Friday, August 23, 2013

How to make a mass layoff as painful as possible; thousands of East employees are left in the dark

Including this latest one, I've covered five mass layoffs -- those involving at least hundreds of jobs -- since Gannett's first big one, in August 2008, and every one has been awful for those getting kicked to the curb, and those left behind.

But this round, which began July 29, has been perhaps the cruelest of all -- in the East Group of dozens of newspapers from New York to Florida. Here's why.

It was well underway and prominently disclosed on Gannett Blog by the time Corporate finally confirmed it on Aug. 2 in a one-sentence statement to blogger Jim Romenesko and then the Associated Press.

Kane
By Aug. 6, it appeared most newspapers had notified employees losing their jobs -- except for those in the East Group, led by President Michael Kane based at New York's Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. Indeed, employees at some of the group's papers were increasingly anxious, asking me in e-mail whether they might have been spared.

In a comment that day, Anonymous@1:14 p.m. wrote bitterly: "Jim, you are too casually dismissing the greatness that is Michael Kane. He is perfectly capable of being the only group president to avoid cuts by making bottomline goals."

Whack!
But the ax finally fell big time yesterday, with seven at least eight layoffs at the Rochester paper, followed by more at sites including Greenville, S.C., and Pensacola, Fla. On Wednesday, the Asheville Citizen-Times in North Carolina lost six terrific newsroom employees.

All that brought to more than 350 the number of layoffs and open positions cut across at least 57 of nearly 80 U.S. newspaper sites, according to Gannett Blog reader estimates. Combined, those sites had about 18,000 employees at the end of last year, according to GCI's latest published figures.

Yet, I suspect more are still on the way. On a spreadsheet I've been keeping, there are at least a half dozen sites that haven't been counted, mostly in the East Group's New York and New Jersey. Also, in Wilmington, Del., The News Journal appears to have cut only two jobs in this round, according to my readers.

Now, it's still possible Kane found a way to avoid eliminating jobs at those sites by cutting travel, newsprint or other expenses. But I doubt that.

Dickey
There's been no public explanation for why the East Group has taken so long after other employees were notified starting well over three weeks ago. Was there an 11th-hour attempt to find another way to save money? Did Kane's immediate superior, U.S. newspaper division chief Bob Dickey, hold up his plan for further review? We don't know.

What's certain is Corporate was planning for this round at least since July 5, according to a reader in a position to know. In all likelihood, work began even earlier. That makes the delay across the East Group all the more puzzling.

Unusually secretive
In those four earlier mass layoffs I've covered -- including one with well over 2,000 jobs in December 2008 -- employees were told days and sometimes weeks in advance. There was little doubt every site would be hit. No one was left agonizing over whether their site would be spared. It was just a question of how many jobs would be cut.

This time, Corporate has been especially chary with information, refusing to announce the layoffs in advance, even though it was clear word had already leaked. And when Corporate finally confirmed the truth, top executives refused to provide specifics, including the number of jobs. Contrast that with the last mass layoff in June 2011, where Dickey sent a memo announcing 700 jobs were being eliminated.

But most cruel: Dickey and Kane allowed thousands of his group's employees to watch what was rolling out across the rest of the newspaper division west of the Eastern Seaboard, prolonging their anxiety for weeks and weeks. If Dickey and Kane would like to explain the circumstances, we'd welcome hearing from them.

In the meantime, we're certainly hearing from those in the field.

PNJ's 'heart and soul'
At the Pensacola News Journal, Anonymous@12:48 this morning wrote eloquently of one particular employee's exit.

"Heart and soul Managing Editor Ginny Graybiel is sacked in so-called layoff," they wrote. "With 37 years at the PNJ, Graybiel's leadership bringing the powerbrokers and arrogant burghermeisters in this unbelievably corrupt town and county to heel has been legendary and an inspiration to a small but dedicated staff.

"A tireless editor who logged 80 hours a week shepherding a dismantled Gannett property to greatness week to week with ideas, great editing and lots of bloody verve, she's rewarded with a lame sacking."

Corporate reportedly is about to raise print newspaper subscription rates again nationwide in a bid to boost overall revenue when advertising revenue continues to fall. That it would take this step so soon after cutting deeper into the marrow of news production is a sign of desperation. It sure doesn't look like a winning strategic plan.

Is your site here?
An estimated 360 351 352 jobs have now been eliminated at 57 of about 80 newspapers since the current round of layoffs began July 29, according to the latest reports from Gannett Blog readers.

Please check this read-only spreadsheet, then post your site's current information in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green rail, upper right.

33 comments:

  1. Only 7 in Rochester: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013308220042

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    1. I would take issue with the statement that Graybiel ",,,"With 37 years at the PNJ, Graybiel's leadership bringing the powerbrokers and arrogant burghermeisters in this unbelievably corrupt town and county to heel has been legendary and an inspiration to a small but dedicated staff."

      grauybiel repeatedly turned a blind eye to the corruption of the last sheriff, Ron McNesby, even after having been supplied with literally thousands of pages of documentation outlining his corruption. Reporters such as Katie McFarland had story after story killed by Graybiel if the 'wrong' politician was in the hot seat. In the end Ginny had been here too long and had become too tainted by the power structure to be effective.

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    2. As a reader of the Pensacola News Journal for years, I agree with the previous statement. However in the PNJ's case, their local news coverage is so lousy and so little that it simply doesn't make sense for anyone to subscribe. Ad revenue is down because advertisers can't justify spending money at a paper which is 90% regurgitated AP wire stories, and when the PNJ does write an original story, oh, wait....I think they forgot how.

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    3. I have subscribed to the Studerville News Journal for 25 years and I totally agree with the 2 comments above. Since making their comments we now know that publisher Kevin Doyle and Managing Editor Dick Schneider are also terminated. To say that the Studerville News Journal has lacked journalistic integrity is a gross understatement. Under Doyle's leadership the News Journal has been an instrument for promoting his petty causes and vicious attacks against his enemies. It is a shame that Gannett allowed him to continue his incompetence for such a long time. Good riddance to him and the staff that supported him!

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    4. Interesting, isn't it, how none of these negative platitudes and accusations is followed by a single example.

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    5. A good example might be the target reader they identified as part of their Passion Topics exercise. It was fairly amazing how they boiled their readership-persona into a rightwing male, 50 plus, who hates everything and everyone. The target persona was a cartoon character of the worst Florida stereotype. Marymount & Co. ate it up. The rest of us just shook our heads.

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  2. Count 2 full timers and a part timer gone from Tallahassee newsroom yesterday. Not sure if any other departments took a hit.

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  3. The Pensacola News Journal has been slowly eroded by the likes of the Pensacola Independent, taking off the gloves against the downtown crowd, and NorthEscambia.com.

    NorthEscambia.com is run by ONE MAN (who apparently never sleeps) and consistently beats the PNJ with accurate local stories and breaking news. With the PNJ put up the paywall last year, readers flocked to NorthEscambia.

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  4. Cut the quality of the product, by laying off the people who produce the product and THEN raise subscription prices for that diminished product? Yes that makes perfect sense in this media saturated market. The upper management dumbass who suggested this and the higher ups who approved such an idiotic plan should be the next to be sacked. Think of the jobs of real workers that can be saved.
    Stupidity-it's all in reach!

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  5. One of the reasons for the "silence" from some of the NJ sites is that they are at skeleton staffing levels after the previous round of lay offs left the "info centers" at the HNT, DR and CN virtual ghost towns. The only place left to hit is the APP, which already had 12 info center workers (not managers) who were eliminated in this most recent round.
    They're running out of deckhands on the Titanic. Some officers might be next.

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  7. "Michael (Kane) knows Rochester and with the strong ties he has established there, he will be a great asset to the Democrat and Chronicle and to the local community," said Robert Dickey, president of U.S. Community Publishing. "Rochester provides a good central location for our East Group headquarters."

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  8. What positions were lost in Greenville?

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  9. And yet JJC survives in NJ though they did end his lame column. The APP will be next to slice and dice it's staff.

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  10. Executive editor John Pittman "Retired" and 3 other reporters.

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  11. Schneider's "retirement" in Pensacola should be handwriting ofon the wall for the departure of Executive Editor Bob Stover at Florida Today. Absolutely one of the worst managers in the history of Gannett. Revenue now down 75 percent during his "leadership."

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    1. '

      Both Schneider and the Pensacola News Journal's publisher, Kevin Doyle, came from the "sports" reporting world of Gannett. Doyle in particular showed an incredible lack of journalistic integrity. There is no way to measure the damage that this pair has done to our city.

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  12. In the cafeteria today at corp there was some serious tongue-waging re Michael Kane. He has never been known to come under fire from people in the field. The suggestion making the rounds is that Kane was somehow set up by the bosses here @ corp. Kane is a fall guy for their decision making. Lots of whispers that no one imagined all of this would play out for so long and so forcefully on Jim's blog.

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    1. There was some rumbling back when South group was dissolved about which states went to Hollingsworth and which to Kane - speculation that there was some deck-stacking going on in the race to succeed Dickey.

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    3. No one has thought of Bobs family during this time? Reall? Ugh. Plus the PGA championship ship? Whatever.

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  14. WOW-- 14 layoffs at Pensacola? The PNJ and Tally papers appeared to be spared the ax. Instead, Pensacola got hit the hardest of the four Florida papers -- so far.

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  15. What happened at the Pensacola News Journal wasn’t simply a “layoff” for economic reasons. It was a wholesale firing of the entire management and editorial staff, a cleansing that should have been done long ago. Kevin Doyle, the publisher, had turned the News Journal into his personal propaganda tool for the benefit of friends and relatives and the bane of his enemies. There are many rumors regarding unethical practices that took place during Doyle’s reign, and the citizens of Pensacola can only hope that the next administration will disclose all of the underhanded shenanigans that took place over the past decade.

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  16. The secrecy involving these layoffs I think is what is the most insulting. We work for a media company and everyone already knows about the layoffs at other sites yet no one in management dares speak a word of it. It's as though the emperor has no clothes! Gracia wanted to be so open with the employees with her monthly chats we had to sit through and endure when we could of been doing real work. At first everyone had hope when Craig was gone. There was once again a positive feeling in our building. Advertising revenue was increasing, we were getting more outside printing jobs, we were hiring people again and now this. Now the feelings of fear and betrayal are back again because this time is worse because nothing has been announced and people sit at their desks wondering when the ball will drop. I don't care if Kane is the fall man or not. If he had a set of balls he would of told his employees what was happening and why. I feel the same way about all the other VPs too. It's just so ridiculous that they are treating us like children and hiding out until it's all over. Shame on you Michael Kane. You used to be a nice guy with a backbone and not just a corporate drone who drank the kool aid. I hope you sleep well at night knowing how terribly you handled the East Group's layoffs.

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  17. I agree. Shame on you, Michael Kane. I know you see this stuff and take it to heart.

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  18. We thought we had been spared in Central New York as many open positions were dissolved at the end of Q2. Binghamton doled out layoffs today. Ithaca and Elmira remain uninformed at this time.

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  19. With this roll out of layoffs, anyone think the design studios could be up next?

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  20. Employees should be given proper benefits on case of a mass layoff.

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  21. Do we know how many photojournalists were included in the layoff's (I would like to know, as I am one of them)

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