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Friday, February 08, 2013
55 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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Bom gia!
ReplyDeleteGannett names Mike Redding news director of WCSH Portland, Maine/WLBZ Bangor effective 2/25. He's currently a news producer at sister station WFMY Greensboro.
ReplyDeleteYou know,
ReplyDeleteAll of you still employed by Gannett could get away from Gannett.
Just go out and get one of those millions of jobs that the president, that most of you supported, is creating. According to mainstream news, the economy is prospering. So, stop coming here complaining, just leave.
Oh, wait minute, that's all smoke and mirrors and manipulating the numbers and is only to be believed
if you actually have a job.
...and a cheery "good morning" to you too, Mitt!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeletePerfect response, 11:58! Just perfect.
DeleteI mean 9:31 on 2/6
DeleteWell, when you can't afford it...lease it baby!
ReplyDeleteFeb 5, 2013, 2:56pm EST
Updated: Feb 5, 2013, 3:50pm EST
Gannett to shed more space in Tysons Corner
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/breaking_ground/2013/02/gannett-to-shed-more-space-in-tysons.html
How an escort service didn't pick that name before the real estate company did is beyond me.
DeleteInsert Gannett joke here . . .
People who think that print is dead and that Digital is the future don't seem to want to acknowledge that what is new gets old and things considered old style today may return as the hot thing tomorrow. Print will be around tomorrow and for along time to come for those papers that adapt and can still give people what they want. Many people are growing tired of Facebook and other sites that were the sites to be on. Even the I-phone is now considered passe and seen as uncool by teenagers as there parents way of doing things. People don't want to be bombardeed by ads on thier mobil devices and will still buy a paper at a store if there is something on the front page they want to read about. Problem is Gannett stopped doing that and stopped writing new interesting articles. They stopped caring about providing great customer service and now think every one will sign up to get a empty newspaper on a mobile device.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't have said it better myself! However, print has been moved to the back burner and DMS and social media is the flavor of the day now.
DeleteDid you ever consider that the last dinosaurs who prowled the earth told themselves exactly this same fairy tale?
DeleteWell said, 10:08. Print offers advantages to the reader that digital doesn't. It's lightweight, cheap, portable, disposable or reusable, non intrusive, comfortable to read and hold, sharable, and doesn't require a big money investment in a viewing platform (smartphone, tablet) so it is universally available. Digital bigots are too narrow to consider the broader picture and the continuing advantages of multi platform delivery. Newer isn't always better.
DeletePrint also costs a ton to reproduce and distribute. Let's consider your "positives".
Delete1) Lightweight. Blows away. Tears. Crumples.
2) Cheap? Compared to digital? No way.
3) Portable. See your tablet. Phone.
4) Disposable. Once it's gone, you can't get it back. If you have a few days worth, try searching for something. Hope you have a good memory.
5) Sharable. How many links do you e-mail friends in a day, a week?
6) Big money investment. For the price of one year's paper subscription, I can get a tablet AND a digital sub. If it's The NY Times, I can also get a 50" HD TV so I won't have to squint as I read.
Not saying print is dead. I have a print sub, and still read more news on paper than off the net. Fans of either platform that disparage the other are short-sighted.
10:08, 11:01, & 9:29, what are you all smoking? It must be some good stuff to push you to thinking as you do. You really think print is going to make a comeback? You really think people will buy newspapers again? People made those arguments before the smartphones and tablets hit the marketplace. Of course, the jury might still be out as to the sustainability of social media. However, if you think people are going to all of a sudden delete their FB account and re-subscribe to their local newspaper that they canceled b/c it was irrelevant, old, got their fingers dirty, and always showed up in a wet plastic bag, you really need to go to rehab. [side bar: It's kind of interesting that a newspaper is one of the only products that (for the most part) is literally thrown at its customer - intentionally. Weird.]
DeleteBut, I digress. Back to my point: Most of the arguments 9:29 points out are no longer valid when you're comparing print to digital today. Digital devices are lightweight, portable, comfortable to hold and read, are available everywhere and aren't nearly as expense as they were when they first launched. And, that good news with advances in technology and competition, prices will go down and more and more people will buy. Why are more smartphones and tablets being purchased today than PCs?
There is indeed a place for print in this digital world. There are people out there across generations (but mostly age 60+) who are still lovin' their newspapers and magazines like it's nobody's business. God bless 'em. But, the consumer behavior trend line is going in the other direction. Print will not go away, but it will soon be replaced as a way people get news and information. That's an irrefutable fact. Of course, there will be instances and occasions in the future where people will use print, but even the late-to-the-party-adapters will slowly but surely make it across the river to the digital promised land.
So...yeah, call me a 'digital bigot.' I'm guilty as charged. But, I have seen the bigger picture. Newspaper industry people saw it in the late 90s and early '00s but did nothing about it. Most said the Internet was a fad that would go away. And to think those people still have sr level jobs with the-big-time-$19-a-share-GCI. Digital is not a fad and it is not going away.
Just two years ago Corning made this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cf7IL_eZ38
You can now buy refrigerators with TV and Internet capabilities....
http://www.samsung.com/us/appliances/refrigerators/RF4289HARS/XAA
This is the future my friends...newspapers are the past and companies that own a lot of newspapers will not survive in this future.
1:47 yes they saw digital coming in the 90's and early two thousands and did nothing about it because they were to busy counting all their profits from print which is something digital still is far behind in producing. Same argument was made about Television that it would be dead by now because the internet was going to be the way people got entertainment. You even admit you still read the the printed version more than the digital copy. Most current subscribers still only take the digital paper because it is included with the Printed version. I also have to wonder how many of Gannet's digital only subscribers are only taking it because they are away on vacation and still want to read what's going on at home. Give people back the option of Printed paper delivered before breakfast or getting back on the mobile device they stare at all week and they well likely chose to pick up and read the Paper. people over sixty prefer it because people over sixty can afford it and have the time to read it.
DeleteI find it disturbing that so many posters here are so eager to discount older consumers who are the bread and butter of this industry. I suspect that newspaper readers have always been more affluent, mature, literate and probably older on balance than the overall population. Abandoning the format that older consumers may prefer - print on paper - or making it too difficult to obtain because of shoddy delivery and customer service may sound like a good idea in the short term but in the long term those practices destroy brand loyalty and will lead to significant sales losses. Can anyone here really argue that there are enough 20-somethings motivated to read legal notices, obits, display ads, and reports on local politics and businesses to keep Gannett afloat without the interest and support of older readers?
DeleteI'd caution you not to throw the baby out with the bathwater but that canard seems a little inappropriate in this context. Perhaps I should say don't throw granny out with yesterday's paper. You still need her to make payroll.
As I read these comments on my tablet before bed, and after reading USA Today and BBC online, I chuckle.
DeleteTo everyone who commented that print is dead, and digitally-delivered news is here to stay: Maybe you forgot that some of us, including me, a former Gannett employee, have not recovered from a severe job loss. I cannot afford an i-anything and read a newspaper in my hand and on my pc. A newspaper is less expensive than a digital device, and I want to see the WHOLE page, including that page's advertising. You can't very well see a page layout on an iPhone, and besides, why would I want to read the paper on a tiny screen when I read it in my hand, see how stories are placed on the page, etc.
DeleteTo 11:55 PM, good that you can afford a tablet. Would you like to buy one for me?
DeleteTurtles and alligators are dinosaurs ...
ReplyDeleteIn Tampa Bay, Ken Tonning will retire in July as general manager of Gannett's WTSP. Eric Duggans of the Tampa Bay Times wrote about how Tonning put his imprint on "10 News".
ReplyDeleteHey Kentucky...
ReplyDeleteHow's that Tony Simmons thing working for you...?
I thought he was one of those who got cut? You telling me he's still there?
DeleteAbsolutely destroyed what used to be a decent operation. Deliveries have been merged with other products with no regards to service, and employees with perfect reviews under old management are now unemployed. He has gutted Louisville with no shame. There are some very good circulation folks on the street looking for jobs due to this ass hole.
ReplyDeleteTony Simmons is about the safest employee within Gannett, they like empty suits. As for what he has done in KY, it's absolutely shameful.
Tony destroyed The Journal News.
DeleteThey no longer print the paper, they no longer deliver the paper, they went from thousands employed to hundreds employed.
How this man is still where he is --simply a mystery.
Amen-how this guy remains is mind numbing.
DeleteIn Palm Springs they hired a new distribution director after they gutted circulation and distribution. Gave everything to a private delivery company and home delivery drivers. In fact they hired him in August after they just completed buy outs, and layoffs.
ReplyDeleteSo how come the above posted layoffs haven't been mentioned here before now?
ReplyDeleteI would guess there are stealth,under the radar layoffs happening all over the country.
They just are not being reported here.
You sound awfully disappointed. Why do you love layoffs so much?
DeleteJim has a spreadsheet going but it got stale. No updated numbers.
DeleteI love this blog, and come to it for news on a regular basis. But, have been disappointed lately in the news on THE BLOG. I work for Gannett, I love my job,and I worry about my job each day. Why are people no longer reporting what is going on? Come on people, Jim can only do so much; he needs us to all step up and let him know what is going on at our sites to report back to us what to expect. Please share!
ReplyDeleteYou first.
DeleteHere's what the genius 1:47 would've said 60 years ago:
ReplyDelete"You really think radio is going to make a comeback? You really think people will listen to the radio again? Television is like movies in your home! Radio is dead. In 10 years you won't be able to buy one."
Moronic then, moronic now. Newspapers may look very different and have different content, but they aren't disappearing.
Wake up and smell the coffee. Newspapers are indeed disappearing — fast.
DeleteAnd Gannett is helping them sink fast.
Delete9:37, 1:47 did not say did not say newspapers will disappear.
Delete"There is indeed a place for print in this digital world."
"Print will not go away, but it will soon be replaced as a way people get news and information."
Print is not go away, it will just be replaced as a way of getting information for the vast majority of people. Newspapers will still be thrown at people and sit in their yards in wet plastic bags. Newspaper companies will still be around and foolishing printing newspapers as long as there are people around who are willing to actual pay for them.
Yes, people were wrong to think radio would go away as a result of tv. And people were wrong to say tv would go away as a result of the Internet. There are some people who think print will disappear completely.
So, what's been happening to these mediums? They are being replaced (perhaps disrupted is a better word). Radio by online streaming such as Pandora. TV by online streaming of tv programs and movies. Newspapers are being replaced by the plethora of digital devices by which people can get the exact same information. Radio and television audiences have been shrinking for years and the same has been happening for newspapers. The audiences for these mediums will continue to get smaller and smaller and smaller. Again, they are being replaced. They may still exist for many years to come, but they will have a far fewer people using them.
If anyone thinks this will not happen, you would be right in calling them morons.
Radio survived because it has constantly re-invented itself. Thirties and Forties: Theater of the mind. Live music. Fifties and Sixties: Rock n Roll. Seventies: FM Stereo. Eighties: Video ALMOST killed the radio star. Nineties and Beyond: News/Talk.
ReplyDeletePrint hasn't been able to stay current. Unless there is HUGE news (Watergate, 9-11) people just aren't interested. The audience has fractured between print and digital.
Print is expensive. Digital is cheap. Unless print can find a unique niche that digital can't do faster, cheaper and almost as good, print will continue to decline.
You can find any "unique niche" you want, but the advertising dollars are never coming back — period. And face it — without them, you've got nothing.
DeleteFor the provider, yes print is expensive and digital is cheap.
DeleteBut for the consumer it is the opposite.
Before you read word one in digital, you have to purchase a digital device and then you have to purchase an internet connection.
Why do people keep saying digital is cheap? Even if the news online is free there are still the device and access costs.
12:30 PM -- Sorry, but that makes absolutely no sense.
DeleteBeg to differ, 4:30. 12:30 makes perfect sense. In a digital delivery system most costs are passed through to the customer who becomes responsible for providing the content display mechanism. In a print world the content producer also provides the display of content (i.e., paper) . You'd better be providing some mighty fine content if you want your customers to eat those costs. And you'd better be prepared to acknowledge that you've shrunk your potential customer base in the process. You lose a lot of less affluent, elderly readers, students, etc. when you start to limit your product in this way.
DeleteThere will always be a place for print, and for those who think only 60 somethings read the paper, you should stand at a store for a day. You'd obviously be surprised at the number of 30 plus somethings, and the occasional 20 somethings, that still buy the paper.
ReplyDeleteAgain I ask, why abandon the print side when both have it's place and can survive? Put more self produced content back in and/or drop the price back to reasonable, and print will do just fine.
Print and digital are two different critters and shouldn't be treated as one.
For G-d's sake, get your head out of the sand.
DeleteReality is tough for people to accept.
DeleteThe fact is newspapers have been closing all over the country.Does anyone know of a new one
as a start up, that has survived?
Doubtful.
"Put more self produced content back in and/or drop the price back to reasonable, and print will do just fine."
DeleteWake up -- neither one is going to happen with the way Gannett has butchered its staff the last few years.
If those 20 or 30-somethings you see at the store are buying Gannett products, they must have pet birds.
LH has to be pulling her hair out in DSM. I heard the other day that they have tried to fill the Sales Director position three times, makes me think the writing is on the wall that something isn't right.
ReplyDeleteSinking ship.......why would Tad leave if things were going as good as they portrayed. Doesn't make sense!
DeleteHappy Birthday, Jim. Thanks for this blog and keeping us informed.
ReplyDeleteWow! Thanks for remembering. Tomorrow, I turn 56.
DeleteHappy early b-day Jim. We love ya man!
DeleteKeeping us iformed? How? We don't even have a complete list of the layoffs. I know of more than are on the list but Jim hasn't offered any cash for the info.
DeleteIf you think print newspapers don't matter, just work the phone line or listen to complaints the morning it doesn't arrive at a residence, business, or vendor. Or listen to your pres. and publisher rant!
ReplyDeleteCompletely meaningless anecdotes. So you've encountered a few cranks. I guarantee you not one of them is willing to pay enough for your services to make up for the advertising revenue that's gone forever. In fact, I'll bet they already kvetch about the cost as it is.
DeleteDun...Dun...Dun...another bites the dust...
ReplyDeleteNBC deems EveryBlock a dead end, turns off news service
The hyperlocal source of news and information may have been an innovative approach to media, but NBC says it wasn't doing well as a business.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57568214-93/nbc-deems-everyblock-a-dead-end-turns-off-news-service/