Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)
Wednesday, November 06, 2013
37 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."
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Shreveport Times now only has an "A" section and Sports section on Mondays and Tuesdays. And both sections are kinda skinny. That means there's not much room for news so you would think the editors would be selective and only include newsworthy articles of higher priority. Not so.
ReplyDeleteToday, The Times dedicated an entire page inside the paper and 2/3 of the front page to a story on who makes the best pizza in town.
Mmmm. Pie.
I wonder how long this ridiculous publication can stay alive with a news sense as low as this.
You will soon get sections of USAT and that is what they are trying to beef up our pubs with
DeleteThe people in Shreveport will bitch about the USAT section. They want local news. I hear it all the time.
DeleteYeah. Don't want a USAToday Junior in the local paper. What little I've seen of USAT in recent times, it's pretty lacking in substance as well.
DeleteBut, really, does anyone think putting a mini-USAT in such a crappy publication as the Times will excite any reader or gain new readers? Or is the whole idea to keep people as uninformed or misinformed as possible?
I don';t pay any attention to the posts from Sherveport. No doubt it's just the same 1 or 2 disgruntled employees posting again and again.
DeleteAll businesses should pay attention to disgruntled employees. They can do more damage than good when no one is looking. In my business, a happy employee equals a successful company. From reading this blog, this concept seems to be lost on Gannett.
DeleteIf you want to see where the Shreveport Times newspaper stays during the week - take a walk in any local subdivision with sidewalks - you will see the wet, dry, old unread newspapers laying there for weeks.... no one reads it anymore. Local reporting is a joke.
DeleteAll Gannett papers will soon include usat sections
DeleteNot all -- the top three dozen papers in circulation will but not the smaller ones.
DeleteI'm waiting for the Butterfly to land in Uranus after Neptune.
DeletePassion topics, content evolution, target audiences, Picasso...so many corporate efforts to figure out "what readers want". Here's what we want: accurate, thorough information, presented quickly and succintly, in an easy-to-find format (whether it's in print or online) with a dash of titillation and "OMG" quirkiness.
DeleteWhat is Picasso?
DeleteMini USA's in the local paper? Really? I know a lot of people who stopped buying the local paper when USA articles started showing up in the sports and national sections. Common theme was "If I wanted to buy the USA Today I would".
DeleteWonder about a company who keeps coming up with ways to stop sales instead of enhancing it.
The most interesting thing about the pizza article in The Times paper on Monday is that the best new pizza place in town wasn't mentioned. Guess the owner doesn't advertise with The Times. This omission wasn't lost on anyone.
DeleteThe other interesting thing is the article was mentioned on The Tim Fletcher Show which has Rotollo's as their sponsor - seems like a "Advertorial" article rather than local reporting.....
DeleteI am surprised the editor let it happen. He doesn't seem like the type to compromise journalism. I guess anyone can be bought.
DeleteJust a note to 11/05 /2013, 4:01 PM...
DeleteI placed the original post. I'm NOT a Times employee. I'm retired. I'm a resident of Shreveport. I'm just embarrassed by the local newspaper.
The "I don't pay attention..." attitude you express says a lot about the reason Gannett products are going in the toilet.
Amazing how Gannett keeps repeating its mistakes in Shreveport.
DeleteExpecting to see the Butterfly land in Neptune after Friday's mandatory news staff meeting at the APP.
ReplyDeleteThe Butterfly lands and local town reporters get the boot?
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget how Flax steered the gutting of the Daily Record during his time there. Now it's the APP's turn to be Flaxized.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteYeah -- About Flax. You can look it up; Daily Record circulation was about 40,000 when he arrived and around 20,000 when he left.. He had contempt for the news and the people who wrote and edited it.
ReplyDeleteYou could say the same thing about the C-N and where it was in circulation when Rich Leonard ran it and when Flax ran it into the ground. While it was in what Leonard called "the toughest market in Gannett" competing with the Ledger and the old pre-Gannett Home News, the C-N built a brand with good journalism, which gave them loyal readers. Now, it is a shadow of it's formal self, as is the DR. The stage is set to just merge them into an "NJ Today" with satellite bureaus in the outlying areas. Think of the costs cut and the bonuses for compliant mangers. That's what they're hanging in for, because there isn't much left to save
DeleteCincinnati Enquirer's northern bureau sits empty because of editor's vanity in centralizing all reporters at downtown office. Meanwhile, up north-
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2013/11/04/cox-media-challenging-cincinnati.html
The real problem in Cincinnati's north bureau was the decision to gradually reduce staffing over the years. The bureau was once filled with people. Three reporters now cover the area but not from bureau. Downtown editors routinely were not interested in the stories that northern readers wanted. Now the Enquirer has lost those readers permanently.
DeleteToo bad someone doesn't start a newspaper to cover Northern Kentucky - now that the Enquirer has pulled out of that area too.
DeleteYep, the chickens have come home to roost. After poaching and laying off staff in the northern communities for years, The Enquirer has all but handed those areas to its competitors on a silver platter.
DeleteThe question now is, will the short-sighted management team downtown wave the white flag of surrender or continue with its embarrassing bare-bones coverage of some of the fastest-growing and affluent areas in Greater Cincy?
There will be no white flags waving. Short sided management has proven that they will make the wrong decisions 100% of the time. They will just blame it on there employees (the ones still left that weren't fired or part of the constant lay offs). the employee's are the reason revenues are down and advertisers are leaving, not the bleeding circulation numbers and toxic work environment.
DeleteIf Gannett had any idea what Cincy's self-centered bonehead management costs them in real $$$$ . . .
DeleteAZCentral is still showing "early results" for Phoenix city elections 12 hours after the polls have closed. The competing TV stations are showing final numbers on their free websites.
ReplyDeleteTheirs competition all over and bottom line is that Gannett doesn't care about their readers. Every paper they own, they gut to the bare minimum. Give people some content and a good product and they will read it, no matter what the format. Papers are losing circulation all over and Gannett will close,merge, or sell any entity to float the boat. They can flub all the numbers they want, with their digital and print counting methods. Bottom line is, that if you keep gutting your product, people will only be fooled for so long.
ReplyDeleteTrue, true & very sad but true. And yes, I have one foot out the door to better things. Will miss my few remaining co-workers, a talented bunch. Best wishes everybody!
DeleteGive people some content and a good product and they will read it, no matter what the format.
DeleteThe question isn't whether they'll read it — it's whether they'll PAY for it at anything close to what it costs to produce. All the available evidence says no.
Kudos's to 1:57...you see it too. We all feel the same way. The management style is one of fear, bullying, and blame. Maybe they should send questionnaire to ex-employees. If those opinions match those still employed; then there is a "people-management issue....however, that will never be done.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if they still do it now, but they certainly didn't do it when I was laid off — the Exit Interview. At one time at my site, indeed for quite a while, the relationship between management and staff was not perfect but it was passable. Two-way feedback: what a concept! But we all know what happened to that.
DeleteIn fact, as a departing employee of longstanding I had prepared several items for the Exit Interview like a good Boy Scout. Never happened. It was just "out the door you go, widget." Oh, well, I reckon that's their problem.
It's sweeps month in local TV, so Gannett's KSDK in St. Louis prepared an investigative story about a remodeling company's tactics. The owner of that remodeling company was found dead in his home the day before the story was to air. KSDK is holding the story out of respect for his family.
ReplyDelete