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Saturday, February 16, 2013
41 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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Bonjours.
ReplyDeleteQuite a mess down in Tallahassee today over the breaking news of a local missionary/blogger allegedly getting sexually harassed at the city's homeless shelter where she tried to check in "undercover" after hearing reports of improprieties that have been going on there for a while:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tallahasseegrapevine.com/blog/view/id_4230/title_undercover-at-the-shelter-in-tallahassee/
The Gannett paper there didn't break the story, but re-hashed what the blogger wrote:
http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20130214/NEWS/130214015/Missionary-alleges-sexual-harassment-Shelter
and an update today, after the story blew up on the local morning news radio talk show:
http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20130215/NEWS01/302150014/Woman-alleges-being-harassed-Shelter
What makes this a major egg-on-your-face moment for that rag is not just that they missed breaking this, but that they just named the "legendary" executive director of The Shelter as their "Person of the Year":
http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20130117/NEWS01/301170031/Mel-Eby-wins-Person-Year-work-Shelter
Oops. Taking lessons from Cincinnati, eh?
Their beat writer once spent a night in The Shelter herself to see what it was like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrU0sr0QUTM
but didn't have any of the negative experiences the blogger did, perhaps because she is known to the employees too well. Or, maybe there was another reason?)
No word yet on when the bad iPhone video 'splainer will be posted, lol!
Any responsible news outlet should be wary of a report that can't be independently verified. Proper procedure would be to interview the blogger and then contact the shelter for reaction.
DeleteUSA TODAY: Airlines pad flight schedules to boost on-time records http://usat.ly/UkmScI
ReplyDeleteNoted by the Wall Street Journal. In 2010.
ReplyDeletehttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703575004575043143789789222.html
The Bangor Daily News in northern Maine has had a Gannett moment. This locally owned daily filed a public records request for who had gun permits, allegedly with concern to domestic violence and drug abuse. State Republican politicians called an "emergency press conference" last night to denounce the Daily News and demand that the request be rescinded. Such was done this morning.
ReplyDeleteRomenesko has a writeup with links from Maine sources.
Who/what is Charles Everett?
DeleteChanges coming to Phoenix. Remember those glowing press releases about circ actually being up? That boom has apparently blowed up - real good.
ReplyDeleteI'm not far enough up the food chain to get a hard copy, but I've heard from people who are.
50,000 . . . FIFTY THOUSAND less Sunday subs. Some distribution centers in Phoenix metro to close. Job cuts TBD. Less DCs = less Area Managers. Hope they have friends downtown.
Also likely means route consolidations to make room for the carriers coming from other DCs. Those carriers will no doubt be happy to make the extra 10-15 mile drive to and from their NEW DC.
If Sunday subs are down 50k in a growing area like Phoenix, it doesn't bode well for older areas. It could also mean Sunday-only people don't want to pay extra for digital. That would be a massive repudiation of the "must-carry" print+digital.
Wow I heard it so it must be true!!!! And Jim lectures us earlier about journalism. Ironic huh? Meanwhile Gannett stock was up today. Love it!!!!
DeleteThe key word is "if." But Sunday subs aren't down 50,000, unless we're talking about a huge span of time. This poster does not provide any time period.
DeleteIn other words, it's just crap thrown at the wall to see if it will stick.
You're right. I made it all up. Sorry to waste your time. Happy Louis Riel Day to all.
DeleteIn Phoenix, about 5 years ago sunday circ was near 600k during peak (seasonal due to winter vistors, swing was about 100k winter to summer). sunday circ now is about 475k. daily was at 400k about 5 years ago, now down to 280k. trust me, i know the numbers !
DeleteSCS is way down, sunday only is down and snowbirds wont pay the new higher price. DC will go away, and press crews will be cut.
Phoenix... What a conundrum. Management expects excellence from you, but all you get from them is mediocrity. You get what you pay for Gannett. You reap what you sow.
DeleteGCI $20.16 today. Go Gracia go!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGo Maryam!!!
Delete54 layoffs are planned at the once-legendary Washington Post.
ReplyDeleteEvery department facing cuts was asked to keep the news to their department only, as to not make it look like a mass layoff.
And isn't it fascinating that among the cuts are the entire Mobile Marketing Dept. One less "new technology" to save the industry.
DeleteBias cost jobs
DeleteHeard it was a blood bath and that it already took place.
DeleteIt was mentioned in our OC meeting today that furloughs are coming, the word is corp. is waiting for the right time to announce them as not to blow the stock out of the water. As I listened to our Publisher discussing this plan of action, I got up, told the staff I had enough of this b--lshit and left the building. I was called back an hour later by the Publisher and he tried to make me see that it all made sense. I told him ( This company and circulation are going down so fast, that I made a decision to get out today and do some thing I enjoy) He was stunned at first, then he said, your right, I hate my job as well... And we parted ways, he will let me collect unemployment, that's at least he could do for me, he is not a bad guy, just stuck in the middle of The Corp. witch and the rest of the young guns who don't know any thing about running a newspaper company. What a day..Glade to be done with Gannett, worst 3 years of my life
ReplyDeleteThe Happy P is done
Oh my gosh what a great piece of fiction. What's next Romance novels. By the way furloughs are not on the horizon
DeleteYou are right.
DeleteLay offs,lots of them, are on the horizon.
furloughs are not on the horizon
DeleteWhat are you smoking?
Order me a ton.
Fine 8:42 ... so when are the furloughs going to be announced? If there were going to be 1st quarter furloughs, they would have been announced by now. It's not feasible to start this late. The cycle has been broken. Let's enjoy it. Personally, it feels like a raise.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteHate to tell you genius, but layoffs will bump thhe stock price up. Cost cutting equals more profits.
DeleteHow would you like a manager that wants you to make plans to get rid of one of your employees, only to later deny he ever said that. Good thing for emails! Great for company moral. I see this paper shutting down, as no one there gives a crap any more, and then to have this idiot and those like him think we will grow by managing by fear...yep that gets the job done
DeleteSmells like bull-oney. Any publisher who can lose the salary of an OC member for a couple months would jump at the chance, not volunteer to give them unemployment after public insubordination.
Delete7:48 AM how do you know furloughs are not on the horizon?
ReplyDeleteYou haven't heard about them yet because they're coming third quarter. That is when they are budgeted for. Did you seriously think Gannett was going to take the budget loss this year for the good of the employees? Seriously?
DeleteMy manager told me third quarter keep it on the down low.
Delete12:18 relax. I know. No furloughs
DeleteOne thing is clear: The third quarter will bring especially tough financial "comps."
DeleteBy then, around 70 of Gannett's 81 U.S. community newspaper markets will have had paywalls in place for a year. In Q3 last year, those hikes produced big circulation revenue gains. This year, there won't be any, so circulation revenue will start to flatten.
Meanwhile, in Q3 2012, political campaign advertising started to surge for the 23 television stations. In this year's Q3, there won't be any, so TV advertising in all likelihood will be down.
What, then, does Corporate have in the works to push revenue higher this time around? Digital Services and USA Today Sports Media Group. We'll see whether those make the difference later this year.
Florida Today on the ball again. There was a murder this morning at 2:15 am at a bar in town. As of this writing, 1:05 pm, nothing yet/still on their web site. Within 2 hours, 2 TV station sites and telecasts had early accounts.
ReplyDeleteSo much for digital/online news being Gannett's savior.
What does it matter?
DeletePushing newspapers to publish breaking news videos online is pointless when the TV stations have the technically trained people, equipment, and a fleet of satellite vans to broadcast high quality footage in real time while Gannett does it on the cheap.
The result: Gannett's high school level videos come online hours after the the TV stations have already broadcasted the story.
And yet the stock is up. Nothing High School about that!!!
DeleteNot due to the local newspapers' video revenue.
DeleteIf I remember the financial report correctly, it was legal advertisements leading the way in newspaper revenue sources.
Papers are only making money when people are legally forced to place an ad! Ha!
My Managers face turns beet red when she lies, she said no furloughs, so yeah...furloughs for sure...
ReplyDeleteYou would think that USA Today would respect another newspaper's copyright, but not here. USA Today's bylined story quotes the Aspen Daily News in the first four graphs, then adds two graphs of background, then spends seven more graphs quoting the Aspen paper. Hardly "fair use." Is this what Gannett wants other publications to do with its newspaper stories -- rip them off?
ReplyDeletehttp://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/02/michelle-obama-children-on-aspen-ski-trip/1#.USApbqXCZ8E
There is no such thing anymore as "copyright" in the way 7:55 mentions. Google (and Dogpile et al) eliminated it with their search metric. You may actually click the link to the "original" article, but Google gets their 10th of a cent regardless.
ReplyDeleteHave a website? Provide a link to amazon and you'll get a cut of the sale. News is no different. It's a commodity. Heck, AP will let you bypass your local rag and give you AP content on your phone. You can bypass your local cable provider for weather and sports.
USAT may actually have some original content here and there. But it's mostly a print aggregator, same as your local paper. And print aggregators are dinosaurs.
Case in point: Reader's Digest. See if this sounds familiar. Sold in the mid-2000s. Bankruptcy a few years later. US circ down 30%. Number of issues cut from 12 to 10 per year. (Back to 12 in '13) And that's the world's largest magazine. Interesting that RD's print sub DOESN'T include digital access as a normal part of the cost.
Its fucking sleazy and dishonest. Usa Today should know better.
ReplyDelete