Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)
Sunday, November 18, 2012
30 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."
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Today's USAT. Readable. Story about carbon monoxide in motels. Not as interesting as some star's comic-book collection, but readable.
ReplyDeleteAlso joint effort with local TV about that nut-case lady Kelley in Tampa, Fla. Not WaPo, but some nice stuff.
Obviously, someone at ChrysPal noticed all the laughter here, about how boring USAT has been the last few weeks. As in, no readers, no advertising, no profits, NO JOBS.
Today's - tomorrow's USAT - irrelevant... But it's not about journalism - its about coin - and failing at both...
DeleteNice - Gracia. See you at La Berge Chez Francois!
2:00pm you are right. The only other place I saw this story was on every morning news show. Yea nobody noticed. YOU need to go. Please leave my company
DeleteAny word on how USAT shake up has impacted current USAW edit staff, of what staff there was still left?
ReplyDeleteThe 'prove you're not a robot' two-step remains unreadable as usual, Jim, btw. Took three tries before something remotely readable came up. Totally moronic.
2 pm I assume that Tampa station is Gannett's WTSP?
ReplyDeleteNot sure about TV station .. just glad something readable appeared in USAT ..
ReplyDeleteTV station, not sure. Just glad it was new, fresh, original.
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. !!!
ReplyDeleteIn a casual conversation with an older acquaintance, he mentioned that when his Enquirer subscription term ends, he's not renewing it. Why? Because "there's nothing in it." This person has been a subscriber for 40-plus years. And this is by no means the only time I've heard this. Multiply my not-insignificant number of such conversations to all the people I don't know.
ReplyDeleteI have a question: Is the Publisher allowed to have immediate family members working at the paper?
ReplyDeleteThe attitudes described above must apply to the digital side, not news staff. If so, i find that abhorrent. There does seem to be a clockwatching, timecard mentality that stems from digital leadership, however. It is clear few actually worked in real newsrooms before they arrived at National Treasure Central,
ReplyDeleteOf course it was our Tampa station.
ReplyDeleteIs it that hard to look at the newspaper, Jim, or check out the website?
As for USA Weekend, it is doing quite well and still makes way more money than USA Today.
You're so right, 5:37. I know a lot of people who have let their Enquirer subscriptions die. Almost all are in their 60s and lifelong subscribers. They say the same thing. "There's nothing in it anymore." And they read avidly on the Internet. Just not Cincinnati.com. Breaks my heart.
ReplyDeleteThe earlier comments about people canceling their subscription to The Cincinnati Enqurer are so true. The paper lacks any relevant content of any kind. It's not unusual for me to read what's left of the once proud paper from cover to cover in less than a time it takes to drink a cup of coffee. The website is only a mirror image of the same stale content. I know many long time subsrcibers that think it's not worth it anymore. Too bad.
ReplyDelete7:10, Gannettoidism requires being really stupid and kissing a lot of stupid a55e5, right? Do you have any more helpful tips about being a stupid, dumb Gannettoid? You do 11-word sentences, so well. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHave you gotten bored with the Blog, Jim? $25 after a month and a half, rare input from you, and from what I can tell, dropping metrics on viewers indicate Gblog is going the way of G in general.
ReplyDeleteDisagree? Or has your day job just gotten too busy?
How can you give much credibility to Gannett's chief film critic, Bill Goodykoontz, when he doesn't even know how to spell Steven Spielberg's name?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/movies/articles/20121115lincoln-movie-review-goodykoontz.html
You expect a pedestrian review from Goodykoontz, and a favorable one (67 percent favorable, according to one website's analysis).
But it's outrageous that he misspells the name of Hollywood's top director, who also happens to be from Phoenix.
Unbelievable.
10:23 As in the newspaper world, bad news drives traffic. There's currently no bad news in Gannett.
ReplyDeleteBut overall trends across the newspaper industry, unfortunately, haven't changed.
The Olympics and political advertising that lifted revenues via the broadcasting division are over. The full effect of the paywalls will be felt by summer 2013, barring another big print subscription price increase.
To be sure, Gannett is still counting on hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue from the USA Today Sports Media Group and digital marketing services. USAT itself is in the middle of a second turnaround effort.
If all or most of that doesn't materialize, however, Corporate will need to rely even more on costing cutting.
We will see.
We need more managing editors and senior vice presidents to reverse the tide.
ReplyDeleteDitto, some long-time subs just dropped, including one who lives near the editor.
ReplyDeleteThey say, the papers "feel thin" on content and value, in the wake of higher prices.
Well, when the editors are Gannettoid carpet-baggers, that doesn't help much.
Better editing, better thinking, better brain-power -- or start looking for the unemployment line.
Do the best you can. You're interviewing for your next job, right now.
Jim, these are scary times in news business.
ReplyDeleteNext? More consolidation. Musical chairs for jobs.
As for Mr. Jim -- well, Levi Strauss got rich off the '49ers. The money's often not in the game -- it is outside the game.
So, hey, Wall Street gang -- send Jim some money, cheese-balls. Or your work load goes. Show this to your boss.
Cincinnati’s subscriber problem began long before this recession when Buchanan emphatically stated, and led with the belief, that they wouldn’t drop their print subscriptions for (free) online content.
ReplyDeleteThey did.
Now, it’s in the difficult position of trying to get a significantly smaller number of paid subscribers, including those who only read the Enquirer online for free, to pay for it.
They’ll back off on that too.
And, for good reason as no real value was ever assigned to online content by readers, content that is considerable less now and hardly unique, more so given what’s delivered inside the pages of its free weekly community papers, papers that reach more homes midweek than the Enquirer.
It’s a spiral that is difficult to exit, one a smaller, redesigned print paper will doubtfully help in the coming weeks, if at all, which is why the ultimate redesign should include Buchanan’s dismissal.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteHow's this for bad news judgment? ESPN reported last night that Rutgers University could join the Big Ten Conference as part of a "package deal". The AP has picked up the story and most sports sites have it among the headlines as I post this. MyCentralJersey.com, the website for Rutgers' hometown daily, puts the story not on the homepage but on the sports front.
ReplyDeleteAnd everyone wonders why Gannett is a joke!
What is on the homepage?
ReplyDeleteScratch my ass - "Rudd"erless.... What's with that transformation?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete9:50 You heard about the hurricane, right? They called it Sandy? NJ was devastated? Even the casual reader would understand a sensitive decision to keep football in check during a time when many people have lost their homes. We all know football is the MOST important thing to some people. Most others can empathize with the heartbreak of losing one's home.
ReplyDelete