDeleteAre you taking your check now and waiting for the layoffs so you can draw unemployment for 2 years?
Yes. YES. AND OH YEA, HELL YES.
Would someone please come and take me away ASAP.
The Idaho Statesman in Boise had an undisclosed number of layoffs yesterday. Many great people came through Boise while it was owned by Gannett, including Jim. I thought people would want to know.
ReplyDeleteWe suffer because we have financial responsibilities to our families and ourselves. We suffer because we need health insurance. We suffer because the economy stinks and finding a new job in the field we love is tougher than ever. If the job market ever improves, rest assured, there will be a mass exodus from Gannett, including USA Today. The hatred and mistrust of this company runs deep amongst many of its employees. There has been nothing but betrayals and lies by management on all levels over the last few years. We will never forget what was done to our colleagues and close friends by a company that didn't have to do what it did to the lives of those who were lost or even those who remain. This company laid off far more employees than it needed to. It burned bridges with its remaining employees that will never fully be repaired. And when the time comes, you will see people leave. Good luck to Gannett trying to fill those spots. Its reputation in the industry is at an all-time low, even amongst recent J-school grads.
ReplyDeleteJim, What's coming down at Florida Today?
ReplyDelete>>>Anybody care to share what the big meeting is at Florida Today this morning? Sure are a lot more cars there than usual.
ReplyDeleteIt's called a HURRICANE. Unreal, this blog.
The Florida Today is highly profitable seven days week and will continue to be printed seven days a week. To think otherwise is simply foolish
ReplyDelete12:42 because they look beyond your biased anger and see the future. They know what projects are in the works and they like them. You and your friends on the otherhand disparage every single new idea and initiative. Your glass isn't even half empty. You smashed your glass and then scream when you're thirsty. If you are working on the new USAT website then you are excited, if you are working on the Sports Media Group league partnerships then you are excited, if you are helping onboard the BLINQ team you are excited. Folks on your team hate evrything about those programs. It's actually quite simple, you hate the company and they don't.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Delete10:49 ~ "I was so weary of the constant stress,the terrible workplace morale,the constant wondering if this will be a month of layoffs, and on and on."
ReplyDeleteYep. The environment ruined my health — something that is 24-7, not just 40 hours a week allowed to be recorded.
That's when I woke up.
I had intended to stay, though, because while the environment was psychotic, my life has always been connected to newspapers.
I figured if I could last a few more years in Gannett's shit, its little cliques, I could retire.
That, of course, didn't happen. Gannett got rid of a lot of deadwood, sure (bad hiring practices by utterly incompetent managers, yet at my site the managers remained no different than than corporate board itself, really) — but Gannett also got "rid" of a lot of talented, sincere professionals.
If you're still young, and you love working in the media, get out of Gannett as soon as you can.
Good sound advice. Get going on getting as far away from Gannett as you can, and do on their clock whenever you can.
DeleteI stay because there are no jobs out there right now. I have to have health insurance and a pay check. Until something better comes along I am stuck. I apply for at least 10 jobs a week and I never hear back from any of them.
ReplyDelete.1:53--You are 100% correct! What the heck happened to this self-righteous idiot. He brought the Journal News to its knees, and he brought his schmutz to Kentucky.
ReplyDelete12:09...where do you get this from? It's almost plausible to see them go to 5 days, dropping Mon. and Tues. but 3?
ReplyDeleteBut then again this is Gannett we're talking about. Bettrer to slash and gouge the product instead of making it better...more sellable.
Headline of the day:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bandt.com.au/news/media/print-industry-facing-massive-shit-sandwich
Would you like a bottle of Evian with that, Gracia?
Missing Headline of the Day:
ReplyDeleteCBO Warns of Significant Recession and 9.1% Unemployment by End of 2013. Search USA Today for any mention of it and what results is zero links. Why?
In case anyone is interested – which should be all Gannett employees given how it derives its revenues and profits, a competent, fact filled story can be found at the WSJ link below...guess that's where Martore learned of it as well.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444812704577605153270293724.html
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteDavid L. Hunke ROCKS!!! Gracia? Not so much.
ReplyDeleteI find your comment interesting, 3:11. You are obviously not visiting the sites that Gannett owns. I am an executive who listens and constantly hears about the unhappiness of the employees who have been furloughed two to three times a year, whose friends have been laid off, who are uncertain about their future with this company because they can't trust what they're being told. I listen to the employees who were all told this would be the year they get a raise again after three years, only to find out that they were lied to.
ReplyDeleteGannett is a newspaper company that can't seem to get a newspaper out without errors. This is a company who doesn't listen to its readers screaming about the "passion topics" they are forced to read that they don't care about. This is truly a company that just.....doesn't give a shit.
You, 3:11, obviously live in the corporate glass bubble. Why don't you leave your bubble, visit the papers and try to improve the morale? Or, do you truly not care?
Uh oh. Banikarim is on a bitchfest because she didn't get that Hunke award. Better get her PR minions fired up and book her butt back on the road again for interviews, awards and those speaking engagement "honorariums" she covets.
ReplyDeleteThe Hunke award is amazing. This is the person who almost single-handed dragged down Detroit. (He had allies in Ellwood and Jenereux (sp?) Reason for the Sp? is she is really a forgettable person. I can speak firsthand as I set through numerous DMP meetings (usually unattended by Hunke) but chaired by Ellwood and supported by Jenereux. Truth is, 90 percent of the people in the room back in the mid 2000's thou8ght what they were hearing was bs and probably 90 percent of thise in attendance are no longer employed by Gannett. An absolutely horrible, nasty group at the DMP, aided and abetted by a bunchy of yes people who of course, have moved on to publisher positions or higher positions at DMP.
ReplyDeleteSteve Wieberg was college sports at USA Today for over 30 years. He got to cover 29 straight NCAA basketball tournaments and 15 straight NCAA conventions. Wieberg resigned last month out of choice to become a high school teacher near Kansas City. What made him leave USA Today? He hated getting phone calls at 6:30 at night telling him to be on the next plane to Dallas.
ReplyDelete2:57 keep up the pep talk your going to need it! Sounds like there is something you don"t know!
ReplyDeletecys is a good thing to do.
Several people have heard of this, were is your info coming from?
Any award that would be given to Dave Hunke is not worth receiving. The guy is a total bullshit artist who single-handidly killed this brand. Put that in the bio Dave.
ReplyDelete5:52 - not on 401K statement. Info I referred to is on gannet.ehr website under retirement heading, usually had 401K balances as well as pension amounts. Now showing only 401K amounts.
ReplyDeleteDear 10:49, Like most of those left at Gannett, I need the check. I work hard and watch that work get pissed on. I have to bite my tongue when readers ask me what the hell is going on. I embrace the digital evolution only to watch an on line update languish in Newsgate for 30 minutes be cause all the editors who could post it are in yet another planning meeting. Most of us are trying to ride out this jobless recovery. A lousy job is better than no job, since furloughs, lack of raises (even with an exceptional review) have eaten away at our savings. Once upon a time I was proud to work for Gannett, now, it's just a waiting game. Will I get a new job before the fiscal roof caves in?
ReplyDelete2:15 - Keeping my fingers crossed for you. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteSome one on here asked if you are staying just to hang on for a pay check then hope to get let go to draw two years of unemployment. That person may have received two years of unemployment but that over unless Congress and the President extend it for next year. As of January 1 2013 anyone on the extension will no longer be eligible and anyone not on them yet won't get them. So if your let go now you are only eligible for 26 weeks. Not much considering the average worker is taking 40 weeks to find a job. If what I read here earlier is true next year is going to be even harder than this one.
ReplyDeleteIf you left Gannett, what are you doing now, and is it wonderful? If it is, why are you looking backwards with such hatred at the company you left? Bitterness can eat you alive. Gannett is no better or worse than many employers.
ReplyDeleteHANG IN THERE
ReplyDeleteDo what you have to do. These are hard times. Start a small business on the side. Get a second job -- any job. Lot of people are.
And will not get better, in the near-run time. Look HP -- lost 50% of its stock price in 12 months. It is really, really bad.
Attack the energy/Chamber crowd long enough -- there will be no jobs. And as of last week, there are now 2,000,000 more job applicants in the pool.
---
" .. Once upon a time I was proud to work for Gannett, now, it's just a waiting game. Will I get a new job before the fiscal roof caves in?"
BRIGHT NOTE
ReplyDelete2:15, you could get a new EE or ME. That's GCI. Things could (and can) get better.
The GCI board knows investors are watching them and sales figures.
If the GCI pension fund dips just a few more percentage points in coverage -- the GCI board knows the feds will call. The heat is on.
Things can change. Day by day, step by step.
Save as much as you can. Find something to do that makes money and (hopefully) is a little fun - not impossible.