Tuesday, October 02, 2012

Oct. 1-7 | Your News & Comments: Part 2

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31 comments:

  1. If this industry is going to survive, it is going to have to accept that it either has ads OR charges for content. People will pay for ad-free content, or they will take it with ads for free.

    The years of having both, as in the old model, are over.

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  2. STATING THE OBVIOUS

    "If this industry is going to survive, it is going to have to accept that it either has ads (WASHINGTON POST -- profits slim)

    OR charges for content (N.Y. TIMES -- profits slim).

    "The years of having both, as in the old model, are over."

    Yo - NYTimes said that two years ago. Now ancient history.

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  3. CINCI

    " .. Surely, an intelligent person like you can discern the difference between serving on say a chamber board, even 3CDC [in Cinci], versus a board that will likely make key decisions directly impacting the quality and costs of health care .."

    Excellent, run-on 75-word diatribe that shows you are not a professional journalist.

    Those who are professional journalists with working brains know there are two sides of a newspaper -- the "business side" and "news side." Read the 8,000-word obit in NYT on Punch to try to understand. You probably won't understand, you're biased with a closed mind, but hope springs eternal.

    Maggie is NOT on the news side.

    She has NEVER been on the news side.

    She is NOT going to be on the news side.

    So the UC hospital union nags and their welfare-loving buddies here -- who think there is a bottomless pit of money for them -- have NO basis to ask her to leave that board.

    Jim, you got a lot of political hacks here. They are very stupid.

    And they don't give you any money, do they?

    Bozos. Yahoos. Phonies.

    What really matters -- next CGI Q report. Pension levels. Any kind of profit.

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  4. So many funny screwups at Cincinnati.com:

    Here's the tagline at the end of a Scott Wartman piece about the KY house races:

    "I cover how the actions of Congress and the General Assembly impact you. Read my blog at Cincinnati.com/blogs/nkypolitics or reach me at georgewill@washpost.com"

    I wonder if readers will think maybe George Will is writing for The Enquirer under a nom de plume?

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  5. Charles Everett10/02/2012 11:21 AM

    You can't beat Gannett when it comes to self-serving behavior. The newest commentator at WKYC in Cleveland is Jim Tressel, forced to resign as Ohio State University football coach last year amid a tattoos-for-memorabilia scandal that landed the Big Ten school on NCAA probation. Naturally the WKYC announcement omits any reference to his shady history with Ohio State.

    Coincidentally, schools on NCAA probation are not eligible for the USA Today college football poll which coaches vote on.

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  6. The award for Best Blog Post Headline goes to...

    9:19 PM as “Bull Crap Thinking” captures theirs well (a post they repeat as “CINCI” above) and here’s why:


    Late last Friday, Margaret Buchanan’s news team announced that she resigned from UC’s board to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. In her statement, Buchanan further shared that “the credibility that is so important to our news team’s work is my highest priority, and I did not want my involvement with UC to make it uncomfortable or confusing for them or for the community.”

    Yet, despite her valid assessment that same story also shared how she accepted an expanded role on UC Health & UC Health Services’ board as its Chairman. A choice that many question as the decisions of the board she now leads impacts the lives of far more area residents than the university board she left under the guise of perceived conflicts. More so now in light of the ACA, the implementation of which should be one of the more closely followed and reported on events in the coming months – at least by Enquirer competitors.

    Yet, that influence and impact is lost on some, including a less than thoughtful communicator who uses a unique style of posting to push their increasing opinions.

    Regardless, in the end, readers and advertisers (especially those in the healthcare segment) will decide and they’ll likely come to the same conclusion Buchanan did for resigning her university board work...that her UC health role appears to conflict with her news team’s work.

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  7. 11:21: So, you think the PR person's job is to point out an obvious and unflattering bio detail in a press release? You hold press releases to the same standard of journalism rigor as a news story?

    You DO understand how PR essentially works, right?

    Find something real to bitch about, ok?

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  8. Four years ago, Gannett got everything it could out of its newsrooms during the coverage of the presidential election and the big papers for Thanksgiving.

    Then Gannett turned around and conducted the biggest layoff in the history of newspapers, with 2,200 losing their jobs in the first week of December.

    Any chance that we'll see the same thing again this December?

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  9. 11:46,
    Good point, but can we at least have well-written press releases targeted to our core audiences (advertiser, employees, investors) and not the 14 "techies" who might understand?

    Anything else only bring further embarrassment to USA TODAY and Gannett.

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  10. To 10:16 AM:
    Yes, Margaret Buchanan is on the business side of things. However, if you think she doesn't have input into the news and tell the editor what do, you obviously don't work in the newsroom. She injects her views in coverage regularly. From 3CDC to the trolley to business cover and history, Buchanan has plenty of input and if you don't think so, let me assure you some people who tried to run the news operation without catering to her every whim are no longer there.

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  11. Want to hear David Payne's strategy?
    Micek is tweeting it out.

    Follow here:

    @scmicek
    #sm2

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  12. 11:21, big deal on Tressel signing with KYC. All failed coaches end up working for the media.

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  13. UPPER CASE LETTERS

    And cut and paste (ctrl-c, ctrl-v)

    Are poor ways to communicate.

    If you have a point. Use your words. Not
    Someone elses.

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  14. Micek should tell the rest of us instead of tweeting to the 3 people who follow her. Massive failure.

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  15. SO, CALL GRACIA

    " .. Yes, Margaret Buchanan is on the business side of things. However, if you think she doesn't have input into the news and tell the editor what do, you obviously don't work in the newsroom. She injects her views in coverage regularly .."

    Dear Ms. Health Care Union Boss:

    If you can prove any of this, of deliberate biased journalism in Hick Town Cinci -- then you have an obligation to hold a public announcement.

    If you can prove any of this -- the Cinci TV stations will eat it, alive. Will beat it, to death.

    And GCI CEO Gracia will take appropriate action. After all, Gracia wants her bonus.

    And if you are full of shit, and just spend your time expecting others to do your dirty work for you while you hide -- you definitely are full of shit.

    Is GCI journalism often lame? Of course. What would you expect from a bunch of corporate carpet-baggers and desk jockeys? Useful insight? C'mon, no one is that stupid, except Gannettoids.

    Even GCI is starting to get it. In NYTimes story about Burlington, VT, newspaper, editor pointed out the "old-timers." Who can find City Hall without a map.

    So -- Jim's blog is getting read at ChrysPal.

    Maggie's a Gannettoid. We're watching her. We're the experts on Gannettoid-watching.

    Have a nice, over-paid day, with 11:24.

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  16. Sandra Micek has been challenged on twitter as to the absurdity of a stat she tweeted.

    "Usatoday is "killing it" in mobile with 120pg views per user per session. Awesome engagement. #sm2 #newusatoday" tweeted by @scmicek



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  17. I was one of those 2,200 laid off after the election four years ago. I got a fantastic review that year. I was a loyal and competent employee who embrace changed. Yet, I was still let go. My job was not phased out. I was. Probably because of one or two people with personal vendettas and the in desperation mode to hold onto their own jobs.

    I wish I could tell you it's been for the best, but at 50something and in a terrible economy, getting laid off was far from a good thing. I miss being in a newsroom. I have had offers to go elsewhere, but all involved big moves that just didn't fit in with my personal responsibilities and desires.

    However, I have bitten the bullet, downsized my career and my life. I am doing something much different but am still able to utilize my journalism and design skills. I don't say this to brag. But if any of you are still out there, searching, or want to leave this horrible company and are willing to accept a few things that maybe didn't fit into your career plans, there are opportunities for smart people. Yes, it takes some luck and patience to find them, but they do exist. My dream is to one day work for a competitor of Gannett, but for now, I am content doing what I am doing and am far more appreciated than I ever was in my nearly two decades at the worst newspaper company in the country.

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    Replies
    1. Gannett continues to marginalize over 50 journalists. when the next round of layoffs hit, this company will lose whatever experience its newsrooms have left for cheap, inexperienced labor
      the kiss of death for GCI.

      Delete
  18. Can we please acknowledge that life inside Gannett is getting better? It's not where it once was, but we are back from the brink. Gracia is getting the ship upright.

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    Replies
    1. Sure, it's better. Like being the tallest midget in the room!

      Delete
  19. If you can't sell ads . . . give 'em away. Can't wait to see the winners.

    http://cscape.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/a-big-bet-on-creative-print-advertising-usa-today-offers-1-million-in-free-advertising/

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  20. 6:55 PM - How can you say such a thing when Gracia sat idly by and let the "blue balls" memo go out to every employee, never saying a word to address the debacle? I have spoken to employees at various papers around the country and things are not getting better at the individual sites. So how can you make such a statement? What exactly is improving?

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  21. IT GETS BETTER

    6:11, I've posted that just showing up on time, being accurate, and doing the job without bitching 24x7 gets you into the top 10% today.

    Finding a new niche is not easy; if it were, most people would quit today.

    Then, again, if you're surrounded by carpet-bagger Gannettoid-losers, there's a lot of incentive. It takes time, patience, and a belief in self.

    In the darkest days of WWII, Winston Churchill told the British people "never give up. Never." Pissing-and-moaning about the bunch of Gannettoid-losers and the plutocrats do not fix your problems. Producing stuff people want and can use does.

    Rent the film "Goodbye, Lenin!" Funny part is how, in the old days, the East Germans would bitch to their local Communist Party stooge. Then, the Berlin Wall fell, and they fixed their own problems. Funny - and telling.

    You are your best friend. Gen. Custer's boys ain't coming to help -- we're freaking broke. Just do what has to be done.

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  22. 7:11 p.m.'s rambling commentary is symptomatic of the continuing trend toward plain weirdness in the comments section of this blog.

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  23. 8:19, Jim sets that tone. He welcomes the nonsensical, non-factual posts. Many of them originate from him.

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  24. BREAKiNG: Albany (GA) Herald shutters press, paper to be printed at Tallahassee's Gannett plant; 26 jobs lost:
    http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/Local-Newspaper-Gets-Rid-Of-Production-Department-Dozens-Now-Jobless-172389101.html

    This broke on the paper's competitor's website, oh the irony.

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  25. I just ran across the website for gps. I hadn't see the exec lineup: http://gannettpublishingservices.com/company/leadership

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  26. 10:02 - And the only intelligent one in the bunch is Mark Winans for getting out.

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  27. 9:54 p.m.'s contribution exemplifies the bizarre commentaries increasingly populating this blog. I might have been offended by it if I understood what the writer was trying to say.

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  28. 8:27 - my question is how do you get 'health care union loser' out of the OP's post?

    Unless the guy is arguing with himself.

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  29. 8:27, your status as NOT being a professional journalist and Gannetteer is confirmed. Congratulations on being so dim-witted.

    And to all you anti-Cinci Maggie types -- either put up or shut up. You got proof she's abusing the Cinci Hick-town newsroom -- bring it. Prove how smart you are -- or how stupid you really are.

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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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