Reader: Video cuts into traditional reporting

A USA Today employee, responding to a question I posed here, says the company's stance on videos is that reporters will produce them on top of their regular duties.

"We are expected to do it all,'' the staffer told Gannett Blog in an e-mail. "In practice, it will mean fewer stories are produced as reporters will have to take more time reporting and filing each story that they take on. Twice as much time or more, probably. This may not be seen as a major problem by the suits as more and more stories from Gannett's other newspapers are being used to fill space and plug coverage holes in the print editions of USAT. "

The e-mail continues: "Now maybe the suits are right and video is the future of newspapering. I'm not saying it isn't. But, they must recognize they are combining greater work demands on a shrinking workforce."

E-mail link suggestions, tips, snarky letters, etc.; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the sidebar, upper right. Or leave a note in the comments section, below.

Document sheds light on payments to top execs

There are two fascinating nuggets about big payments to senior Gannett executives buried in the fine print of GCI's 73-page proxy report to shareholders this year; I discovered them while answering a reader's question about 2006 bonuses:

• Doug McCorkindale's fellow board members gave the retiring chairman and former CEO a big kiss on his way out the door: a $1.3 million bonus "in respect of his service as chairman prior to his retirement in June 2006.'' That service apparently included leaving the company in now-miserable shape when he turned over the job to Craig Dubow. Go figure.
• Tom Chapple, who retired as GCI's top lawyer on April 30, 2006, got a final payment of $1.1 million -- $400,000 of which was for agreeing not to work for competitors until May 1 of this year. Nothing like big bucks to inspire (temporary) loyalty to a company in desperate need of allies, eh?

So, how did the board decide on bonuses to McCorkindale (left) and others? The report says directors gave 2006 bonuses because GCI "had a record year in terms of revenue, continues to be the most profitable company in its peer group and again achieved the best margins in that group."

The board's rationale continues: "With respect to Mr. Dubow, in addition to the factors described above, the committee noted that Mr. Dubow moved quickly to develop and implement a new strategic plan to transform the company to compete successfully in the digital age, including important acquisitions, and that he led the successful negotiations relating to the CareerBuilder restructuring. The committee also took into consideration Mr. Dubow's standing in the media community and his ability to foster an environment in which the company's senior management team was able to support and implement the new strategic plan he articulated."

Translation: yada, yada, yada.

Since that strategic plan doesn't seem to be achieving a whole lot of traction, it'll be interesting to see how the current board justifies any bonuses for this year.

So you know, proxy reports are public documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that detail the agenda for the annual shareholders meeting, plus other information. (By the way, here's how complex executive compensation has become: Gannett devotes nearly 41 pages to the subject out of the total 73 pages.)

E-mail link suggestions, tips, snarky letters, etc.; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the sidebar, upper right. Or leave a note in the comments section, below.

[Photo: Columbia Law School]

Gannett Blog is now on YouTube

I've set up a page here, and hope to upload videos of my own at some point.

What will Dubow's bonus be this year?

That's the question a reader just asked after reading my post about why Gannett might be forced to break up. We won't know whether CEO Craig Dubow (left) gets a 2007 bonus until Gannett publishes the next proxy report to shareholders, sometime around March.

Last year, Dubow got a $1.8 million bonus on top of his $1.2 million in base salary. Stock options and other perks boosted his pay even higher, to an estimated $5.8 million, according to this chart. But 2006 was a relatively good year: Gannett's stock price fell less than 3%. So far in 2007, GCI is down 35%, as revenue and income tumbled.

Other top executives, their bonuses and base salaries* in 2006:

• Gracia Martore, chief financial officer: $600,000 bonus (base salary: $656,250)
• Susan Clark-Johnson, president of the newspaper division: $500,000 bonus (salary: $695,000)
• Roger Ogden, (now-retired) president of Gannett broadcasting: $360,000 bonus (salary: $551,667)
• Craig Moon, USA Today publisher: $370,000 bonus (salary: $561,000)
• Doug McCorkindale, retired Gannett chairman: $1.3 million bonus (salary: $876,923)
• Thomas Chapple, retired general counsel: $0 bonus (salary: $168,253)

In a word: WTF?

* Excludes stock awards and other perks I'm not smart enough to value. Source: Securities and Exchange Commission Form Def 14A.

[Photo: Gannett]

Commentz Korner: Nashville publishes bull shat

I hate unmoderated comments on Gannett websites. Introduced in the past year, they're supposed to encourage more reader interaction -- and more page views as a way to boost revenue. Plus, user-generated content is cheap: All GCI pays for is data storage and the software to collect the comments.

But allowing readers to post their own comments, without an editor approving them first, results in Gannett showing the world that many of its readers can't spell, or too often resort to racial slurs or hidden profanity. (And GCI isn't the only one suffering the consequences.) Too often, it's little more than readers scrawling graffiti. Here's a fresh example: "The Unions haven't knifed America in the back, the United States Government did with a bunch of Bull Shat called N.A.F.T.A.,'' a Tennessean reader wrote today on the Nashville paper's website. "WHY is China getting away with all the crap they keep sending over here?"

Got a profane, racist or other crazy comment that made it past your site's filters? I'm collecting examples for my new Commentz Korner feature in hopes of shaming editors into action. Send-links to Gannett Blog -- or leave a note in the comments section, below. (But be forewarned: I personally read and approve all comments on this blog before they get published!)

Reader: Gannett installing new video platform

I've written here, here and here that newspapers need video players with embeddable code, encouraging videos to spread "virally'' so they bring more readers back to the paper. That's the secret behind the success of video-sharing site YouTube, owned by Google. (Check out Gannett Blog's new YouTube channel here!)

Now, a Gannett Blog tipster writes: "Gannett will be rolling out a new video player after the first of the year which will allow embed codes, as well as better opportunities to marry stories, photo galleries and video together online. They're also REALLY pushing video, at the expense of other news coverage."

Can anyone confirm? What news coverage is getting dropped in favor of video? E-mail details, please -- or leave a note in the comments section, below.

YouTube's easily shared embed code made it possible for this hilarious Evolution of Dance video to spread worldwide, turning it into the most-watched video on the site, with nearly 65 million views:

Why Gannett may be forced to break itself up

Gannett and other big media conglomerates prospered when newspapers dominated the information industry, Jack Shafer says in a new Press Box column on Slate. But with new rivals like Facebook rocketing by, media giants are racing to bust themselves into smaller, more nimble pieces to boost their stock prices.

Big shareholders like Brandes Investment Partners may force Gannett CEO Craig Dubow to do the same, despite his insistence here and here that GCI stay independent. Shafer notes that Brandes nearly doubled its stake to 11.3% this year even as the value of its GCI shares tumbled.

"If the stock continues its slide," Shafer says, "might Brandes decide that the parts are worth more than the whole and order the sell-off of Gannett's newspapers and TV stations? Such a move would be celebrated in cities like Louisville, Des Moines, and Nashville, where Gannett bought and wrecked some pretty good newspapers."

Worth repeating: Brandes isn't known as an activist investor, this reader said.

The pressure on Dubow is all the greater when even shares of the New York Times Co. outperform GCI. The NYT is known more for the quality of its news coverage than its shareholder returns. But at Friday's closing prices, Gannett shares are now down 45% since July 2005 -- when Dubow became CEO -- vs. a smaller 40% decline in NYT shares.

As always, I welcome e-mail; see my Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the sidebar, upper right. Or leave a note in the comments section, below.

Hot Off the Press: The Cincinnati Enquirer

This is today's Cincinnati Enquirer. The Ohio newspaper produced 14 videos for its election night coverage, the first time video was built into an election coverage plan, Executive Editor Hollis Towns said in the just-published issue of News Watch.

I liked the videos I watched this morning. Lighting and audio are professional. Camera work is steady, not hurky-jerky like so many newspaper-produced videos. The print reporters drafted into this new medium act like they knew what they were doing. Plus, the Enquirer smartly included the embeddable software code with the videos so readers like me can publish them on blogs and other websites, extending the paper's reach. That's something I found lacking in the Des Moines Register's political video site. Here, for example, is one of the Enquirer videos:

Cincinnati employees: Tell us about your paper's experience with online video. What did the Enquirer give up to free resources to go into video production? Please E-mail Gannett Blog -- or leave a note in the comments section, below.

The Enquirer at a glance:

• Publisher: Margaret Buchanan
• Editor/Vice President: Tom Callinan
• Founded: 1840
• Joined Gannett: 1979
• Employees: 1,143
• Circulation: 192,375 morning; 302,038 Sunday

[Image: Newseum]