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Thursday, November 15, 2012
42 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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Maureen O'Brien is out as news director of Gannett-owned WCSH in Portland ME for reasons not specified. This comes after the station's longtime weatherman went on the air to deny rumors that he patronized a prostitution business run by a Zumba teacher.
ReplyDeleteMiddle Manager fired in Des Moines.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear,good luck. Who was your VP boss?
Were there others also fired/layed off?
Is Des Moines struggling?
More info appreciated.
On a site patronized by professional wordsmiths (and others who presumably made it past third grade), how the hell is it that not a single commentator knows the past participle of "lay"?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete"How the hell is it that not a single commentator knows the past participle of 'lay'?" That's easy.
ReplyDeleteFirst, education in this country sucks; standards are gone. At my job when I tried to correct something, I was usually shot down with this snooty little gem: "What difference does it make? No one will know the difference!"
Second, having witnessed the long decline of the craft itself, it is obvious that too many graduates received gold stars more appropriate for third-graders than any objective appraisal of their work in diploma factories.
Gannett is sinking fast.
ReplyDeleteYou can tell by the posts here.
There is a scared tone whenever someone even mentions job cuts.
There is name calling,criticizing,
and out right meanness in the replies.
Those Gannett employees that don't have a plan B are very nervous and it shows.
I'm boycotting today's USA TODAY town hall meeting. They are getting worse than Hunke's quarterly, hour-long self-congratulatory meetings.
ReplyDeleteInteresting observing the slowly declining number of tablet page views for a Midwest Gannett paper. But digital is our salvation.
ReplyDeleteI cry for Gannett every night, as I sit back and watch the hacks slowly and selfishly bring the once giant to its knee's. I think all upper management at this point should be charged with fraud and embezzlement for their part in bleeding the company dry.
ReplyDeleteI will be sure to make it to the funeral.
I hate that I am resorting to the blog with this, but... I heard a rumor that Gannett was pondering some extreme changes in its health care offerings to employees, perhaps even no longer offering company plans, in favor of what comes about from the Affordable Care Act. I've also heard talk that a lot more attention will be paid how many employees are above the 28-hour-a-week mark, perhaps in hopes that more of us could go below that line. Has anyone else heard this? Or is this simply more paranoid speculation?
ReplyDeleteDear 12;52,
ReplyDelete1. Open enrollment is already underway for 2013 so too late for any radical changes.
2. The threshold for companies under the ACA to provide employee health insurance is 50 employees so to take 4,000-plus full-time Gannet employees down to part-time would be quite an undertaking.
3. The law doesn't go fully into effect until 2014.
4. Your obsession with this topic would indicate you are the one in need of medical care.
1:35 - personally I pay over $7000 a year for health-related benefits. Gannett corporate has a long history of being less-than-forthcoming on major changes. Add to that, much of the ACA was not laid out in law but was left to the Secretary to determine, and it's understandable that people don't trust Gannett or the federal government.
ReplyDeleteDenigrating people for not knowing the current and future status of such a huge concern in their lives, suggesting they need medical help because they want to know is not helpful and reflects more poorly on you than them.
@1:35 PM, are so fearful of what’s coming that you have to denigrate others for sharing rumors they hear, especially those that have real merit? That alone says a lot about you and your mental health.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, if you assume G A N N E T T couldn’t make a significant course correction next year you’re mistaken and clearly not using its history of terminating 20,000 plus employees as your guide.
To argue against taking 4,000 employees to part-time is absurd as that’s not what 12:52 wrote, only that G A N N E T T is rumored to be considering cutting people's hours back, to which they will cut those that they reasonable can back. Exactly what many businesses that support this entity are in the process of doing now.
To write that the law doesn’t fully go into effect until 2014 misses much and no point more important than this: significant tax hikes and costs for it kick in January 1, 2013. It’s those costs, along with what will come with Obama’s quest for even more tax monies ($1.6 trillion at last check) that threatens this company’s profits and those of the companies and consumers who support it via their advertising support and subscriptions.
Moreover, to write someone is obsessed with it, begs the question of why you aren’t paying attention.
Are your pay, compensation and job guaranteed? Are you immune from unpaid furloughs? Do you think this company won’t make cuts should it fall short of its revenue and profit goals? Do you think consumers and advertisers who support it won’t cut what they spend with G A N N E T T when their overall expenditures and taxes go up?
If you answered yes to all, then you’re in a slim minority.
Good luck with that belief.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the tablet page views, I think the App locked you out if you did not have a subscription. The web is free if you set your browser to delete all cookies at shutdown. You cannot find three good articles to read here, so the 30 article limit never gets reached. Maybe the users are dropping the subscription for the casual free access.
ReplyDelete3:40, gee, sorry that facts hurt you so much. No wonder you lose so much. Well, being a Gannettoid suck-up is no easy job -- kind of like Paula Broadwell, with more BS.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of pageviews. Is there a pattern of more pageviews in the first few days of the month and then a fall off as the cookies lock people out? Could be telling.
ReplyDeleteI picked up a USAT today and it had a special report on Petraeus promoed on 1A. When I turned to 7A for the report, there was a headline across the top of the page, in bright blue ink and about 36-point type, about the "Patraeus" scandal.
ReplyDeleteThat was a great attempt to spin and avoid the facts, 2:56. 1:35 spelled out the details pretty well.
ReplyDeleteAbout the only thing you have right is that the company could try to take some (notice the word some) employees to part-time level. But as already has been explained, there are way too many full-time workers to avoid ACA provisions, and that was the original claim.
In the future, try to stay focused on the original points -- now disproved -- and why they have been disproved. Then you won't sound obsessed beyond the point of rational.
Again, Jim, you would do everyone a good service by simply deleting the posts that are devoid of facts, logic, and reason.
From the "we don't need no copy editors" page on today's Appleton paper:
ReplyDelete"Edwards could not put a price tag on the problem, but said engineers are considering rehabilitating the existing steal or replacing it. The problems were discovered earlier this month."
These basic errors are becoming so common in Gannett papers you wonder if there is any professionalism - or shame - left.
Really? What happens when a firm goes Chapter 11? Ever heard of Eastern Airlines and Frank DeLorenzo?
ReplyDeleteOr sold in pieces?
You're predicting what millions of people might do?
Res ipsa. Remember this when you're number 3,072 in the "New Medicare" cancer-treatment line.
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But as already has been explained, there are way too many full-time workers to avoid ACA provisions, and that was the original claim.
Wow. Just like in D.C. -- so many, who think God gave them "the facts." Despite armies of PhDs on both sides, most with varying views, "studies," and projected outcomes.
ReplyDeleteGet this straight, Democrat -- fight you, every inch of the way, to the end. Count on it. God did not give you "the facts," s/he is much smarter than that.
And 50% is not a mandate for anything.
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Again, Jim, you would do everyone a good service by simply deleting the posts that are devoid of facts, logic, and reason.
8:08 Really, Jim. Are you that desperate for nickels? Were you ever really a journalist? Either do the right thing or pull the plug.
ReplyDeleteWell,
ReplyDeleteIf there will be no adverse effects to corporations in this economic atmosphere,ACA ,taxes and so forth.
Why are so many corporations cutting jobs ?
And certainly not hiring or expanding in any way.
If all these policies are so wonderful,why is the economy not taking off like a rocket?
Just wait. ObamaCare will increase healthcare premiums because Gannett will pass on the costs. This happens in all facets of managing operating costs. How does this help the economy?
ReplyDeleteThe Obama penis suckers asked for it when the voted this dumbass into office. I can't wait until 2016.
Well,
ReplyDeleteIf there will be no adverse effects to corporations in this economic atmosphere,ACA ,taxes and so forth.
Why are so many corporations cutting jobs ?
And certainly not hiring or expanding in any way.
If all these policies are so wonderful,why is the economy not taking off like a rocket?
Looks like Jim will have to start moderating again so we can keep this Gannett blog on Gannett topics. Unless there is some kind of asshole filter application that can be put to use here.
ReplyDeleteAre any other USCP sites being required or "strongly encouraged" to do daily stories leading up to Black Friday? Is this part of some Gannett marketing push?
ReplyDelete8:54 is absolutely right. I work for the government and had a benefits meeting yesterday. Those already in the plan got a 5% increase in premiums, and anyone coming into the job beginning in January will pay 20% than last year. Hang on, folks!
ReplyDelete12:10 AM – Nice try of your own, though there was no fact avoidance in what you seek to silence, just truths you hope to avoid.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, let’s cut to the chase: When Gannett’s revenue and/or profits slip, it cuts. Always has, always will. The ACA and coming tax hikes puts even more pressure on it and those who faithfully support it to do so.
Get ready as others are adjusting next years budgets and plans for it.
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ReplyDeletePanic has hit Phoenix ! the paywall and subscription increase announced a few months ago must not be working very well. I received a mailing offering access to full on-line, tablet and smartphone, e-newspaper and home delivery of print edition on the days i choose for $7 per month. gee what happened to all that projected circulation revenue they expected. !!!
ReplyDeleteUSA Today may or may not have the right new leadership at the top. How sharp and humane they are remains to be seen. But one thing for sure, there is a lot of dead wood in this place, and incompetences runs high in people from both the old and new regimes.
ReplyDeleteThere are people here who can't spell journalism, let alone practice it. Think I am kidding? Then you probably don't work here or are living in bubble.
This is a place where some folks can't make it to work on a consistent basis. Try reminding some of these editors and staffers that this is a newspaper and they might have to work late or skip lunch because of breaking news and they'll look at you like you are from another planet.
Just too many folks who in one place who never intended to get into journalism, yet here they are, at a national news organization. This can't continue, regardless of how nice these incompetent folks might be. The news business is too competitive to not have the type of dedication and skill levels required to remain at the top.
"...they might have to work late or skip lunch because of breaking news and they'll look at you like you are from another planet."
ReplyDeleteYes, sir or ma'am, I've seen that look. My colleagues would normally refuse to skip breaks, lunch, etc., no matter what. Passive-aggressive, morale in the tank.
But I didn't take the situation like that. I figured, my life is finite, I'm at work, and I'll do the best I can do out of simple self-respect; the company didn't enter into the equation.
I routinely skipped breaks, lunch, came in early, stayed late, worked weekends and holidays. I thought it mattered. Boy, was I mistaken!
Got hauled into some exec's office.
9:28, about "Black Friday" and GCI -- local "lite-rock" station just went 24x7 for Xmas music.
ReplyDeleteUnless you're in Bakkan, North Dakota, you're in an economic mess. And desperate for Xmas.
Take a look at DJ30 -- down 8% in five days. Does that mean 8% fewer jobs, soon? (Oooh! Math! Bad! Mean! Racist! Sexist!)
GCI is Gannettoids. Of course, they are following along, with Black Friday.
GANNETTOID HACK
ReplyDelete"Devoid of facts." Translation: you've dared to challenge my "reality distortion zone." You're a no-good racist/sexist/hater/doody.
In Gannettoid-speak, that means "you need two editors for every one reporter. Beat the copy into something no one with a brain wants to read."
"Devoid of facts" also popular in Beijing, Ho Chi Minh City, Havana, North Korea, ex-USSR, Washington, D.C., and the federal nut-case ward in Springfield, MO and Butler, N.C.
We still have some people, devoid of the facts, who have lost sight of the original claim. Here it is:
ReplyDelete"I heard a rumor that Gannett was pondering some extreme changes in its health care offerings to employees, perhaps even no longer offering company plans ..."
This is ludicrous and has been shot down already, with factual information. The people who can't bear to let go of the claim have yet to respond to said factual information. They spin. They distort. They make sweeping generalizations, as they usually do when their misstatements are questioned.
Again, Jim, simply delete the posts that make claims not supported by facts.
"9:28, about "Black Friday" and GCI -- local "lite-rock" station just went 24x7 for Xmas music."
ReplyDeleteUm, that happens every year about this time in many cities.
Try to stay grounded in something resembling reality.
Jim, congrats, not just stupid Gannettoidism spewed here, you must be in KOS's radar.
ReplyDeleteThe current president who got a 50% "mandate" thinks newspapers ought to ignore those who do not agree with his "facts." Just like in North Korea and like crazy people do.
Go ahead, Jim, ignore reality for your Gannett retirees.
Every day, there's a new operational and/or regulatory problem found in ACA/"ObamaCare." Along with another $4,000,000,000.00 for your grand-nieces and grand-nephews to pay.
Hey, Mr. "Facts" -- people are quitting, getting SocSec disability and Medicare. Stick the bill to the next-gen. Who cares? Why work, if you don't have to? How about them "facts?"
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Again, Jim, simply delete the posts that make claims not supported by facts.
CORREX
ReplyDeleteThat's Butner, N.C., not Butler, Mr. 11-word sentence. In newsrooms, that's called a "fact."
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"Devoid of facts" also popular in Beijing, Ho Chi Minh City, Havana, North Korea, ex-USSR, Washington, D.C., and the federal nut-case ward in Springfield, MO and Butler, N.C.