Sunday, July 29, 2012

July 23-29 | Your News & Comments: Part 6

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32 comments:

  1. A large fight Thursday night with 3 agencies involved, then a shooting (maybe more?) in town, and NOTHING on our website about it? Have to watch the local TV to get anything about it. Guess we're not working weekends anymore.

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  2. Carried over from Part 5’s thread Anonymous said...

    Buchanan certainly deserves the criticism leveled at her. I've seen it first hand in her treatment of people, including a blow up she had over former editor Tom Callinan's organization of a hastily called staff meeting. Honestly, no one should ever be treated like that. She is rude, offensive and spends way too much time dabbling in the Information Center. A poisonous woman who replaced who filed the editor's job with an equally egocentric, poisonous leader who is always right and never open to suggestions.
    7/27/2012 3:02 PM

    In all sincerity, there’s a wealth of first-hand accounts about Buchanan’s deplorable treatment of employees from the OC level down (Callinan wasn’t the only VP to be abused by her...she even threw a pencil at one) yet Gannett knowingly looks the other way.

    Why?

    True, class leading organizations would have sent her packing long ago.

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  3. Brevard management has relented and dropped the price of the Sunday edition of Florida Today to $2 after raising the price to $3 in February. Slumping sale apparently did not help the bottom line as a major revenue generator?

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  4. 8:05, that sounds like any of the smaller Wisconsin papers. They're total jokes these days, and it's not even fair to call them "news"papers.

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  5. Adding to the observations from 9:40. Gannett doesn't care how Buchanan treats employees, because Gannett doesn't understand how she costs them MONEY, vs. having a competent leader who inspires respect and admiration. In other words, real leadership. But Gannett bosses would have sent her packing long ago if they knew how rudely she treats the public and potential clients. I've seen it with my own eyes and plenty of people here have told horror stories. It's even worse than the impression her disgusting doppelganger made on a national audience watching that Iowa debate.

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  6. 12:11...it's only for 3 specific stores and is supposed to end sometime in August.......unless you have other direct knowledge. Started around the end of May. Bad news is it hasn't helped sales in those 3 stores!

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  7. Did Bob Campbell get a package deal or lay off yet or do people still have to put up with this person?

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  8. Wow, those new guys in USAT sports sure know how to sell ads. Why, that Olympics pullout is just chock-full... of no ads. Gosh and golly, how are they ever going to meet that revenue goal with no ads? Of course, by that time, Sports management will have feathered their nests and moved on to another sucker.

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  9. 9:30, That's an on-the-mark assessment. An organization committed to excellence would never have promoted Buchanan into management in the first place. Her leadership abilities are nonexistent, and her presence is detrimental to the company. Those who might appear to be "loyal" to her are actually looking out for themselves and doing what it takes to survive and maybe even get a promotion. The Enquirer is one screwed-up business. The spin job Buchanan and Washburn did on that live chat was a real hoot. Nobody's buying the lie.

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  10. I don't fault the small papers' editorial too much. They had to give up staff to pay for the Design Center staff and their beach umbrellas - staff that typically didn't just do layout or just report or just shoot photos.

    The process follows the press room, the maintenance guys, the circ customer care, the composing room, the photo editors, the finance people and everyone who did more than their titles but less than the centralized bottomless money pits we ship our work off to now.

    We're still making more money than all other media in our city combined - but it's all put in an envelope and sent to Phoenix, Des Moines and McLean and GPS. More money than we ever paid our local people to do a better job, so that someone else can say they're saving money.

    The worst part is that Gannett did it better than any other chain. Still pales in comparison to what the independents provide their audiences, though.

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  11. As a now long-time outsider - but one who was there for a long time - I thumbed through USAT's Olympics tab yesterday. I didn't notice a single ad in it. Was that the plan? Really? No ads?!?

    Back in the day, we'd do 12 bonus sections during the Olympics - with 6-10 ad pages per day. Took in millions.

    Odd decision to put out that piece with nothing but circ revenue attached to it.

    Or - is success measured differently today?

    Gath

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  12. My local paper printed two copies of Mike Lopresti's commentary on the opening ceremony in the sports section today. Brilliant.

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  13. Is there a reliable free way to obtain monthly circulation numbers for my local paper? This is the paper that doubled their rates and dropped the pay wall to reveal, well not much. A week of news lumped together as though it was current. I can't believe there is anyone with half a brain paying for this stuff. It is almost unconscionable. Some of these articles look like they are shills, shouldn't I get paid to read this stuff?

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  14. 1:06AM, that's a great idea.
    Why don't you take out an ad in your local Gannett half-sized rag that you'll be glad to subscribe IF they pay you and see if you get an offer, hah!

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  15. Gath-Look at pages 6D & 7D. Wonderful, great color and a nice breakdown about some of the athletes. Who needs adds, adds only take up space. If USAT needs additional revenue they'll just "borrow" it from some of the Wisconsin papers. Isn't that the way USAT rolls? Always have and always will.

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  16. Love it or hate it, the fact is, the Gannett model of buying up local papers, slashing staff and sucking up their revenues to support USA Today and pay down debt worked brilliantly for 30 years. It was a huge success for stockholders and executives, even though it destroyed small town journalism across the nation.

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    Replies
    1. 10:33 let's get more dramatic. 20 years ago one reporter would have one or two bylines a week. Now the bug bad company wants four and you cry. The web killed print journalism. I remember hanging out with folks from the newsroom and they were whinnying that there was no way they were going to write for the web. Yea they got it!

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  17. Why are people constantly worried about what Bob Campbell is doing. He is doing the best he can with an ageing press crew and a maintenance staff that cant fix much.We are lucky he is still around to keep things running smoothly on the press, pre press, and mailroom. Knowledge is king "Bob is king ". Now get back to work and don't worry about Bob. Worry about yourselves.

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  18. who is Bob Campbell, a Production guy?

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  19. Speaking of Wisconsin, I thought the sites were going to beef up their websites after going to the paywalls. Tomorrow maybe? Next week? I see a photo gallery from July 4th on one site.

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  20. We were told we would add staff for passion topics and the paywall. So far, we continue to CUT staff -- not add.
    It's an absolute joke what they are expecting of us

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  21. 12:25 no he is certainly not a production guy. He is nobody.

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  22. Interesting read in today's Cinci Enquirer, where editor Carolyn "CarWash" Washburn explains the new format for newspaper (of which a prototype will be available at every public library branch in town for viewing!) news.cincinnati.com/ARTICLE/20120728/COL/307290013&Ref=AR

    "We showed readers the current and new print editions. People recall the ads about 20 percentage points higher in the new print edition than the current one."

    For which we are SOOOOOOO happy for you, Carolyn. Might any statistics be available on how well they recalled the EDITORIAL material?

    Oh, and get this: "Delivery times won’t change; you will still get your print edition by 5:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 7 a.m. on Sunday. The Cincinnati Enquirer deadlines actually will be later several days a week. The Kentucky Enquirer deadlines have been later than Cincinnati’s but will now be the same, with a midnight press start. We’ll make changes in staff work flow at night to deal with that so it will rarely have any impact on content."

    Oh, this explains EVERYTHING. Like how a Kentucky edition newspaper can be printed in Central Ohio (at the Columbus Dispatch) at midnite and still reach Northern Kentucky readers at 5:30 a.m. with absolutely no change in timeliness of news.

    Next up: How the tooth fairy and Easter bunny will make sure Cinci readers don't lose out on quality journalism.

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  23. So has anyone else been through the farce that is United Health Care's on site biometric screening? What a waste of time. Erroneous test readings, people who can barely speak English "advising" you how to deal with your results. No point asking any questions when you can barely comprehend the response. Can't wait to see how they'll use that information to raise your rates, dubbing you a "risk".

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  24. Made me laugh, 6:38.

    Washburn should be where she belongs. Deputy chief of the copy desk. No vision. No presence. No leadership skills.

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  25. Hey, man, stop railing on the Enquirer. They've got 150 journalists.

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  26. Damn right, 9:50 and 10:33! I camped at The USAT Lodge for 23 years and got paid way better than you, I could afford to live in an awesome home in the DC, and I traveled all over the world on your dime. You get to work harder, get sick and suffer, I get to work less and raise stronger offspring on your hard work. Survival of the smartest, dontcha know. Now go back to sulking and living in the nowhere that is Wisconsin.

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  27. FDL Reporter didn't update their website after Friday's Brewers trade of Greinke or have results of Friday's game on their site on Saturday. Guess they're running the website like the paper - Sunday through Friday only.

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  28. 11:59 gotta make me laugh King Bob
    ha ha ha!

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  29. 10:38 P.M. Truth be told, I don't think anyone looks at the Reporter for news. Regurgitated press releases and stale photo galleries, maybe.

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  30. Bob Cambell for VP Operations of GPS

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  31. Where are all the disgrunted VPs who hate Howard Griffin? You haven't posted lately. Maybe someday you will grow the hell up and move on. About time upper management was eliminated. Too much dead wood in management and there still is. Welcome to the ranks of the forgotten.

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