Monday, August 27, 2012

Aug. 27-Sept. 2 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

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33 comments:

  1. I'ts 8;16 on Monday morning, do you know where your Gannett Pension money is..................I do, out of Gannett...................LMAO

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  2. And for the complainers about bitter....
    Bitter why should we be bitter ?
    All Gannett did was ruin thousands of lives for the sake of a few percentage points of profitability.
    People,friends,co-workers who were layed off were not done so to stop the corporation from going under,oh no,they were layed off to maintain a certain level of,depending on site,profit margins.
    Those margins were upwards of 20%
    and not exactly scraping the bottom for cash.I have a friend,former 30 year press room manager who was laid off in 2009 when presses were sold,who is still not employed.Why be bitter ?
    This same story can be told thousands of times.Why be bitter?
    Not every business is run this way!Why be bitter? Hell ,why do you still work for a corporation who could give a damn about it's people who made them a once strong,mega rich corp?

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  3. Tropical Storm Isaac is washing over Florida and heading for the Gulf Coast, yet the Gannett-owned dailies won't lift their paywalls -- at least not for Florida Today. Meanwhile the Orlando Sentinel has lifted its paywall so everyone can follow Isaac without paying for a subscription.

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  4. I agree with the earlier poster that talked about the former pressman still without work.
    Yes, Gannett conducted its layoffs, furloughs etc. not to keep the company from going up, but to keep profit levels up.
    At my site, scores were laid off starting in 2008 and many were 15-, 20-, 30-year employees who performed with passion and care about the product they produced. Yet, they lost their jobs in the blink of an eye, found themselves unemployed in a recession with a newspaper and media industry that was flailing about because corporate types in the beltway got used to 49 percent profit margins at medium-sized newspapers or fastbuck types like Sam Zell bought major publishing institutions and had no interest in quality publishing, but did have plenty of interest in fostering their own goals.
    So please don't complain about the whiners or those who are bitter. If you have been unemployed for months - if not years - or had to sell your home at loss, you might be a bit upset.

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  5. Amen, 9:24am, from me and a thousand others who were pitched for profits. The best thing we can do is make sure to inform current and potential subscribers and advertisers in the local markets about Gannett's anti-local, destructive way of doing business.

    Judging my the numbers they report, it's clear that's been happening.

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  6. 9:24...there are still sites in other markets looking for press room operators/managers. I know Sayre, PA is looking if your friend is interested in that area.

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  7. Good post, 9:24. I concur. It didn't have to be that way. Gannett and its flagship, USA Today, threw people overboard out of panic and greed. Yes, some lives were ruined. Maybe some improved after they got back on their feet, but I am sure that is a small minority. The vast majority of layoffs were bordering on criminal. The victims were people who for the most part came to work every day, worked into the wee hours, put the product above office politics and sometimes their own health. And what was their reward? To be thrown out during the worst economic times of our lives and, in many cases, at a age where career and financial recovery were almost impossible. And don't forget the people who were left behind, now doing the jobs of two or three people. No picnic for them either.

    If you need an example of the worst aspects of Corporate America, look no further than Gannett. You'd be hard pressed to find a company that treats its employees worse and disposes of them without blinking an eye.

    Some managers within Gannett try to play the warm and fuzzy game, acting like they are in your corner, but we've seen what falling for that con job brings. A sense of betrayal.

    Ask yourself this. Have you ever met an ex-Gannettoid with anything good to say about this company? Unless they were some pampered, six-figure salary kiss ass in the Crystal Palace, I doubt it. That should speak volumes about this company. You might come in with a smile on your face, but odds are you aren't going out that way.

    I always judge an employer by what former employees -- with nothing invested in it anymore --have to say about it. Gannett and USAT fail that test miserably 9-out-of-10 times. It's not sour grapes. It's reality. This company stinks and has always been ruthless.

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  8. I have not heard from one ex employee that they wish they were back at USAT. Sure, being out of work was tough for a while, but once they found a new job, they realized what a toxic environment this really is.

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    Replies
    1. 2:31 how is it toxic? You print a paper five days a week a d get paid double what your seven day a week peers earn! I think we know who is toxic

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  9. I'm genuinely curious:

    Do people here believe that, if no layoffs had occurred between 2007-11, Gannett today would be seeing profits of around 15 percent (as opposed to 30 percent), and that as long as the company had been willing to accept that profit margin, layoffs could have been averted?

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  10. What does that say about Williams and Mayman dumping Gannett stock...and then it dives?

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    Replies
    1. It hasnt taken a dive...yet.

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  11. 2:59 have you ever worked for a public company that decided lower profits were okay and that Wall Street and institutional investors were okay with that? Please enlighten us.

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  12. ON PORPOISE (WALL)

    Why all the recent yapping from "the editor's desk" in the shit-kicker newspapers?

    IMHO, it must be some "brand-creation" BS from the new marketing folks. Part of this year's annual objectives. Either blather or get out.

    At some SK papers, there are enough locals left, the CUSTOMER knows they are not getting the WalMartNews approach. There are PROFITS.

    At others - good f'ing luck. F'ing grim, when the TV stations have more experienced people with more LOCAL knowledge. NO PROFITS.

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  13. Gannett is a dying company, that is supporting its bottom line by layoffs, furloughs and selling assets. Is that how a truly innovative business operates or one that is desperate for survival. It drives me crazy that NO ONE at those quarterly financial reports calls Gannett out on this. Even if they didn't answer it would point out the elephant in the room. Just saying.

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  14. Jim,
    Did I miss the post on the Indy Star? Hearing this is the week they announce managerial changes, if there are any.

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  15. Two things 3:41 PM:

    Their option strike prices, their expected GCI growth rate and their respective expiration windows for those options obviously led both to conclusions that it’s a good time to do it.

    Obama’s tax plans is the other as if he’s successful, it will force anyone whose total income (including exercising options, stock sales, dividend gains, etc.) exceeds his target amount - even once, to consider doing it before they take effect because once they do, it goes back to dollar one earned (ACA alone will take 0.9% more) significantly cutting into any gains.

    As this is presumably an educated lot, let me pre-empt any rants that it affects only top earners as you don’t have to be a high-roller to be impacted by it.

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  16. 2:59 pm. You conveniently left out the part that the profits were a result of CUTS ONLY.

    Cutting people, services, products, benefits, etc.

    Nothing incremental came in.

    How stupid do you think we are? Go troll elsewhere, you corporate hack.

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  17. 3:41 the whole stock market dove. Don't you follow the market?

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  18. 3:14, why not cash in now? The options are handouts for going along with this non strategy of cutting the most experienced professionals, throwing millions at silly acqusitions and hires, and bullshitting investors.

    Do any of these people ever sweat about anything work related other than now having to buy lunch like the rest of us?

    This is how Gannett's 1% rolls, yo!

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  19. 9:29-you are telling me District Managers make 17K at dailies, since you say I make double that at USA Today. I call BS.

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  20. CORRECT

    Yes, that makes absolute sense. And why did they NOT make that clear? Amateurs.

    " .. Their option strike prices, their expected GCI growth rate and their respective expiration windows for those options obviously led both to conclusions that it’s a good time to do it .."

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  21. If you need to know the definition of "toxic workplace" you must not have been around at your site pre-Gannett takeover.Or you must not have been at your pre-this regime.The workplace was filled with loyal,hardworking people everywhere in the building ,morale was great,people loved coming to work.Enjoyed the work,did the best job possible ,never cutting corners.
    Because back then,it was the "newspaper business"now it's bean counter accountants who run the show and know nothing about the news business.

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  22. 8:07 I've been in the business a long time and trust me newsroom staff have been complaining about anything and everything since the dawn of the industry. Don't try and paint a Pollyana picture of then and now. You all have always been unhappy. That's a fact. You just hate that youa re not worshipped anymore.

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  23. WTF?

    " .. This is how Gannett's 1% rolls, yo!"

    How many people get hired, saying stuff like that?

    Answer: none. Zero. Nada.

    You have to help yourself. After the election, the shit really hits the fan.

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  24. 9:29,
    Exactly what I meant...toxic! I doubt many on this blog need that explained.

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  25. 10:26 you obviously havent been around the crystal palace
    digital crew, or the team of t shirted, flip flop wearing designers on the second floor, or the youngsters that populate the rest of the building. You have not read the unintelligble posts by the kids in Sports. They are everywhere, dressing down, spouting off, and feeling good that they have not had to pay any dues at shitkickers places to get here.

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  26. 10:16 here. Obviously, you didnt get the humor in my remarks. Do you understand the rest of the post, or do I have to explain it to you?

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  27. Thank you, 9:25, 10:59 and 1:07 for explaining so well as to why there are so many ex-employees bitter towards Gannett. I guess they don't know what empathy is. Just imagine that YOU were a top performing employee, dedicated, loyal, with the company 20+ years, etc. Now you are in your early 50s and laid off in the worst economy since the great depression. And your entire career of working in the newspaper industry is a joke to other companies and the newspaper you worked for has a horrible reputation in your community. So you are losing your home and walking on egg shells since you have no longer can afford medical coverage. You'll never be able to pay for your kids college tuition since those funds are now gone. You just hope you can make it to retirement. Gee, so sorry if some of us are bitter and bringing you down. Maybe Jim should make a separate forum for the DELUSIONAL folks who have no empathy. Crazy that they can't see that their jobs are just as much at risk as the rest of us bitter people.

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  28. I have worked at Companies before in different industries that were in decline at the time. I was never part of a lay off until I came to a Gannett paper. The Companies I worked for before rode out the storm thinking that better days were ahead or they were bought up by other Companies. They did not cut themselves out of business.

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  29. 12:01, you've obviously never been around the OWS crowd. They can't program -- totally useless.

    As for the USAT programming crew -- what goes up, can come down, hard. They're on the Titanic, where anything can go wrong. As this year's Beloit College college freshman survey noted, Gen Y has never seen steady employment like the old IBM or GM (ha!).

    And most of them are also working on something on the side. Which is what all Gannetteers ought to be doing.

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  30. For the record, papers in the Gulf region did drop the paywall for their desktop and mobile sites.

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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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