Friday, November 15, 2013

Nov. 11-17 | Your News & Comments: Part 3

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51 comments:

  1. Another under paid day at an irrelevant company.

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    1. With all due respect: get out. There are a lot of us working our cans off every day because we believe in what we do. People like you are holding us back. If you don't want to be here, I guarantee there's another person who does, and that person would stand a lot better chance at helping to make this company better. Or, take a step back, turn your attitude around and stop being poisonous to the people around you.... Who wants to be around people with attitudes like yours every day?

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    2. There was nothing the writer said that would suggest he or she is poisoning anyone but the trolls who think the only way a person can do a good job is by drinking the Kool Aid too. Frankly,being around people like 636 is more refreshing than being around rah-tags.

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    3. I absolutely agree underpaid and overworked especially in DSM.

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    4. Right on, 7:30 AM!

      Love it or leave it, losers!

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    5. Interchangeable Gannett Cog #0967123893489411/15/2013 9:37 AM

      Having just sat through the "Picasso" presentation, the 5th "transformation" of the info center since I have been with GCI, I will politely tell 7:30 and 2:48 to kindly stuff that attitude. If the this wasn't a jobless recovery, GCI sites would be ghost towns because employees would have gladly left this Roman slave galley of a corporation for a better job. More work, less pay and hey, how about that health insurance increase? It's all in reach.

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    6. Telling remark above. Your implied strategy of never transforming anything, and just continuing to do the same thing over and over is a big part of what's killing this company. If you can't deal with change, then you should find a new job. We should be transforming every few years..... the rest of the world is.

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    7. Folks, you're missing the point. They are actually TRYING to transform the company. They just don't know what the hell they're doing.

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    8. Interchangeable Gannett Cog #0967123893489411/15/2013 5:52 PM

      @ 10:26. I have transformed and embraced the digital world and done a better job of it than most, despite some of these ill conceived initiatives. I Tweet and facebook b/c I know it's the future. What I'm talking about are the lame ideas which now barely last 6 months. For you to ASS-ume that I am resistant to change is in error. What I am resistant to is the corporate flavor of the month which gave us News2000, the first Five Graphs, Real Life, Real News, Passion Topics, Content Evolution (which didn't even move the metrics at my site) and now Picasso.How many of those were you there for? I'm all for a digital newsroom and INTELLIGENT, well thought out transformation, with input from the peons in the trenches (those who deal with customers) not just those in glass offices. The change I'm resistant to the the top down, "let's throw it on the wall and see what sticks" kind of ideas we've seen come out of GCI over the past decade plus. Put down the Kool Aid and Open your mind.

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    9. Cog #09671238934894: "Open your mind", eh? Try taking your own advice. Stop condemning what you don't understand.

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    10. The first five graphs idea was pretty good. I still use it in my writing.

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    11. I've always used that idea. It's really Journalism 101.

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  2. The Cincinnati Enquirer never fails in disappointing affluent readers it would like to keep, again.

    Instead of focusing attention on two significant female appointments at P&G yesterday – one being the first female to be promoted to CTO at a Fortune 100 company, it focuses on a retiring male leader using his head shot.

    Quite pathetic, more so as one would have thought that at least one of the queens running the Enquirer - its publisher, its editor and or its head of sales, would have noticed.

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    2. How ironic, after that special tab on important local women, including Inky's leader,

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  3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  4. From an ad on Linked In
    Talent Acquisition Manager
    Gannett - McLean, VA - Nov 7, 2013
    "Are you a digital media recruiting leader? Can you think of a more exciting time to be at Gannett? Why not join an HR team that is part of a great company?"

    Well, if excitement is considered not knowing whether or not you'll be jettisoned each day when you show up for work, then, yes, it's a great time to join the company.

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  5. It's often said that "a picture is worth a thousand words". What is this graphic worth?

    http://www.businessinsider.com/google-is-bigger-than-all-magazines-and-newspapers-combined-2013-11?op=1

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  6. I have recently experience huge medical bills. I applied for a 401k hardship withdrawal to pay my share of the bill. The documentation sent to me clearly stated that a report from the insurance company showing how much the hospital charged how much the insurance paid and what is expected from we would be sufficient.
    401k people denied the claim saying they want a detailed bill from the hospital showing every pill I took, every procedure that was performed and every time they stuck something in me. I felt this is grave violation of HIPPA laws. Their reply was, want your money, send us what we want. Any ideas as to if this is illegal, and who would take charge in seeing that the gannettoids stop peering into our personal lives?

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    1. Guard yourself from having to borrow your own money. Stop contributing to 401K long enough to build your savings account so when "emergencies" happen, and they always do, you won't have to extend your tin cup to Gannett. To me, borrowing your own money and paying someone else a percentage, makes no sense. Of course, a savings account doesn't have a very good rate of return, but that's not the point. It's a safety net.

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  7. Gannett has cute editors who kick ass. That is all.

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  8. Recently we got a look at the new Kronos timekeeping system. No clock or swiping badges. You have to enter the times manually. No cheating, now, boys and girls. Guess you could log an earlier time than real. Or, cheat yourself and give free time to the company to please desperate editors by cranking out copy.

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    1. This would expose massive fraud at Usa Today, where many people leave early, tske long breaks or "work from home."

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    2. Fraud as well at CORP GCI. They take unlimited vacations, sick leave, lunch time, whatever they can get away with!!! It's been going on for years!!!! The higher the floor in Crystal Palace, the worse it gets!!!

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  9. How often are the restrooms cleaned at your Gannett site?

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    1. Buy the looks of them never

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  10. RT @effgannett: Just in case you missed it and need a summary, The Reasons Why @Gannett Will Fail Recap will tweet today starting at 3pm EST.

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  11. Charles Everett11/15/2013 9:59 AM

    Even the Washington Post is not looking kindly on the Gannett-connected Newseum in D.C. The hook is a Newseum exhibit that's more of a product tie-in to an upcoming movie sequel.

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    1. Gannett has nothing to do with the Newseum, genius.

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    2. Yes, other than the fact that it got its seed capital from Gannett shareholders when Neuharth & Co. ran off with the original Gannett Foundation.

      Oh, and the fact top administrators for most of the museum's early years were all former Gannett executives who learned everything they don't know about museum development and management while working for Gannett.

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    3. Rubbish. Shareholders were not involved or impacted in any way whatsoever. They certainly did not provide "seed capital". Likewise, the fact that a handful of cronies decamped has no more significance than any other routine turnover. Boeing did not train Alan Mulally to run a car company, but that doesn't make it responsible for his performance at Ford.

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  12. Hey all, quick question: if you are having a problem with COBRA and the minions at the Benefits line can't help, who is best to speak to? Who can make decisions and get things done that you can call?

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    1. Ask to speak to a supervisor at the benefits site

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  13. What is Picasso's Pillars?

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    1. The latest info center plan, based on a newsroom "playbook" that some people from corporate, Fort Collins and Florida were shopping around a few months back in what were billed as "listening sessions" but as usually were "corporate talks and you shut up and listen."
      Some pillars of community engagement are interesting such as hosting events with experts for readers to build the paper and journalists brand. Others, such as more metrics watching (which they swear won't be used against us) and monthly reviews seem to be the same old drum beat of more with less. An interesting thing is the idea we will write fewer articles, in favor of the big well written investigative piece, but with talk of less emphasis on dailies (and I'd assume some of the rudiments of beat coverage) what well spring will the ideas for these bigger pieces flow from? Boots on the ground and being there, instead of calling after the fact, are what gets the ideas that blossom in to that kind of article.

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    2. Actually, that doesn't sound bad.

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    3. If there's less emphasis on the daily editions, how will they fill these expanded local pages under the Butterfly Project?

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    4. Why would you fear having some basic accountability over whether what you're producing is connecting and resonating with our audience?

      Looking at metrics can help us figure out what stories we're wasting time and resources on. Or are you too proud to acknowledge that perhaps lots of journalists have very little idea about what makes a good story from our readers' perspective?

      No one is suggesting we ignore routine beat coverage. Far from it. Instead, the question becomes: instead of writing a 20-inch story with three sources that no one really cares about, could we better serve our readers with a four-inch brief and give you time to write stories with actual impact? You know, to do great journalism, not commodity journalism.

      Sounds like a great plan to me.

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    5. The people in news would rather not know if the work they're doing is actually being read by anybody. Heaven forbid we give them the ability to find out.

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    6. The metrics say sports, sports, sports, crime, photo galleries of young women. The web audience is different from the print audience.

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    7. Haven't yet seen metrics from any Gannett site showing that sports, sports and sports wins. In fact, at the sites I've seen stats for, sports, especially high school sports, are far down on the scale. Care to share your specific site experience?

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    8. If all people are clicking on is sports and crime and scantily clad galleries, it sounds like your news people aren't pulling their weight. Our news floor has pretty diverse stories in their top 10.

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    9. @10:05 and 11:59 I don't fear accountability, what I fear is the stacked deck which we currently have. If your content isn't easy to find on the website, or buried deep in the website where no one can find, how fair is the metric for that content producer? At first glance it looks like no one is interested. But it is easy for management to tell web producers what content to "spotlight" on the website so it is seen immediately by visitors and what content to bury. Simply said, you can't click on what you can't find, so that's a case where the metric isn't an level playing field. Then there is CCI which is riddled with problems which will results in content failing to appear on line. So content providers have to watch carefully and annoy editors and web producers with constant questions about why my content didn't appear. To have metrics which judges your work based on such a flawed system is unfair. I don't mind being held accountable, just make sure the system is fair and accurate.

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  14. Every time I think I've finally seen it all, along comes a set of documents like the ones I just received today. More on that in the days ahead.

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    3. 5:00pm - Is there arsenic in our town's drinking water?? Come back at 11 for our report!

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    4. 11:00pm - Nope!

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  15. Wash post questions the newseum finances and anchorman 2 tie-in.

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  16. Bracing myself....Again, thanks for this blog, Jim.

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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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