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Tuesday, November 19, 2013
43 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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There was quite a social media poop-storm on Sunday over the insensitive way USA TODAY handled the reporting of the box office success of The Best Man Holiday. They were shocked, shocked that people paid to see a movie with black actors -- or so it sounded. Here is one of the stories reporting on the mess. http://bossip.com/867579/race-matters-usa-today-comes-under-heavy-fire-for-calling-the-best-man-holiday-a-race-themed-film-43081/
ReplyDeleteThe way Gannett hires and promotes minorities, this is very disturbing.
ReplyDeleteIs it my imagination or is this site getting more and more racist, homophobic and misogynistic? Come on Jim
DeleteThe good news is the bad news, too: This site (like many with comment threads) has always drawn that crowd.
DeleteWhere was the supervision Sunday when these headlines and tweets came out? This is just plain common sense, sorely lacking around Callaway's Calamity these days.
ReplyDeleteCheers, folks.
They were at the movies.
DeleteA lesson here is that speed to publish first + compression of information in a tweet = trouble.
DeleteCritics are unhappy because the story referred to "The Best Man Holiday" in a headline and subsequent tweet as a race-themed movie when that was not the subject. In there words, you could substitute an entirely white (or Asian, Hispanic, etc.) cast without changing the script and it would be he same movie.
What the headline and Tweet didn't capture was this, from the body of the story: "The story of the weekend was Holiday, a sequel that arrived 14 years after the original, sported a budget of just $17 million and was marketed specifically to African-American women."
Assuming that's the case, it would be interesting to know why the producers took that marketing approach. Was it also marketed specifically toward white/Asian/Hispanic women because it was a "chick flick"? And if not, does that mean it is, indeed, a movie with a racial theme?
Few people would call me an apologist for USA Today. Having said that, I will point to a Los Angeles Times story published today called "Why 'The Best Man Holiday' beat box-office estimates."
DeleteThe story quotes the movie's director Malcolm Lee saying: "It's been demonstrated time and again that African American movies perform. But the reaction is still 'wow,' like they're still surprised."
Is Lee's calling it an African American movie the same as USAT's headline and tweet calling it race themed?
Perhaps as he spoke, Lee was picturing his words surrounded by quotes to indicate this wasn't his interpretation, but someone else's. Or maybe during the Times interview, he used the phrase while gesturing with air quotes.
Here's an interesting question: If, say, a movie with an entirely white cast was a surprise hit among African-American viewers, would anyone call it a "white" movie or a race-themed one?
One thing to mention in a story. This just plum offensive.
DeleteGood Lord. Apparently there is no topic too piddling or nit-picking for this crowd.
DeleteDetroit Media (Medus) Partnership laying off their Creative Department effective 1/17/14. All but seven jobs will be axed and 'outsourced' to Des Moine.
ReplyDeleteMeant 'Detroit Media (Medusa) Partnership'
DeleteWhat took THEM so long?
DeleteThe bottom line is someone should have known better. The tweet and original headline did not need to bring race into question. Dumb decisions all around.
ReplyDeleteThe freeze out continues at the Statesman Journal in Salem, Ore. HR, now apparently is in charge of building maintenance, says "the heat in our building is working, just not working the way we would like it to." You think? If all the people wearing jackets and blankets at their desk aren't a clue, the noise from the space heaters should be! And the list of people out sick continues to grow. Not that Gannett cares.
ReplyDeleteIf you work harder, youll be warmer.
DeleteA coincidence?
DeleteThe Statesman's recently hired editor-in-chief is Michael Davis. Davis was previously editor-in-chief at the Journal & Courier in Lafayette, Ind. I heard the Lafayette newsroom was like a meat locker often: reporters wore jackets, some gloves too.
We had small space heaters at each of our desks at USA Today's bureau in San Francisco.
DeleteI doubt it, Jim. You're probably thinking of those small utility heaters. Those aren't space heaters -- those are huge.
DeleteGreat way to keep people -- freeze them out!
This is Silberman at his finest. All the smart people who have left his hell hole know that he has purposely cut the heat to save money, is delaying action in hopes of a building deal or can't make a decision on how to fix the thing. I'm sure someone from Phoenix will be arriving soon.
DeleteThe Clarion-Ledger is imploding -- suffering from a terrible lack of leadership, with blame squarely on the publisher but also spreading to the ad director and the editor and trickling down.
ReplyDeleteOne could replace this publication's name with virtually any in the Gannett portfolio.
DeleteJust imploding now? They have been spiraling downward since 2009. It's time they got some real leadership with plans. Instead they want the minions to come up with the plan! Instead of laying off good people, it's time to release those making the big money without the PLAN.
DeleteHow about telling an employee who quits the job that the person could never come back, then go and beg that person to come back??! What successful business does that?
DeleteThe Clarion-Ledger is being steadily destroyed, just as The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, LA, was destroyed by publisher Leslie Hurst. All she cares about is cuts, cuts, cuts so that she can earn a big bonus. And her cronie Brian Tolley, editor, is following her around like a little puppy dog.
DeleteIf you think this is bad, come to Rochester! Total cluster...
DeleteI was wondering whether any retirees have been notified by mail yet of their premiums under the new health plan. Info was due by mid-month. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteNot me - I'm still waiting for the 'letter' from GCI.
Deletejust got mine in today's mail. premium dropped just a little bit, but not as much as i was told last month when i call, not a lot of info on plan just the cost.
DeleteWhat is the premium for the retiree only?
DeleteThe Times building in Shreveport, LA is for sale - story on home page of www.shreveporttimes.com
ReplyDeleteActually it's the Times' older building with the newsroom, sales and administration offices. The printing plant and its Berliner press are not affected.
DeleteCharles, this sounds like a great reason to stay with The Times. You're losing all of your staff who writes the paper, but at least the printing plant is staying put.
DeleteGet in line. There was a news story about development in the downtown greenville area on the local NBC affiliate Tuesday. And they made sure to mention that the Greenville News building was for sale and would make an excellent site for something superb because of its location, this coming from someone at the chamber of commerce. Why don't we just sell all downtown newspaper sites and move them out next to the local landfill. We don't need any presence in the community any way right? This company would suck the life out of a freakin zombie, especially if they thought they could make a quick buck. Gannett sucks ass, and so do all those cronies that defend them!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWhy no talk about Detroit Free Press publisher reporting directly too the JOA boss now? Jim isn't doing any reporting.
ReplyDeleteWhen did Paul Anger ever not report to Joyce Jenereaux?
DeleteThe community of Shreveport was pretty apathetic to this news. Most of the comments I saw on Facebook had to do with how irrelevant the paper is and how Gannett can't afford the building anymore because no one is subscribing to The Times anymore.
ReplyDeleteNo one is subscribing. It has long been a joke. There was some hope with the new press, a sophisticated design and what seemed to be a new excitement as a new era began. Alas, it has become an epic fail. Once Times press operators took over operating the new press, circulation problems went through the roof, design couldn't be sustained once that job went to Des Moines, so design was dismantled bit by bit to the point the paper looks old-school and sloppy, and Gannett continues to throw crappy newsroom reorganization ideas at the wall to see what sticks. Now we are going to have a curation team! Really! Folks, the few of us left, we need to put plan B into motion!
DeleteYes, the front page story today says the Times is looking for a more "modern" home for its operations. That means they can no longer afford to maintain the huge building and facilities that once housed both the Times and the Shreveport Journal with two large news staffs and all the support staffs and operations. Today, the building is probably nearly vacant of human occupation.
DeleteMy condolences to all the current employees of the Times. This is another in the continuing process of your jobs evaporating. It took Gannett about 35 years to do it but, like a slow growing cancer, it is finally putting the newspaper on the deathbed.
7:45 AM, you should have put Plan B into effect long ago. There is no time like the present. You no longer have a publisher, your building is up for sale, and Gannett's numbers are still in the toilet. This doesn't sound like a secure personal financial option to me.
DeleteAnger never reported to JJ until last week. Always directly to Dickey
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. I've always thought the title of publisher at the Freep was just a formality because the job basically involved running the newsroom. All the other duties associated with a publisher's job -- ad sales, marketing, production, circulation -- have always been handled by the chief of the JOA, in this case JJ.
Delete