Wednesday, June 26, 2013

June 24-30 | Your News & Comments: Part 2

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41 comments:

  1. Great blog ...

    It never ceases to amaze me how ignorant many journalists are about business. I guess because newspapers were a virtual monopoly for so long the whole industry became a fairy tale land.

    Please wake up! Join the new economy! While no reasonable person would argue Gannett managers are either particularly good, caring or smart – , they first and foremost report to shareholders. Employees are tools to accomplish share price increases, nothing more or less. That doesn't make them mean or bad or evil. It's Capitalism 101.

    Why is that so hard to understand? Why do journalists pretend they're tenured professors? (professors' time to squirm is coming shortly)

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    1. Amen Brother. It is a business, always was and always will be. It is easy to sit on your high horse when you are the only game in town. The world changed and the business has to change with it. No consumer under 35 is going to purchase a newspaper with any regularity. I don't care how you change things. Now we ahve to figure out a way to make folks pay for local news. Not easy when you have been giving it away for decades.

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    2. The best way to serve the shareholder is to make a profit and not over extend the company so they will remain out of bankruptcy. Some of the best jobs I have had were at private companies where the people running the company care about it's employees. they make a profit and they share it with the people that helped make the profit.

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    3. Gannett could have taken the company private when the stock price was low and been saving all that dividend money.

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    4. Wow. It didn't take long for the Gannett blamers to disregard the OP and start with the same routine as always.

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    5. 7:01 please identify those fantastic companies that cared so much about you that you left them behind to join this horrible company!!!!

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    6. 7:01 the crickets are drowning you out. I can't hear your answer.

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    7. Nobody would leave a good company to come to work for Gannett and if they did they wouldn't admit it.

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  2. It is unfortunate that we see people choosing what they love, but expect the business or profession to love them back. It's a one way street. The small mom and pop businesses and hometown newspapers that afforded a family atmosphere also had profits that inspire altruism.
    Today, do what you love and be a great journalist. Just don't be surprised when a godless entity or capitalistic society hands you back very little loyalty in trade for yours.

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  3. Hey 8:49 p.m.: That's a great post. In other words, the Gannett Bozos don't serve you, but you should serve your readers and overcome the obstacles the Gannett Bozos place in front of you. The Gannett Bozos construct hurdles that Edwin Moses couldn't clear.

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  4. 10:02, you couldn't clear a hurdle the size of an ant. Don't preach your nonsense here. Most of the frequent posters here are the washouts who got swept out with the low tide.

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  5. What's latest in Atlanta facility cuts?

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  6. I watched a documentary on Henry Ford last night on PBS. I now know Gannett's Playbook. Straight from his tyrannical rule and treatment of employees. His thirst for control of everything, and the corporate structure of allowing just yes men to work there. Promoting communist and racial superiority was Henry Ford's style, people meant nothing to him, only production....hummm.

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  7. Jim serious question: From time to time over the last few weeks I have seen an ad on the right side of your site presenting Asian "models" that are obviously under age. While you don't control the ads don't you think you should contact Google and protest this disgrace.

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    1. If you are seeing those ads, they are being re-targeted to you from other sites you've visited.

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    2. Not necessarily. While some ads are targeted that way, others can be keyed to site content - or to nothing at all.

      I know - If it's close to the end of the period and we need to clear inventory, it's all ads for themselves, everything must go - you get your impressions but you might not believe where those impressions came from.

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    3. What 10:40 and 11:25 said.

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    4. 9:51 I do not see those ads when I look at the blog. Can you send me a link to the relevant site to jimhopkins@gmail.com? Without it, I couldn't contact Google AdSense.

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  8. STAR LEDGER THREATENS TO CLOSE (AGAIN)

    By KATIE ZEZIMA - Associated Press
    NEWARK, N.J. --

    The owners of The Star-Ledger plan to close New Jersey's largest newspaper by year's end if its production unions don't make concessions in contract negotiations, the publisher said Wednesday.


    In a letter to staff, publisher Richard Vezza said the company felt "pushed into a corner" by the unions, whose contracts expire in July. Vezza said the unions have until Sept. 27 to make compromises or else the paper will shut down.


    "This is not a threat. This is reality," Vezza said in an interview with The Associated Press.


    The paper's website, nj.com, is owned by a separate company and will continue to publish "no matter what happens with the Ledger," Vezza said.


    In the letter, Vezza said the paper lost $19.8 million last year, and is on track to do the same in 2013. The Star-Ledger lost $12 million in 2011.


    In January, the paper laid off 34 employees from its newsroom, which is not unionized. In recent years, wages and benefits have been cut and staff members have been forced to take unpaid furlough days.


    Vezza said the paper asked the unions to negotiate in December about outsourcing production, a move he said could save $9 million a year.


    Outsourcing without a union agreement would likely lead to a protracted court fight, he said.


    "This is a very serious and painful situation," Vezza told the AP. "It is certainly something we wouldn't have done unless we felt that we really sort of had our backs to the wall on this."


    Calls to the unions seeking a response were not immediately returned.


    This is not the first time the Star-Ledger has threatened to shut down over union negotiations. In 2008 the then-publisher said the paper would cease to print if union concessions weren't met. The two sides came to an agreement a few months later.


    "I am optimistic that we're going to be able to strike a deal with the union," Vezza said. He hopes the letter will bring both sides back to the negotiating table "in a serious and meaningful way."


    The Star-Ledger is part of Advance Publications Inc., a privately held company owned by the Newhouse family.


    Unlike some of its sister papers, the Star-Ledger has no plans to reduce its print edition to three days a week, Vezza said. The company has said the market is too competitive to make that a cost-cutting option.


    The Star-Ledger has 771 employees, 240 on the production staff and 170 in the newsroom.

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  9. Green Bay Press Gazette building up for sale.
    http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20130626/GPG03/306260344

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  10. Congrats to USAT news team for another honor!!!!!!

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  11. Anyone who thinks Gannett's use of I-Phones is so wonderful should Google this article in The Leftist Review: "Yet Another Blow to American Journalism. Again the Profit Motive Prefers Cheap Over Craft."
    Will all Gannett photographers and their managers please report to the unemployment line?

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  12. Another example of how Gannett is killing its print products: A local businessman attempted to place a help wanted ad in the daily newspaper at my site. The ad was to be eight lines and was to run for one week. When told the cost was $1,500, the guy changed his mind. He put the same advertisement on Gannett-owned Career Builder for about $500 for one week.

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  13. I find it hypocritical that Gannett is part owner of a company called Career Builder after they have destroyed so many careers.

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  14. 6:10 p.m.: Outstanding post!!!! Outstanding post!!! I would imagine most of the jobs on Career Builder pay Gannett-like wages and Gannett-like benefits!!! Ugghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

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    1. Seriously, dude. you need to grow up!

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  15. at 5:12 PM - the sales rep should have offered him an online only job posting if the $1500 was out of his price range - they start at only $250 for 30 days - what a shame the rep lost the business, her manager probably has doubled her goal from last year - Gannett - no longer customer service oriented - helping the customer get results in their budget - it's all about the almighty dollar...

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  16. 7:30 p.m.: Another example of the lousy advertising department at my site. I guess it's easier to sell the building and lay off people than it is to have competent people selling advertising. The tragedy is that the grunts like me will lose their jobs because of the clowns in the advertising department.

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    1. When a coworker calls a colleague a "clown" it's pretty obvious who the real clown is. Please find another job. I'm sure the circus will be in town soon.

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    3. Try selling someone an ad in one of your boring products.
      The web sites produce little or no results and management isn’t even interested in the print products. They’re more interested in selling Google pay per click and facebook.
      If the products were strong even a bad sales rep. could sell them.
      Why would you work at a place where “clowns” have control of your future?
      Why not transfer to the advertising department and show them how it’s done.

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  17. Charles Everett6/27/2013 8:19 AM

    Gannett has one less direct competitor: Newsday abruptly shut down its online-only Westchester/Rockland edition yesterday.

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    1. Didnt the Blog explode with comments that Newsdays bold move would put Westchester out of business? Stocks up, Newsdays out, and I'm happy. You happy?

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    2. No Phil. And Cowboy boots went out in the 80's.

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  18. Interesting that this is now being used in the editorial area of the paper's website.

    http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20130626/APC06/306260328/Punchlines-Late-night-comics-take-Edward-Snowden

    Your thoughts?

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    1. I think it's goofy, but maybe they get enough hits to make it worth their while.

      I see under "Can't miss video," they have videos that I saw on the big dog sites two days ago, such as the dog burying puppy. Actually, there's nothing locally relevant on the homepage to make me stay. Give it to me local!

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    2. Video viewership goals keep getting boosted by 10% monthly but, as of last Saturday, June looks like it's going to be way below goal for the above community newspaper.

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  19. I'm happy. And I mean that.

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  20. Now that Newsday/Westchester has folded, what with the Journal News staff do with all that free time they spent on the Newsday site? Cyndee- your thoughts?

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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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