Thursday, August 29, 2013

16 ways to consolidate Gannett into oblivion

In an e-mail, a reader writes the following:

The future job losses are easy to predict across Gannett. Connect all of the following and you can see what your continued employment prospects might be.
  1. Classified employees will be laid off and class call centers will be created at one or two central sites.
  2. All delivery functions will be outsourced to rack companies and contractors. Gannett Publishing Services will be able to cut employees and the associated costs and pass them to vendors.
  3. Digital functions will be performed at central studios, just like the Design Centers. The company has learned that it can't build digital teams at each site and is finally realizing there is no one to create content when four-people-per-site are devoted to pure web functions. Folks who have made the successful jump to digital will find themselves either moving to hubs (like copy editors two years ago) or leaving employment.
  4. With a modem, finance/accounting can be done from anywhere. Racks are gradually being removed and one person can now count all of the quarters in one morning (this will go to contractors anyway). Accounting and human resources are already heavily consolidated; they will be consolidated more. Sarbanes-Oxley be damned: There will be no accounting needs at sites. Also, numbers calculated at hubs can't be washed courtesy of the local publisher and controller.
  5. Offices are largely unnecessary. Salespeople can do everything remotely -- reporters too. There is no longer walk-in traffic at the offices; the people who used to "drop off" things at a newspaper don't exist. Obits are done by the funeral homes, weddings have gone to social media, celebrations are now paid content (no one is paying), yard sales go to shoppers or CraigsList. Once classified leaves the building, you won't need a building.
  6. No building means no local IT. Vendors can be contracted to trouble-shoot all equipment, because it will be all-mobile hardware -- easier to replace than fix.
  7. With no circulation, production, accounting, classified, building/grounds and IT oversight required, publishers won't be needed. We see the trend of the general manager-ad director and GM-editor. That will become the norm.
  8. When the publisher becomes the ad director, the ad director is done. When the publisher is the editor, the editor is done. With everything viewable on SalesForce.com, ad managers at hubs can monitor all performance. There won't be a need for on-site ad management.
  9. Local governments have had it with the legals publishing rates. This content-advertising is headed to government websites. The local laws are going to change. Legals are the only remaining monopoly-like revenue source for local sites. Loss of this revenue stream will be disastrous (yet, I'm not aware that the company even has this on their threat list).
  10. Deal Chicken is essentially dead. Gannett Client Solutions barely works. Is anyone still selling Yahoo? Do any of your advertising clients really understand digital marketing solutions and reputation protection? Enough to hand you a check for the service? There are no new or unique digital initiatives with any promise of producing dollars.
  11. Photographers are no longer necessary. Stringers can do it all. All you need is a photo editor to assign them and a clerk to shepherd their photos. Reporters can take all of the needed photos and the Design Centers can jazz them up via presentation. There is no need for photography that has an artistic quality, mostly because the readers don't appreciate it in print and it ends up being poorly displayed on the website. Mugshots will rule.
  12. Videos either need to get a lot better fast or be scaled back. Someone will figure out that the public has no patience to watch a video made by a reporter with a Sprint iPhone 4, but it's not worth spending the time and cash to make better videos. Some of these embarrassing efforts will occasionally go viral and drive some web attention, which will be mistaken as success.
  13. Any press that can be closed, will be closed. If there's a printer within 100 miles that can print your newspaper, they'll be paid to do it, then haul it to the contractor-distributor.
  14. Marketing? There is no more local site marketing. At sites where it does exist, it, too, can be outsourced and corporate managed.
  15. Weeklies are little more than glorified TMCs. Their production effort is seldom worth the revenue. Advertisers only spend with them because the core product costs too much. Their expenses are hidden in the core product. If and when they have to stand on their own, their profit margins will collapse. About TMCs: Everyone hates them -- they are little more than First Amendment-protected litter bundles. Insert customers are gradually realizing this.
  16. Calendar listings will be outsourced, as will court listings, real estate transactions and local business briefs (the Rotary and chamber can write them).
Okay, I've depressed myself into a coma in writing this down.

My hope is that everyone else out here in Gannett Land already knows all of this and is making decisions about their future career options accordingly.

33 comments:

  1. I can see this happening. But you forgot about consolidating reporting functions within each state. With USAT-branded inserts for wire stories, there will be no need for AP or other wire services. And fewer reporters will be needed for each site.

    Hard to imagine what would happen after this, though, as the local content readers want shrinks while prices increase. THAT is the path to oblivion.

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  2. Anybody working in the newspaper industry with more than five years to retirement needs to be making other plans. Oblivion is inevitable, and modernization is just a strategy to put it off as long as possible.

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  3. This echoes (and amplifies) some of the thoughts I've had through the years as I pondered the future of journalism as a whole.

    Until I joined Gannett some two years ago, they were mostly stray thoughts. But the looming demise of quality journalism became clearer to me the longer I worked for Gannett.

    The clues were everywhere: Editors' preoccupation with pageviews and Google Analytics; quality story ideas that were spiked because the editors didn't feel they would do well online; calling newsrooms 'information centers' and stories 'content'and reporters 'creators'; designing pages for newspapers three states away; the never-ending cycle of new editorial strategies; the increasing focus on producing video, regardless of quality, instead of story development in order to garner clicks; the expansion of the digital team, led by a VP with no journalism background, while reporters (sorry, 'creators') were being cut (especially those with experience and committment to quality local news, er 'content'); the creation of the Groupon rip-off DealChicken; the conscious decision to focus stories on certain groups of people (basically those who are whiter, richer and more suburban) and their 'passion topics' instead of informing the community at large; and so on.

    For better or worse, Gannett is a bellweather in the journalism industry simply because it's the largest publisher of U.S. daily newspapers. But instead of being on the cutting edge and leading the industry toward the future, Gannett is more like Gen. Custer just before Little Bighorn.

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  4. You left out one of the most important points - the moment Corporate realizes that they can outsource all of the Design Studios/Hubs to India.

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    1. They already tried that with ads before the GIADC was crated. It didn't go over very well.

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    2. Computers will eventually be capable of "building" pages on their own - kind of like an action script on steroids - with the click of a button and a set of defined paramaters. Heck, I'm surprised it hasn't been done yet. The only need will be for someone to create a "graphic" that is the big centerpiece on the cover. Eventually, those splashy centerpieces won't really be local topics, instead generic national topics with places for localized quotes. And instead of there being 81 different A1 splashy centerpieces, there will be one or two for the day for all sites. The readers who are left won't have a clue that those centerpieces aren't unique. Easy way to turn five design hubs into one design hub with only a handful of staff members. Just sayin'.

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  5. Probably the best, most well thought out piece I've read here on the Blog. My guess is 50-75% of this can and will actually happen sooner or later.

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    1. I agree. This is accurate and, unfortunately, will happen sooner than later. Some people will say it's a natural, business-driven trend, but it hurts journalism in the long run. I can't help but wonder if Gannett had made different decisions the outcome would be different. What's scary is the possibility there is no other way.

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  6. Sooner rather than later. Editors in my region already are jockeying for position to prepare for more consolidation.

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  7. Good analysis. I got out three months ago, on my own terms, for many of the reasons stated here. My biggest complaint the last 10 years has been that no one at corporate has a clue about how to make the digital transition. It was wave after wave of dumb ideas, passion topics, etc., followed by cutbacks and furloughs and more cuts and more layoffs, just a solid string of bad news, day after day, week after week. You hated email from the publisher or editor because almost every time it was about another cut or consolidation. There are no really good, concise, thought-out plans coming from corporate and now there are hardly any bodies left in the newsrooms -- yes, newsrooms! -- to do anything other than barely get a (now) inferior print product out the door each night while trying to update a mediocre at-best website throughout the day and night. My former paper, which I still read daily, in print and online, still does some good journalism a couple of days per week, and that's because they've managed to hold onto a couple of really good reporters. If those reporters leave, I'm not sure what they'll be able to do. It's sad, but Gannett has done this to nearly every community newspaper it owns.

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    1. I wonder how many readers from how many different papers are wondering, "I wonder if that person was from my paper?" and trying to think back and figure out who left about three months ago!

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    2. The beauty of this blog is that, while you're a Gannett employee, the entire thing is a bunch of whining, clueless crap. Then, you get laid off, you experience a remarkable paradigm shift, and everything you read makes sense.

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  8. Also, no one has mentioned that the pay walls aren't working. They aren't delivering the dollars that were expected, not even close. The company stays afloat financially on the the backs of insert costumers who can't figure how else to deliver their coupons and specials, and on the backs of 55-plus customers who just keep paying those 33% subscription hikes.

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  9. Richard MIchem8/29/2013 12:34 PM

    You could probably make this list, applicable to ANY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHING business.

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  10. Well done Jim.
    I realized No.11 was going to happen many years ago. As a result I no longer work in the news business.

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  11. Gannett couldn't be making a more concerted effort to ensure its demise. In the end, after the last printing press shuts down, success will come down to the quality and exclusiveness of content, whether it be investigative reporting or salacious photos/video. Right now, Gannett papers and sites are nothing but material for a chapter in a future business history textbook about obsolescence and failure.

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  12. Number 5 - well, Maggie and Carolyn in Cincinnati Enquirer are bucking the trend - with an expensive re-modeling of expensive riverfront offices - and ordering people working remotely to report to central, forcing most of them to start paying city taxes and parking fees at a time of no raises. Those two are the kind of forward thinkers that made GCI what it is today.

    I was there ten years ago when Maggie looked into the future and came up with her other awesome innovation - a print product for young people!

    No wonder corporate loves them. They keep costing GCI a fortune in workarounds and missed opportunities but their superiors don't have to fear hearing footsteps.

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    Replies
    1. How long before the Enquirer only home delivers the paper a few days a week or only prints a paper a few days a week? What's the fine print in the contract with the Columbus Dispatch that is printing the Enquirer?

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  13. The majority of these items have already happened. Classifieds, obits are at a hub. Most of the maintenance is done by outside contractors. Printing is centralized. All advertising display ads are at a central location and now with cloud cannot be altered or changed at local sites. Digital also has a hub along with a design hub for circulation. Marketing has a few sites with people but could also be taken to one central location. Anything anyone does except for the actual printing of the paper can be done at another location. I remember reading a post on Gannettoid about 5-6 years ago from a Gannet VP and he was right on with what he said was going to happen. He said Gannett as we know it would never look the same as we have known it to be. It appears that this transition, restructuring, whatever corporate would like to call it, has been in the works for over five years. We are just nearing the end of the corporate plan.

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    1. The guys posting name on Gannettoid was exgannettoid. He was very interesting and had a lot of insight. Unfortunately what he said would come to pass has. Pretty sure he said he was part of corporate. The one thing that sticks in my head is his comment that said he bleeds CMYK.

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    2. Oh, he was a swell fellow. I corresponded via email with him for awhile, and his insights were spot on and rock solid. He got to a good place after Gannett; wonder if he's still there. Hope so!

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  14. What does TMC mean?

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  15. Direct mail (total market cov.) Goes to non subscribers.

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  16. Anyone who is foolish enough to be working for this company and not carrying on a job search is really risking financial ruin. It's not "if" you will lose your job, rather "when" you will lose it. The company is sun setting operations but would never share that information publicly. Sharing that type of information would tank the stock, cause a big loss in business, an outflow of employees and ... this is the big kahuna ... the people who hold all of that Gannett debt would immediately move to secure all assets and liquidate them in the most profitable way possible. By the execs doing this in a slow, gradual motion, they are maximizing the cash in their own wallets. They don't care about the First Amendment, they don't care about the people in the communities they serve, they don't care about their employees. It's all about sun setting this large company in the most profitable way possible. Period. Gannett is riding "'level 8' rapids;" they just don't want you to know that. If you are invested in the Gannett Pension Plan, good luck funding retirement.

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    1. An absolutely correct assessment.

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  17. I just hope the stock price is good and high when Martore and her team cash in on their golden parachutes. No need for them to have to suffer the same fate as the little people.

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  18. I am the unfortunate author of the 16 points. Just to be clear, my intent wasn't to criticize the company's business decisions. These are all efficient decisions that bust down silos. They make bottomline business sense. Whether such actions grow the brands or benefit community journalism is an entirely separate discussion. I am baffled by those who become RIF victims and react with surprise, so my intent was to alert them on where their careers might be headed. The saying in our East Group used to be "Change or die." Now, changing doesn't protect your career from death.

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  19. I have been involved in the newspaper industry now for some 40 years, and I think this fucking sucks than a handful of people sitting in an office can change the life's of so many devoted gannett employees

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    1. The only thing more futile is believing that a blog full of anonymous whiners will ever have an actual effect. Just being mentioned by another source every 9-12 months is not a substantial effect.

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  20. to the author, do you still work for gannett?

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  21. I so, do you think your job is secure?

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    1. As a past Gannett employee who thought I could never move to another industry, I soon realized all the skill sets I had developed from the industry and the massive amount of knowledge I gained by all the changes our industry provided. With that knowlege I moved into a healthcare software technology company where I am able to apply all of those skill sets I learned from our industry to become successful. There is life after you leave the industry and I still stay in touch with all the wonderful people that helped me develop my skills and for that, I say "Thank you"! Other industries need your skills so don't forget the value you bring to the table. Gannett will never be able to take that from you.

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  22. What about the carriers who deliver to stores. Is that service to be given to other newspapers ? Will there be no USAT carriers ?

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