Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Week Nov. 22-28 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

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38 comments:

  1. How does staffing look this Thanksgiving week in your department?

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  2. Entire newsroom is understaffed to the max. Heck, our EE is now editing copy.

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  3. For you NJ folks.

    Food for thought:
    Wilmington stops printing USA TODAY ( goes to AFL web or Inquier also cost savings ). This opens the door to print the Courier-Post in the press slot. The Courier-Post (under contract negotiations under way now ) eliminates all these positions. Truck drivers/mailers/pressmen, and possibly prepress, platemaking.

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  4. Demand for chief digital officer up at firms, including Gannett:
    http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=147229

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  5. Did the VP of Production at Wilmington retire? She was leading the contact negotiations at the Courier Post. You may be on to something - cut the expenses and sell the building.

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  7. Jim,
    I'm so glad you went through the trouble to calculate -- and to remind us -- how Dubow/Martore/(and the board) led the debt-financed buyback of Gannett stock at an average share price of $63.95 at a total cost of $1.8 billion between 2005 and 2008. To have spent so much company money on the misplaced notion that the shares were "undervalued" was abject folly. Think of how much reporting power that $1.8 billion could have bought. Think of how many shares in Craigslist, Facebook, Politico or Twitter it could have bought. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

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  8. This just in:

    University of Cincinnati insiders tell The Daily Bellwether that Cincinnati Enquirer Executive Editor Tom Callinan has already accepted a job in the school's Journalism Department and will start teaching winter quarter, the online publication is now reporting.

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  9. VP in Wilmington left for AFL

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  10. The Daily Bellwether story does not say anything about how would succeed Callinan.

    Speculation on this blog has focused on three people: Palm Springs Executive Editor Rick Green; Reno Gazette-Journal EE Beryl Love, and Des Moines Register EE Carolyn Washburn.

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  11. Food for thought:
    Wilmington stops printing USA TODAY ( goes to AFL web or Inquier also cost savings ). eliminates all these positions. Truck drivers/mailers/pressmen, and possibly prepress, platemaking.

    ----------------------------
    Sounds like Westchester all over again.....

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  12. Fort Collins stopped printing USA Today and its own Coloradoan in May of 2009. It all went to the Denver Post 60 miles south. Yes, truck drivers/mailers/ pressman/CTP all went in May. Some prepress then were let go in Aug 2009. Sounds like the rest will be gone in mid 2011.

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  13. Tucson agency employees just got notified they are no longer eligible to invest in Gannett stock fund through their 401K managed by Gannett. Notice is dated Nov 18 and is effective Oct 4.

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  14. I would not be surprised to see EE Michael Shearer from NNCO to go for the Cincinnati position. He is originally from the Hamilton, Ohio area.

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  15. Wilmington is only 1 hour down 295 to the CP. Technically they could also print the Vineland paper which is now and has been for some time printed in Asbury if they had the print window. I doubt they would sell the building but at the very least the presses or they would move them to Binghamton, they could sell the Vineland site with only 55 or so employees and move them to CH except for sales and a few others. They would rent a small space down there for them to work out of. They also have a Hammonton building for the weeklies which can also be sold to rent instead.

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  16. I think it might be better to pick someone to run the Enquirer who doesn't know anything about Ohio. If ever a paper paper needed a fresh approach, unencumbered by biases and preconceptions, this is it.

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  17. Re 3:52 p.m.....Can't invest in Gannett? Consider yourself fortunate! And remember, it's unwise to keep any of your employer stock (regardless of the company) in your 401K.

    Stock tanks? OK, ride it out. Stock tanks AND you lose your job? You're screwed.

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  18. Food for thought: If the CP is printing Wilmington. Who prints Salisbury? Digest.

    Here's something tastier. CP gets shut down. Moves to Wilmington. Far more likely to be on the Menu of Ristorante Speculatio.

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  19. Re 4:23PM -- I totally agree and only hold a very small amount of Gannett stock personally. But this goes to a bigger question of if Gannett has plans to divest itself of its Tucson partnership, and/or give over controlling interest. Pres/CEO of the agency resigned a week ago and VP of Publishing from Lee partner is acting as interim CEO until a decision is made as to leadership.

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  20. That's right on, 9:49 p.m. I read somewhere recently where, I think it was a Trib paper, but I'm uncertain, also isn't putting company stock into the 401ks...Must have to do with the bankruptcy case.

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  21. I guess one can use the below URL as a Job Seeking Aid so that they will know NOT to apply there at any of these places because of layoffs!

    http://www.dailyjobcuts.com/

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  22. CORRECTION:

    So that they will know NOT to apply at any of these places because of layoffs!

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  24. Jersey law requires Jersey papers to be printed in Jersey. I would think you all would know this ...

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  25. 10:37, why would it matter where they physical printing takes place? Please enlighten us. Not trying to be difficult, rather want to understand. If the paper has editorial presence in new jersey.

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  26. Has to be printed in New Jersey if you want to print legal notices.

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  27. I'm seeking advice from anyone who received a demand letter from Hewitt to pay back what they say is an overpayment to your 401K. I have one for $510 and they say it's their 3rd and last demand. They threaten all sort of action. I was laid off nearly two years ago and rolled my 401K into an IRA right after leaving. Has anyone refused to pay back the money and did anything happen? I know many people received such letters early this year - were there any consequences for ignoring them?

    Thanks.

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  28. There was a rumor awhile back that the Courier Post would be printed in Asbury. Now the more I read the comments on this blog the more likely that would seem now. Vineland, Courier News, Main Hub? Very Interesting !

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  29. Cathie Black, original publisher of USA Today, is in the news and not for the best of reasons.

    Black has been tipped to be the next chancellor of New York City public schools, reporting directly to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. As a director of the Coca-Cola Co. she has acquired a taste for cronyism and perks galore over the past 17 years. Her dealings on the Coca-Cola board made the front page of the New York Daily News yesterday.

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  30. When did Hewitt make the error. Here's a reference to a court ruling saying there is a two-year statute of limitations on recovering money. Note also Hewitt knew of the problem that led to the overpayment and did nothing to correct it:
    http://www.healthplanlaw.com/?p=1389
    I routinely put letters from Hewitt in the garbage unopened because I left the company and this very weird firm behind.

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  31. 1:48 - when do you think Gannett will implement the "Say on Pay" program? This lifetime or the next perhaps?

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  32. don't believe the printing in NJ comment to be accurate. if so, there are some problems with legal ads appearing in papers printed outside of the state ... i think the language is more around published and dominant circulation as opposed to printing ... need to check the statute to be certain, however ... regardless, there is too much printing capacity in NJ and lots of opportunity for shuffling jobs and cutting people ...

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  33. What will the editor selection in Cincy say about how Gannett works? I just posted some thoughts in Callinan post.

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  34. Next thing you know, Eberle and Ledford will retire.

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  35. 3:40 PM -- Jeez, how does Ledford rate mention in the same breath as Eberle and Callinan. Yes, he can yell louder than they can, but that's about his only claim to fame.

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  36. New Jersey Statutes - Title 35 Legal Advertisements - 35:1-2.2 Publication by counties, municipalities, individuals or corporations; additional qualifications of newspaper

    http://law.onecle.com/new-jersey/35-legal-advertisements/1-2.2.html

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  38. This comment has been removed by the author.

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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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