Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Oct. 22-28 | Your News & Comments: Part 2

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40 comments:

  1. Usa Today is foundering. Website traffic is down. Circulation is down. No one understands the blue ball. Why is Banikarim's team sitting on its hands?

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  2. Even of they had their act together - which they don't, the product is still amateurish and ill conceived. Someone needs to clean house in editorial. The digital redesign is exceptionally bad.

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  3. Banikarim's team doesn't know wtf to do. Never did. Never will.

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  4. 9:57. Please post specifics. Would love to have you share details how the digital redesign is worse than the previously outdated site. Your post is a joke!

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  5. Gannett the company that destroyed it's own print business. Ha Ha.

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  6. Look @ the new USAT design -- it looks "white." Spacing is one thing -- "white" is another. Some pages are going out, with small gaps. Didn't they do 100 mock-ups?

    Nice. Who wants a pasty-looking rag?

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  7. Charles Everett10/23/2012 9:28 AM

    Those centralized Gannett copy editors can't get anything straight, even in a sports story. The Tallahassee Democrat had two such bloopers this morning in a follow-up about the Florida State-Miami football game.

    First blooper, 4th paragraph: "... an illegal-procedure penalty was assessed ..." The referee actually announced a false start.

    Second blooper, 5th paragraph: "... an ABC television reporter ..." That reporter was Heather Cox and she works for ESPN. ABC no longer produces its own football telecasts.

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  8. Anonymous said...
    Susie Ellwood's going to Cinncy. Younheard it here first.
    10/22/2012 10:01 PM


    If Buchanan’s departure from Gannett is part of this deal as some else shared, then that is a huge move in the right direction.

    Frankly, it’s unfortunate it didn’t occur a few years ago when corporate came in for a very close look at her as her "leadership" style is key to why the Enquirer has sunk to new lows.

    No doubt, this is long wishful thinking for many, but Gannett divesting itself of people like her will benefit it far more than the creation of purpose walls.

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  9. Hey, is the purpose wall still around?

    Also, I for one am tired of being asked by Gannett to do volunteer work so that GANNETT will look good.

    I volunteer on my own time, thank you very much.

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  10. About those Gannett 'volunteer' projects. Isn't it a conflict of interest for site managers to pressure newsroom underlings into 'volunteering' en masse for a selected organization? These groups rely on media coverage to raise funds and recruit volunteers. So the 'watchdogs' are being asked to do work for them?

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  11. The other day, the Arizona Republic endorsed Mitt Romney for president based on the "jobs-creating animal spirits" that he would encourage. "Animal spirits"?

    http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2012/10/18/20121018romney-republic-endorsement.html

    Today, the same Republic Editorial Board belatedly endorses George McGovern for president in the 1972 campaign. Huh?

    http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2012/10/22/20121022editorial1023-man-who-should-led-nation.html

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  12. Romney could run Gannett if he loses next month, as this photo proves:
    http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/10/mitt-romney-high-school-pranks#slide=4
    He already has experience at cost-cutting by outsourcing the cleaning crews, hah!

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  13. 11:12, "animal spirits" is a famous term coined by economist John Maynard Keynes.

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  14. USAT is living in a bubble with this new design. Some on the inside think it's great. Others are saying it's terrific out of fear of reprisals, but know it sucks. A few brave souls are calling it like it is and probably will be at the top of the list in the next round of layoffs.

    Management at USAT has long insisted on having a building full of yes-men/women, which is part of the reason for all the disaster decisions like this redesign.

    If there was ever a newspaper that has accelerated its on demise, it's USAT. The leaders of that newspaper are among the most spineless in the business, and have been for at least the last several years. Crap managers aren't a new problem at USAT. It's just more noticeable now because of all the losses, exposed lies and some of the new and ridiculous initiatives that have destroyed both the print and digital products. The recession revealed what USAT management is and has always been...an ugly group of low-integrity, selfish SOBs. Of late, they've added pure incompetence to the list of traits. And we all know that incompetence at the top usually trickles down. It's these moron execs who are hiring and retaining other incompetents.

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  15. >>>The recession revealed what USAT management is and has always been...an ugly group of low-integrity, selfish SOBs. Of late, they've added pure incompetence to the list of traits. And we all know that incompetence at the top usually trickles down. It's these moron execs who are hiring and retaining other incompetents.<<<

    Who in their right mind writes crap like this?

    For sure the redesign and all is worth debating, even denouncing. But to go off the rails into this mental ward rant says more about the person writing it than anything he or she is criticizing. Take a Valium.

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    Replies
    1. Better yet, just shut the fuck up!

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  16. You cant find shit on this website. Its not reader friendly. It prioritizes nothing. WTF was Gelman and Payne thinking?

    Presto! We are fucked. Blue balls! A joke. The print product is still managed by out of touch know nothings.

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  17. This past weekend, I stayed in an upscale hotel in a major metropolitan area. The booklet in my room said copies of USA Today are available -- free of charge -- every morning. I asked the front desk clerk for a copy of the newspaper. She told me no one has ever asked her for a printed copy of the paper. I pointed to the stack of them behind her, and she said something extremely interesting: "I usually just throw them in the recycle box." A very telling statement about USA Today's circulation, right?

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  18. If its free and its available, i read ot. Why not?

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  19. Did anyone else notice that the map in the blue ball on today's USAT front page is a bit outdated? The counties of Montenegro and South Sudan are both missing.

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  20. "Free?" Did you check your bill? Is there a small charge for the "free" newspaper?

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  21. I'm enough of a "pack rat" to have a few copies of USA Today in what passes for my library. They date from the '80s, the '90s... and the last one is from 2002. I picked up a copy of USAT last week. Well, it was given to me (damned if I'll buy the thing with funds from my unemployment check!). And, yes... God. It's awful.

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  22. What? Two lame stories per section front isnt enough for you? You expect more from this uninspiring team? The thing that gets me is the presentation has gotten WORSE under Callaway amd the content still as stupid.

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  23. Banikarim is busy preparing On The Road. Cannot wait for her latest insights.

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  24. So Ellen Liefeld is coming ot of retirement to run Cherry Hill. God help you all.

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  25. Superman quits newspapers, joins Hopkins, others in blogosphere.

    http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/10/22/superman-to-quit-his-day-job/

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  26. What can you tell me about our new publisher Ellen Liefeld, here at Cherry Hill? Does anyone have any DETAILS about how she runs a property?

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    Replies
    1. Another Gannett puppet without a clue. She'll fit in great here. In less than 18 months she'll be gone too with many bodies left behind.

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  27. Banikarim should just hit the road.

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  28. Leifeld was publisher in Appleton a few years back. Typical Gannett drone. Hates unions. What more needs to be said.

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    1. Wow! Comes from Appleton! Now to the Philadelphia suburbs where there are more people waiting for red lights to change than live where she came from. The unions here will have this lady for lunch. By the way, what's her claim to fame and credentials in this industry?

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  29. Pointroll's SVP of Sales is out. No CEO, no sales lead.
    So for Pointroller's it's basically the exact same thing as when those two worked here. We never saw them and they were never involved

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  30. He "left?" You mean, FIRED???

    She "retired?" At age 58? WTF?

    Gannettoid-ism is a mental disorder.

    They have to be morons, to think anyone believes their focking bull-shit.

    And they wonder why, circulation is dropping?

    Uh, Ms. Gracia, when you can't be honest with yourself, no one believes a focking word you say. Period.

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  31. USAT was called Mcpaper years ago, because it was a rag, with short new s paragraphs..Nothing has changed. It looks better, but it's still a rag, maybe not Mcpaper, but MCrager

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  32. Ellen is tough as nails. Don't be fooled by some of the smaller locations where she honed her craft. And BTW, you are lucky to be getting her. Someone is looking out for CP.

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  33. Aside from heading the Wisconsin papers in Appleton, Ellen Leifeld was at the Tennessean most recently.

    Ellen has an exceptional personal story and knows how to operate within the communities she's worked. She has high expectations of herself and rightly has the same expectations of the people she works with.

    I've never seen a publisher put in the hours at the office that she did - and not just in her office but around the building, asking meaningful questions of staff in every department. She knows her stuff.

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  34. Ellen is hard-working, smart and vicious. She won't hesitate to execute any marching orders from the Crystal Palace. I would say they are sending her to kick ass and take names.

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  35. It was amazing to have a real publisher again in Appleton after Tom Bookstaver left. Ellen even came up on the second floor to talk to editorial people, such a change!

    Did she hold your chestnuts to the fire? Sure. Sounds like that's what Jersey needs.

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  36. Economy is too jacked-up/screwed-up and no solid commitment from Corporate -- 50-50 chance GCI will close CP within 18 months. A lot of money has been lost in that area, with no relief in sight.

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  37. Ellen came from a news background, not sales or marketing, and she would come up to the newsroom, actually talk to reporters about stories and show her interest and judgement. It's still a mystery who she left Nashville so suddenly.
    But if she has a job, you'll need one for her husband, a photog,too.

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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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