Friday, March 08, 2013

March 4-10 | Your News & Comments: Part 5

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60 comments:

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    3. Tatsächlich ist die Phrase 01.49 Uhr wäre "Guten Morgen." Just a little humor for the blog.

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  2. Just watch our stock soar. Thanks to Gracia Martore, Maryam Banikarim, Mary Murcko and Sandra Micek. Where would we be without our industry legends?

    Those girls are on fire!

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    1. Wake me when the stock returns to 90. Nothing to see here.

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  3. I am on fire and excited to hunker down in my little cube in the morally corrupt and empty Crystal Palace and get to work (on my resume and exit strategy).

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  4. Congratulations to all those on the lay off lists.
    Live long and prosper.

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    1. I,like so many are just waiting and hoping to be on the short list.
      Why else would I stay in this Godforsaken place!
      Those who stay for other reasons,one must wonder what their problem is.

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    2. Oh those bitter fired marketing people.
      And bitter fired circulation people.
      And bitter fired advertising people.
      And bitter fired news people.
      And bitter fired production people.
      And bitter fired finance people.
      And bitter fired NIE people.
      And bitter fired broadcast people.

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    3. How did that heart and soul removal surgery go?

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    4. The dullard didn't need brain removal surgery.

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    5. I think it is obvious everyone in Gannett is on the short list. You're kidding yourself if you think the entire company itself is on a short list of media extinction.

      Now back to sending out my resumes because this girl is on FIRE!

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    6. I don't understand people who stick around hoping they are on the short list. People, life is too short to wait for something that may or may not happen. Take a chance and find something else that will improve your quality of life.

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    7. Perhaps 12:56's confusion is due to an unfamiliarity with how it works. Leave, and one gets no unemployment to steady the boat. Laid off, one gets some buffer between their former life and the gutter.

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    8. Lots of bitter fired people posting in this string. Maybe someday they will move on.

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    9. more like blessed

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    11. Wy can't 8:02 make up his mind - did he quit Gannett and get a sweet new gig, or does he still work there? Either way he still can't figure out how a keyboard works.

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  5. USA TODAY enterprise: What surgeons leave behind costs some patients dearly http://usat.ly/12yoiVV

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  6. Interesting how The Cincinnati Enquirer is touting the shutdown of its printing facilities and the layoffs of 97 production workers, as it moves printing to Columbus, Ohio. Like this is a good thing? "Yes, your local newspaper won't be local anymore!"
    http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130307/NEWS/303070162/Job-winding-down-97-Enquirer-production-workers

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    1. 9:41 don't worry. The Union would never let this happen. After all the dues the members paid over the years do you really think they would let this happen? No way.

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    2. Who signed-off on publicly publishing the names, years of service and job titles of the LAST 97 employees who, in essence, are being fired?

      Buchanan? Washburn? Bulling?

      Did anyone review what is and ISN’T allowed under existing laws protecting employees’ privacy? Did anyone seek employees’ permission? Did ALL 97 agree? Did anyone consider the emotional impact this could have on employees, their significant others and in their relationships with friends, neighbors?

      If history is any guide, then the answer to all is doubtful, especially in regard to management’s recognition of employee’s emotions, led by Buchanan who long ago demonstrated her own significantly low, Emotional IQ.

      Frankly, publishing their names seems little more than a self-serving move for the Enquirer at employees’ continuing expense. Here’s hoping employees charge it back.

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    3. “…But the anger and sadness they feel are far outweighed by the affection they share for their work….” Really?

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    4. Here's additional perspective: My site did something similar some time back. We had won some "Best of Gannett" award, so a picture was taken of the staff in that department to promote the "we're all in the community" thing. Wow. Remember those days?

      I very much appreciated the department's award amid long hours and I appreciated the rare recognition of the department.

      But then they ran a list of names beneath that photo (uninteresting on its face but the point is it was done without asking anyone).

      I'm very security conscious. I complained for years at the lax security at our site. Ignored. But now I was concerned because aside from my career, my "day job" at the paper, I was also deputized with the county sheriff's office. I liked volunteering what little time I had off.

      Now there's a full-page promo... my face, no biggie... but now a name..., and, sweet, where I work... in a very bad part of town (with fake "surveillance" cameras)... and some whack job at the wrong end of the law might have an ax to grind with all that community-service stuff.

      Again, I was very grateful for a photo and the recognition, so rare, but to list all the names... without consent or even that notion even occurring to the Marketing folks... sheer negligence, amateur stupidity.

      Unfortunately only a harbinger of things to come in the Amateur Stupidity department. The more professional types were already being ushered out the door.

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    5. It’s one thing to congratulate employees winning awards, it’s entirely another to run their name and other details in the newspaper and online when they’re sacked.

      They are not public officials. And, their rights, as protected under employment laws, have likely been violated.

      Moreover, one suspects that there’s a potential cash prize for those who rightfully raise hell.

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  7. 6:13 am: BA you are starting to embarrass yourself.

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  8. Murcko's Gannett Connects is a Cluster. Everyone fighting over the same few advertising crumbs.

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    1. I feel sorry for all the ad sales people.

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  9. A reader thanks the Enquirer for its sensitivity in naming an internship after a wrong way drunk driver in a fatal crash.


    http://cincinnati.com/blogs/letters/2013/03/05/non-trad-student-was-drunk-driver/

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    1. The writer was wrong. The drunk driver was nearly four times over the legal limit and began her night of revelry in the Enquirer newsroom.

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    2. One hopes the Enquirer enhanced what it reserved for legal costs this years as from what’s been shared it sounds like it will need it.

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    3. Enquirer bosses knew, or should have known, that she had a history of drug use, and a history of driving violations including driving without a license. All they had to do was look her up at the local court site, which they should have done when they hired her.

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  10. Student publication says Enquirer "initially reported" drugs in her system also. http://www.newsrecord.org/news/campus/article_30dc4dca-86d9-11e2-bed7-001a4bcf6878.html

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  11. how many years did USAT operate at a financial loss? and when did it start showing a profit. it was Al's dream no matter what the cost.

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  12. Usat now operates on a loss of talent, expertise, news judgement and work ethic. the place is run by incompetent, lazy, mean spirited BOOBS.

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  13. So - the employee with the cutest dog gets to stay? Nice work Shreveport...

    http://www.shreveporttimes.com/interactive/article/20130307/NEWS01/130307023/You-decide-Which-Times-employee-has-cutest-dog?appSession=020364965607787\\

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    1. As long as the dog isn't 7 or 8 or older. Corporate doesn't want any old dogs. Just young ones who haven't learned new tricks.

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  14. Being let go from GANNETT is a GREAT thing. JUST prepare yourself,SAVE MONEY NOW! transfer anything you need thats on your computer, box your stuff, walk out door. First 3 months will be busy doing transition paper work from pension, 401k, health insurance-don't take COBRA unless you are under a doctors care and need to--you can actually go to the doctors and get meds cheaper than paying for the insurance. Do your unemployment, it is not as hard as they make it. HR will misinform you about most of it (they aren't the ones leaving and don't care to give you the right info-once your gone your gone). Take a deep breath and ENJOY. Now you won't have to worry about who has to work x-mas, and no more working with the disgruntled management.
    There feel better--NO MORE STRESS!!!!!!!

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    1. you've got it right ! relax and enjoy life !
      F the F'ing F'ers

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  15. Being let go from GANNETT is a GREAT thing. JUST prepare yourself,SAVE MONEY NOW! transfer anything you need thats blahblahblah ...

    #7 Mexican Crap Dance vs. #10 Stool Swamp -- Tacos are great! But the aftershock -- not so much. Donde esta el toileto? The swamp is just not appealing at all. Mexican Crap Dance wins and joins Curling Giant, Cornyoucrapia, Stick and Pile and others in the 2nd round.

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    1. ... ? What were you thinking when you wrote that? Did you write that while doing the crap dance? You should collect your thoughts before you publish them.

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  16. 10:38, you forget that the union will make out like bandits when the Enquirer shuts down its printing plant. Because of termination clauses in union contracts, as well as other shutdown-related costs, Gannett said in 2011 that it would take a charge against earnings of up to $59 million. Wish the rest of us could have gotten money like that when they threw us out.

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    1. At the end of the day, they're still losing their jobs.

      And, try as you will, but it's doubtful that they'll get anything markedly better than what the Enquirer offered to non-represented employees a few years ago.

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  17. Timing is everything...

    If terminating 97 employees and the widely publicized, recent wrong-way, drunk driving death of another isn’t enough to paint the Cincinnati Enquirer in a bad light with readers...it now has a third to add to it: news tonight that Cheryl McCafferty, a former ad rep seeks, a new trial to overturn a murder conviction.

    http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130308/NEWS0103/303080126/McCafferty-who-killed-husband-asks-new-trial

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    1. Wonder why the story doesn't mention that she's a former ad rep?

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  18. Deal Chicken let all their managers go. Did it over a conference call with HR. Said they are centralizing it. That they could reapply for their jobs. The usual Gannett way,

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    1. Let's be clear on this. They were called "area managers" - in reality they were glorified customer service and administrative people. That name always irked me because it's not the truth . The actual managers were not let go but their groups changed.

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  19. I thought people were being hard on Don Baily--but after the announcement this week that employees can't enter and exit the building from a parking lot beside the building at nights anymore, I'm starting to understand their complaints. Instead, employees must enter and exit the building through a back door to the basement mailroom (and former pressroom). The door is beside railroad tracks and vacant property, under a poorly lit street bridge. Employees have been accosted by panhanders in the past year. No security at all, and right now the fenced parking lot near the back entrance isn't secured--the car gates and street entrance gate are wide open.

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    1. I am going to have to disagree with you. Don has some problems but I would say you know have problems. I am a production employee and I work in the mailroom NOT THE BASEMENT. I have been around a long time and NOTHING has happened to me coming in through the door under the bridge. I hate it badly that you think you are too good to come through an entrance that I have been coming through since I have been working here. Is it because you are on the first floor and you think one of us employees on the second floor will hurt you? We will not. I would say good for Don to make you come through this door. It is by time you employees who think you are too good to come to the second floor NOT THE BASEMENT get a chance to see how we work. Maybe Don listened to one of my post that he distance himself from our department and now he will make the whole building see us. We work hard and you will get the chance to see what we do. Stop the whinning and do what most employees have been doing for a long time. If you had come through our department you would know that the space under the bridge is not scary and we can see while we are out there. I work nights so I know just what I am talking about. Just a big baby whinning when you cannot have your way. You go Don. Finally you did something I can be proud of you about. There are a lot of production employees and we are proud of where we work and what we do. Thanks for this Don.

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  20. Being let go from Gannett isn't so great especially if your not ready to retire and are in a bad area for jobs.

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  21. Don Bailey doesn't care about your safety - he only cares about the $$$ in his pocket and his gated community he lives in....

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  22. Honestly, I have had mixed emotions about the whole experience of losing my job at Gannett. The economy makes my situation a little stressful, while being unemployed. But, I also have to remind myself of the tremendous stress that I encountered during the "lean years" of Gannett when everyone was positioning themselves for "my" job.... And, that was actually even more stressful than being on unemployment. Also, when I worked at Gannett, it got to the point where I didn't even have enough time to look for another job, because of combined responsibilities throughout the years of integrations. (I was at work all the time.) At least now, I have some time to look for a new job. I just have to remind myself to keep motivated in this economy.

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  24. gannett is a time bandit. you will be happier working in a place that values your time on the job - and off. believe me...

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  25. Dear 11:02, 8 p.m. here. I'm sorry you feel personally attacked. Please read my previous post more closely. I never mentioned being afraid of the mailroom employees. I know. I'm concerned about random individuals (not employees) who are just hanging around. I'm glad you've never had problems going in and out of that door. I do go in and out of the back door--frequently--mostly during the day. I never said it was "scary". Here's my concern, which is different from fear: I went in and out of the back door after dark but not late (before 10 p.m.) this week. There was NO ONE around. No one in the parking lot, no one on the dock or in the mailroom or, as far as I could tell, anywhere downstairs in the building. I suspect the employees who come to work in the middle of the night have the same start time; thus there's at least a sort of safety in numbers. As for "basement" versus "mailroom", you're right. The mailroom is on the ground floor but not underground. Other parts of the ground floor are underground and are genuinely a basement.

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  27. I am going to have to disagree with you. I work in THE BASEMENT. Zzzzz....


    #8 Caveman's Club vs. #9 French Foreign Object -- Hey, what's that in the bowl? Does anybody know what time it is?

    The club is an effective purger, but the joy of squeezing out that escargot is unmatched. French Foreign Object is the winner!

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  28. There is indeed life after layoff, but you're going to need to be flexible and ditch expectations you'll both be able to remain in publishing and in the same geographic market. The reality is Gannett has dumped hundreds of editors, reporters, mar/com, production staffers in this market, saturating it with experienced, unemployed folks.
    Those of us that have found progressively more challenging and lucrative publishing jobs since leaving in the four years since layoffs began have moved onto other markets. While it has been admittedly tough on our families, it's reality in markets where Gannett has dumped staff and over-saturated the marketplace, creating a buyers market where only relatively cheap or inexperienced talent can find publishing work.

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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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