Friday, March 27, 2009
Friday | March 27 | Your News & Comments
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49 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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It is time for Dubow to go -- he continues with lackluster, no ideas leadership, yet his compensation doesn't reflect his poor work. Time in grade is not enough.
ReplyDeleteToday, at my site, we were told that NO ONE can take their furlough the week of June 22-28. Did any other sites get that same message?
ReplyDeleteOther than being the last week in P6 and Q2, we're hard-pressed to understand the significance.
Any one have some insight?
Thank you.
From 3:55 yesterday: "Would anyone like to comment on hitting the lowest paid people in the organization. The independent contractors or carriers as we know them. It does seem that the bean counters are not counting the revenue they loose from single copy."
ReplyDeleteHit us how? We're already getting "hit" by higher prices. lack of content, and at our paper, incompetence. They've taken avg. routes in both HD and SC and made monster routes and get us out later so papers aren't out before 6-7 am in some cases. Then they wonder why sales are down. Here we're already the lowest group of carriers in the country. We get "hit" anymore and we might as well go online only. People want our paper here but they don't care.
Rebellion against union in Appleton. Union steward is trying to negotiate better severance because he wants to retire this year. He lied to us about the company's first offer, and the company hardened on second offer. Then he refused to show offers to us. Now we have enough to take him out - we met earlier tonight to figure strategy. Pay and benefits at Green Bay are better than ours, but he's been lying to us about that for years. We are not going to lose our jobs for him and the handful of others he represents (not the newsroom as a group) so he gets a good retirment. I can't believe we put up with this for so long.
ReplyDeletehere's what our great union is doing for us in appleton: http://cwa4621.com/index2.htm
ReplyDeleteoh right, nothing because they only worry about at&t
probably explains why we have to take a vacation or personal day before we can get a sick day every single time were sick
1:06 and 1:43, I have baseball bats and golf clubs to spare... Need some help. I'd gladly spend some furlough time bashing skulls. There's nothing worse than a union head that acts against the needs and best interests of its members.
ReplyDeleteYou know... I wasn't a "leftist" until a few years after I started working for Gannett. I guess by this point you could almost call me a Marxist, and with a decent bit of anger mixed in on occassion I suppose I swing towards full-blown post-Marxist-May of '68-Parisian Protestor, ready to storm the castles of the pettite bourgeoisie with torch and pitchfork in hand, demanding control of the presses in the name of the proletariat and what has been borne on their backs.
Corporate journalism is failing the masses. Corporate journalism is why we are in the state we are in. A more watchdog-oriented media would have seen the latest crash coming, instead of cheering on the bull(shyte) markets. And for what? Nothing but a bunch of snivelling pukes wanting to keep their jobs safe by not reporting on many issues that, if brought to broader light earlier, could have saved a lot of pain for billions of people. But nooooooooo, we sat by and failed the people we were supposed to serve, while serving well the masters that hold our chains. And now it has come back to bite us in the behinds. And a lot of rats are scurrying to grab up any crumbs dropped by corporate heads.
Thomas Jefferson once said that the tree of liberty needs to be fed from time to time the blood of patriots and tyrants. Well... sometimes the newsprint of the day needs to be inked with the blood of corporatists and proper journalists both.
If the T-C is shuttered, I'll personally hijack a rig of paper and another of ink and drive it across this great land to bring back to the people of Arizona a truly free press that will inform, engage, and incite (when needed).
Or, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing, and not bother with attempting to change anything so long as I can afford my mortgage, the payments on my new Prius, and my childrens' tuition to private schools.
12:23
ReplyDeletedoes it have something to do with how July 4th falls into the schedule?
One thing I've taken notice of since being laid off by the Gannett paper I worked for is that virtually all the racks on any give day past 12:00 noon are EMPTY and they remain that way for the remainder of the day.
ReplyDeleteI mean, shouldn't they at least make some attempt at refilling the racks? That is to say, if they really want to provide the public with a readable news source, not to mention increase circulation?
Anyone else noticed this?
12:23 - Gee, maybe they're planning to make some sort of company-wide and/or site-specific announcement that week, and they want to be sure everyone is in the office (unlike this time).
ReplyDeleteway to go unions!
ReplyDeleteNew York Times axes 100 jobs and imposes 5% pay cut ,
ReplyDeleteBrand Republic 27-Mar-09, 08:50
NEW YORK - The New York Times Company is cutting 100 jobs from its business operation and cutting salaries 5% for the rest of staff, while an unspecified number of voluntary redundancies are planned at the Washington Post.
Anonymous 1:06 am, yours isn't the only union that is looking out for themselves. My union was to take a paper vote to determine if they would except the first furlough. No such vote ever took place. It wasn't until after the "vote" was conducted that I even found out of the "vote". The 3rd shift stewart was told by the Pres. of the union to ask around about the idea about taking the fourlough. All in all, the "vote" was said to be against the furlough. Something like 16for-21 against. However, there were only 32 people on the 3 shifts they asked, yet the "vote" has 37 people voting. When I asked the 3rd shift stewart about the "vote", his only answer was, "it's too late to take another vote." Thanks to my brothers in the union, I, along with 4 others, have been out of work for the past 2 months and it doesn't look like I'll be going back to work for them again.
ReplyDeleteSo good luck to you and all the other members.
It's time the advertising industry did something important.
ReplyDeleteFor our own self-interest -- and for the common good -- we need to start paying attention to newspapers again.
To begin with, it would be good for our business. For our own selfish reasons, we need a medium that targets the well-informed. We need a medium that lets us tell our whole story -- and not just the 30-second version. With each passing month, we need more media that target people where they live. We need more media that let marketers build a brand and ask for the business. We need more media that let writers, art directors, photographers and illustrators practice their crafts.
We need a medium with the immediacy and importance of newspapers. Lee Clow says, "Newspaper is a special medium. It's urgent, not yesterday or tomorrow but today. Sitting with a newspaper and a cup of coffee in the morning will always be one of the most intimate media experiences there is."
Online or in print, we need newspapers. There are no substitutes. Magazines, TV channels and websites don't do the same things. Not even close.
Our industry needs newspapers -- but just as important, so does humankind. The world needs the kind of journalism practiced by newspapers when they're at their best. The local investigative pieces. The foreign correspondence. The war reporting. Without them, news goes unreported. Viewpoints are narrowed. Governments can run amok.
That kind of reporting is expensive, and right now no one knows how it will get paid for in the coming years. With newspapers cutting costs every day, who will pay to man a substantial bureau in Baghdad? Who will spend the money to report the atrocities in Africa? Who will find the resources to blow the whistle on the next Watergate?
Even at their best, magazines, TV channels and websites don't come close to giving us that kind of reporting.
Of course, humankind's problem isn't necessarily the advertising industry's problem. If online and print newspapers weren't proven effective, no one would say our industry needs to address this important problem.
But decades worth of evidence -- including evidence gathered in 2009 -- points to the uncommon efficacy of newspaper advertising. You know how excited our industry gets about the Super Bowl? Well, every single day of the year, more American adults read a printed newspaper than watch the big game once a year. And in 22 of the top 25 markets, the local-newspaper site is the No. 1 local site in town. And the newspaper-website audience has grown 80% in the past five years.
So why aren't we creating more newspaper advertising? Part of the answer is undoubtedly fashion. Twenty-five years ago, an advertising campaign usually meant "TV and some print. Maybe radio." That was the fashion then. Say "campaign" to ad people today, and their minds leap to "TV and digital." We say we're media-agnostic, but our behavior often says something else entirely. How many agencies aren't selling newspaper advertising to their clients as hard as they should? How many advertisers are overlooking the medium that still has unsurpassed credibility with its audience? It's time for a wake-up call.
No less an authority than Jeff Goodby reminds us that far from being out-of-fashion, a good newspaper ad is actual art. "The art is the part that gets people to look. Show outrageous things that don't belong there. Shock people with a new logic," he says. "If we all do this, it will become very difficult to find which newspaper page we want to wrap the fish in.
"I will like that day."
Let me be clear here. I don't think the newspaper industry is going to die anytime soon. With some well-publicized exceptions, most papers are surviving the economy's near collapse. They might be holding on by their fingernails, but at least they're holding on.
But if the newspaper business is going to give us the content our industry feeds on -- and if it's going to give us the journalism the world needs -- newspapers need to be robust.
If we don't give them a fair shot at our budgets, they might never be healthy enough to do the job we want them to do.
And we'll have no one to blame but ourselves.
9:55 for copyright reasons, you should have noted that story came from the 3/25 edition of AdAge.
ReplyDelete10:32 thanks for the link. Very interesting.
ReplyDelete9:55 That's boosterism, but not reflecting reality. The Newspaper Association of America just posted results showing a nationwide decline in ads of almost 17 percent in 2008. Some newspaper analysts like Alan Mutter are predicting a further 17 percent decline this year. The decline of ads is continuing, which I am sure corporate will see when period 3 results come in next week. That is why I am expecting huge layoffs coming in April.
ReplyDelete8:26
ReplyDeleteI noticed the same thing from my paper. The vending boxes were empty often, then, a few weeks later, the boxes were removed. I think the company is droppind the draws in these boxes, then saying they aren't "selling enough papers". It gives them an excuse to eliminate a stop on a route, and cut jobs.
I feel it's one more way they are destroying the print product.
Any Circ people want to add to this?
The three guys that killed newspapers:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=160817
Our favorite octogenarian is the Enemy #3!
12:23 a.m., what's your location? We got the same directive -- no furlough on the week of June 22.
ReplyDelete8:26 & 10:51 At my paper the Circ mgr. (?) has insisted draws be set at what they sold last week. How's that going to raise sales? Overall he wants a 10 percent return rate. Ludicrous. I'm an SC carrier and I cut my draws down as far as I can WITHOUT LOSING SALES. I'm running 13-16 percent right now and don't care what he says. He's never run a route in anger. He has also embarked on a "pull racks off streets" mission. Of course he deflects any questions as coming from "corporate". I hope that ain't the case but it would give him an excuse. I make my living selling as many papers as I can. I thought that's what I was supposed to do but he's intent on killing single copy and Gannett apparently sings off on it.
ReplyDeleteOh yea. Refilling the boxes is not cost effective to us carriers, especially with gas the way it is. A lot of us now have to take second jobs where single copy carriers never had to before.
Believe me, it's not how we want it....but who listens to carriers anyway. WE'RE ALWAYS THE REASON FOR LAGGING SALES!
12:23am and 11:23am
ReplyDeleteLooks like they will be closing some doors that week.
12:23, I would bet money that's when layoffs will take place; before the end of the quarter.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought, we'll find out.
OK, I officially give up on any hope that Kate Marymont is going to be a journalistic beacon for us.
ReplyDeleteRead NewsWatch today. Her answer to our journalistic challenges? MORE CONTESTS!!
I'm not kidding. I am crying...
We have not gotten the now furlough the week of June 22. But at our location that week is the end of our pay period. Perhaps at your location June 22 is actually a pay period in the third quarter.
ReplyDelete11:21 a.m. ...
ReplyDeleteMy location: JacksonMS Clarion-Ledger.
Signed,
12:23 a.m.
What's your location?
Hey the top 5 executives , including the "ceo- dumbow" made total of 30 million dollars the past three years. And they want furloughs from us? You would think if they really cared about us and the company, by first name basis, they would withdrawal all bonuses!It is just coporational greed running this company!
ReplyDeleteI will be voting "No" through my UNION>>>>>>>> NO FURLOUGHS!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAll circ directives are coming from corporate. These local cir sales mgr's are miserable bastards because half the time they are so busy filling in for empty routes they have no time or care left in them but to follow the corporate orders. I know some are now covering multiple papers as the result of silent layoffs in Feb. It's this way in every dept, it's getting the point where everyone is asking themselves what the hell is the point?
ReplyDeleteRegarding the new contests: I didn't see money mentioned anywhere.
ReplyDeleteMake sure you read the Tucson Citizen update on the front page of the blog. Corporate folks coming in to "monitor" what is written in the last few days of the paper. And supposed spiked an unflattering column! This should get moved up on the home page because it's the sign of things to come in other properties!
ReplyDeleteLook, the smart ones have dealt with stuff as long as they could. Some can handle a bit more.
ReplyDeleteThey've tried to buffer and deal. Pubs, circ directors, productions folks and more took it on the chin as corporate directed initiatives with little room for debate.
Some will stay because they have carved enough local autonomy and some will go.
These mid-managers were successful despite mandates that did harm.
They do/done it as long as you can because you have a family or whatnot (and few options to do your passion under different circumstances).
Some years ARE better than others. You do get to do some very exciting sales, marketing, journalism despite it all. The ideas those days are numbered seem more real. Hope we can get some room to run soon.
If you got out, you carry a legacy of taking your licks and position as being part of the decline. The smart folks inside measuring what is next for them.
Experiment: Take a few papers and cut them off from all corporate directives and initiatives. Leave IT, online and other pieces in place. Take their support calls -- and just wait for the checks.
Priorities set in individual markets are best. Gannett corp doesn't need to justify existence by judging each property by its response to directives, ideas.
All:
ReplyDeleteIn regard to an earlier post as to no furloughs being allowed the week of June 22-28 at the JacksonMS Clarion-Ledger ...
I think I have it figured out.
I believe it is because that is the first week of a two-week pay period that crosses quarters, i.e. the first week is in Q2 and the second (pay) week is in Q3.
Thus, it would be difficult for Finance to accrue or calculate - and report - the furlough days during that specific pay period.
Makes sense, as the final pay period in Q1 ended exactly with the Gannett quarter.
Thanks for everyone's input.
Happy trails ...
To 12:45am, 8:26am, ans 11:25am:
ReplyDeleteThis is the new Gannet strategy on SC. "We don't care about sales, we only care about hitting returns goals of 10-12%". That's why you see empty racks everywhere early in the day. When you draw 50 papers to service 30 locations???
Another example... If you have a location that sells 4 and returns 1... you have a 20% return. If you have enough of those accounts they will cut you to the bone on papers. AND then let a store thats 4 or 5 miles off route want to sell our papers...they think we should jump at the opportunity to drive 300 miles/month to earn maybe $25/month.
Yes sir...they have no one but themsleves to blame for sales being down. It's all about hitting the returns percentage.
Also, they have found another attitude enchancing program for the independent contractor. An 11% cut in their profit. Yep... Gonna go up on our wholesale rates but not the retail rates. So now...we're losing sales on SC and subscribers on HD... and now getting our profit cut 11%. This equals working 12 months and getting paid for 10.5 months. AMAZING!!!!!
Regarding 12:23 AM's question about no furloughs the week of June 22-28, I see a couple of possible reasons (but they are just guesses on my part):
ReplyDelete1) It's the last week of the quarter. If another one-week furlough is mandated for Q3, management doesn't want people off for back-to-back weeks.
2) The following week leads up to July 4. Even though Independence Day falls on a Saturday this year, there are many who schedule their vacations around that holiday and management doesn't want too many people out of the office.
Like I said. Just guessing on my part.
7:29 i like this saying and it applies to this company.
ReplyDeleteA society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.
That is gannett
Has anyone in Virginia, who was laid off, having trouble getting unemployment benefits? Everything was going smoothly with the application process and weekly filing, but not a dime has actually shown up yet from the VEC since I began filing two weeks ago. Of course, I am immediately suspicious that something went wrong with GCI, as the entire process after getting laid off has been a nightmare, but it also could be a state screwup in this case. Are unemployment benefits held up for two weeks or longer for some reason?
ReplyDeleteDubow should be man enough to work 2009 for $1 if he REALLY cared about the best interest of the employees and stockholders.
ReplyDeleteIt is time for Craig Dubow to do the right thing and resign.
ReplyDeleteThis is not said with anger, nor because I'm on furlough.
It is simply the case that he has lost all trust from the corporate suites to the rank-and-file, from Madison Avenue to Wall Street and from the hardest working circulation manager to every stressed-out editor in the company.
It is not that the stock has collapsed. Every newspaper's has. It is not that there is panic. That is happening in companies large and small.
No, he needs to step down because he offers no vision, no rallying cry, no goal, no purpose. What is Gannett all about? What is our mission? Does he know? If he does, he is keeping it to himself.
There are similar layoffs, furloughs, freezes, panic at the Washington Post, at the New York Times. But few staffers are calling for heads to roll at the top there. They may disagree, but they know their leaders believe in them and what they do.
Not so here. Dubow offers no inkling that he knows what newsrooms are all about, or how much they are suffering.
Read the Washington Post or New York Times statements this week and compare them to the statements from Dubow. There is a pride, a purpose, even an anger about what's happening, coming from the top at those companies. Not so here.
There is no doubt the company must change. Simply being heroic watchdogs of the common good, as noble as we'd like to think that is, obviously can no longer be enough.
New platforms, new revenue streams are all fine.
But Craig Dubow is like a corporate deer caught in the headlights. I'm sure he's a fine person, a good man. I don't begrudge him his bonus or his parachutes.
But it is time for him to do the right thing and go. Whether it is his fault or not, with power comes responsibility. And the responsible thing to do is to step down. With dignity and a fresh beginning for the rest of us.
Do you guys really think cutting off the head of the beast is going to solve the problem? This beast has many heads. The cancer has spread everywhere, from the lowest manager to the mailroom clerks. It's a toxic company. It didn't get that way overnight, or through on person's actions. Every ME, every staffer, every needs to be scrutinized. Why good employees left (or were laid off) needs to be understood. The housecleaning that needs to occur is a massive job. Each property within Gannett has its own set of horrific problems. To just focus on one guy, no matter how high up he is, seems to ignore the fact that there are terrible problems everywhere within this company. If Dubow left tomorrow, hardly any of those problems would be fixed. And 99.9 percent of GCI employees' lives would be no different. Things aren't going to change until every supervisor who has screwed up this company is thrown out, along with the employees who they cultivated. This is a situation where GCI needs to essentially start over.
ReplyDeleteI've been on furlough this week, and basically out of touch. Has there been another furlough announced?
ReplyDeleteI'd appreciate some feedback.
Thanks.
So the New York Times is, in addition to cutting pay by 5%, telling employees to take 10 additional paid days off through the rest of the year.
ReplyDeleteUnless I'm missing something (like you may never see that 5% again, even when times improve) I think I would rather do that than be made to take a week without pay every quarter.
It's almost the same thing when it comes to pay and time off. The difference is that you can spread those 10 days out and it's a lot easier on the people left behind.
I'm starting to see that furloughs are wreaking havoc with our continuity as people vanish for a week at a time.
This really is not a good way to run a business. It's not like we're a trucking company or a factory and we have less work to do because we have fewer orders to fill. And now with people needing to take vacation time -- many have four weeks or more coming -- we're starting to scramble. And God forbid anyone gets sick.
I think we should all call out sick on our anniversary/review dates,since we are not getting any raises
ReplyDeleteHere's my theory on the no-furlough week of June 22 -- if people somehow did not get to take their furlough earlier, then they would have that last week of the quarter to take it in.
ReplyDeleteminor point, but: Did you see Gannett stock inched up today 6 pennies while the market as a whole tumbled?
ReplyDeleteOK, I officially give up on any hope that Kate Marymont is going to be a journalistic beacon for us.
ReplyDeleteRead NewsWatch today. Her answer to our journalistic challenges? MORE CONTESTS!!
I'm not kidding. I am crying...
3/27/2009 11:31 AM
Well, another well-reimbursed fluff hired by Corporate. There goes the theory of "hiring talent". LOL
@12:23a - no
ReplyDelete4:22 p.m. Too right. I muse about some of the so-called supervisors where I worked and for the life of me I can't tell you what they did other than walk around a lot, like a bunch of weary buffalos, as my high school librarian used to call us if we didn't stay in our seats. One of them collected stuff for contests. Another one sat at the computer and laughed for hours on end. At what? The copy that was coming in?
ReplyDeleteI never believed in the so-called "Peter Principle," that one rises to his/her level of incompetency, but by God, after working for a Gannett newspaper, I sure believe it now.li
5:18, I posted on here yesterday that the only real common sense solution is to break up Gannett. An AT&T style deconstruction.
ReplyDeleteGannett is too big. You cannot be General Motors or the Bell System in this day and age and still be relevant or responsible as an information medium.
The sale of Tucson is a good first step. They need some fresh blood running that place. Spin every part of the Gannett organization off and let corporate keep USA Today and maybe 1-2 of the larger circulation papers (although I'm not even a big fan of that). Sell the TV stations to their affiliated networks (or to other local ownership).
These sites will therefore be able to sink or swim on their own and be at least part of the way free of the mess everyone says has been created. Local ownership will put a deeper spotlight on each of the sites. Perhaps local ownership will make employees feel more as though they have an actual voice in how their sites are operated. Advertisers might feel like management is more engaged and involved and that their paper is not some McDonalds of news.
It never ceases to amaze me, as I observe, that in a recession, people are STILL choosing to leave this company. Or thinking about it. Talented, competent and dedicated people. Something is terribly wrong.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete