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Sunday, December 23, 2012
27 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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ReplyDeleteAs midwest blizzard stories go, this one may take the cake:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.postcrescent.com/article/20121222/APC0101/312220212/P-C-reporter-drives-off-highway-documents-time-stuck-ditch-story-video-
God, you wouldn't expect to see that crap in a 500 circulation weekly or a high school paper, much less than in what used to be an award-winning mid-sized paper, Guess the new people really are changing the face of journalism. With work like that the paper can't blame a 30% circulation drop on the economy or the industry. TV stations here say their web traffic is way up, and you can see why.
DeleteWhat an embarrassment for a once-terrific small paper. The leadership should be mortified at how far they have allowed things to fall there.
DeleteI read that story, where I didn't read another hand-wringing cryfest about a bunch of dead kids.
DeleteThere's an audience for everything.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteTo all you still employed, consider yourself lucky. It's been a year since I was shown the door. It's not easy for a woman over 50 out here. Gannett was not a good place to be but at least it was a paycheck.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.gannett.com/graphics/ontheroad/gannettemployee2012email/gannettholidayemail2012.html
ReplyDeleteMuch cheaper to produce than a holiday party @ the crystal palace.
DeleteTrue, 9:14. I'm over 50, although a guy. When I was laid off after years of accolades, by some recent corporate ass who didn't even know my name let alone what I did, I spent frantic days, weeks, months and more and more months looking for work.
ReplyDeleteIn person. Online. One thinks one matters. Everything one did matters.
Not a single bite. I'm over 50.
I didn't look for anything commensurate with previous income. Didn't even look for a job with health insurance.
Soon, a full-time hope became a part-time hope. Part-time hours. Still, zip, nada.
It was the end of the world.
Well, kind of. I just decided that I retired earlier than planned. I don't know your situation, of course, but in my case I have no credit card debt, no monthly payments for anything, so I'm living on a "lump sum" Gannett pension. The monthly mode is a huge ripoff.
If you have a pension, I recommend you have them pay you in a lump sum. It's taxed, so what.
I despise this company. The experience for this loyal Boy Scout was so traumatic that, yes, obviously I still zoom by Jim Hopkins' Gannett Blog.
With all the input from jerks and cool people, all rolled into one, I don't mind: Hopkins still provides far more input than Gannett ever deigned.
At first, every day I was here. Now, sporadic — indeed my first visit since last fall — and here's why:
1. Once some singular asset, I am not employable.
2. Schadenfreude.
3. Aside from really sad examples of vitriol, I see lots of good people getting their lives back.
4. I rediscovered Tom Petty's "Into the Great Wide Open."
Do I think I'll land another job?
All those years, awards, many in leadership roles. No, not in this industry. The industry I grew up in and loved no longer exists.
Do I care? Greatly. Do I mourn its death? Of course.
But the odd thing even with the maw of the future gaping replete with little red "HAL" eyes, it's not so bad.
Let's see what happens next.
So you waste time posting here? Brilliant. You should be out of work.
DeleteAre you evil - for your own pleasure? Twisted fcuk
DeleteI wish you the best. Kind of in the same situation, but freelancing, with no benefits, natch.
DeleteI'm sorry, 10:22. I was let go in June, and if I didn't have the good fortune to marry someone in a much better industry (and at a much better-run company), I'd have been royally screwed.
DeleteWeakest Sunday 1A ever?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/hr.asp?fpVname=FL_TD&ref_pge=gal&b_pge=3
•One-story front
•Only one paragraph of the story
•Nothing else but teasers and the cursory ugly, dog-legged bottom-page ad
•And to top it off, a weak posed photo of a white Santa with a bunch of black kids.
No wonder no one is buying this dreck.
Does your Gannett paper or TV station create community "events", just so they'll have something to write about?
DeleteSure is easier than covering the news, and they don't have to worry about pi$$ing off any advertisers (well, the few that are left, anyway).
"South Jersey's newspaper" at work:
ReplyDelete-- Dec. 19, local star athlete (former AL Rookie of the Year and two time All-Star) Andrew Bailey has the wrong South Jersey town listed as his home. He's called a "Haddonfield native" instead of a "Haddon Heights native").
-- Dec. 21, headline is corrected (no mention made online of an error). No idea if a correction ran in print.
-- Dec. 21, I contact the managing editor, Leon Tucker, to note that the cutline still identifies him as a "Haddonfield native," while the story and headline call him a "Haddon Heights" native.
-- Dec. 23, no correction has been made.
Meanwhile, still no discussion allowed on the site of the new paywall or the impact it has on all subscription rates (online and print).
Tucker is another example of incompetence and filling quotas.
DeleteBut hey, Appleton has the bartender of the week on their website. That's gotta count for something. Just not the news.
ReplyDeletePerspective: As recently as nine short years ago, Apple's market cap was less than a third of Gannett's.
ReplyDeleteNow Gannett is worth less than one percent of Apple. In fact — without exaggeration — Apple could write a check this afternoon for the whole damn newspaper industry and not even make much of a dent in its pile of cash.
Not an entirely fair comparison perhaps, but still...
But still - the Yankees have won more than 20 World Series but the Cincinnati Royals never won a NBA championship. Apples and Oranges. What's your point. Computer industry better than newspapers? Who knew!
DeleteThe point is to illustrate that the newspaper industry is not just swiftly imploding, but indeed already has reached the verge of economic oblivion. In whatever form it might survive, it will not be a significant source of employment, profits, or influence. Too many of those who comment here remain in abject denial of this reality.
DeleteThis week, Jim and Spanky will re-enact The Return of the King. Jim will wear the ring on his cock, and they will march to the mountain (actually the basement furnace) to destroy it. They paid a few neighborhood vagrants to play the roles of Gollum and others.
ReplyDeleteI refer to 1:19 p.m. on 12/23 and to 9:41 p.m. on 12/23: Both those sick comments really reflect on both of you, not on the subjects of your slimy remarks. This is not said in anger. Both of you need professional help. Please seek some.
DeleteSounds like Gollum (11:57) didn't get paid enough.
DeleteAh, 12/23 9:41. So much hate. So little intelligence.
ReplyDelete