Monday, September 12, 2011

Sept. 12-18 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

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32 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. Hey, the 11-year-olds are on the computer again. Good to see the ex-Gannetteers are so mature. Hard to believe people here were thrown out of their jobs ...

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  3. I don't know if that person is a current employee, a past employee or even a manager trying to discredit the purpose of the blog. Frankly I ignore them. I have always thought people are not all bad or all good, but some have more of one or the other. It seems that even when Gannett finds a brilliant strategist with a high IQ, they always have a low EQ- Emotional Quotient.

    During my tenure with Gannett, someone was always quoting a current management book. I think they read few excerpts of the books only. I read those books, and Gannett never took the knowledge to heart. Good to Great- the only sentence they adopted was "getting the right people on the bus or off the bus" (mostly that). They missed all the other chapters about leadership or building on your core strengths So much waste of good talent and ideas. I can laugh about it now.

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  4. 10:07, I knew one of those managers. He was always using the bus analogies.

    The place had some decent talent, but he helped run it off. I didn't stay around to find out what happened next.

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  5. The movie Company Men is a great movie that portrays corporate greed and the impacts of employee layoffs. Also executive greed. I think it was really about Gannett.

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  6. 9:29 PM Why do you seem to think he or she is an ex-Gannett employee? What if he or she is a current employee who hates GMC.

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  7. Can we stop with the "thrown out of their jobs" stuff?

    Please! No one lost their job due to their popularity, lack thereof, nor even professional merit no matter how the execs love to tell it to their misty leash, tongues licking.

    These types still feel it necessary to say that All, all, were "culled" as if corporate was some Einsatzgruppen in Russia, no less fanatical.

    If some posters believe that "purity" crap, rather than utter blanket destruction?

    Get a blog, an armband and a swastika for being good Germans never smelling nothing from the chimneys.

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  8. Last week's staff meeting about Passion Topics and cutting the staff too thin was in Appleton.

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  9. CCI is a software company based in Denmark that publishes newspaper production suites such as CCI Newsdesk, CCI NewsGate, CCI AdDesk Sales and CCI AdDesk Production. According to the CCI web site "These products are the most robust and powerful systems in the industry, and are implemented in news organizations across five continents. CCI is the leading provider of editorial and advertising solutions for multimedia news environments." Clients in the United States include The Oklahoman, The San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, The Columbus Dispatch, The New York Times, among many others.

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  10. LOW PRICE ALERT: GCI $9.37 NEW 52-WEEK LOW.

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  11. The Presswire deal has been confirmed in Florida.

    According to the Florida Department of State Division of Corporations, US Presswire's mailing address has changed to that of Gannett (NYSE: GCI) headquarters in McLean, VA on September 7, 2011:

    Mailing Address
    7950 JONES BRANCH DRIVE
    MCLEAN VA 22107
    Changed 09/07/2011
    Also changed, US Presswire is now legally known as USPW Media Holdings, LLC, according to the same filing.

    More here: http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/2011/09/us-presswire-confirmed-sold-to-gannett.html this photo blog and comments on SportsShooter.com are well worth reading for their insights onto what the sale could mean.

    The sale on its own still makes little sense to me. Unless it's a part of bigger plan to replace staffers with low paid contract stringers.

    Does this mean Gannett will stop using AP & Getty and rely exclusively on Presswire for wire sports? And use it to renegotiate lower rates with the wires (or drop one completely)? Does it mean Gannett papers will no longer contribute sports photos to the AP wire and now market them through Presswire, competing with the Presswire photographers?

    Are Gannett's motives even darker? Does it mean that Gannett papers will no longer staff NFL/MLB/NHL/NBA and the like instead relying on Presswire?

    Let's face it, it's a lot cheaper to send one or two US Presswire photographers to a NFL game for a flat $100 each than two staffers who in addition to their salaries get health insurance, expenses and mileage etc. By the time you stretch the math out you could probably send three Presswire people for what one staffer would cost.

    Gannett's motive could be even more nefarious. Once the Presswire deal is concluded, Gannett will have a large roster of reliable freelancers at its disposal. Will they start to use them to replace staffers. If they will take $100 to work a football game maybe they'll take $25 to do a back to school assignment? Again, much cheaper than sending a staffer.

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  12. Any updates on NewsGate CCI? Surprising that this subject is not getting much attention. Consolidation is imminent.

    http://gannettblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/urgent-gannett-said-creating-five-super.html

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  13. Fourth quarter is coming — any word on cuts?

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  14. ANONYMOUS SAID... ALERT JOBS CUTS AND LAYOFFS ARE BEING PUT OFF TO OCT 2011. LOOK FOR 3OR 4 PERCENT IN JOBS CUTS. ACROSS THE BOARD AT ALL SITES IT IS COMING. GCI TOP BRASS HOLD BACK IN SEPTEMBER.

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  15. Today is my first day of freedom from GCI. I filed for my state unemployment. That was pretty painless. Called TPP and was told to check back tomorrow because I wasn't in their system yet. The sun is shining and it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. I hope I'm this optimistic in a few months.

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  16. Congrats to 1:36.
    I hope your life is much better away from
    this nasty and unfeeling corporation.

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  17. UBS A LITTLE LATE TO THE TABLE ON THIS!
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-11/colfax-jarden-j-j-merck-transatlantic-u-s-equity-preview.html?cmpid=yhoo

    "Gannett Co. (GCI US) had the third-biggest decline in the S&P 500, erasing 5.7 percent to $9.28. The newspaper publisher had its share-price estimate reduced to $10 from $14 by UBS AG, which cut its growth projection for the printing advertising industry."

    Hey (U)BS - It's ALREADY trading at $9 and change!

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  18. 1:36, once you're out of GCI it's like awakening from a bad dream -- one that started out good and turned into a grotesque nightmare.

    Me, I've got my health back, I sleep well for the first time in many years (even with financial worries), and I actually have a life sans all those toxic undercurrents daily endured -- all that carney-like spectacle with the next DOA "better mousetrap" foisted upon sites which once boasted substantial, individual character, such identity obliterated.

    Some ask why, then, would one have any interest remaining in some stultifying sideshow such as GCI's direction under its current board, its professionally rankly unqualified fill-in-the-word-fest, and bereft of a single interest in the careers they eliminate with no end in sight?

    That's an easy answer. Morbid fascination. Oh, so this is how a once very successful enterprise dies. Just have arrogance the evidently only qualification for membership on a board.

    So, good luck to you, 1:36. And like 2:42 said, congrats! You'll be fine.

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  19. 1:36 - where were you at? How many others got cut?

    I was out in June. It's been scary since then, I can't lie. But I don't miss Gannett or my job and former profession at all. This is a good time to reassess. If your former job wasn't what you really wanted to do, now's the time to pursue whatever that thing may be.

    Good luck to you. I bet you won't miss the bullshit one bit.

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  20. Bank of America said to be laying off at least 30,000. That can't help economy or Gannett any.

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  21. 1:36 PM

    Keep your head up and don't let Gannett take your dignity.

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  23. 1:36 and 6:31 All the best to both of you! Take care of your health, which will have to be better soon since you won't be force-fed Gannett (and news industry) BS daily.

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  25. 2008 Wage Freeze
    2009 Wage Freeze
    2010 5% Wage Reduction
    2011 Wage Freeze
    2012 ???????

    What does this = to? Gannett executives getting big bonuses at the expense of its workers.

    The Board of Directors are letting this happen. We need to clean house.

    F*cking Pricks

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  26. 2:42 & 5:41. I'm one of the fortunate ones. While it won't be pretty when the TPP runs out, we won't lose our home and I'll be able to take my time finding something new. It was actually a relief. It was too hard watching truly good people getting axed.

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  27. 6:31. For the time being, let's just say I'm east of the Mississippi. There were a total of 10. 4 left a couple of weeks ago, 4 of us on 9/9 and 2 will be departing in about a month. Non-newsroom.

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  28. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  29. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  30. @7:28 PM – Tell your Congressman that and how many jobs continue to be lost. Then ask them why govt goes after Big Oil despite this industry slashing and burning its way to maintain far higher profit margins for years, even now.

    Now, this isn’t an endorsement for govt to pick winners and losers (it should not)…it’s just offered to show the absurdity of it all and how this industry – the one protected by our Constitution to bring such news to light, won’t do so as it’s too close to its own wallet.

    Thankfully, Jim and others - including many who contribute here, take the time to expose it all.

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  31. Management thinks you should be grateful to them that you have a job - so be grateful!

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  32. No one should feel grateful for being exploited by a company that is paying their CEO and others millions of dollars for doing nothing! Besides the fact that they force employees to falsify their timesheets and make one person do five person's jobs so they can save money. Why is it that other companies treat their employees with respect and treat them like human beings. No, I do not feel grateful. I feel screwed over by a company that is so greedy that they can't even find a way to save the employees rather then send the work to India and screw their employees in the United States. I am not grateful — I am angry that we in the United States have gotten to the point where we are supposed to feel grateful for doing the best job we can, bust our butts to make money for this company and what do we get — furloughs, layoffs, no pay raises, higher insurance costs — oh I am so grateful all mighty Gannett! There are employers out there that appreciate employees that work hard. I don't need you or your corporate lies. Just because there is a recession that doesn't mean there aren't jobs out there. I know that for a fact because I have other jobs besides Gannett. I have more work now then I have ever had — and not with Gannett. So go tell yourself you are grateful to a company that doesn't give a rat's ass about you. I'm not waiting to be laid off or hanging on bated breathe for all mightly Gannett to save my life. I already did it on my own thank you. So keep your grateful passive crap to yourself.

    Anonymous said...
    Management thinks you should be grateful to them that you have a job - so be grateful!

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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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