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Tuesday, October 16, 2012
37 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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ReplyDeleteWhat's black and White and NOT read all over?
ReplyDeletehttp://houston.cbslocal.com/2012/10/15/study-less-than-a-quarter-of-americans-read-newspapers/
Deal Chicken has a nationwide offer today with Sharper Image. As of about 3:00pm there's only 266 bought across the entire network. Are you kidding me? If that's not a sign of disaster I don't know what is.
ReplyDeleteThey should lay off Gracia Martore That would save some cost.
ReplyDeleteBased on today's report, I guess Martore and Dickey will be leading Gannetters from the roof of the Chrystal Palace in a chorus of "Happy Days Are Here Again."
ReplyDeleteNow, about those raises!!! Yeah, right!!!!
Can someone nudge the person who handles the Enquirer web awake please. On the eve of the second presidential debate, the Enquirer has a story about last week's vice presidential debate on its home page. Nothing like making readers feel they are getting something fresh for their news higher subscription prices.
ReplyDeleteUSA Today has very few advertisers.
ReplyDeleteMary Murcko just hired someone else to do her job at USA Today so she can avoid blame when sales continue to tank.
Banikarim hired Murcko so she could avoid blame when sales continue to tank.
Where is the leadership?
Poor guy who just joined will get all the blame.
How sad is it that the corporate big-wigs can't even send out a message of sympathy to the Gannett reporter who was murdered in Florida!!! Huh? What'd u say? The little guys don't matter? Oh, my mistake. I must have forgot!
ReplyDeleteNothing new. Gannett doesn't give a damn about the employees. It's the culture.
DeleteNot every message is public.
ReplyDeleteSpin off the print business and let Broqadcast be a separate company. We're a money-making monster and the political ad volume this year is mega huge.
ReplyDeleteThat may happen.
ReplyDelete---
Spin off the print business and let Broqadcast be a separate company. We're a money-making monster and the political ad volume this year is mega huge.
TO: USA TODAY, USCP
ReplyDeleteFR: Broadcast
You're welcome
8:01 PM / 9:39 PM: Careful with the gloating. You're next on the obsolescence curve.
ReplyDeleteForget about content for a moment. Print, online or broadcast - who puts white type over a white uniform and thinks people are going to be able to read it?
ReplyDeleteSee the USAT.com shot of Mr. Manning on today's cover or sports front - two different heds on the same photo, both totally illegible.
PLEASE call the GIADC and they can tell you how to outline and/or drop shadow all type on a page so those heds are legible.
Doesn't anyone actually view the pages after they're uploaded?
Broadcast actually thinks its doing something special in an election year where billions are rolling in on election year.
ReplyDeleteTypical.
5:28 - thought it was just my browser, but I agree they've got to find an optional color for the type when the underlying pic is very light.
ReplyDeletePlease don't encourage anyone to put more outline type in GIADC ads. Sheesh.
5:14PM, are you talking about this?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pnj.com/article/20121010/NEWS01/310100040/Remains-found-Georgia-backyard-likely-former-PNJ-reporter
He was a former PNJ reporter, and he was murdered up in Georgia, not Florida.
Hope you're not on the news side, but I'm prolly wrong about that!
5:28 here - Kudos to whoever was awake this morning at USAT.com and added the graduated screen on the photos to make the overlay copy pop - great quick fix!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately it does darken the bottoms of the great imagery we sometimes have, but I can read the headlines - that is awesome.
SAN FRANCISCO—Mary Berner, the new CEO of MPA, set a feisty tone for the 2012 AMC right from the start. “I’m pissed because we have others hijacking our narrative,” Berner said in opening remarks here Monday morning. “By letting others hijack our story, it has become one of doom and gloom, demise and even death. And that conversation is affecting our business.”
ReplyDeleteInstead, Berner said, the magazine industry is well positioned to thrive, if it has the “balls and the chutzpah” to prevail. Changing the conversation, she said, “has to be faster, louder and with one strong freakin’ voice.”
http://www.foliomag.com/2012/magazine-media-industry-optimistic-publishing-s-future-amc
Everything about USA Today's redesign (print and web) looks dull and uninspired. Not that I am a big believer in lots of eye candy in news design, but USAT now appears like a publication/website where news judgment does not drive design. I am not sure what does. It almost looks like USAT, particularly online, is a few steps away from morphing into a Craigslist design.
ReplyDeleteYes, you can also count me as a hater of the logo and the print fonts that look like they came with some $50 word processing suite.
Who the heck is running the show over there, and who are you putting in charge of implementing these design changes?
1:34 sorry to tell you this but I live the new design. So we can gauge your opinion please share the newspaper websites you love.
DeleteTO: Broadcast
ReplyDeleteFROM: 4 year coincidence of Olympics & elections
You're welcome.
Is it possible that Gannett can give employee's some pay rises and stop furloughs before buying more of their own stock.
ReplyDeleteRevenue down. Leadership down further.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, I saw the old Gannett logo used with the latest political poll on national TV. The new dot was not. Apparently 100 percent use of the new symbol was outside Gannett's reach. Perhaps next year.
ReplyDeleteNo love for Broadcast from the rest of GCI? We're goimg to have a record year on revenue and will keep propping up the print side.
ReplyDelete2:17. For news design, I will take the Times or Post sites over USAT. Why? Because they better prioritize the news so that I don't have to, which is what newspapers in print or on the web should do.
ReplyDeleteNewspaper websites are different than other types of sites. A good design for a tire company site is not necessarily a good design for a news site. I can get into all the reasons why, but don't have the time right now.
Suffice to say, it looks to me like USAT, in its attempt to appear cleaner and more contemporary, forgot what it is and who its users are when designing the new site. As I said before, the paper is just as bad, if not worse typographically.
I have a fair amount of experience in this field, as you might, so I don't feel I am that off target in saying that the USAT design, from the logo to the site map, looks to be a classic case of someone wanting desperately to think outside of the box, but missed the mark and forgot many of the basics of compelling NEWS design, how users/readers scan and what the journalistic objectives should be on any platform.
Content is also a problem in that is feel "unseasoned" to me, but we will leave that for another day.
I agree with 5:28. The USAT website is not visually interesting in a way that is conducive to processing a plethora of news. Visually, the site shows a lack of restraint and insufficient contrast in terms of color (between light images and white-colored headlines) and size of photos. There seems to be a lack of proportion between newsworthiness and image size. As a result of these and other deficiencies, such as poor navigation, the site doesn't effectively direct the attention of news consumers.
ReplyDeleteA Lafayette Louisiana department head has left Gannett. Does anyone know who that was?
ReplyDeleteHate to tread on the Einsteins here debating the Web site, but the print edition has featured some awful mistakes lately.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, a column ripping CNN referred to HBO's "News Night" in a few places. Not even close. The show is called "The Newsroom."
Last week, the paper did a feature on sports injuries and claimed a Braves player missed the play-in game. He did not start, but he played in the game.
What is with these writers? Do they have any correct recall? Claiming overwork doesn't cut it, as one of the Einsteins said here recently. Start dealing with the bad writing.
In anticipation of people blaming copy editors for not catching the mistakes, I'd say that "News Night" thing absolutely should have been caught. The Braves player misinformation, though, is almost all on the writer. Someone assumed something and never confirmed it.
Yawn, I will say it again. Newspapers have had correction sections since newspapers were invented. Enough with the mistakes. It's a cheap shot given the history of newspapers
Delete" It almost looks like USAT, particularly online, is a few steps away from morphing into a Craigslist design."
ReplyDeleteWow, you have no idea what you're talking about.
Wow - and you do! That was so insightful. Thanks for that meaningful comment!
Delete7:44 it's certainly a truism that mediocre photos published big are simply big mediocre photos.
ReplyDeleteMy continuing problem with the new look is that it lacks news urgency and energy. It feels much to static. And that's death in the digital news world.
On the other hand, the new iPhone app is an improvement.
4:11 - There's love, but just realize you were the lucky recipients of fortune. It's not like you did anything completely new or different.
ReplyDelete10:18, flush. Down the drain with you.
ReplyDeleteYou can blame the "dominant photo" strategy for mediocre photos being used huge. That also leads to good photos being too small.