Thursday, October 24, 2013

Oct. 21-27 | Your News & Comments: Part 2

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44 comments:

  1. louisville courier-journal's neil budde's take on the paper and its future: http://insiderlouisville.com/news/2013/10/22/opencoffeelou-47-digital-media-courier-journal-editor-chief-neil-budde/

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  3. Gannett layoffs

    "BOOM"

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  4. entire layers of middle and senior management need to be sliced. this is where gracia needs to get religion.

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    1. Totally agree. We just hired a VP of sales at my site and it's proven to be a completely meaningless position. It does zero to build sales...in fact it only gets in the way. It's a position designed to do only what senior managers don't want to do. In other words...the shit work!

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    3. Let the middle management layoffs begin.....

      BOOM

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  7. Michael Kane is at Journal News

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  8. Charles Everett10/24/2013 5:33 PM

    As previously discussed, the government shutdown has delayed Gannett's planned acquisition of Belo Corp. The buyout has to pass FCC muster and current Capitol Hill politics are playing a part as well.

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    1. Why are you pointing this out again?

      As someone else on here likes to say,

      * flush *

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    3. I like how the guy claiming all posts are from one guy feels the need to post three times in a row in a 20-minute span. I guess he wants to make sure he proves himself right.

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  9. This is neither pro-blog nor anti-blog, but it seems that Jim will soon move on to something else.

    He has not broken the back of Gannett, nor invented a new form of journalism, but in many ways he has made his point: A giant communications company never learned how to communicate to its own people, and the craziness here aside, more information comes from the blog than any other "official" source.

    I believe he will soon call it a day. The energy is gone. Perhaps I will be proven wrong. But it was a good attempt at something useful.

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  10. If Jim quits, that'll be a great day for the horrible, nasty people running Gannett. They're like cockroaches, they can't stand light.

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    1. Melodramatic response based on speculation. You know what that means!

      * flusheroo *

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    2. I hope that Jim continues with the blog. I don't think the blog was started to break the back of Gannett, but to provide a place where Gannett employees could exchange information. I have learned a lot from reading the blog over the years, despite the infestation by people who post some strange stuff.

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    4. I notice no one is thinking of offering help with the blog. Imagine how powerful it could be if one of us from each major property unofficially made it our business to help report what we see, hear, and can attribute. It works amazingly well when there are layoffs.

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  11. so what's up with the phoenix pressmen? Have they rolled over and given up the fight?

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  12. The Phoenix pressmen won't do diddly . . . except put out a late paper on Thanksgiving due to "press problems". That's the extent of their "we'll show THEM!"

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    1. The next move for the phx Pressmen belongs to the company. We work under the old contract until they post conditions. We'll see if dale is brave enough to do that before the busy holiday season.

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    2. So, 9:02, all that tough talk about shutting down operations all over the nation was just talk? Figured as much.

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    3. We'll leave all the "Shutting down" talk to Gannett. They seem to be doing just fine with that business model.

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  13. Here's a question to those ex-Gannetteers who left on their own terms for non-journalism jobs: Why did you leave and do you ever regret it?

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    1. (rolls eyes) Cue the bullshit! Now we'll have all the crazy claims we used to get here on a daily basis.

      Honest answers would be great here. But we won't get them.

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    2. Among other things, high stress brought on by unreasonable expectations, unhappy coworkers, dishonest managers, seeing people of all statuses and skill levels disappear. Answer to part two: Hell, no.

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    3. Unhappy, perpetually bitching coworkers would be high on the list. Of course, any time I want to recall that nightmare, I can just come here and see the same types of complaints.

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    4. I didn't leave on my own terms, and it was a struggle to break into a new industry, but in hindsight, it was all worth it. Don't get me wrong, I loved being a journalist for nearly 30 years, but I now appreciate my current situation, which includes holidays, weekends and nights off, virtually no talk or worry about layoffs, slightly less pay but better benefits and a lot more autonomy. Looking back, going to any Gannett paper was a big mistake. People had warned me for years about Gannett, but I thought I could weather various storms and also thought the rumors of age discrimination were exaggerated. I was wrong. Now that I have some distance and perspective, I can say that Gannett ranks right up there amongst the most deceiful and ruthless corporations in any industry.

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    5. Thanks for all the responses. I love being a journalist and can't see myself going back to the corporate world, but after being increasingly marginalized and disrespected by my managers and living with the constant threat of layoffs, I am seriously considering it.

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    6. I left after 33 years on my own terms because I was on the verge of burnout and was tired of working 60-hour weeks, working most nights and rarely seeing my wife. The first 30 years were mostly wonderful and fulfilling; the last three were mostly dreadful as we dealt with one cutback after another, from newshole to travel budget to furloughs to the most important resource, people. When you dreaded looking at your email because it seemed like every day there was more bad news coming from corporate or your local bosses, it was time for me to make a change. I hate to see what has happened to the printed edition and, though the website is better now than it was, Gannett still has not put the resources into digital -- training, web development and people -- to make it what it should be. It is truly a company caught in transition, lacking the leadership and skill level at the corporate level needed to make the changes and additions necessary to put out even a good product, let alone a great one. Even though I took a pay cut to change jobs and professions, I do not regret at all my decision to leave. I'm in a much better place now personally, with much less pressure and stress. I still love journalism and would still be there if Gannett had staffed the product correctly and provided adequate resources. Heck, I would probably still be there if I had seen any kind of plan coming from corporate that showed me they an idea on how to grow and improve for the future, but I saw none of that. I lived through too many dumb initiatives like News 2000, Real Life, Real News and Passion Topics to know that the people making the big dollars and big bonuses do not have a clue. It's really sad what they have done.

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    7. On the whole, I'd have to agree with 11:14, especially the "dishonest managers" factor. (22 years in Gannetland, BTW.)

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    8. 11:05, it appears you're wrong. I see a lot of honesty here. Helpful honesty. Thanks, especially 12:26 and 3:24.

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    9. Loved it for decades, but the last 10 years kept getting worse.. No regrets. I sleep better now, my health has improved and I have a life outside of the newspaper. I just buy my own pizza on election nights. (and it's better than that crap the editors ordered).

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  14. The vitriolic comments always increase as Gannett readies for job cuts. It's almost that time ... again. :-(

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  15. Happening soon.. Like next week...

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    1. Managers or worker bees?

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  16. Management is going to get hit. Biggest salaries. Littlelest returns. Cant justify your existence forever if main tasks are meetings, memos and second guessing.

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  17. If they hollow out USCP papers, then it's clear they don't plan to run them for much longer. Looks like MTE? (Managing to extinction) Our public keeps asking, with a worried tone, "How's the paper??" They see it coming.

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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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