Wednesday, June 05, 2013

June 3-9 | Your News & Comments: Part 2

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66 comments:

  1. Gosh, only one single ad in USA Today Sports. For Viagra. Wondering if this was paid or a trade, Mr. Beusse?

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    1. Wednesdays are always the least popular day for advertisers in the paper; not early nor late enough in the week for business travel or weekend reading. But these days, it's fairly common to not see anything in Sports, let alone the rest. Especially nothing dynamically new and different than before this new crew came in. What's really glaring is Beusse hasn't replaced the daily Espn-bought ad unit that he arrogantly and famously kicked out as task #1. (Cause, you know, why the heck would we want Espn buying a few million dollars of ad space these days when we're Usa Today, for christ's sake).
      Today's a rather big sports day with the NBA Finals starting...any ads in there for that? Plenty of time to get ahead of that, guys.

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  2. Just overheard someone at a temp agency saying how he was laid off from the Gannett paper here half a year ago, and how he had to sell his car to survive. Gannett really has no business running a site called Career Builder. They are the career (and livelihood) destroyer.
    I was also laid off recently after many, many years at the same paper. I'm at the temp agency for my wife, not myself. Personally I'm trying to turn this betrayal into a positive thing by going back to school; something I should have done years ago. There is life after Gannett, just not for everyone apparently.

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    1. It's true I was laid off too but I think the proper term is terminated through no fault of my own. Laid off is a term that implies they are planning on hiring me back after a slowdown improves. They replaced my job by outsourcing therefor my job was terminated with no plan on bringing us back. I am being supported by my wife or I don't know what I would be doing now. Good luck with your schooling.

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    2. This was the Evan Ray plan of getting rid of people even if they are doing a good job and helping the company. He couldn't let one paper do well while doing it differently than at other papers where their evil plan was already in place.

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    3. Gannett has all sorts of "proper terms," 3:28 PM -- consolidated, contracted, laid off, terminated, position eliminated, right sizing, reduction. HR uses whatever term is convenient at the moment to avoid lawsuits while management does their usual duck and hide.

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  3. You haters disgust me. Get out of Gannett and take your hate elsewhere.

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    1. Nobody breeds hate quite like Gannett. It's astounding, really.

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    2. It wasn't me who wrote this bullshit:

      At Gannett, you can build skills and knowledge while having fun at one of the best companies in the world. We have a variety of programs that can help get you started or take your career to the next level. For example, Gannett’s Talent Development Program was created to recruit, hire and train some of the nation’s top graduating college seniors annually. During the 10-week program, participants get on-the-job training and the opportunity to learn about the company and themselves as they develop new skills and talents. Through Gannett’s Mentoring Program, you can learn from the best. The program helps employees’ professional development by offering positive interaction with other managers. Mentors and mentees are paired across disciplines and, in some cases, across divisions, to explore opportunities and challenges together.

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    3. 2:47 must be a Gannett employee who thinks he is irreplaceable.
      He is loyal and loves Gannett even though thousands of good people have thrown out like so much trash.
      Wait a while, you too will face the wrath of Gannett's sharp axe and you too will be a "hater".

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    4. 3:03, I know. Wouldn't it be great if that were the reality? At my site similar programs were very, very exclusive; very clique-like. Even so, they remained bullshit. No interaction, no pairing, no "across disciplines." And yet with all those plaques on the wall for those who were anointed, they tossed wholesale everyone out to the gutter anyway. Gotta love irony.

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  4. The talent development program is just so wrong. It worked so much better when local sites can hire local college kids who might actually want to work at the site. From what I have see, the corp. program hires prima donnas - often with some sort of connection - who think they should start at the top.

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    1. 4:38 what a ridiculous post. It's a fantastic program that brings bright, digitally focused talent into the company. You are just a stuck in the past sourpuss.

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    2. 6:42 PM, I fear it is you with the ridiculous post. The priority is now cheap, easy-to-get, easy-to-use and easy-to-rid employees. Bright, digitally focused talent is not on anyone's recruitment list -- that is painfully obviuos.

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    3. 7:19 is correct.
      My site brought in interns only because they would be a cheap body. No training ,no possibility of being hired.Just a cheap employee.

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  5. Is there nothing GOOD going on at Gannett?

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    1. New trash cans

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    2. The best day at Gannett is the first day of the job you start after leaving!

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    3. Plenty. A lot of us really like our careers. We generally do our jobs, hang with our co-workers and live our lives, instead of being the miserable wretches who come here seeking validation day after day.

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    4. Everything and anything or something or nothing Maryam Banikarim dreams up to move the business forward.

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    5. Gee, 9:28, I wonder how lots of folks became "miserable wretches" working for Gannett. Such a mystery, these malcontents! Grow a brain stem. Oh, wait. That's not encouraged with lockstep corporate la-la land. Yet it still doesn't matter. Congratulations for still having a job, but your career at Gannett will be pink mist regardless of your cheerleading.

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    6. No, it never has been a good place to work. Full of back biters and butt kissers. The good people get screwed.

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  6. The only thing good going on for me at Gannett is when I go home and don't have to think about this miserable company until my next shift.

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    1. I love waking up in the early morning before the sun comes up — a requirement of my many, many years with Gannett, now a habit — and not having to go into the toxic environment of one of their properties. Aside from the wife, losing my job there was the best thing that ever happened to me. No more high blood pressure. No more biting my tongue. No more degrading insults from managers.

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  7. I really wish Gannett would fire me and set up my papers so that I can collect unemployment.

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    1. At one West paper that is probably said by 90% of the employees every day! Can't think of anyone who likes working there due to prima dona management. Though they like what they do as a journalist. What goes around comes back to you and can't wait to hear of the prima dona's demise.

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  8. My site has become a major-league Gannett crap hole. We have to shoot video of the athletes in action while keeping our normal notes on the games we cover.
    God, please make Gannett fire me!!! God, please make Gannett fire me!!!!

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    1. Shouldn't be hard -- just list your name here. I'm sure someone could take care of the rest for you.

      Do yourself (and all of us) a favor. With your attitude, we don't want you here anymore. Some of us still find value in what we do.

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    3. Who's "us" and "we?" List your name, Anonymous. And those of all the "us's" and "we's." I'm sure Gannett would love to know you post on this blog.

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  9. I never found the Newseum to be classy and neither does this writer:
    http://www.rosenblumtv.com/2013/06/thats-entertainment-or-news-or-both/

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  10. 9:26 p.m.: Too bad Gannett does not value us. More and more work and fewer and fewer raises. Salary increases are microscopic here. Think of Martore cashing out $54 million in stock money when you are out in the freezing cold shooting video and taking notes for your story at the same time. You'll join me in wishing for a place on the unemployment line.

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  11. What's the scoop in Des Moines? Haven't heard who the new publisher is.

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  12. Brad Robertson is a shoe in for Des Moines.

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    1. Who is he?

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    2. If he's a shoe in then why isn't he already the publisher?

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    3. Brad was the VP of Advertising in DSM. Others can speak to his abilities and leadership. I'm skeptical.

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    4. He's a prima dona know it all.
      He walks around with his nose in the air as though he's better than everyone else.I worked under him in the midwest group rarely even said good morning unless you were a publisher.

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    5. Ha, Ha, Ha!!!! Oh I needed that.

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    6. You heard it here first Randy Austin

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    7. brad robertson started Gannett Local, the phone room that runs Deal Chicken. now located in Phx.

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    8. Don't forget his underwhelming performance in Burlington.

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  13. A swift sole in your backside maybe!

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  14. Richard Michem6/06/2013 7:19 AM

    Does anybody know if little Al, will has been filed yet?

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  15. Gannett fails to break even One of the Obama Scandals. Well, if it is Thursday there must be a new Obama scandal.

    But one thing is for sure, whatever that scandal is, you can bet Gannett will be playing catch up and not carrying the glory of breaking a story about a major White House scandal.

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    1. USA Today's New Motto "Yesterday's News Tomorrow"

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  17. OMG! Usa Today is even botching the ripoff of competitor's. Cannot beleive how clunky and stitled their NSA/PRISM coverage is. Fucking sorry ass job.

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    1. From the USA story: "On one side, the White House, bipartisan leaders in Congress and former George W. Bush administration officials defended such snooping and note it's been going on for years. The phone tracking dates back to 2006, when USA TODAY first reported that the National Security Agency was secretly collecting phone call records of tens of millions of Americans."

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    2. I was wondering how and when USAT was going to acknowledge that past reporting. There's a complicated history there.

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    3. Refresh our memories, please.

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    4. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm

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  18. The Indianapolis Star gets the Lipstick on the Pig Award for today's 110th anniversary BS Fest. Photos, videos, social media posts about themselves and their esteemed history - with not one word about the carnage of livelihoods lost and quality sacrificed by overzealous job cuts.

    So much for journalistic objectivity.

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    1. What the heck are "overzealous" job cuts in an industry that's half the size it was not long ago?

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    2. Overzealous job cuts are when individual Gannett papers terminate so many people they have trouble doing the work they have left... and they admit it.

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    3. 12:49 PM - LOL. And yet miraculously they have unlimited free time to waste here!

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  19. I got out a month ago. Tired of the budget and staff cuts and pressure to do more with fewer people and inferior equipment and training. I miss journalism. I don't miss the crappy deadlines and working conditions -- or the constant threat of more cuts and furloughs, while the suits collect millions in salary, bonuses and stock options.

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    1. I got out a year ago for much the same reasons. I miss the publishing business and my old coworkers. I would go back if Gannett sold the property to local investors who would rebuild the local newspaper.

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    2. 8:11 AM: That's the deal perfectly described. I miss my profession badly. But not what Gannett turned it into.

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    3. For the umpteenth time, Gannett is not responsible for the demise of the newspaper business.

      It just speaks volumes that so many putative journalists don't know which end is up when it comes to their own livelihoods.

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    4. 12:38, please see above.

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    5. 12:38 Keep telling yourself that.

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  20. SPAMBOT ABOVE!

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

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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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