[Updated at 11:25 a.m. ET.] Following is a schedule of employee meetings this afternoon, according to a memo distributed yesterday by top editor John Hillkirk; all times are Eastern.
Subject: Transformation briefings
To everyone in the newsroom and in IT:
Please join us tomorrow for one of the departmental meetings below to discuss USA TODAY's company-wide transformation and what's happening in the newsroom:
- 3:30-4:15 – News/Page 1, Money, Enterprise and Network (Chet's group)
- 4:30-5:15 – Design and IT
- 5:30-6:15 – Life, Your Life, Travel, Edit Page
- 6:30-7:15 – Sports
-- John (Hillkirk)
Good luck USAT!
ReplyDeleteI think they are going to sell the building and move the entire operation to Elmira :)
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is stay positive. No matter what, God is STILL in charge. I went through this last year, and although it's scary, it's definitely not the end of the world. Keeping you ALL in my prayers.
ReplyDelete"Transformation meeting?" What the heck does that mean? For a newspaper company, one that strives for clarity in its product, it sure likes to mask terminology and spin its internal communications. What a journalistic embarrassment this place has become under some of the worst top editors and publishers I've seen anywhere. If "transformation" means more layoffs, I sure hope they are more careful with who they push out in this round. We still haven't recovered from losing some very good people in the original buyout round, let alone the involuntary layoffs that followed. Guess we'll know what's what very soon, or maybe we will just get more spin.
ReplyDeleteI guess "transformation" just sounds better than "eff you."
ReplyDeleteAh 3:32 what fun it must be working with a negative, depressing dude like you every day! Guys like you never rise to the top. Instead you choose to tell everyone how much smarter you are than everyone else. You'd never think of getting another job because you can't. Like o said you must be a joy to be around!
ReplyDeleteTo 8/26/2010 3:32 PM:
ReplyDeleteHunke says we are no longer a "newspaper company". We are a "content" company. He also said today anyone who doesn't get/agree with that will not be employed here much longer.
3:46, a little sexist? I am not a "dude" or a "guy" (bad assumption if you work in news) but you are obviously one of the peeps with the inability or unwillingness to admit when a duck is a duck. You must be one of the chosen few around here, and because of that, you're the one who will never leave (although you might be promoted). Most of my co-workers are a joy to work with, and I try to be the same to them. That doesn't mean any of us need to constantly wave the USA TODAY flag in the face of some awful decisions in the past few years. Being a joy doesn't mean one has to be blind or give unconditional love to those who aren't supportive of us. It's my job to be objective, not to be a cheerleader. So say what you will. I have a meeting to attend. :-)
ReplyDeleteHunke. Now there's a "joy."
ReplyDeleteWe get a little cranky, 3:46, when we see potential evidence that more of our respected colleagues and friends might be shown the door for no fault of their own. Your rant against 3:32 was not only uncalled for but it was also strikingly detached from recent realities, making me wonder if you even work here.
ReplyDeleteless flamethrowing, more details. what's the "big news"?
ReplyDeleteI agree. We need details not insults. I guess Jim will enter a new post when the meetings are over?
ReplyDeleteI think they are going to sell the building and move the entire operation to Elmira :)
ReplyDelete8/26/2010 12:27 PM
Do they still have that wonderful hotdog shop by the Star-Gazette?
In an e-mail about an hour ago, I was told the following, after the first employee meeting was completed; this information must still be corroborated by others, however:
ReplyDeleteNo immediate layoffs in any of the newsrooms while they shift to a focus on "coverage teams," not just the traditional, print legacy of News, Money, Sports and Life departments. In a month or so, when they have a better handle on who is doing what, they will look at positions to be eliminated and positions to be added, such as a new investigative team with its own reporters.
This is old news. USA Today has already issued big press releases on the entire transformation and on the Tracking Transformation intranet.
ReplyDeleteTransformation? Looks like the lame old "we need more investigative reports" gambit to me. Where have I heard before that what we need is to assemble an investigative team and get stories no one else has. My conclusion is they don't have an idea what they are doing. But this time, there's not much time if what I am hearing from an ad salesman is correct. He says ads are falling off again because of the double-dip in the economy, and it is going to get worse.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I got out of it: About 130 USAT employees will be laid off across the company, apparently sometime in October. So we're still in job limbo while the details get worked out and/or they figure out what those little circles mean in the diagrams they drew. Several VP positions have been created. The newspaper will no longer be the primary focus. They said there will be fewer editors. (We did notice that managing editor positions seem to have evaporated.) Our work hours will shift earlier and start spreading out over the weekend to feed the 24/7 beast.
ReplyDeleteAnd some people will get to transform themselves from veteran journalists into Wal-Mart greeters!
ReplyDelete10:58 pm
ReplyDeleteAnd both Wal-Mart and USA Today will be better for it when you consider those veteran journalists. 80% of that news group has been out of touch with readers for years. Bye bye.
Well, at least AP covered it. The headline: USA Today shaking up staff in 'radical' overhaul
ReplyDeleteAP said USA Today, the nation's second largest newspaper, is making the most dramatic overhaul of its staff in its 28-year history in an effort deliver stories more quickly to mobile devices and produce more coverage likely to sell advertising. Those challenges triggered the most dramatic reorganization since USA Today first hit the streets in 1982 with a then-unique blend of shorter stories surrounded by colorful graphics and pictures. "This is pretty radical," Hunke said of the shake-up. "This gets us ready for our next quarter century."
ReplyDeleteSo now we finally have USA Today waking up and catching up with the Wall Street Journal. So now I feel like waking up and actually looking to come to work again.
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ReplyDeleteStay classy, 11:46 PM.
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ReplyDelete130+ people being laid off from USAT is a lot of damage. good luck everyone.
ReplyDeleteBy blowing up the current News/Money/Life/Sports silos, USAT can get away from the four-section format. Easier to match revenue to page count like the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteNext up, USAT as thick as the Chillicothe Gazette. Two six page sections on Mondays.
5:19 am
ReplyDeleteWhy do you blog such statements as this when you know it isn't true. We were in the same meetings with Hillkirk when he explained.
Why do Sharks swim circles around you before attacking?
ReplyDeleteTwo great white sharks, swimming in the ocean, spied survivors of a sunken ship.
"Follow me, son." the father shark said to the son shark and they swam to the mass of people.
"First we swim around them a few times with just the tip of our fins showing." And they did.
"Well done, son! Now we swim around them a few more times with all of our fins showing." And they did.
"Now we eat everybody." And they did.
When they were both gorged, the son asked, "Dad, why didn't we just eat them all at first?
Why did we swim around and around them?
His wise father replied,
"Because they taste better without the shit inside!"
=
As an oldtime, veteran journalist I can tell you that despite all the new bells and whistles people still want the same thing: hard-hitting news revealing the inner workings of their government and the powers that be.
ReplyDeleteThose are the lede stories everyday, everywhere.
Gannett is the king of fluff. The community papers have been gutted. If anyone's out of touch, it's those people who proclaim that Gannett remains as the local watchdog. Some editors actually say that.
Pick up The Journal News, either the Westchester or Rockland editions, and decide for yourself. What was a 15-minute read is now down to five. And the Web site? Nothing remarkable there, either.
I'm still in shock that Susan Weiss has been promoted to Executive Editor. But this just proves that whomever is making these decisions is absolutely clueless.
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