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Thursday, April 25, 2013
49 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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Might be a good day to update the layoff spreadsheet. 6 in Cincinnati.
ReplyDeleteFunny, but was't Buchanan's new mini-paper supposed to the save the day?
DeleteThese cuts and casual conversation with those you can find who still read it suggest otherwise.
The new mini-paper is a joke. Can't wait to see the drop in subscriptions. Saw one earlier this week and it was pitiful. One local reporter in news section, the rest from their weeklies. Zoo-like layout and readers have a hard time figuring where to go. Awful. Awful.
DeleteThree in Nashville.
ReplyDeleteWhat departments are these layoffs coming from?
ReplyDeleteAd Services, ad production/design.
ReplyDeleteIf I see more layoff reports, I'll add a spreadsheet.
ReplyDeletePart of an already-announced consolidation/outsourcing or something new?
ReplyDeleteI'm told this involves 50 ad designer positions, with that work being consolidated to the five newspaper production hubs.
ReplyDeleteSo, this may not be a net loss of 50 jobs, if some pop up at the hubs in Asbury Park, N.J.; Des Moines; Louisville; Nashville, and Phoenix.
I've started a spreadsheet here, where I will post figures for your site, as they get posted here.
There have been new hires at Indy and Des Moines. Replacing years and years of experience with local, high dollar customers with cheaper untested talent 1,750 miles away. Though after four years GIADC is getting better, it's still a factory where creativity goes to die.
DeleteAd designers being canned. Must not be many ads coming in. No way Gannett pays people to stand around doing nothing and rightfully so.
ReplyDeleteI guess Martore singing Happy Days Are Here Again once the first-quarter financial report came out Monday was premature. What a liar she is!!! Two days after the report and she's swinging the Budget Blade!!!!!!!
The ad work is going to GIADC, not to be confused with Design Center hubs that do page design.
ReplyDeleteYes; it's not the hubs. The Gannett Imaging and Ad Design Centers are in Des Moines and Indianapolis.
DeleteAt least two in Salem, possibly more.
ReplyDeleteAdd 50 more from Usa Today buyouts and five more baleouts. Trimming our way to success !
ReplyDeleteHmmm, a poster said there were layoffs in Des Moines, too. Ouch.
ReplyDeleteHere's what most don't realize. The circulation numbers are the all time shell game. Yes, many have figured out Gannett isn't gaining circ volume and is using rate increases to move volume and revenue from print subs too "digital revenue" so they can claim digital growth. But what has been missed is the change in accounting methods months ago. Circ revenue at most properties was jacked up with matching increases in circ expense. This sends the impression of significant revenue growth while masking the expense increase. Our management team still doesn't seem to understand why this was done. Thus the continuous expense cuts stay in place to try and get bottom line growth on the back end. Expense cutting is the one thing they know how to do!. Its all an illusion folks!
ReplyDeleteCirculation numbers are what each site wants them to be. During my time with Gannett I've seen so many shell games with these number it's hard to believe anything. Games are played with expiration dates to extend subscriptions, returns, you name it and it's been adjusted positively. ABC seems to just turn their head and let this continue.
ReplyDeleteI blame companies like Gannett for making journalism one of the worst professions in America. (See article below). And if you think it's better at the big papers like USA Today, think again.
ReplyDeleteWith this kind of perception of the business, Gannett is going to have a hard time recruiting the best and the brightest, which in turn makes the reporting and the products even worse.
So go on Gannett, keep laying people off, keep underpaying them, keep lying to your employees and abandoning them when they reach 50. See where you're at in 10 years when you can't find anyone who can write a complete sentence to work for your company. Good luck finding folks willing to work late nights, holidays and weekends for little pay and no job security.
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/best-worst-jobs-2013-6C9565250
Huh? Journalism jobs are evaporating far faster than the supply of would-be journalists, and that trend will only accelerate. "Finding folks" is the least of anybody's worries.
DeleteAnd, oh by the way, involuntary servitude was outlawed, so assuming you receive the wages you agreed to work for, you are not "underpaid".
That's dumb, 1:19. First you claim there is no shortage of workers, but then you imply people can just set their own wage. Hate to break this, but sometimes the person has to take the low wage to get hired.
DeleteGo back to school and learn Econ 101. Stop posting stupid crap here until you do.
If you're in the business of selling news content, you better worry about hiring, developing talent and retaining competent journalists who can provide that credible stories, photos, video, etc. You can lay off all the people you want, but at some point, you have to have someone on the payroll who will directly or indirectly help you make money. Companies that continually cut corners and hire cheap labor generally don't last.
DeleteImage is a component to good companies hiring good people. Everyone wants to work for Google, but far fewer are anxious to work at AOL. Regardless of layoffs, downsizing and out-sourcing, Gannett still must attract sharp, well-educated people if it is to survive.
Unfortunately, Gannett through its own actions in the last five years has turned itself into AOL. From a business standpoint, I don't see how a news product like USA TODAY can continue to compete on a national stage without hiring the best of the best. As it is, it seems USAT is running on fumes. On one hand it denounces its past, but on the other hand, it's that past reputation that people buy.
The problem at the community dailies is different. The small papers never paid well. Working conditions were always bad at Gannett's community dailies. But job-seekers saw those papers as stepping stones. Nowadays, I have to wonder is there is any appeal to working in the "minor leagues." I mean, what' the goal? To work at USAT in McLean, Va., where the cost of living is off the charts and job security is a joke?
4:57 PM - To put it as simply as possible for you, the point is that you can't possibly be "underpaid" unless you're laboring for less than your labor is worth. And if there is nobody who is willing to pay you more, then you are working for EXACTLY what your labor is worth. Hence you are NOT "underpaid", no matter how disgruntled you may be.
Delete2 in Greenville
ReplyDeleteYes they justify all the layoffs with the excuse that Print is a dying industry and every business is laying people off due to the bad economy. While the insiders cash in their stock options. They were callous in who they let go. Many people that work for Gannett complain about the negative comments on this blog but it's not them that were tossed aside after dedicating there careers to Gannett. Many of them over 40 years old. They have to start all over again in a lousy job market. Some have I am sure lost homes and had hard times as illnesses and deaths in their families have occurred. Yet the people running the show only took into account selling Wall Street on a new strategy to drive the stock price up. I agree with another comment I read on here that said the numbers are just a shell game.
ReplyDeleteOn another subject but plainly Gannett-centric, I was interested in the coverage of the Rana Plaza collapse in Savar, Bangladesh — and how Gannett's "digital leadership" stacked up against other digital media sources.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, the disaster is a pretty big deal.
After having read several sources and sifting through conflicting information, I checked out the USA Today site.
Naturally, it's not USA Today; it's actually an Associated Press story by Julhas Alam and Al-Emrun Garjon — and it's very well done. Go AP! Too bad Gannett's dropping you.
So then I went to my local site and scrolled down to its World section (it's the 13th section down... beneath Sports and Entertainment, which hold are obviously far much more important than a huge disaster in an impoverished Muslim country.
And of course, it's just going to be USA Today / AP stories... i.e., the AP story I just read at the USA Today site, right?
Guess what!
Nothing there about it. No mention of it: the worst-ever disaster for one of the largest apparel export industries in the entire world.
The relevance to U.S. consumers? Bangladesh's garment industry supplies major high-end Western brands, from The Children's Place to Wal-Mart. You know... that whole "profit over human lives" mantra where Bangladeshi worker's wages clock in at $1.26 a day.
How uplifting of my local site's World section. The whole thing must not have ever happened. Whew!
Interesting piece in the Politico about the New York Times’ Jill Abramson. It is causing quite a ruckus – pro and con. Male vs. female. It brings up the bigger picture of are top editors crazy? I have had sane and not so sane editors and publishers in my career in and out of Gannett. I have been an editor and have found I have not needed to be a tyrant or belittle people to get results. But I see others like the other route – and they get results and get promoted. (I had one editor, dearly departed, who barked “I am not a massage parlor for your ego. The only time you will be in my office is when I chew you out.) Dilbert is funny only because it is all too true. What do other folks think? Do we need a daily kick in the butt? Are the crazies out there in every profession? Or is journalism a special place where people without management skills gather? And does Gannett over the years harbor the best of the worst because of a culture that has been encouraged? I have seen praise and scorn on this blog.
ReplyDeleteYou brought up an interesting point, 5:27 PM.
DeleteHere's my take:
Because of the well-known fact that Gannett puts lousy micro-managers in charge, great journalists avoid their newsrooms like the plague.
And because those Napoleonic editors and directors end up in charge of the very young, naive also-rans, their natural inclination is to act like drill instructors.
I never expected to be coddled. But taking a chance on something to make the story more compelling to the viewer (and I was often successful at accomplishing this) was never appreciated. Perhaps if only I had been 20-something, instead of 50-something?
For 30 years, Gannett's WFMY in Greensboro aired "The Andy Griffith Show" weekdays at 5:30 PM to lead into the 6 o'clock news. Last month WFMY moved him to an earlier time in order to carry another news show. The good people of Mayberry are not happy and took to Facebook to call the station out.
ReplyDeleteThink this isn't a big deal? Andy Griffith was a local boy from nearby Mount Airy.
Try to keep the stupid stuff off the blog. Thanks.
DeleteI hope the locals get Gannett to NIP IT.
DeleteIN THE BUD!
(RIP, Don Knotts!)
Anon@1202: Gannett is a TV station owner, not just a newspaper company. When a Gannett station does something that's worthy of this blog it will get posted.
Delete12:02 obviously a young, hipster who doesn't understand communities like Greensboro and why something like running Andy Griffith to lead into the news doesn't just matter, but it's a good business decision. Hey folks: People like 12:02 are the future of business in America! Yikes.
DeleteCan someone answer a question regarding employment? With all the changes in newspaper what's the legality of an employee working 8 hours at Gannett and the SAME 8 hours at another company?
ReplyDeleteIs this a metaphysical question, or a mental health exam?
DeleteIs the other job at a competing media company? If so, then it's a violation of Gannett's conflict of interest policy. If you are going to go flip burgers at McD's, then there shouldn't be a problem. Just know that if your attendance starts showing a problem, they'll be on you like a june bug.
DeleteActually a fact! Is that what Gannett is pushing folks to do with the blessing of their manager?
ReplyDelete@HR pro 9:17, this person is in advertising and has another sales job not in media business. His supervisor is aware of the 2 jobs so attendance is not an issue.
ReplyDeleteWorking 2 jobs during the same 8 hours? I don't think that would fly, even if they are not in the same arena. This would be double-dipping! We had this come up at my current job and all of a sudden this person found themselves without any job! If I were their HR manager, I'd tell them to make a choice. We aren't going to pay you to work for another company.
DeleteHow many people took the buyouts at USA Today? I heard the deadline was this week. If enough people took it, will there still be layoffs?
ReplyDeleteThe deadline was today. Confirmation of who got one should come fairly soon.
Deleteno more sleepless nights knowing i had to lay people off tomorrow. i'm out of there and stress free. really feel for the folks still there and working under intimidation and job loss fear while being over worked. sad way to exsist. good luck !
ReplyDeleteThere is a wonderful story on A1 of today's USAT.
ReplyDeleteWritten by Gregg Zoroya & Alan Gomez with photos by Jack Gruber.
About a U.S.Marine badly burnt in Afghanistan.
They deserve an award for their work!
Our son, also a Marine, was injured by an IED 2 yrs ago.
While he was in the hospital we got to meet and talk with a group of wounded Marines.
These young men that volunteered are not asking for anything special, just what they are due. A little respect would be nice.
And to the authors, even if you do not receive any rewards, you will always be winners with us parents of wounded Vets.
If I could ask you, please do not stop here! There are plenty more stories out there.
Thank you for your work.
Mike Heine
Louisville,KY
I'm sorry! The young Marine was wounded in Iraq. A-stan has been on my mind a lot.
ReplyDeleteMike
Anybody know anything about or go to Al's funeral? What was it like?
ReplyDeleteAre they going to extend the buyouts to the community papers?
ReplyDeleteAbout 50 people taking buyouts throughout the building. Reporters bailing in droves.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that the point of a buyout? This means 100 folks didn't leave. Why the drama?
DeleteMaybe this will help Dave and Larry finally learn some of their employees' names.
ReplyDelete