Saturday, December 27, 2008
Saturday | Dec. 27 | Your News & Comments
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27 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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Hi, there!
ReplyDeleteThere were rumors of more layoffs in first quarter 2009 even before the December massacre. Any hints that this will come to pass?
ReplyDeleteInteresting article :
ReplyDeleteA Glimpse at the Future of Journalism
http://www.good.is/?p=14300>1=34127
Jim, good morning!
ReplyDeleteWas reading the news and saw that in Honolulu or the island of Oahu lost power during heavy rain and lightening. Anyway all the news articles state: "The Newspaper" said it was unable to put out its PRINTED EDITIONS because of the outage. Strange how none of the articles mentions the names of the newspapers. Can we all guess? Enjoy your day!
Happy Holidays, for one ex-gannettoid to another! Take it from someone who has been gone over a year, you will appreciate the fact you no longer work there. You will have your life back! No more coming home from work and bitching about your job to anyone that will listen for 3 hours. Quality of life IS important (something Gannett doesn't understand) but human beings do!
ReplyDeleteOther things Gannett doesn't understand:
1. Being part of a community is not just throwing money at a cause and making "appearances".
2. Ad revenue drives amount of copy...no ad reps making personal contact equals no ads.
3. Firing ad reps and not replacing them means ad reps don't have time to contact potential advertisers or make new contacts.
4. Closing all "community" locations pushes you farther away from that community.
Seems like common sense, doesn't it? Maybe Gannett should hire a team to study the small independent, community newspapers that are thriving.
The other day, a poster asked "What exactly is metromix?" - Short answer - another vertical similar to those as Apartments.Com, CareerBuilder.com and Cars.Com - with the obvious slant towards capturing entertainment dollars (bars, nightclubs, restaurants, events, etc.) wrapped around a content light (more pictures than text) website. Homegrown from the Tribune, and now similarly split between other newspaper companies who also hold responsibility to populate and market the site via their other vehicles (newspapers, websites, non-daily pubs and such). Tribune company recently announced all promotional dollars for 2009 Metromix sites was being eliminated, and local sites would need to support as best they could with whatever means necessary. While it will hurt sites in markets without a newspaper affiliate more, the remaining sites should be able to provide content and marketing materials to keep the sites fresh and viable. To date, there has been no sharing of revenue (or potential) revenue streams from national advertisers who want access to this audience. If this doesn't answer your question about metromix, others should feel free to chime in.
ReplyDeleteYou know, Jim, sometime you move too fast for your own good. You throw so many posts up so quickly that you often "overwrite" meaty posts with ones of lesser importance. (Just a thought, not a sermon.)
ReplyDeleteFor instance, even though it seems like 20 posts ago already, I keep going back to something you highlighted a few days back. It was the post about where the other Gannett management folks directed their "perk" money to go in 2007. (Someday, maybe we'll be talking about this as perp money. Who knows.)
You said that Craig Moon directed the foundation to give to a Christian group called Young Life. And you also mentioned that Larry Miller, Gannett's retired CFO, steered $5,000 of Gannett Foundation money towards something called Camp of the Woods, an evangelical retreat in upstate New York. They seem like odd choices for a journalism foundation whose own rules specifically prohibit gifts to "programs or initiatives where the primary purpose is the promotion of religious doctrine or tenets." But heck, so few of these grants seem to be kosher, what's one more, right?
Because I'm bored, I decided to look up the Camp of the Woods. I clicked on upcoming speakers and picked the very first guy on the list, an evangelical named Hank Hanegraaff. On his web site, under archives, he has a bunch of writings. The first one is a response to Lisa Miller's recent Newsweek cover story, the one which deals with the Bible and homosexuality. In his summation, Hanegraaff writes the following:
"For Miller to obscure the topic of homosexuality and the Bible and teach people that this is okay is kind of like having a cancer specialist who doesn’t treat his patients but tells them, “Its okay, you’ll be fine.” This is what is really homophobic."
Wow. So, basically, the Gannett Foundation is not only steering money towards execs for pet projects at universities that aren't even in Gannett domains (Western Carolina, U. of Texas), but also to extremist religious organizations which feature speakers who, among others, link homosexuality to cancer. Amazing.
These exceptions are becoming so much the rule that I'm starting to wonder whether the Gannett Foundation has actually made contributions that are within its own guidelines. You know, like to a kids' newspaper or something. For the record, here is that mission statement, as cut and pasted from its own web site:
"The Gannett Foundation’s mission: to invest in the future of the communities in which Gannett does business, and in the future of our industry."
Like you, I would love to know why Craig Dubow is giving money to fund scholarships in towns where Gannett has no business (but feature golf galore). But I'd also like you to ask the folks at the GF how these grants to evangelical organizations fit within that same mission statement.
Best,
Wilford
Unsubstantiated but interesting news about the Indy Star from Ruth Holladay's blog:
ReplyDeleteMore changes at the Star
This news about the features section has come now from three different sources, so it's already circulating out there with former staffers. Here is what the latest source says:
"Not announced yet, but look ford a reduction in the number of sections, all in the interest in saving newsprint. Features (or what is left of features) will front the classified ads.
"Metro/State will front Business. TV listings will move to the A Section ('so to make last minute changes' of course). From (publisher) Michael (Kane's) note: If you have any questions, see Dennis (Ryerson).
Also in jeopardy: the Saturday op-ed pages will disappear in January, say some. And some staffers are being asked to punch a clock and their time in the restrooms is being monitored.
Un-Happy New Year...a little early.
www.ruthholladay.com
Wilford (at 11:37 am): Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou are perhaps correct about volume of posts. Having said that, however, you certainly grasp the import of all this; I hope other readers do, too.
A former colleague, one with first-hand knowledge, at a large Gannett paper in the Midwest confirms another round of layoffs is coming. My guess is they have to go back to look at the damage done in the first couple of rounds and determine how they can operate before the hammer falls again. I can't believe paying readers are going to take much more. What happens when they do en masse stop buying? Can Gannett make it on web ads?
ReplyDelete9:48: The AP articles I've read clearly identify the paper as the Honolulu Advertiser. It got several mentions by name in paragraphs prior to that line, and there was no other newspaper mentioned. Doesn't seem like anyone's trying to hide anything.
ReplyDeleteI hear out here at the Arizona Republic they have decided to double what they charge for home delivery! Wow what a woderful idea to have a circulation decline! They just got done downsizing the width of the paper and its content! Now lets charge double for less! Where do they come up with these idiotic ideas?
ReplyDeleteOut here at the Arizona Republic the powers that are in charge decided to charge double what it cost for home delivery! Can you hear that loud sucking sound of subscription cancellings? They recently downsized the size and content and now will charge double for less! I hear a panic button and the ship is sinking!
ReplyDeleteWell, considering the Advertiser is offering online PDF versions of parts of the newspaper and that it's saying on its Web site that the paper was not printed, I'm guessing that it's the Advertiser, too.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/graphics/newspaper_PDF/A1.pdf
Re: Metromix. Strip off the jargon and what you have left is an entertainment calendar/directory. Bells and whistles notwithstanding, that's all it is.
ReplyDeleteWilford and Jim, I've wondered -- but have no data to substantiate -- whether the layoffs at my paper targeted people who challenged the right-wing agenda the managing editor covertly orchestrated. The ME, alone, chose the cuts in the newsroom, and all the people I know laid off were people who openly refused to swallow the Kool-Aid.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I also don't know all the people laid off and, even if my pondering has merit, it wouldn't be 100% because in a couple of cases essentially whole departments were terminated.
But I do wonder if political opinions weren't a reason for some of the layoffs. In this "at will" employment state, that's legal, but it would be unethical and would discredit a news organization to reveal it has a political litmus test for employing news gatekeepers.
Just heard that Brevard is scheduling all press runs to be on the evening and night shifts to save on the electric bill.
ReplyDelete9:48 Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteThe AP articles I've read clearly identify the paper as the Honolulu Advertiser. It got several mentions by name in paragraphs prior to that line, and there was no other newspaper mentioned. Doesn't seem like anyone's trying to hide anything.
...ahhh.. but when they do this big transformation into an Information company (not).... will they try to hide anything. I guess we'll all just have to wait and see. I'm sure Jim will be right on the case :)
2:58 P.M. Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteWell, considering the Advertiser is offering online PDF versions of parts of the newspaper and that it's saying on its Web site that the paper was not printed, I'm guessing that it's the Advertiser, too.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/graphics/newspaper_PDF/A1.pdf
...can you imagine all the CREDITS that will have to be written, or Ads that will have to be Flat-Rated?
A newsroom is a newsroom, regardless of what media it produces.
ReplyDeleteThe reality that Gannett and other news media have to face is ...
Who is creating the product if you keep cutting back the newsroom staff?
Perhaps for the sake of of a year-end recap, you can make a list of all the Gannett Foundation money steered towards executives for non-mission statement pet projects for the last five years. I'd bet that the evangelical groups and out-of-geographic range university donations are just the tip of the iceberg.
ReplyDeleteMight make an interesting spreadsheet.
Happy New Year.
A post about Indy reads "some staffers are being asked to punch a clock"
ReplyDeleteHow would that go over in Westchester for some of the full-time employees who work 22 hours a week?
I am curious. How did the "bad karma" purge on September 9, play out? I am sure that there were good people involved but the one I worked for was rotten to the core--the typical Gannett exec that lead by fear and intimidation.
ReplyDeleteAsking the question on two fronts:
1. Do things work more efficiently now?
2. Has the "fear and intimidation" thing worked in finding another job for those affected?
I am no longer with Gannett, thankfully. The economic times are far different from when I left, BUT... please know that even if you are recently out of work, YOU are better off. Somehow or another things WILL turn around. It is (somehow) better to have a job than not to have one. But those left in the cesspool have no clue how bad the cesspool smells. YOU are better off, one way or another!
To 4:27:
ReplyDeleteIn your particular case, who knows? But I am truly shocked by these Gannett Foundation grants to evangelical organizations. In some ways, more shocked than the original Dubow grants that got this whole ball of wax rolling. One almost expects the kind of corporate graft you see in the university scholarships. But why on earth would the Gannett Foundation be steering money to religious groups, something absurdly out of whack with its stated mission statement?
As I said earlier, Jim: It's worth looking backwards a few years to see who or what else will fall out of the tree. I'll help and I'm sure there are scores of others here who will go through the list.
Wil
INDY has a great idea. I'd love to punch a F*CKING TIME CLOCK.....only problem is it would come up with way over 37.5 HOURS PER WEEK.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a problem....wouldn't Roxanne, Wendall, Gracia & Craig???
Respectfully,
Blue Collar Schmuck
(whose less and less inclined to donate UNPAID TIME)
Wilford: How far back on the Gannett Foundation are you talking about going? I've already looked at its IRS reports from 2004-2008.
ReplyDeleteJim and Wilford: Maybe it's not so much how far back but how deeply to look. The 990s show only an organization's name. It doesn't show how the money was used, right?
ReplyDeletePerhaps some of those line items need further inspection, as Wil did with the two, at least, that went to religious organizations.
I agree with the questions Wil raises about those evangelical donations. I believe it goes beyond ethics in violating the mission statement; I believe it's clearly a personal charitable donation that by law should have been made via salary and personal tax exemption, not via a 501c tax-exempt foundation funded by a public company.
I briefly looked at one of the 990s at Guidestar (my neck got sore looking sideways and I didn't want to print out scores of pages). I think I saw the Foundation donated to Boy Scouts, but I didn't see Girl Scouts. Even the United Way doesn't donate to BSA since it resolved to discriminate based on sexual preference (and the BSA doesn't need the money since it kissed butt to the wealthy Mormon church's wish for that discrimination). Then there would be the sexism, if donations were made to BSA and not GSA.
I agree with Wil that there's far more ore in this mine.