Sunday, November 25, 2012

Nov. 19-25 | Your News & Comments: Part 5

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38 comments:

  1. i know about the furloughs being out of the budget and will not be put back in because budgets are based on previous year's actual expense. i know because i've done the department budget for years and that's the way it works. there WILL be furloughs again and again. each week of furlough is equal to 2% of the annual payroll, so they are not going to add 4% or 6% back into the 2013 budget. that's millions of dollars.

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  2. UPS and FedX are cutting back.

    Who, but fools, would think GCI would not cut back, also?

    Don't be a troll-fool. Wake up, for God's sake.

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  3. Read 8:56 last night's post.
    It is a very logical post,not a raving hater.
    It is the logic of simple Gannett dollars and cents math.
    Print revenue continues to slide,no question about that,so expenses have to be reduced,no question.People are all that is left to cut.There is no magicical revenue producing solution.
    Certainly there is no forecast for the economy to skyrocket,so layoffs will happen.It is not rocket science.

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  4. When a local story becomes a national story:
    http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/TPD-Working-Crime-Scene-at-WalMart-180611841.html
    The link is off The Drudge Report, currently third down, and is likely sending thousands of viewers to the TV station's site, while the Tallahassee paper's version of a story is behind a paywall.
    So Drudge picks the free one, sending the world's traffic to the competitor.

    I remember one time about 6 years ago, pre-paywall, when Drudge did pick up a link from that paper. There were over 24,000 hits on that story - it would have gotten a couple thousand at best without the Drudge link - 12-fold increase in traffic.

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  5. 8:53, we're thrilled that you support what you wrote at 8:56 last night.

    Now go away.

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  6. Furloughs a first quarter certainty. No mass layoffs, but selected departures, as we have already seen.

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  7. @10:44 AM – Telling someone to go away for sharing what is arguably a very reasoned, spot-on assessment, more so in light of Gannett’s history whereby its confirmed the same, is childish at best.

    Regardless, run from reality as you will, but refusing to even listen to, let alone tackle issues before they arrive is part of why Gannett struggles more than it needs too.

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  9. 8:53, good post.

    What is posted here, that's up to Jim. He built this, and no one else.

    There is a growing, disturbing strain of "I'm right, you get out, and STFU" in the USA. Creepy, actually.

    Big Al NEVER said that. He even let his second wife call him a no-good SOB, in his bio.

    Dear creeps: if you know so much, why don't you step out in public with your STFU attitude? You'll get a big, ugly surprise. You're welcome.

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  13. WARREN BUFFETT V. GCI

    WB's from a newspaper family. He must figure, even if he loses money on his newspaper bets, they'll be tax losses.

    GCI? Owned 92% by institutional investors for pension funds. Brutal numbers-game. Not the same as WB.

    GCI and USA economy is walking a tight rope. One economist --

    http://www.svb.com/Blogs/Joe_Morgan/Thoughts_From_Joe_-_November_16,_2012/

    Do your job, keep watching your back, and work that second job.

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  14. I am just keeping my mouth shut. I am in my 50s, cant come close to what I'm making at Gannett elsewhere and figure even if I manage to get an offer at a lower paying employer, I could be working for even bigger tools.

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  16. Saving a GCI town: Sherveport, LA

    http://bit.ly/T7WfT3

    WIRED: $1,000 Rent, Tax Credits, And "Shrimp Busters": Why You Should Start Your Startup In Shreveport

    BY DAVID ZAX | NOVEMBER 15, 2012

    Silicon Bayou, anyone? John Grindley, the executive director of CoHabitat Foundation, makes a case for the Louisiana town at the top of the boot.

    ---

    Don't stop
    believin'
    Hold on to the feelin'
    Streetlights
    people

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  17. 3:37, we hear you. We remember our final days with the carpet-bagging Gannettoids. Idiot assignments from shrums who didn't know where Main Street was. Beyond dreary, boring, and useless. And what would be worse -- staying or leaving?

    Remember the Star Trek episode with Mariette Hartley, where everyone had to plan an "escape." That's what we did -- found something new to do.

    Henry Ford said, "whether you believe you can, or cannot, that is what you will be."

    Only you can fix this. No one else can or will.

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  18. I believe that the union served its purpose and in some places still do the union at az republic is the weakest union I've ever seen.the union brothers spend to much time fighting with each other to do any one a dam bit of good.We are in contract negotiations and i can tell you we will gain nothing,i hope contract will at least stay the same.if that happens I would consider that a win by itself.our union will never strike they too many of our union members will cross the picket line.there is no such thing as unity here it is a joke.

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  19. Apparently one of the most difficult publishing things to do online is getting agreement between slideshow pics and captions. How many times have you seen the titles off by a frame or two? It's not common, but it's hardly rare.

    Want to know what's going on in Phoenix? "The Maine" (no. 8) looks like a good bet. And Rush (no. 9) has never looked better. The Fall Foliage Festival (no. 14) looks like a real snoozer.

    http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/events/articles/20100728weekend-events-phoenix-arizona.html

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  20. the negotiations in phx will go on and on. gannett will get what they want by draging it on and then posting conditions ( a take it or strike) situation. and you're right you wound get support for a stike so gannett will win again with lots of take aways. hang on to your staffin clause that's what they want most.

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  21. AZ - read up on Detroit newspaper strike. Eye-opening. Lot of losses for everyone. Also Rochester "negotiations" -- 11 years, I think.

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  22. So, why hasn't the Arizona Republic had anything to say about Sen. John McCain's latest debacle - his outrageously unfair attacks on Susan Rice?

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/25/michael-tomasky-on-how-john-mccain-humiliated-himself-on-susan-rice.html

    Earlier, the paper wrote one of those "questions that need to be answered" editorials about Benghazi. Now, we have answers. But we have no editorial, just as we have no McCain apology.

    Just silence.

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  23. I finally figured it out! The poster who uses all CAPS, jumbles sentences and chooses themes that bounce between just weird and plain disturbed, is Larry King! Welcome back Larry. Your USAT columns were a treasure. Good to see that you are back with us.

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  25. Ever since furloughs became SOP for Gannett, I have taken it on the chin and played along, because we know that the newspaper industry is struggling in this economy.
    This is about to change...
    Knowing that Gannett is still making hundreds of millions in profit (on the back of furloughed and laid off employee's), and not granting pay raises, and never had the courtesy to even give back a review we made early this year (with or without a pay raise).
    If furloughs are instituted once again, I will make it a point to use up all my sick days for 2013, sort of a quid pro quo thing, and I urge everybody else to do the same thing and not give back even one day of sick leave.
    If we see two weeks of furloughs, then I'll take other measures to make up the difference.

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  26. 11:46, do you have a point that will help Gannetteers?

    What are you trying to accomplish?

    Why are you here? Are you really Larry King?

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  27. A reminder for 1:51 and all Gannetteers (and Gannettoids, for that matter) --

    Check your state's rules on unemployment insurance. There is a good chance, when you're on "furlough," you're eligible for UI.

    You're earned it -- just take it.

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  28. >>If furloughs are instituted once again, I will make it a point to use up all my sick days for 2013, sort of a quid pro quo thing, and I urge everybody else to do the same thing and not give back even one day of sick leave.
    If we see two weeks of furloughs, then I'll take other measures to make up the difference.<<<

    That'll show 'em!!



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  29. Michael Wolff is the new Larry King: nonsensical and out of touch. Can't wait for his latest column tomorrow to see how little reporting there is, how badly written it is and how little it means to anyone outside media elitists.

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  30. 2:36, do you have a point that will help Gannetteers?

    Other than three words of sarcasm?

    What are you trying to accomplish?

    Why are you here? Are you Ms. Gracia's stooge?

    Gannettoid uselessness. Have carpet-bag, will shat on your city.

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  31. Checking into a Jackson, Miss., hotel for a weekend getaway, I mentioned proudly I had once worked for the paper there when asked if this was my first visit to Jackson. "Oh, the Jackson Free Press?" The concierge asked. Very telling and a sad commentary on the state of the Clarion-Ledger there and how Gannett has destroyed it and every other paper under its corporate umbrella. That someone would first think of a free alternative tabloid size publication when hearing the word "newspaper" is tragic. Then I come home to read our Gannett paper, and see a friend's wedding announcement that she paid dearly for screwed up. It is time to cancel my subscription. I don't pay for mediocrity in other areas of my life.

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  32. I love this company, spent almost 30 years giving it alll=I had. SO when the big boys come to town for a meet and greet I could just as welll shoot the bastards, They have destroyed the company rook gomand cosoludated printing..its suck to work for GPS at this momnt. But that will soon change, resume's are heading out he door and ai ush oretty good responses, so my day are numbered, Too those hanging on, save some cash and prepare for the end, because it is near, not just print, but the entire company, Said my peace, time to go..later Gannettoids

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  33. I think Wolff's column is a fabulous addition to USAT. I'm not sure if folks are jealous of his salary or just hate anything new. Either way, I like it. Beats the other columnist who writes about his dog

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  34. Mr. Wolff's column is out. About Rup Murdoch, again.

    About his comment on Rup's wife, the "socialite" counselor --

    Congratulations on leaving off her Yale MBA, sir. Can't let facts get in the way.

    Geez, this stuff is terrible.

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  35. From Wolff's latest column, two things are clear:

    1. He reads The New York Times to get fodder for his column. (But will he ever quote something he's read in USA Today?)

    2. He doesn't understand that shorter sentences and periods are a reader's friends. For example:

    "Lachlan Murdoch, Murdoch's oldest son, who now lives in Australia, and runs his own media interests — and who was, himself, once the heir apparent before being deposed in an internal struggle with his father's other executives — is said to side with his sister, Elisabeth."

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  36. Wolff phoning it in again. And what is new here? Kramer?????

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  37. 7:19 likes the errors, tired ideas and popmpous, know-it-all approach. This is the problem with the faux chest thumpers and self congratulating backslappers at Usa Today. Pathetic.

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  38. Layoffs coming soon to your area.

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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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