Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Jan. 27-Feb. 2 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

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33 comments:

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  2. I'm a copy editor working 9-11 days in a row every other "week." Is that the usual practice at other sites?

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    1. On the bright side, technically you'd only have to give one-week's notice when you quit.

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    2. Every minute over 5 days is OT in NY.unless you are an exempt employee. what state are you in?

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    4. This is in Wis.

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    5. District Sales Managers would love to work 9-11 days. They usually work 30 days +. They are the loest paid, hardest working employees in the industry. Gannett is protected becuase they are salary under a "sales" exemption. If anyone looks up the defnition of this exemption under the fair labor act you will see that gannet should be concerened with a major class action suit. Any lawyers, here is a chnace to get rich

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    6. 12p 1/28: You should be very worried and deeply concerned. You should be have your Plan B and Plan C and Plan D prepared and ready to go. There isn't anything positive to say about Gannett, its products, its leadership, its structure, its future - nothing. You've unfortunately been dragged into a company that lacks the insight and judgement to make decisions that have sustaining value to the people who actually do the work. The decisions that are made are made for shareholders and sr executives in McLean VA. You're in a quagmire of nothingness. The decisions that are made about you and where you work will not benefit you. It is in your best interest regardless of how old you are, to determine where else you think you might be able to have a fulfilling career for the remainder of your career. The Gannett company is not the place to do that. In fact, you will be more successful as an ex-Gannett employee than you will a Gannett employee. Start looking today. Do what you need to do and make a graceful exit on your own terms before that decision is made for you.

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  3. Did I miss the moment of silence/memorial for the Sports Media Group?

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    1. What do you know about the Sports Media Group that no one else does?

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  4. Looks there there's a push for Gannett to separate print and broadcasting:
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-22/gannett-seen-divorcing-print-from-tv-after-belo-real-m-a.html

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    1. Charles Everett1/28/2014 9:54 AM

      I posted a link to that very article last week.

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    2. Gannett will not split for these reasons:

      1). Gannet and it's BOD is way too conservative. And they have THE most conservative CEO on the planet running the company. It would be too radical for them to even think about doing it. With 70% of the revenue coming from print, they can't begin to think of how or why a split could possibly bring more value to the company.

      2). Gannett's leadership doesn't have the strategic change management knowledge, decision-making ability, or good judgement to understand how to navigate a split of their company. It barely knows how to facilitate restructuring teams as a result of 3 years of downsizing it's workforce. It would be an utter internal organizational cluster fuck with even more fiefdoms sprouting up all over the place and people jockeying for positions around the company. It would be a freaken mess - and more of a mess than the company is now. And that's saying a lot.

      3). The company is too scared. They know print is dying and they think splitting up will hasten it's death so they'd rather the entire ship go down. (And that reallllly making a lot of sense, but that's how Gannett's leadership thinks - ass backwardly.) They are too scared to try running with TV and digital on it's own. And they should be scared because there's no real guarantee of local TV news' long team survival. If they tried to run a digital company all solo, they may have to reduce their workforce again. And, that's probably not going to happen. Gannett is a deer in the headlights when it comes to any of this. They are too scared to do anything radical or anything at all. So, they'll just stand there in the middle of the road and we'll watch them get hit by the semi-truck.

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  5. As a former Belo employee (new Gannett employee), I and many of my co-workers are a little nervous. Of course, combing through this site would terrify you if you took it all as fact. I don't expect people that are HAPPY with Gannett to appear on the blogs, but does anyone here have anything positive to say about my new employer? It can't be all bad, right? BTW we and many other Belo stations are union shops.

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    1. Can't speak for conditions on the broadcast side, but it's been pretty grim on the print side for about five years now. Rats-on-a-sinking-ship mentality. Sad thing is: Most of us really like what we do and really care about our products.

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    2. 12:00 p.m., after being laid off by Gannett, my severance was fair and the pension center folks promptly processed my forms to transfer my 401K out of Gannett's control into the 401K of my new employer.



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    3. After I got suddenly laid off after 26 years with Gannett, I got a week of severance -- which for Gannett is often the difference between the unemployment payment and what you used to get paid -- for every year I worked, plus slightly discounted COBRA for two months. I was escorted from the building like a criminal. People who'd worked fewer years were worse off, naturally. Thank heavens I found a job in 10 weeks. But that was because, after I'd quickly sold my house, I could move anywhere I needed to move.
      It seems Gannett is still a good place to work if you're younger and not getting paid too much.
      The best of luck to you!

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    4. 12:13, you made me laugh out loud with your reply.

      Thanks for the chuckle, man.

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    5. DO NOT WORK IN LAFAYETTE, LA UNDER THE POOR LEADERSHIP OF QUEEN JUDI. We are going down fast and she does not have a genuine concern for the employees. For her it is all about the dollar for Gannett by any means necessary. Very very sad place to work with no avenue for discussion.

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    6. Union busting will be #1 job. Good luck and build up defense fund, you'll need it

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    7. You will quickly notice that this site has the same appeal as Jerry Springer or a trashy cable reality show, and for similar reasons.

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  6. 1:58 p.m. ... you're welcome. In all seriousness, the people I worked with were excellent.

    And having gotten the money out of Gannett's 401K/Pension fund, I'm now completely free and clear of that company.

    My only concern regarding that company now is my friends who still work there because I don't think the future for them at that company is very bright.

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  7. Interesting earnings info on Yahoo. Struggling with display ad results.

    Wonder if this is a hint of things to come when Mother Gannett has its meeting with Wall Street in a few days.

    http://www.marketwatch.com/story/yahoo-profit-leaps-but-revenue-slips-2014-01-28?dist=afterbell

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  8. New format in BREVARD sucks!!!! no style!

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    1. You may not like what you see, but it is here to stay.
      I like the idea of adding "real" USAT pages to the local rag, and think it is better than the thinly disguised national news, that was inserted in the national and biz section.
      I still haven't gotten used to having local news in the first section (yes, I am a creature of habit), but I suspect over time I'll accept it. The fact that we now have more actual news in the paper makes my morning routine a little tight, which is a good thing. From the get go I was in favor of adding USAT to the local paper, and I hope we can get rid of the double story entry, where there would be a brief, either in the local or the national section, and a full story in the other (some times I have seen the same brief in both local and national section).
      I believe this is a good thing, both for Florida Today (and other local papers) and for USAT.

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    2. It's not bad for what it is. People didn't want USA in their local when they started slipping it in a couple of years ago now. Maybe their minds will change now but I doubt it. USA is more liberal and that ain't good around here.

      At least however they are trying something. The first Sunday actually looked like the Sunday of old for being in season here. maybe even sold a few more but then again there was 4 coupon sections, Smart Source, Red Plum, P & G. Not a good comparison point.

      Might want to rethink the USA page inside the paper. Looks too much like the first page of the real USA and a couple of stores already trying to return THEM as USA's make the S/C carriers keep on their toes or get too many returns! Keep the layout but black and white it so it doesn't look like the real USA.

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  9. The motto of the Empire State is "Excelsior," while that of the Old Dominion is "Sic semper tyrannis". Point to ponder in relation to strategic directions over time.

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  10. former Gannett employee here. Took buy out so not complaining-saw the writing on the way after 30+ years.
    I hate the new USAT in my local NJ paper. And Page two is so confusing that I have stopped looking at it at all. "Yo" really? Really? I throw the USAT piece away-if I wanted to read it I would subscribe.

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    1. "Yo" has to be one of the dumbest things I've seen them come up with in years. Probably HT's idea. With JF jumping up and down going, "Great!!" I miss the old regime ... at least when GS was here he seemed to keep HT in check from saying/doing/emailing stupid things.

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  11. Big public records win for Sioux Falls Argus-leader

    http://www.argusleader.com/article/20140129/NEWS/301290023/Court-rules-Argus-Leader-over-USDA-access-food-stamp-data

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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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