Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Nov. 14-20 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

41 comments:

  1. Excellent interview piece in yesterday's New York Times with MediaNews Group chief, John Patton on the future of newspapers and digital. He nails several good points...and repeatedly states that print will be a thing of the past in the not too distant future. If you're in print and think you have a long-term career ahead of you, think again...

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/business/media/paton-prepares-his-newspapers-for-a-world-without-print.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=future%20of%20newspapers&st=cse

    ReplyDelete
  2. 6:33 p.m. on 7/13. Sorry you were given the pink slip. I suspected that Karen’s claim to the IBJ that she had something up her sleeve to replace Metromix was just a lot of blah, blah, blah. And she said she couldn’t elaborate citing competitive reasons! She’s the perfect Gannett manager. Make big claims and hope that everyone else has as short a memory as you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. 10:52 Sadly, Paton is right. The quality of "journalism" he is pushing is mostly hyperlocal junk produced by inexperienced kids. A third is people sending in their cute dog videos or photos of traffic accidents. And the other third will be aggregated crap. Paton and his top execs have low expectations based on low ROI because cheap online and digital ads will never amount to what ink on paper ads brought in.
    But you can bet that Paton and his self-promoting top execs (Jim Brady and Steve Buttry are being paid very, very well. While the folks who toil at news sites are paid like entry level Gannett employees.
    The industry death spiral accelerates.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Another very quiet and silent morning at Florida Today. This place is like a ghost town and getting worse. Any word on the December layoffs yet?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Spot on 11:28. Is it me or has the building looked much shabbier lately? Trash not picked up throughout the workplace and the parking lot is developing some potholes. You would think with fewer employees people would take better care of this place.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Print is in decline only because the brains say it has to be so. If they still produced a product worthy of the price they charge people would still buy it.

    Has anyone thought of what would happen in case of a sun flare that puts out satelites, or worse, China or someone else gets tired of pussyfooting around and sets off an EMP bomb? No more internet...no more digital. Will anyone be left who knows how to run a press?

    ReplyDelete
  7. 11:56, regarding your second paragraph, you've been watching too many movies on the SyFy Channel. Or hanging out with Ross Perot and his black helicopter crowd.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Will anyone be left who knows how to run a press?

    With the electronics and over engineering built into today's presses, this is another thing that will not work after the "unthinkable".

    ReplyDelete
  9. you've been watching too many movies on the SyFy Channel.

    No, it's a proven fact.

    Impact of Severe Solar Flares, Nuclear EMP and Intentional EMI on Electric Grids

    http://www.eissummit.com/images/upload/conf/media/EIS_Kappenman_Part1.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  10. Our press doesn't run during thunderstorms, much less nukes. Thanks manroland.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Digital is the future. plain and simple. younger readers like the delivery systems and fixed printing costs too high to sustain.

    ReplyDelete
  12. At least 50 people canned at CNN. Just what they need as the go into an election year. Fewer journalists, tech pros and support staff. More crappy citizen iReports and hacks bloviating day and night. Kind of like Gannett TV stations.

    http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/dozens-of-jobs-cut-at-cnn-new-york-atlanta-washington-dc-miami-la-staffers-pink-slipped_b97876

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is a column I wrote a couple months ago for MinnPost -- ironically, an online news site where most of the content is produced by former Twin Cities print journalists.

    http://www.minnpost.com/johnreinan/2011/09/26/31881/end_of_newspapers_is_closer_than_you_think

    After it ran, I got a note from a very crusty old Star Tribune colleague who said a few years ago he would have called me nuts for saying the end of newspapers is near, but now he agrees with me.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Digital might be the wave of the future but I don't know that it's helping draw new younger readers to the newspapers (online edition). The most popular daily hit with our paper's website is the obits. Young folks like reading that?

    ReplyDelete
  15. I saw Paton above ad I immediately thought of general Patton aka bob Collins. I was excited for a second thinking he was riding in to cure all he ails of the newspaper industry.

    ReplyDelete
  16. What's the latest on Gannett's reporter development and press release rewrite center in Bangalore?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Digital, the wave of the future? It's the wave of the present. But it's still a different medium. I'll never understand why some folks think one replaces the other, digital vis-à-vis print. It doesn't. It's a separate medium. The only thing the two have in common for Gannett is equally low standards.

    ReplyDelete
  18. 6:28PM, Ahem

    ReplyDelete
  19. Off topic. 32 years in journalism, all with knight-ridder than gannett. about 21 years as a reporter, 11 as editor on metro side. Mid-50's age group. Masters degree. earn about $65,000 a year. So, am I typical?

    ReplyDelete
  20. then gannett. sorry. droid typing.

    ReplyDelete
  21. At our Midwest paper, our two main newsroom honchos -- exec editor and managing editor -- are at corporate today and tomorrow. We were told nothing other than that they'd be there. Is anyone else manager-free for the first couple of days this week? And if so, do you know what they're doing or talking about out there?

    ReplyDelete
  22. More changes in the advertising division in Phoenix!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I still believe if someone could produce a print and digital product and make it hyperlocal it would sell. Gannett is too big to achieve this but there are plenty of openings in their market to make this feasible. I think there is a missed opportunity here for someone.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Occupy Gannett. Outside of the banking and financial institutions, it is one of the worst corporate offenders in the country. People outside the biz tend to overlook it. They might ask, "How can a media company -- one that should be bound by certain journalistic ethics in all it does -- be so immoral?" The fact is, Gannett's range of unethical behavior -- the sea of big and small lies and deceit that come from all of its properties, from USAT right down the line -- is exactly what is wrong with Corporate America and the treatment of 99 percent of workers. From the unjustified and inhumane layoffs to the games Gannett plays with OT and benefits...from the ruthless business practices to the over-the-top lavish corporate surroundings...this company is the pits. It warrants more than an occupation. It should be investigated for potential illegal activities and policies.

    ReplyDelete
  25. 9:10 if you're lucky GannettLocal and Brad R. will be discontinued.

    ReplyDelete
  26. 11:06: GannettLocal and BR have nothing to do with the "advertising division in Phoenix." You are showing you are clueless. It is a corporate initiative that reports directly to Bob Dickey. It's time to turn the machine off, yes, but don't blame them on AZ Rep. They have enough problems of their own.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Only without an EE and ME for a couple of days this week, 8:07 PM? That's nothing. The Clarion-Ledger as been without either for several months now.

    ReplyDelete
  28. To answer 8:07:

    They're at the Crystal Palace just like Publishers, and EE's accross the USCP. Look for big news sometime before Thanksgiving.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Layoffs are coming. Watch out Journal News- you're square in the crosshairs. Come Christmas, there will be about 50 fewer employed there.
    Sign me- In The Know.

    ReplyDelete
  30. No doubt,Gannett history will repeat itself.
    The 3rd quarter finicial report was terrible.
    Therefore the layoffs will come in December just as year's past.
    I know many who actually are waiting anxiously to be able to draw the umemployment checks.
    They look forward to get away from Gannett so they can search for work and be paid to get the hell out of the Gannett pressure cooker.
    Chances are there are hundreds who feel the same way.
    Post here if you are one of them.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Here at Florida Today the morale is so low, who cares about how the place looks!
    I pick up after myself, do my work,get my check & leave hoping soon for a lay off so that I can get my life back in order THIS IS CHAOS!
    so hard to come and walk on egg shells everyday.
    The people that used to care- don't care anymore Bythe way, I also have a new leak over my desk, maybe the roof will fall in first!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Disney buys Mom's site Babble and related blogs for $45 million. WTF?

    ReplyDelete
  33. Count me in as killing time waiting for my layoff. Plan B is in place, just want the layoff so I can get as much TPP money from this company as I can. If they offered buyouts I'd volunteer now. Can't stand the F'n company.

    ReplyDelete
  34. 12:49pm...You must be one of those follow the leader sheeple. That's OK. You're allowed to be as unknowing as you choose.

    1pm... good point...probably right.

    1:12pm...You must work at my paper!

    6:28pm...There is no reason why digital and print can't coexist. Newspapers should go back to being what they once was and spin off the digital into it's own entity.

    ReplyDelete
  35. 9:44 has it right. They can't afford to fire anyone. If they do, they won't be able to rehire. Plus, firing someone will just create the appearance of more work for everyone else (even if the person who got fired was doing zero work), so it will hurt morale.
    The people in charge at each site have zero power. And the people in charge of them have so gutted the entire company that it is a laughingstock.
    We have no reason to try to "honor journalism" or whatever because they have devalued the word and profession so much.
    Don't try to be a hero. Don't try to go down with the ship.
    Me? I'm going to go sit a lifeboat, collect my paycheck and keep looking for a job on company time. It's what the company has taught me to do: Look out for myself and screw the customer.
    Anyone want to join me?

    ReplyDelete
  36. it's happening. the grim reaper is in the building.

    ReplyDelete
  37. FROM THE 'DO AS I SAY' DEPT.:

    What bloviating,tip-top editor at Cincinnati sent out a memo to the staff berating them for poor grammar in the paper and online -- and used poor grammar herself in that very memo?

    Carolyn, you lead by example.

    The only examples you set for those who work with you are for condescension, poor news judgment, belittling and fear.

    You must be so proud to spend your life being so miserable that you have to treat people this way. Why don't you try building people up instead of tearing them down? You might get better results.

    Sincerely,
    One of your underling inferiors

    ReplyDelete
  38. To: 11:20 a.m.

    Did you really expect more from Carolyn Wasburn? She has such a condescending attitude toward people when she is in meetings or walking around the newsroom. Her air of superiority is incredible, yet she daily shows how much she doesn't know.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Just like 9:44am, I also am just marking time and doing only what I must do....nothing extra, nothing beyond the absolute basics because I don't give a damn after what these bastards have done to me over so many years. I come to work on the precise stroke of starting time and leave when the second hand gets to quitting time. I don't answer any phone calls from work beyond working hours. Screw them...just waiting to get the f*** out and hoping I get laid off. My plan B is set and ready. All of you out there should do the same.

    ReplyDelete
  40. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  41. 10:28 -- I think getting laid off, although unjustified, was probably the best thing that could have happened. It subsidized my move to another part of the state and got me out of there before the entire thing implodes, which I believe it will. I could have used regular severance instead of TPP, because it shortens my unemployment time. Still, I don't have to deal with the ever-diminishing newshole, very questionable leadership, etc. Also, my chest pains have mainly disappeared since my layoff. Coincidence? I think not.

    ReplyDelete

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."

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.