Friday, February 01, 2013

Jan. 28-Feb. 3 | Your News & Comments: Part 4

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39 comments:

  1. It looks like investors are waking up!
    How low will the stock price go this time?

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    1. Oh sorry. Stock market went down and GCI went up. That must hurt

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  2. I'm now going to be offline until early Friday morning. I'll read and then post your comments when I'm back on. See you then.

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    1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  3. Enquirer bosses are in a panic as a local TV station beefs up its digital newspaper and threatens the monopoly in Cincy. And they should be, judging from the lazy, shallow journalism of late at the Enquirer. Today's example: The "storyteller's" centerpiece about a couple who turned a tobacco farm into an alpaca ranch. Potentially interesting story, but ruined by its holes and irritating omissions. He says the couple get "hundreds" of dollars a year from the govt. How many hundreds? He says they bought five alpacas a few years ago. How much did they pay for each alpaca?? They have 125 alpacas now. What does an alpaca cost now?? They get 5-10 pounds of fleece per alpaca each spring. How much does a pound of fleece sell for??? And the big question: Are they turning a profit??? What do they spend on overhead? Vet bills, etc?? What did it cost to convert this tobacco farm to alpacas? Curious readers have no idea. Too bad the storyteller is so hostile to the desk. A good copy editor might have helped salvage this embarrassing alpaca fluff and lent some credibility to a newspaper desperately in need of some.

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  4. WKYC in Cleveland is getting sued by Arbitron.

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    1. Charles Everett2/01/2013 12:56 PM

      You're 2 days and 2 threads late.

      Delete
  5. The publisher of the Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, La. has ordered all copies of their weekly, Times of Acadiana, to be pulled off the racks. Copies were distributed this morning. Penis on cover.

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    1. we need more details about this

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    2. http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/12786-today-in-sweet-sweet-porn-times-of-acadiana

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    3. Ha ha ha! C'est Magnifique, indeed.

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  6. phoenix's AZCentral web site for the Arizona Republic rushes to put a story up about a convience store fire. story give wrong location (only about 2 miles off), says it a convience store/gas station. i've shopped that store for 20 years, there are no gas pumbs !! had to call the newsroom and tell them the "real facts" of the story instead of what they reported. Sad !

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  7. The New Herald at Port Clinton, OH, one of Gannett's smallest -- and getting smaller -- printed a paragraph Thursday saying the office hours will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. A trend that other small G-papers will be following?

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  8. One of the most important measures of the economy's overall health is released this morning at about 8:30 ET: the monthly employment report.

    In that report, the U.S. economy is expected to have added around 170,000 jobs in January, slightly more than the monthly average seen over the past two years, according to economists surveyed by MarketWatch.

    Gannett and other companies watch the monthly report as they plan future spending and budgeting.

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    1. Really? What evidence do you have that monthly jobs numbers have any material impact on Gannett's "future spending and budgeting"?

      First, to the extent macroeconomic metrics are relevant, it is on a local, market-by-market basis. Second, secular trends, namely the collapse of the newspaper business model, completely overwhelm other factors.

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    2. In this economy, that report no longer has the importance it once had, more so given the disconnect with those who’ve dropped out and how this administration has allegedly manipulated it - as evidenced by how the rate went down right before the election because CA’s data was excluded.

      That rate was “adjusted” upward the following month once it was included and it went up to 7.9% now with today’s report.

      Exactly why other factors have increasingly more sway. The U6 which remained at 14.4%, workforce participation rates still at lowest level in decades – 8.5 million left labor force since Obama took office, and rising tax rates at state, local and federal levels – FICA up 2% for all to original rate, higher incomes enjoyed that, higher marginal rates and that doesn’t include ObamaCare’s hits.

      That act alone, negatively impacts ALL incomes from new taxes on medical devices, more costs from FSA’s being capped at $2.5k, let alone still rising health care costs overall despite campaign promises people and businesses would save. Then there’s yesterday’s news on how even unions are concerned about the hits they’ll take.

      Add in proposals to go after more tax revenues – despite doing just that, and an “energy plan” that will no doubt cost all more and it’s easy to see how today’s report really isn’t as impactful as Jim would like to allege as businesses like Gannett can’t put too much weight on it.

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    3. Boring...Who wants to read all of that

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  9. The economy is heading for another Obama created recession.
    We have to feel sorry for Gannett employees.
    There are now no prospects of new employment.
    You will have to work away like the loyal employees that you are, until Gannett decides it no longer needs you your services and casts you aside like a line on a balance sheet.

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    1. "Another" Obama created recession? The country already was in recession when he took over in 2009.

      Wake up and join the real world.

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    2. 9:02 You're boring. Come up with something new.

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    3. At some point Obama will have to take some blame. Yes he inherited a bad deal, but he's going on 4+ years to turn it around. His policies such as ObamaCare will only make this worse when all the laws kick in. Now he and his lap dog Jay Carney can actully place some blame on the "previous" administration.

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  10. Yes Jim,
    Negative GNP ,a huge amount of increase in unemployment filings and you say the economy is on the recovery trend !
    Spoken like a democrat who is a real believer.

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  11. Burlington Free Press fucks up the comics and puzzles two days in a row. I read this on Romensko.

    http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20130130/NEWS02/301300017/-1/RSS22?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&nclick_check=1

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    1. Isn't that the entire paper with the new Tall Tab Format?

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  12. Washington Post and Gannett sharing Tyson's Palace?

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    1. I had a different reaction when I read the news today that The Washington Post has decided to move its headquarters from its historic location.

      At what point might Corporate enter into a sale and leaseback of the Crystal Palace? There's no hope that GCI's headquarters will move so long as current leadership is in place; they would not want to sell their homes and move to another city.

      USA Today is at the Crystal Palace, too. If its operations shrank enough, then it might make sense to take a more comprehensive look at owning the Palace entirely.

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    2. Not so fast Jim as Dickey profited handsomely in his move from AZ to D.C.

      Should Gannett ever wake up to the realization that D.C. really is a bad choice of location, he and his lot would no doubt profit handsomely from being relocated out.

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    3. Within the next 12-18 months all employees in Tysons will be in the Gannett tower, except those on the USAT newsroom floors, and the empty floors in USAT will be leased to outside companies.

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  13. As the saying goes: "Never let a crisis go to waste". The folks in Lansing are rolling that way today.

    http://jimromenesko.com/2013/02/01/lansing-state-journals-inappropriate-share-suggestion/

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    1. Holy siit! Who's in charge of their website?

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    2. "shit"

      Damn iphone. Damn fat fingers.

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    3. I thought you were trying to be polite. Count your blessing on the iPhone. In Phoenix, they gave us "old" Blackberrys (Blackberries?) with a manual keypad. Probably the last stuff in the warehouse before RIMM, er, Blackberry, joined the 21st Century.

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    4. Aaaawwww, thanks for your kind words!
      It's hard for me to be polite. ...
      it's my own phone, actually. Works better than the gannett shit.

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  14. http://jimromenesko.com/2013/02/01/lansing-state-journals-inappropriate-share-suggestion/

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  15. What's wrong with this picture?

    http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/hr.asp?fpVname=NC_NR&ref_pge=gal&b_pge=1

    And the mea culpa . . .

    http://www.news-record.com/blogs/inkbytes/679910-87/mr-buffett-im-sorry

    If five "professionals" can mess up a headline, can three do the job just as well?

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  16. I have a question:
    A few times a week we receive emails from Gannett entitled "You Decide." They are frequently pushing goods and services... the one today "offers" a coupon to get your taxes done by one of these operations who puts people through two weeks of training before they figure and OK federal forms with your name on them. Is the company being compensated to advertise in this way to their "audience" of employees?

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    Replies
    1. It's no different from any other employee discount program, genius — which normal people consider a perk.

      Honestly, is there ANYTHING you crybabies won't whine about?

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    2. I very much appreciated 2:30's viewpoint.

      Until the second sentence.

      I guess it'll be a few years before 2:30 (and others who use phrases such as "you [insert denigrating word]") can refute a viewpoint without discrediting their argument with kid's stuff.

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    3. 2:37, it gets tiresome pointing out the same types of faulty conclusions again and again.

      Tell you what -- once people here stop throwing crap at the wall to see what rumors will stick, I bet the denigrating words might go away.

      Delete

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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