Sunday, June 27, 2010
Week of June 21-27 | Your News & Comments
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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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In case you missed it, Gannett Blog readers have been posting responses to my question about the size of raises being given out this year, now that most (if not all) of the wage freezes are over.
ReplyDeleteUSAT iPad subscription model postponed?
ReplyDeletehttp://finance.yahoo.com/news/Interview-Gannett-Holds-Off-paidcontent-2301618572.html?x=0&.v=1
The board should "give away" their pay too.
Stock went into free fall as of 2:30PM this afternoon, after having made some pretty steady gains.
ReplyDeleteTrolls will be out in force soon.
Wow, stock "freefell" all the way to a loss of 9 cents for the day. We do we get to talk about bathrooms again?
ReplyDeleteWilmington DE Ad VP resigned today. He wants to "follow his dreams". It's my dream to get the f**k outta there too....
ReplyDeleteNow I know why Saradakis left Gannett and why I do not suspect Jason Tafler will stay beyond his time. Yesterday, we had a visit from the "corporate suits". Mr. Dubow, Ms. Martore and some short lady, not sure who she was, maybe their secretary, all descended upon Pointroll. I am not even sure how Saradakis and Tafler even communicate with these people. They were full of so much hot air, it was embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteThey looked out of place and out of sorts. They were clearly nervous and afraid to look like the dorks that they already are.
Someone told me that this is the first time they have ever visited Pointroll since the company was acquired in early 2005. Many of us were shocked to say the least.
They still do not have an update on Saradakis's replacement and the time is ticking for Jason Tafler and the rest of the management team that are all planning on leaving after they get their "iPlan" money. I do not blame them. I have been at Pointroll for several years and the lack of respect for would make any successful leader find a new home.
It took FIVE years after Gannett acquired Pointroll, for the CEO and President to finally visit. They should be ashamed and the board should know just how they value this "important asset" as Gracia Martore repeated over while Mr. Dubow was as scripted as a Charlie McCarthy doll.
Mrs. Martore and Mr. Dubow,
You are two phonies and many of us at Pointroll have lost respect for you. This visit was a good photo op for you. I hope you hang it on your refrigerator.
Was the "short lady" public relations chief Robin Pence?
ReplyDeleteJust blocked a copy-and-paste comment from appearing.
ReplyDeleteConfirmed...short lady was Robin Pence. Apparently a PR nightmare according to people here.
ReplyDeleteHere it comes...
ReplyDeleteSeriously.
We are seeing the glass house shake.
Good accountants helped Gannett get where it is. Now, these folks are sharing a true outlook that sees a terrible 2011-12. Much of the Gannett version of the print model is unsustainable in its current form. Profit and cash flow demands are just too high.
Oh, there will be mild successes that offer hope and calm to publishers needing to make their revenue, but the bottom will fall out. Deep trend watchers and prognosticators at corporate know things are changing faster than any of the leadership could possibly adapt. And partly its not their fault.
Consolidations have tied Gannett's hands. Dropping properties that begin to fail won't be a fail safe. Closures or fire sales will result.
Gannett has to move beyond print and start dumping the expenses.
Local ownership and community newspapers have a modest long term return due to a lack of competition for what they can do, but not at the levels investors will demand from Gannett.
Gannett is relying on print the way Kodak relied on film, making some progress on the digital front. Their silver habit prevented them from shedding a part of the business that had no future. China experiment failed and they were doomed. Now, they are a shell.
Expect a brief respite from doomsday predictions for Gannett print. They are cycling hard cuts that were deeper than current trends. The stock will swell to 20, hold up and down until December. It'll drop hard after the 4thQ is flat with a 1stQ cliff ahead.
My fellow accountants agree. The Gannett print paradigm is extinct and they are unable to untangle themselves from a consolidated model leaning on itself.
The salary will keep some in for ride, but ...
6/22. You lost me at: "Good accountants helped Gannett get where it is."
ReplyDeleteDown here at Pointroll we are fully aware of how much we ROCK.
ReplyDeleteYeah, and all the folks at Jointroll are humble, too.
ReplyDeleteNeil Fried Gannett VP Gannett Corporate Development and former Pointroll executive has quit. Martore is pissed!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't know why anyone would pay anything for a Gannett paper, print or online. There used to be a few good ones -- Louisville, Detroit and Asbury Park -- but the lifeblood was sucked out of out them all by the insatiable host corporation. What a waste.
ReplyDeleteYeah, they're good accountants, just lousy newspaper people. Accountants shouldn't be allowed to run anything but a calculator.
ReplyDeleteI heard that the next Gannett board meeting next month is being hosted in Des Moines!!!
ReplyDeleteApparently Mr. Dubow wants all the executives to spend two days in Des Moines so the board can visit a newspaper press.
What a fucking joke and a waste of money! I wonder if Laura Hollingsworth will be wearing her tight white jeans to impress the board like she does when Dickey comes here.
Interesting analysis, 8:11 p.m.
ReplyDeleteCorporate is indeed trying to meet Wall St. expectations, which are still mired in the past and expecting all will be better when the effects of the recession are done. Not going to prove out. We've been sliding down for decades and the net accelerated the slide without adequate revenues.
It would be better if the company were taken private and into the hands of more patient owners.
Will the Times-Delta be putting up a paywall anytime soon -- or is it in the cards at all?
ReplyDeleteDid Neil Freed actually have a job?
ReplyDeleteJust dribble comments like the last one are clearly from a person who does not get it one little bit.
ReplyDeleteCan you post a good pic of said tight jeans?
ReplyDeleteYo 8:11, Tribune COmpany went to a private owner...yeah that worked out. Phili went to a private owner...yeah that worked out. You're dreaming pal
ReplyDeleteI am with you brother. Heh 8:11 how did it work out in Hawaii? Oh yeah the private owner eliniated most of the staff. Yep private ownership that is the way to go.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to John Hillkirk? It is been more than a year and we don't hear a word about him. I don't know him, but I hear from those who do that he's quiet and keeps his own counsel. But does anyone know how the editor of USAT feels about Hunke's reorganization and cutbacks? Is he fighting or resisting the changes? Does he have any input?
ReplyDeleteGCI had a big drop today. Maybe analysts are counting ad pages like Jim does, and realizing it won't be as spectacular next month as Gracia indicated it would be.
ReplyDeleteIt closed at $14.94, down 94 cents, or nearly 6%. Earlier in the day, it was one of the NYSE's 10 biggest percentage decliners, and the only newspaper stick on that list, the AP says.
ReplyDeleteI'm extremely skeptical that significant numbers of people will pay for online content. I hope I'm wrong, but Internet users seem to want everything for free. It's a pity, because without a strong watchdog press, government and corporations will have free rein over everything, and it becomes easier to bamboozle the populace, but that's where I see us going.
ReplyDeletewhat's the date of the board meeting in Des Moines? I'd love to have time to get my signs ready
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteI'm extremely skeptical that significant numbers of people will pay for online content. I hope I'm wrong, but Internet users seem to want everything for free.
They don't just want it free. They will force all but the very best and valuable to remain free. I read something at dozens of different sites in a week's time. I enjoy them all, but no damn way I can afford to pay for all of them.
When paywalls go up, choices will have to be made. I'll pay for two or three of my favorite and then, I settle for what's free.
The pattern laid down by the WSJ and the Financial Times is that if there is content that is valuable to people, they will pay. But I really have to question whether there is enough value in local papers to prompt people to pay. I read the paper because I like a local columnist, but my wife reads the paper only to clip the grocery ads. If she has to pay $10 a month to do that, it is no longer economical and I will tell you (because I know her) she will stop doing that. The concept behind this is that people need to recognize the costs that go into producing the news. But the readers I know don't give a single thought to that concept. I think this all based on faulty logic and pure greed. But I don't have a voice in these decisions, so we will wait and see who is right.
ReplyDeleteRead in the Detroit News that they are adding sections to the paper... So just to recap the Detroit Media Partnership is dropping select-day delivery, and now dropping "express editions" (remember that genius idea, that four days a week the paper would be thinner)... I can only assume the FREEP is following suite since Gannett controls the DMP and what would the advantage be of letting the news produce far more content than the free press?
ReplyDeleteMore interesting though are the "extra puzzles" that have been added to the Detroit News & Free Press. Both papers still have their own comics and puzzles, but the extra puzzles page is identical for the two papers... Wonder if there are other plans in the works to combine more operations than just puzzles.
Advertising has paid for the paper for decades, thus resulting in a rather cheap price to pay for a paper - 50 cents. But since advertising, and especially classified advertising, is decreasing, the cost of the paper has to be carried more by the reader - papers going to 75 cents and a dollar. The problem is while we are trying to do this, we're also cutting staff, saying we'll be better to the reader but, in reality, give them a paper that is clearly inferior to the same product less than five years ago. So many readers balk at paying the additional charge, and I don't blame them.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for the remaining staff, they are often overworked and make more mistakes, and hope is at an all-time low.
10:05 -- I agree completely that $10 a month is too high for a paywall. I have to say, though, that your wife must be willing to pay $10 to clip coupons ... unless she's getting the paper free of charge, which I guess is possible if you're an employee. It sounds to me like your wife wouldn't be interested in the online model (unless they had a coupon portal that worked extremely well and guaranteed her more than $10 a month in savings) but that she would continue to subscribe to the paper.
ReplyDeletePart of our problem of declining ads is that supermarkets are adopting a new business model that scraps the ideas of coupons and even advertising. Walmart (which didn't sell food a decade ago but now is the nation's No. 1 supermarket) doesn't use coupons for its "everyday low prices." Neither does Costco, another discounter. Higher-end stores like Wegman's, which is big in the Northeast but moving south, also doesn't advertise in newspapers.
ReplyDeleteThis is very bad news for newspaper because supermarkets have been a mainstay of revenues. Coupons seem to be going the way of the old stamps food stores used to give out to attract customers.
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ReplyDeleteIt's the last day of work for several ad designers in Greenville. Ad design work will be done in Indiana starting next week. Implementing a new system on a holiday week before working out the kinks? Somebody hand me the popcorn. Best of luck to those designers.
ReplyDeleteReaders were complaining that the Express Editions in Detroit didn't have enough heft to them to be worth paying $1 for. So we're bulking up the papers with more stuff. I think we're reworking sections to increase the section count because more sections make it feel thicker, also.
ReplyDeleteThe new carrier driven seven day delivery is really interesting because back in 1995 that was one of the operational issues that was corrected with the strike! We didn't know who our customers were because the carriers controlled the routes. Post strike the company knew who all the customers were. Now we're pretty much going back to the way it used to be.
Sure, fewer people are using classified advertising, but the classified section is also fat with foreclosure listings. That's got to be bringing in significant revenue.
ReplyDeleteThe legal ads are what is keeping newspapers alive, thanks to real estate tanking. These are incredibly lucrative since they carry special additional rates. But we need to all recognize the foreclosure crisis isn't going to last forever.
ReplyDeleteRegarding coupons....Add the Hanaford supermarket chain to the list that doesn't take coupons.
ReplyDeleteAnd those that do, such as Price Chopper and ShopRite, have their coupons mailed inside a local newspaper cover. That adds to the paper's revenue, but does nothing for the daily.
7:33 pm: I don't believe the company announces dates for scheduled board meetings. But based on the past five years' dividend announcements, I believe directors will meet next month on Tuesday, July 27, and Wednesday, July 28.
ReplyDeleteI use coupons at Wal-Mart all the time. At Target, too.
ReplyDeleteMost coupons don't come from grocery stores, anyway. They come from the manufacturer to tempt consumers into trying a new product, rope in people who don't usually buy the brand (so they can see how good it is!) or to drive brand loyalty.
I still think people will pay for news.
ReplyDeleteBut it's got to be exclusive; aimed at an under-served audience; have impact on the reader that's spelled out; and in the case of features, it must stir up emotions, and be exceptionally well-written.
Discussing supermarket marketing campaigns opens up a pandora's box of differing campaigns across the country, and sometimes within the the same company. My supermarket uses loyalty cards to give coupons at the check-out register. That saves money on advertising.
ReplyDeleteThis, incidentally, is the problem faced ContentOne. One size fit all doesn't fit all because this is an unbelievably complex country.
Regarding speculation about the board meeting in Des Moines next month, does anyone know about any other upcoming meetings by executives at other Gannett sites?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 8:29 AM said...
ReplyDeleteThe legal ads are what is keeping newspapers alive, thanks to real estate tanking. These are incredibly lucrative since they carry special additional rates. But we need to all recognize the foreclosure crisis isn't going to last forever.
NOT ONLY THAT - the legal ad rates are set and controlled by the STATE and are based on the circulation of that periodical. When the circulation is tanking - not that much to be made. How they get the customer is through the Affidavit of Publication, which Periodicals , more or less each can charge what they want! In most cases you will find the Affidavit of Publication fee to be more than the actual cost of publishing the ad! However, some Municipalities and/or customers are opting out of receiving the Affidavit of Publication and are cutting costs by using in-house Notary Publics to certify the publication of their notices thus eliminating both the need and charge of a Newspapers' Affidavit of Publication!
The reason courts are using in-house notaries to certify publication is that newspapers became pigs charging exhorbitant rates for their affadavits. I don't understand why in this day and age, courts don't lobby the legislature to change the legal publication laws and allow the courts just to post the notices on the Internet. That would be sufficient public notification. Maybe as states and counties address their budget issues, the way of saving money will emerge.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 11:23 AM said:
ReplyDelete" I don't understand why in this day and age, courts don't lobby the legislature to change the legal publication laws and allow the courts just to post the notices on the Internet."
Well, contrary to popular belief every household within the USA does NOT HAVE/OWN a Computer thus eliminating them from having access to the Internet so that they can view the Legal Notices of their jurisdictions online! From what I understand that is the ONLY REASON legislation to change legal ad publication laws have not yet transpired! Perhaps in the near future legislation to change the Legal Ad Publication laws might come to be!
And, you are right!
Newspapers have become pigs charging exhorbitant rates for their Affidavits!
11:53 You can go to your neigbhorhood library and get Internet connections anywhere in this country, just as you can go there to read the paper you don't get at home. I think newspapers have made themselves vunerable to this happening because they have let circulation decline to the point that less than a third of Americans are getting newspapers partly because of deliberate business decisions to discontinue delivery to some areas. It was over 60 percent in WW2.
ReplyDelete11:23 and 11:53 -- I've find it rather obscene that newsapers continue to fight for the right to publish legals, while simultaneously undermining the quality of their publications and trying to convince advertisers that Web placement is just as good as ads in the paper.
ReplyDeleteIf their latter argument is true, then government agencies should be allowed to publish legals online, as this outlet would be just as good as print.
Also, I haven't run the numbers. But there are far more people with Internet access than with subscriptions to the daily paper ... and both are free at many public libraries.
Anonymous 12:49 PM and Anonymous 12:51 PM,
ReplyDeletethose are all good points, however our legislators does not see it that way! In order for the municipalities, etc. to only have to post their Legal Notices on line, every household within the Municipalities jurisdiction must have internet access within the home in order for them to eliminate newspaper publication! If you've been following this for the past 2 - 7 years you will see that THAT is the argument back and forth and probably the only thing saving the newspapers from being cut off from ever receiving the publications! This has been going on for quite some time now!
"But it's got to be exclusive; aimed at an under-served audience; have impact on the reader that's spelled out; and in the case of features, it must stir up emotions, and be exceptionally well-written."
ReplyDeleteSounds like Gannett Blog...
Keep up the good work, Jim!
No -- this site is not well-written. Too many rumors and too many drones.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear about the new expansion of the News & Free Press..
ReplyDeleteFree Press needs to ditch their approach to "tabloid style"... Too much space is wasted by beginning an article, only to begin it again on another page. That and this Gannett approach to graphics that take up 5 times the amount of text.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete9:11 PM
ReplyDeleteI think Jim's work is exclusive and very well written. Guess you won't be coming back here since you disagree.
Of course he'll be back. He's a corporate drone. But that makes him easy to ignore.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the South Carolina Press Association, The Greenville News is expected to start charging for web access in July.
ReplyDeleteAnother post: http://bit.ly/a5dVCZ
"Anonymous said...
ReplyDelete11:53 You can go to your neigbhorhood library and get Internet connections anywhere in this country"
Yepper, I'm right there every Sunday reading the paper in the library...NOT!
I'll keep coming back as long as Jim keeps backing out on promises and allowing rumors.
ReplyDeleteThe Times, one of England's "quality" dailies, has put its content behind a paywall. What that has done is send online readers elsewhere -- at least in the UK.
ReplyDeleteWith Gannett planning to erect paywalls of its own, you wonder if corporate in Reston has heard about The Times' paywall and plight.
Note: I've been rejecting a lot of repetitive and off-topic comments for several days now.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDelete"Anonymous said...
11:53 You can go to your neigbhorhood library and get Internet connections anywhere in this country"
Yepper, I'm right there every Sunday reading the paper in the library...NOT!
RESPONSE:
...sounds all well and good, BUT - you're leaving out "Shut-ins."
Shut-in:
noun
1. A person confined indoors, esp. as a result of physical or mental disability.
Sorry, I don't buy the shut-in argument. In any system that distributes to the masses, there are going to be some people not reached. Look at the Census. Nothing is 100 percent.
ReplyDeleteRE: Legal notices. Has anyone seen a survey on the percentage of people who read a significant amount of the text
ReplyDeleteI've never read any but the short, one- or two-paragraph ones. What about you?
I started reading them when the foreclosures started. Sounds silly, but they are somewhat interesting and I found houses in my neighborhood going. Since the newspaper doesn't report on declining real estate prices because that pisses off realtors, it is a way to monitor the collapse of house prices.
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteLots of people read those notices because from what I understand, they are under the impression that if their elected officials wanted to hide something, that would be the place to do it! Right in the Legal Notices Section. ROFLLLLLLLLLLL