Thursday, August 15, 2013

Aug. 12-18 | Your News & Comments: Part 4

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51 comments:

  1. Usa Today's management team will henceforth be know as Ron Burgundy's Action News! team.

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  2. A must-read for all job-seekers: Online job boards (including CareerBuilder, co-owned by Gannett)rarely lead to actual hires. CareerBuilder's job placement rate was just 1.2 percent.

    Even more alarming, according to the author, is how LinkedIn has morphed from a professonal network to just another job board with a massive sales staff and offers to "move your resume to the top of the employer's pile" for a mere $30.

    "This seems contrary to founder Reid Hoffman's original vision. LinkedIn is not innovating as a professional network. It's become a job board that's marketing relationships as commodities you can buy, while it pretends real reputations come from members throwing "endorsements" at people they don't know -- which seems about as useful as the old Facebook practice of "throwing sheep" at your online friends."

    You can read more here: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2013/08/ask-the-headhunter-is-linkedin.html

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    1. Ask yourselves how many times a Gannett paper has hired a reporter or ad sales rep though CareerBuilder. I'd bet that it's quite rare. There are lots of other ways to find and hire talented workers.

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    2. Not surprising. People find jobs through contacts -- you know someone who knows someone at the place that has a job opening. Applying cold is the worst way to find a job -- it happens but is very rare.

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    3. Yes, people find jobs through contacts -- which is where LinkedIn can still be useful. But you have to filter your contacts. Don't connect with people you've never worked with.

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  3. Wow. Good one! You think that up by yourself?

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    2. Wow. Interesting conspiracy theory by 8:28 a.m. The remarks and comments I am seeing, that you appear to mention, don't criticize anything anti-Gannett. Jim's blog is, after all, here for adult discussions about Gannett, positive and negative. The remarks and comments that you seem so unhappy about do criticize the fringe elements here. They add nothing to the conversation on this blog except for hate, bitterness and homophobia.

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  4. Warren Buffett sells his entire stake in Gannett: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-15/buffett-s-berkshire-discloses-suncor-dish-stakes.html

    Link

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    1. If Warren is out, that would probably mean he won't be buying any Gannett sites, which is devastating for those of us hoping for an end to all of this so-called friendly fire. It sucks when you can just feel jow the bosses hate us employees.

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    2. He might still be buying sites.He may not be interested in Gannett as a whole, for investment purposes.
      In fact it might be more obvious that he would get away form investing in Gannett hoping stock price will come down and make it more attractable for takeover.

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    3. I would bet that if that happens,the less profitable and small sites would be eliminated
      very quickly.

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    4. Don't think having Warren as your owner is the answer. Ask the folks in Greensboro who just got laid off. Everyone in the building is waiting for the next round of layoffs which are expected in early September. BH Media is proving they expect 25%+ margins and won't hesitate to cut bodies to reach that target.

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    5. So the man that makes his living off of investments doesn't see Gannett as a good investment.

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    6. Gannett is up massively this year. Trading out (profit taking) is to be expected.

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    7. Don't you folks know Warren? He buys low and sells high. He probably sees Gannett as having reached a near-term peak and is cashing out. He also bought a chunk of Suncor, which has been hitting lows lately. He could buy into GCI again if he sees it selling at a bargain price. He does believe in newspapers, you know ... (he's 82, so he probably reads one everyday).

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  5. Is there any Gannett employee who still is not seriously looking for a new job?

    Are there still those who believe that they will have
    a Gannett job for the long term?

    Will you just wait around for the next round of layoffs?

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    2. Anybody who needs to be in the workforce for at least another 5-10 years certainly should not count on working at a daily newspaper of any description.

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  6. Hi 9:03 a.m. I see you are at it yet again with your repetitious posts that pat yourself on the back and criticize those who still work at Gannett. Everybody makes their own choices. You made yours and left Gannett, whether voluntarily or not. Please respect the choices that others make. You are not some supreme being who can pass judgement on others, although you are clearly judgmental. Not a good trait.

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  7. i am not leaving gannet i print papers make decent money they are adding more presses to my plant if i can get 10 yrs out of this place i am golden

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  8. There was an announcement made last Friday about some demotions of middle management (GMs and below) in the MNCO (formerly NNCO). Employees were told that a restructuring was taking place and there would be more changes to come. Were these type of talks at any other sites?

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    1. Keep an eye on Wisconsin.

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    2. This has been happening at a couple of the middle tennessee papers. Just a couple months ago or so at one site, they fired 3 senior positions because they were "eliminating their position" and another senior editor walked out on principle. A couple positions were changed from salaried to hourly and hours cut across all the sites. In another site, three editors were striped of their titles (sports, features and biz) and given demotions due to "restructure of the newsroom." Which prompted the sports editor to find a new job immediately, and now a poor reporter is stuck working in that role that technically doesn't exist but obviously still does. So he's not getting any extra pay because hey! that's the gannett way. i've been sickened by how gannett's been gutting these sites.

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    3. The sports editor at the Green Bay Press-Gazette is now listed as a sports reporter.

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  9. Florida Today getting slammed by readers for lack of investigative journalism of a public corruption story: http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20130815/NEWS01/130815006/Mitch-Needelman-arrested-bribery-tampering-charges?nclick_check=1

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  10. Anyone have initials in Wilmington?

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    1. I am sure many people in Wilmington have initials.

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  11. A reorganization of the East Group of newspapers is continuing. Today, The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., said that its publisher, Mei-Mei Chan, had been promoted to a regional president of the group, overseeing Florida.

    This means publishers of Gannett’s other Florida papers – Florida Today, Tallahassee Democrat and Pensacola News Journal – will report to Chan, 53.

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    1. What does it signify that the Fort Myers admin guy is now East Group controller working with Lemire? Does that bode ill for Lemire's future in the group, or foreshadow something bigger in the works for him?

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    4. I remove comments that make fun of someone's appearance.

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  12. Does anyone know if The Des Moines Register is ever going to get a publisher. I heard there is a big, empty office there (in new building after they tossed 100 years of history when they recently moved). I suspect the Iowa paper will never have a designated publisher again. Thoughts?

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    2. Expect an announcement on Des Moines next week.

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  13. I suspect Laura Hollingsworth has a plan and will execute it soon. It probably made a lot of sense to wait until after the layoffs.

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    1. Employees getting weary in Des Moines without a leader. Lh plan = no publisher = big savings in expense which makes her look good keeping expenses down. Wait until after layoffs?? First it was wait until after move. Now wait until after layoffs. Been over four months with no publisher.

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    2. Buffett is your classic buy and hold investor. He had a long ride with Gannett. The fact that he's bailing out now either means he thinks the company isnt at least a market performer,

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    3. Or he is diversifying and thinks his own budding newspaper empire offers better returns.

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  14. For all the grousing about Martore's pay, she makes significantly less than the average CEO pay for the industry, according to this Post piece: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/14/theres-a-big-gender-gap-in-ceo-pay-bad-negotiating-isnt-the-reason/

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  15. Warren Buffett sells off all his stock in GCI? He just bought the Atlantic City Press in New Jersey. Guess who has the contract to print that paper? You guessed right GCI ! Maybe he felt sorry for them because he knew he was selling the rest of his shares !

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  16. http://jimromenesko.com/2013/08/15/warren-buffett-dumps-his-gannett-shares/

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  17. Bob Smietana, the Tennessean's much-respected religion reporter, is leaving the Nashville paper to join LifeWay (part of the Southern Baptist Convention).

    His departure, along with that of noted food writer Jennifer Justus (who has given her notice), means that two of the paper's most important beats (in the editors' minds, anyway) will be vacant.

    A third key beat, the music business, was vacant for nearly two months until it was just filled by a reporter trading down from Fortune.

    But Smietana is just the latest to join a flood of people leaving or being forced out of the Tennessean in recent months. Besides Justus, the list includes three of the five business reporters (two quit, third was unjustly terminated), the courts reporter (layoff), photographer (quitting to join PR firm), sports reporter (laid off but rehired). senior editor (layoff) and editor of a suburban county paper the Tennessean effectively controls (layoff).

    Add to that a scathing "open letter" to Gannett by the editor of a competing paper that just folded -- and the Tennessean statehouse reporter's retort (in comments to http://www.nashvillescene.com/pitw/archives/2013/08/15/another-leaves-1100-smietana-joins-lifeway) -- one must wonder if the Tennessean's days are numbered.

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  18. Bob Smietana, the Tennessean's much-respected religion reporter, is leaving the Nashville paper to join LifeWay (part of the Southern Baptist Convention).

    His departure, along with that of noted food writer Jennifer Justus (who has given her notice), means that two of the paper's most important beats (in the editors' minds, anyway) will be vacant.

    Interesting.

    If Jimbuttflower grows a garden, does Jimbuttpirate sail a ship?

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  19. @2:23 AM: Wow. Your comment just lowered the overall IQ of the Internet by a few points.

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  20. Bob Smietana, the Tennessean's much-respected religion reporter, is leaving the Nashville paper to join LifeWay (part of the Southern Baptist Convention).

    His departure, along with that of noted food writer Jennifer Justus (who has given her notice), means that two of the paper's most important beats (in the editors' minds, anyway) will be vacant.

    Interesting.

    If Jimcorn is undigestible, is Jimporn unmasturbatible?

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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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