Sunday, November 03, 2013

Oct. 28-Nov. 3 | Your News & Comments: Part 4

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.)

38 comments:

  1. The "Butterfly" might landing at the APP soon, mandatory staff meeting called for Friday about the "transformation" of the news room, excuse me, the information center.Will we hold a moment of silence for content evolution first?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. probably going to finally fess up about the building being sold ... pack up! you're all "mobile journalists"!!!

      Delete
    2. How long did "content evolution" last? Six months? The content seems to be constantly "evolving" at my site. We recently had another market study/survey of some sort to try to define our target audiences. Seemed like a rehash of the previous study. Hope you'll post more when you find out, 3:08 pm.

      Delete
    3. Content Evolution never even got to the first review period here. They busted my ass about putting the plan together. The whole Gannett corporate world had to sign off on this grand plan. Then they never came back and asked a single question about it. They have moved on to deal with whatever their next crisis is.

      Delete
    4. Content Evolution was the Passion Topics initiative, right?

      Delete
    5. Passion Topics and Target Audiences.

      Delete
    6. CE came after Passion topics, but did include target audiences, all of which were oddly enough, only the audiences "they" determined to have disposable income to spend. $eniors with Gold ($ added) was one of my favorites. Apparently those seniors at the local food pantry didn't matter to the "media solution" company. @8:10 they have never concealed the fact the building is up for sale, especially when real estate and office furniture recycling types are walking around the building. As to the MOJO idea, did you ever try working on CCI by remote? You can't. It pauses every time you type a word.

      Delete
  2. How are y'all spending your "fall back" hour tonight? (Keep it clean.)

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

      Delete
  3. Number of ads in the Saturday USA Today news section of Post-Crescent.

    Zero.

    ReplyDelete
  4. lead story on arizona republic web site is again about gay rights, way to go randy, you sweetheart !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What is your problem?

      JIm, I'm surprised you let personal attacks stay in your blog.

      Delete
    2. How is that a personal attack?

      Delete
  5. Corporate's quota for videos has some community news sites really reaching for subjects. I've just watched a nearly three-minute video where an editor is gamely providing a rundown of what's going to appear in the weekend editions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lemme guess ... mycentraljersey.com?

      Delete
  6. Former building housing the Marshfield News-Herald in Wisconsin sold to the city along with a neighboring building for $75,000. Both buildings to be demolished by the city for more parking. Gannett's original asking price was $259,900. Worked there briefly years ago before Gannett came in, gutted the staff and sucked it dry. The place used to have a full printing press and a fair-sized staff. Another sorry chapter in the history of Gannett is written.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Correction: A chapter in the history of newspaper obsolescence.

      Delete
  7. 8:15 AM…I truly understand. I worked there prior to Gannett when all 3 papers, MNH, SPJ and DT had their own presses and Circulation was 14,000-15,000+ at each paper. Then came Gannett in 2000 and now, well do I really need to say?

    ReplyDelete
  8. FYI, Gannett did decimate the staff at the three papers, but Thompson, not Gannett, stopped the printing operations in Wisconsin Rapids and Marshfield.

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

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    5. You and other posters can continue writing comments that include the words "flush" and "boom," etc.

      But I've been removing them all, so you might want to consider another tactic.

      Delete
  9. That pit in your stomach the night before a Monday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 9:24, you are so right. Dread.

      Delete
    2. I resorted to taking Ambien on Sunday nights when I went to bed just to shut off my mind. Now that I've left my Gannett property I have no need for the sleep aid as all the stress and uncertainty is long gone.

      Delete
    3. Probably more for your co-workers now that you're gone.

      Delete
  10. In the report Jim posted, how does the Asbury Park Press manage to have some 20,000 fewer customer accounts than they have in circulation? Are the rest given to homeless shelters for those displaced by Hurricane Sandy?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Interesting tidbit from AP story on Obamacare's rollout:

    But cost control provisions, mainly a tax on expensive insurance plans that starts in 2018, are converging with the long-standing push by employers to tame health costs. Some companies have raised deductibles and copayments for employees, saying they need to scale back to avoid tangling with the coming tax. Others are giving employees a fixed amount of money to shop in private health insurance markets that resemble those created by the law.

    Expect cutbacks to be blamed on the law. Sorting out whether that's warranted may be difficult.

    "What the Affordable Care Act did was give companies a very convenient excuse to say 'Oh, gosh, we really have to get serious about insurance costs,'" said Paul Keckley, an independent health benefits consultant. "I think there's a bit of a bob and weave. The ACA was a convenient excuse for doing what (corporate) human resources departments have been calculating to do for years."

    Sound familiar?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Expect cutbacks to be blamed on the law. Sorting out whether that's warranted may be difficult.

      Hardly difficult, that is unless you really believe millions of people can be provided with health care for zero additional costs.

      Hint: They can’t.

      Sort of like the B.S. Obama spewed when he incessantly ranted that people could also keep their health plans AND doctors they liked. Period.

      And, what did this industry do. It shrugged.

      Small businesses and others that support this company via their ad dollars won't as they'll be cutting those expenditures to pay higher insurance premiums that the ACA now demands.

      Delete
  12. I am not a conspiracy nut, but I do believe, that ACA is the forerunner for something bigger in the years to come.
    I think, that after most or all private companies dumps employee healthcare insurance, that it is the intend of the current government to make ACA into a single payer system.
    I actually think, that this will be an excellent idea, both for the consumers as well as for the employers (like Gannett). The cost of providing healthcare for the employees has skyrocketed in the last many years, and with a single payer system, hordes of billing clerks and advisers at local providers offices and HMO's will no longer be needed, and thus cutting a lot of the cost.
    Remember, when a private company is providing healthcare service, it becomes a business. If the government does it (local, state or federal) it becomes a service without the need of showing a profit.

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

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
  13. Post-Crescent managing editor writes column asking for reader submssions for story ideas. And then lists all the editors phone numbers ... Hmmm.... not enough reporters to cover the beats properly?

    ReplyDelete
  14. I used to love coming to work for Gannett. Now i simply grit my teeth and endure the day in, day out b.s. that goes on. Im at the sinking flagship, and if its this bad here, I can just imagine how shitty things are at the community papers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's always been shitty here at Indy.

      Delete
  15. Sunday Life section in The Times of Shreveport has become a joke, unless you buy the paper for photos of society parties and snapshots from readers. One page of Scene and Heard was tolerable because there were decent lifestyle stories but now you get a story on front you may or may not be interested in, a ton if photos and advice columns. A throw away section. Oh for the days of Kathie Rowell or Judy Christie ... The gal who's in charge now is so in over her head. But, apparently editor is OK with that.

    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.