Friday, February 04, 2011

Jan. 31-Feb. 6 | Your News & Comments: Part 4

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51 comments:

  1. For Part 3 of this comment thread, please go here.

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  2. 2:41 from part2 here: I switched to decaf and still can't stop bloviating.. Okay I was a bit long-winded at arriving at the point that gannett papers suck and that gannett does nothing about it. But I think a few others might have read too much into it. I did not say to go with the printed paper as the primary delivery method and to rely on it as the key to coming out alive as was suggested. This is what i was implying; focus on making our product as strong as it could be regardless of platform and let the rest follow suit. The newspaper is the newspaper and the Internet is the internet. Both engage customers in different ways (with some crossover) and ultimately serve different consumer needs. The reason why I say go nuts with the paper is because the state of the paper today adds no value to my life. We should just discontinue the print product right now if this is what we are putting out. Again I say to gannett, blow me away with a paper that I can't live without. Where's the wow-factor? In an age when we have the know-how and skill to build megalithic scale monuments, we settle for trailer parks? C'mon.... 

    Addressing an earlier comment about "reinforcing its aging platforms rather than forge a path online..." ...I never said rather than. I support online equally and it needs to be built up as much. I only say fix the print first because nearly all of our profit comes from the paper. From  a business standpoint, in spite of the recent spike in digital revenue, the paper remains the main cash cow. No matter what qualitative numbers you throw together to demonstrate the power of online, gannett does not have a way to make new money from it. I challenge anyone to find an advertiser that only buys our digital products. The list is short. Our advertisers are interested mostly in the paper with digital being a faded after thought. We bundle online buys with print to give the impression that we are making money on the digital front when in fact, it's just reallocated revenue. It all circles back to having a quality product, something that people need, but something that gannett doesn't provide

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  4. That's almost funny how only three were let go at the CN. Anyone have names or at least initials? Folks were named at the DR and HNT. Don't tell me CN gets preferential treatment with confidentiality as well!

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  5. 12:28 has some good ideas, and perhaps a separation of print from digital would be a good idea. The trouble as I see it is that digital is too wedded to the print product, when it has to be unique, original and a little bit more in your face. That being said, it won't happen because Gannett is not going to add the staff that is necessary, and the dead tree part of it can't sustain further cuts. Also if you did that, corporate would concentrate on pouring resources into digital while beggaring the steadily declining print side.

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  6. Layoffs due to strategy are one thing, but furloughs when there are still significant profits punishes those rewarding the business. If the work can get one with fewer people, just make the cut and get new technology in place to increase the efficiency. How can an investor keep believing in a company that has used furloughs for two years?

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  7. Murdoch's Daily is a game-changer, as much as USA Today was a quarter of a century ago. The Crystal Towers should be shaking, because I can see it will eat into local markets. The one message they should get from this is finding a chief digital officer.
    You can localize it on the Ipad to get local sports scores, local news, and local weather. That's a direct challenge to Gannett and every other publishers of regional papers, and I don't think they know how to respond except to give away the paper.
    The Financial Times says he put $30 million in developing it, and it cost $25 million a year to run it. That's not much money for a corporation like Gannett to invest in a new product, and I think they put more than that in starting up USA Today. So where is the leadership today? Where are the new ideas?
    The other impact on Gannett that I see is the urgency of finding a chief digital officer and giving him/her complete freedom to develop a new digital platform. It should be preferable that it is someone like Saridakis with no background in newspapers. If Dubow and Gracia are breathing over his/her shoulder, and nickel or diming every decision, it won't work. Do a Murdoch: give them the money and let them go.

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  8. Between the ipad and kindle each generation coming up has less and less experience with the print product. As time goes by the gap grows larger. There is a future for journalists and photographers it's just in a different format.

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  9. It was clear from day one that Gannett came into the New Jersey papers that they had no love for news only profit. They ran the papers into the ground squeezing every dollar without every putting anything back in. When the previous owners had the paper it was respected for it's journalism and was supported by the community. The paper always gave back to it's employees and to the neighborhood. Something Gannett has not and will not ever do.

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  10. 7:41 said of the Digital Daily: "The one message they should get from this is finding a chief digital officer."

    Yes. Precisely. Gannett should pay up and buy themselves a name brand, bona fide digital guru and pay him or her a king's ransom, which is probably what it would take to get someone like that to join GCI. No problem. A few million (or five or 10) is small potatoes in a company this size and no big deal in the fullness of a fiscal year, especially given the enormity of the stakes here. Give that person broad authority to move quickly and dramatically.

    I don't think such a move is in Gannett's DNA but I hope that I am wrong.

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  11. 1:54 AM-- Actually 12:38 AM was dead on with "We bundle online buys with print to give the impression that we are making money on the digital front when in fact, it's just reallocated revenue."

    It's a numbers game. No print = no online, simple as that.

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  12. CN got favorable treatment - business as usual. Not only will HNT masthead have names of CN people only, but CN cherry-picked JB from the HNT staff, sending the reporter with the most Page 1 bylines from the HNT to the CN.
    HNT, twice the size of CN, gets screwed once more. In one day HNT loses TB, JB, RM. Ouch, ouch and ouch. How do they let these things happen?

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  13. I made a request for a copy of my personnel file ... I believe that is within our rights? Am I mistaken?

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  14. 9:09: I certainly hope you kept copies of all of your reviews on your own, right? If so, what else would you need from your personnel file that you don't already have?

    But, yes, I do believe if there's something there you don't have, you have a right to get it.

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  15. The bundles were with Classified products mostly. Some Retail but retail NEVER had the revenue of Classified. Now classified auto/real estate/ employment do not have the revenue either due to free online sites Realtors are pulling ads to put on their own sites, auto going online themselves with local print products. When you bundle the two products you cannibalize both products. It's old school to believe online cannot exist and make money without the print product.

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  16. Yes, I kept most reviews, correspondence, etc. Just a few missing items. Thanks.

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  17. You can go to personnel sit there and go thru your files. You can make a copy of something you are missing from the HR dept while they watch. They will not send you your files nor can you take it out of their sight

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  18. cherry hill laid off 2 more in circulation today, dont know about the rest of the departments all non union basically gone

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  19. WHO WAS LET GO FROM CN?

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  20. At least one photographer gone as well in Cherry Hill.

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  21. A question for 7:41. You say, "You can localize it on the Ipad to get local sports scores, local news, and local weather."

    Where are those local sports scores and local news stories coming from?

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  22. local news, patch.com

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  23. Two reporters, a photographer and a long-time copy editor from the Cherry Hill newsroom.

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  24. CN cuts: Grant, Miller, Pagliarini.

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  25. I think it's really ridiculous that I made it into work the last two days with early deadlines and have I gotten my paper the last two mornings? Hell no.

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  26. Who was let go in Cherry Hill?

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  30. So ,do we know the layoff total count yet?
    Which site is next in the Gannett bullseye?
    Management must be having so much fun .
    I remember when I was released,the days leading
    up to it were so stressful,yet the VP who was in charge of the final numbers and names,walked
    around like it was a good ol time. She was struttin around like queen of the hill,big time decisionmaker.It was sickening and tremendously
    un-remorseful.Made me want to throw-up.

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  31. Another USAT wrap coming next Wed-maybe a big Sports Weekly price increase soon too.

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  32. I've heard about the Sports Weekly increase.

    Is this a front-page wrap? Who's the advertiser? What's the pub date?

    (And I wouldn't want to tangle further with Big Al. I think he still has the power to cause trouble. Suppose he demands to have his name stripped from the masthead?)

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  33. As I post this, Corporate is rolling out more SEC disclosures of 2010 executive bonuses made in the form of so-called phantom Gannett shares. I plan a wrap-up later today. For now, you may read the individual disclosures in the investor relations section at www.gannett.com.

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  34. I'm in the same boat as most others here, about to be laid off. I've got a lot of venom toward management, but that being said, there is no reason to reason to be ignorant and bring up things that have nothing to do with the situation. PG is a great guy who was put in a bad situation. I have no problem with someone saying things about him, but the "Silly Pants" and other like comments have got to stop. You know what I'm referring to, there's no reason to spell it out. They're inappropriate and have no place here. You wouldn't bring up a manager's race or sex, so there's no reason to bring his personal life into this.

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  35. Agreed, 6:17. I've now removed them.

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  36. 2-9-11 Dodge 4 page cover wrap on USAT.

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  37. Unless he had anything to do with the hiring of JJC then PG is blameless in all this. The evil empire in Virginia made him lower the boom.

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  38. Two let go, from our advertising dept, in Cherry Hill.

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  39. "Agreed, 6:17. I've now removed them."

    Hours after they were posted. Great going, Jim. Way to keep control of things.

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  40. Maybe one of the digital sales people can help me with the following:

    So... I come to Jim's blog which is managed by Google. I see that Groupon is a large advertiser. Does Groupon send Google a check every month for the click throughs? I thought that Google was starting its own version of Groupon.

    Does Google have to send checks to Yahoo, Facebook, Groupon, Jim, and any other service that generates click through revenue? Does Yahoo have to send checks to Google, Facebook and Groupon? Are there scorecards so that so much cash doesn't trade between the firms?

    When I typed "Google market cap" into Google, the first entry that came up was for Yahoo Finance. Is this odd?

    Doesn't this all seem a little, well, crooked? The whole idea of clicks generating revenue for a business is a little difficult for me to understand. Very few of the ads that I see on websites are actually offering to sell something specific like a pair of shoes or a box of oranges.

    Something is incredibly wrong here, and I just can't figure out what it is.

    Are we all really buying into the idea that this is the future of advertising? Please tell me that I'm not the only one who is wondering how Google has a market cap of $200B and Gannett has a market cap of $4B.

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  41. Craig: 11:19p. Good question. Let me try an answer it for you. Google is up there and doing it all, and 11:19p, we are pushing to move forward and progress along so that we can move at a higher level. Together. I am excited with what we have going on. We will be able to report on progress next quarter. Gracia would you like to add more to that?

    Gracia: Well, let me build on top of what Craig just said. We are not Google and we are screwed. We need a Chief Digital Officer...Roxanne!?! Next question...

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  42. @7:12

    HAHAHAHAHA. Wait. Was that an actual conversation? LOL.. HAHAHAHA

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  44. Remember to wear black today to show support for colleagues laid off by Gannett in New Jersey and other places.

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  45. If the company is doing so well, how come some people (not all) got bonuses while the rank and file had to get a pay cut through furloughs?

    We collectively should never let that point die.

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  46. approx 17 layed off in cherry hill

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  47. Wearing red for Women's Heart Day and I am a dude

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  48. Dodge 4 page cover wrap on 2/9? Someone should wake-up Al and let him know. Maybe he can write a letter to the editor in protest.

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  49. 9:21, it's really quite simple - he was probably getting paid more than her.

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  50. Jim, please delete the disrespectful comment at 9:21 a.m. today. It's sad. The people mentioned are good friends.

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  51. People on this blog who suggest more layoffs to management at TJN or at any shop really have very little empathy for other people or their families. Please, like more cuts on any level are going to save the paper or make journalism/beat reporting better ... The Gannett problem is really a revenue stream issue ... There's no way to get classifieds or real estate advertising back ... So please keep your this-employee-doesn't-work-to-my-high-standard cut list to yourself. The grass is always greener ....

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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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