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Monday, August 19, 2013
31 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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Beware, Aaron Barrett to the rescue.
ReplyDeleteOur site is dropping the weekly TV pullout that has been included in the Sunday newspaper for decades and will charge extra for whatever it is that is replacing it. Is this happening throughout the company or are we some sort of test site? I can tell you already that it is going to push some shaky subscribers who've been teetering on the fence off to the wrong side.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteLouisville has been doing it for years. I think it's an extra quarter a week to get the TV section. Which still sucks.
ReplyDeleteWIlmington made the change three years ago, and no complaints. C'mon most folks with cable don't even read the tv guide in print format. If its not a rolling log on the tube, they're not interested.
ReplyDeleteOrlando Sentinel tried it a few years ago...lasted 3 weeks.
ReplyDeleteYou digits don't understand...people want their TV guides, even people with cable. Not to mention a lot can't afford the higher tiered cable so are dependent on the paper tv guide.
I myself get the REAL TV Guide. It has it's shortcomings but is way more accurate than the paper one.
Florida Today has a major (for them anyway) story on couponers. Really? The phenomenon has been around for what 3-4 years now if not longer? Well I guess if you run out of Aunt Mary's dog ate the roses again stories....
ReplyDeleteSo what's the word on the street? More layoffs till the end of August? Still waiting for the ball to drop on the East coast papers. Meetings all last week about budgets. News, anyone?
DeleteFlorida Today is a joke, but we have videos!
DeleteHow Gannett is this. The Cincinnati Enquirer is designed in Louisville and printed in Columbus, but its editor thinks its Kentucky bureau should be based in Ohio.
ReplyDeleteThe Enquirer should end all pretense and assign publisher duties to the VP in Virginia who really calls the shots. While they're at it, they could move marketing and HR to consolidated centers, too. Gannett could save a lot of money but keeps eliminating the wrong things. The Kentucky bureau was indispensable.
Delete11:17 AM – To assert a VP in Virginia really calls all the shots unfairly diverts blame from someone who created and owns the majority of problems which the Enquirer struggles with today: Buchanan.
Deletehttp://www.wilx.com/home/headlines/-LSJ-Layoffs-Show-Tough-Times-for-Newspapers-219992711.html
ReplyDeleteMessage from The Register Media Executive Leadership Team
ReplyDeleteFriends:
Laura Hollingsworth, President of USCP’s Central Group and publisher of our sister newspaper in Nashville, has asked that you join her at 11 a.m. Tuesday in the middle of the Newsroom for an announcement. Please, be prompt.
Thanks much,
The Register Media Executive Leadership Team.
Here comes the Register's new publisher.
DeleteOr the departure of the editor...
ReplyDeleteOr something else...
Does someone know for certain this is an announcement about the publisher?
I'm cross-posting this comment from another post devoted just to tomorrow's announcement:
DeleteI'm now reflecting on something Hollingsworth said during her Q&A this weekend with The Tennessean's business editor:
Question: You’ve had some key management hires recently that have little to no background in newspapers. Was that intentional?
Answer: It was absolutely intentional.
In this business, for decades, we treated ourselves as if we were such a specialized business that no one could enter. So a lot of our publishers and a lot of our leaders kind of came up through the ranks. They got in the business young, and they stayed with it for 40 years. There was this climb, and we didn’t do a good job of injecting new skill sets into our way of thinking. I think that’s hurt the industry over time.
I’ve been with this industry since I was a kid. For me, every day is a learning day, and I’ve got to stay on top of my game. I’ve considered myself a catalyst in this business since I was young. I was usually a younger player in an older business. I probably wouldn’t be playing it anymore if I wasn’t allowed to be a catalyst and a change agent. I’ve made a career of looking at how we can do better, and change our business to stay with the times.
I’ve got to be a constant learner. I can’t live on a legacy. That’s very dangerous. To me, I need to surround myself with talented, smart people from all different professions and from all different walks of life. We are changing a business and transforming a culture. You’ve got to bring in new talent to do that.
I hired (sales vice president John Ward and marketing and strategy VP Kurt Allen) not only for our own business, but in the interests of our customers and partners, too.
This way of thinking worked great for Lafayette, LA. Hollingsworth hired a publisher with no newspaper background and she didn't last long because guess what? She didn't know what she was doing. Much like Hollingsworth.
DeleteThese days in the industry, it could be anything. But introducing a new publisher seems like the most obvious.
ReplyDeletedoubtful. They wouldn't make the announcement just to the newsroom. That line of thought seems a little egotistical and self-centered.
DeleteI agree with you anonymous. We had a recent publisher change at our site. It definitely wasn't done in the newsroom but in a neutral place in the building. That would be a weird message to send.
DeleteSo what's the big news?
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's a publisher, but how many papers don't have in-house publishers now? I'd be surprised if they actually named one...That paper has lost so many staff-- from layoffs and now they're quitting.
ReplyDeleteYeah it seems every other week at the DMR there's an email sent out announcing someone else jumping ship.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThe Gannett daily in Staunton VA let an F-bomb get into the Kid's Corner. Reminds me of when a Gannett daily in my home state had a profanity in a high school wrestling story.
ReplyDeleteThere are still some changes going on at MNCO. The GM/Managing editor at the Chillicothe Gazette has a new title of Regional Managing Editor. Not sure of any other changes or what that means for the newspapers in the South. Also, RZ no longer a publisher, he is now AD at Lancaster. No mention of KS being GM of Zanesville/Coshocton. Very hush, hush about the restructuring.
ReplyDeleteI hope Hollingsworth is correct with her new hires. It's intuitive that his should work and although 'smart on paper', to this point it has never worked as a general rule in our industry. Perhaps now it will. We'll see.
ReplyDeleteMany executives have used the same logic when bringing in new talent as "change agents". What was quickly discovered was that there was not the commitment nor sense of urgency to get the job done by these "change agents"..
Too much time in the office creating strategies with no logical plan for implementation and weak execution became the norm. Then those that brought these, "change agents" on board were slow to acknowledge their error, and delayed making the needed change themselves.
maybe this time will be different...we'll see. Good luck LH.
Is it in the newsroom because Rick Green is a candidate?
ReplyDeleteI don't know about Des Moines's new newsroom, but usually newsrooms are the biggest space in a newspaper's offices for big staff meetings.
DeleteIt's in the newsroom because that awesome carpeting pattern we all got to see in the vid covers up the various stains that might occur during said announcement.
DeleteLunch losing or pants sharting, people might be surprised beyond containment.