Friday, September 28, 2012

Sept. 24-30 | Your News & Comments: Part 5

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41 comments:

  1. So, help me understand this. I just got back my Blue Shield explanation of benefits for the cost of my 'required' Biometric Testing. Blue Shield paid $17. I will have to pay $590.000. So...to NOT have a $480 surcharge added to my insurance cost I had to pay almost $600.
    What the fuck is up with that?

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    1. 7:37 you picked a stupid doctor. It's all free

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  2. 7:37 that has to be an error, maybe your doctor did not code the visit properly, I had to pay $0, annual exams/testings (those required this year) are covered 100%

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  5. Shreveport Employee...Gannett's Shreveport property was a good place to work "back in the day". Now there are demands of the Crystal Place that must be carried out no matter what. As a new publisher under Gannett and the "L & L" ladies Mr. Bailey had to come in with the big man in charge mentality to show them he was the right man for the job. What he failed to realize is that Shreveport advertisers does not care about the Crystal Palace but about the local paper. The community/advertisers supported our products because "back in the day" we had a publisher who supported the community, became a part of the community, knew the advertisers, did not have big man in charge syndrome, and engaged with all the employees (no favorites).

    We now have just the opposite. Mr. Bailey, PLEASE get involved with the local community, PLEASE support some of their events, PLEASE get to know all of your employees and not just the ones you see as special, PLEASE engage with us and not just at "your" monthly employee meeting, PLEASE get to know our advertisers!

    The Crystal Palace is 1,000's of miles from us and have no clue who we are. Mr. Bailey, you are right here with us and you have no clue who we are either.

    MR. BAILEY PLEASE HELP US!!!

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  7. 8:25 GO AWAY and subscribe to Gannett digital...

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  8. Craig Etheridge names SVP Digital at USAT/Gannett. Good guy...glad they finally promoted someone from within.

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    1. WTF? I thought this tomfoolery ended with hunke's departure.

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  11. There must be a reason Louisiana has been taken off the NewsGate implementation schedule, has anyone heard the non-official explanation?

    'Not wanting to impact the holidays' is a non-starter. Christmas wasn't moved a month early unexpectedly.

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  12. Gannett has moved Christmas to November in some markets to enable them to make their goals.

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  14. 10:11 - You can move Christmas to September and it ain't gonna help Shreveport's poor performance.

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  15. The love fest between Wall Street and Gannett's blue balls must be over. Stock is back under $18.00. That didn't take long.

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  16. Jim, wasn't today the day for the full integration of the "reimagined" USA Today website?

    Looks like old site still up.

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  17. 11:22 I believe the switchover isn't scheduled until tomorrow.

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  18. A Carolyn Washburn memo today on "digital refers" says

    "Remember Laura's best practice guidelines... don't write "more online" or "(topic) online". Give readers specific actionable reasons to go."

    Like her paper hasn't given readers enough that's been actionable.

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  19. 12:10, heh. The reason I always looked forward to Washburn's staff meetings was the entertainment value of hearing her mangle the meaning of words. It was also fun to hear her read the names of employees and mispronounce most of them. She must enjoy those meetings too, since she regularly sacrifices more than 90 minutes of everyone's productivity so she can stand in front of the "class" and lecture like a ... hmmm, I gotta be careful here because Jim doesn't like certain terms ... I'll say schoolteacher.

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    1. Really awful manager, even by Gannett standards. way in over her head in a medium sized, backwater market.

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    1. Why? Why do we have to work with such uninspiring incompetents?

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  21. 12:10 - We used to get the same time-waster at my former newsletter; I suspect is a company-wide malady. It's to be expected when LIttle Napoleon's are put in charge all over the USCP.

    (Oops, sorry Jim, I just went and offended Napoleon by comparing newsroom "managers" to him. Hope you don't spike this!)

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  22. "Little Napoleons." What a great concept. Let's seek nominees for the title and vote on a winner.

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    1. Geri Tucker and Tom Beusse.

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  23. This might have already been covered. Please let me know. That being said, where did the Purpose Wall go at corporate? The space has been replaced by big images of the new USAT logo. I guess balls beat out a purpose, huh?

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  24. (Cincinnati’s) ”Buchanan resigns from UC board”
    Nice start and why stop there...let the Enquirer be next.

    http://news.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20120928/NEWS/309280104/Buchanan-resigns-from-UC-board

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  25. Meetings were always resented at my site. Mostly they were just for the execs to show off for each other, see who could beat each other in the "We're all a family" sftick.

    Sure, we got ice cream, hot dogs (sorry for any vegetarians). But the meetings were ... well, embarrassing with each successive star on some way different page as if they had all flown in from different planets.

    I don't think nervous laughter is a good thing when livelihoods are at stake.

    Some attendees, the demoralized slackers enjoyed the idle time. Other who still actually cared resented the hell out of them because the time lost just meant working that much faster (flawlessly, without making a error) with the "No overtime" rule.

    I'd walk back to my workstation and listen to the two schools of comments.

    Surprisingly chatty, they, since at any meeting a comment from anyone beneath supervisor level — supervisors who with some thank-god exceptions excelled in the Yes Man world — was just not done.

    The saccharin emperors, these little Napoleons with no clothes, held the day.

    The galling thing to someone with long years invested, spent so earnestly, swas that while Gannett was always "Gannett," it was fast becoming obvious that the occasional corporate nuisance had devolved to a new standard, to a new legion of rank opportunists and effective sociopaths, not a single soul among them.

    I've read some posts on this blog from former Gannetoids. It's an interesting blog: it is a portrait of very, very sick company now. One doesn't have a considerable portion of disgruntled employees without bad leadership.

    But it's worse than bad now. It's a joke.

    I just thought I'd chime in.

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  26. Yes Enquirer President Publisher Margaret Buchanan stepped down form the University of Cincinnati board of Trustees to avoid any perception of conflict. She is still on the board for Cincinnati 3CDC one of the most powerful groups in the city of Cincinnati. I think she still has a bit of a conflict interest.

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  27. 6:40 is far more a symptom if what is "wrong" at Gannett than any of the things she complains about.

    Sorry, but managers having meetings with the staff is a good thing, and if they weren't happening the same person would be complaining about the isolated leadership.

    Similarly, the same people complaining about Wash urn's memo are the same ones likely writing promos that say "more online."

    It is an absurd world here at the Blog that in an industry without heroes, everyone has become the villain. Including the whining nothing-is-any-good-no-matter-what collective "wisdom" here.

    You folks are really as much a part f the problem as any clueless manager.

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  28. 8:04, that might be the best post ever written here at this declining blog. (wrote blob originally, thought about leaving it that way)

    You are right on all of that.

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  30. 6:40, I didn't see a complaint about Carolyn's ideas on refers. I see somebody having a laugh about her using the word "actionable," at a newspaper well-known for being successfully sued.

    No one says editors shouldn't hold meetings. This is about about a vicious, petty person who wastes staff time constantly with her ego trips, and not just in long useless meetings. Carolyn's bosses would shit if they knew how much time and staff productivity (read:money) she sucks away just puffing herself up on a daily basis. She's a great example of what's wrong with GCI.

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  32. 12:32 you sound like the bitter one.
    Calm down, dude.

    If you don't like complaints about management on the blog then stop coming here. It's been the place for employees to vent for many years.

    if all you have to say is the employees are the problem, you're on the wrong forum.

    Obviously you're a newbie.

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  33. 1:20 - But lately if you say anything about managers at the top and refer to whom you're speaking, your comment gets deleted no matter how benign the comment. It's interesting.

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  34. Way to miss the point, 1:20. There was nothing about disliking complaints about management.

    But you and the other chronic losers here have taken the complaining to a new level of whining. That's what 8:04 was saying.

    Try to read more closely before you post. Then you won't look clueless and stupid.

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  35. Like it's even effective to bitch here - otherwise Maryam, Hunke, Crotchfelt, Washburn et al would have gotten the boot long ago.

    We can't even get anyone to walk back a fourth-grader's balls email. At best you're going to make your target sad - but they're amused by what's on the blog, not worried.

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  36. If anyone here ever thought that bitching here would be effective, then that person was completely clueless.

    Amazing how some people here -- and I'd venture it's a few people repeating the same stuff daily -- think they are accomplishing something.

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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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