Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Feb. 3-9 | Your News & Comments: Part 2

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50 comments:

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    1. Seems more than likely based on the financial results released this morning...

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    2. That sounds like something from a fortune cookie. Details?

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    3. I expect to provide more details closer to Saturday.

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    4. Loose lips sink ships.

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    5. css sales and analyst positions are being eliminated

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    6. Thanks, Jim. I'm sure the detractors will turn out in force soon.

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    7. Okay, it's now closer to Saturday — how about a little hint?

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  2. For this blog or the Big "G" Little "annett"?

    I'll guess, the G.

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  3. OMG - this is what passes the test these days in Gannett journalism? Stumbled on this over at Romanesko and couldn't believe my eyes! Who can defend this?

    http://www.freep.com/article/20140126/FEATURES01/301260033/kovanis-cleavage-poll-good-or-bad

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    1. Charles Everett2/04/2014 9:51 PM

      And the Free Press certainly heard about it on Facebook.

      Any news site that promotes such a poll is condoning violence against women. I say that as an industry veteran whose supervisors were mostly female.

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    2. Kudos to the Freep for smashing the gods of political correctness and promoting our common humanity over empty ideology.

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    3. Lighten up Charles.

      I'm all for questioning the journalistic validity of the piece, and wondering how this might affect the perception of the paper on more serious issues. But to say it's "condoning violence against women" is nonsense. Each of the women pictured had the choice to wear a more modest outfit, and all of them chose to wear a garment that revealed a bit of chest. This was done intentionally and for titillation alone.

      I'll betcha none of the women pictured, or the person who wrote the article, or the editor who assigned it, or any rational adult, believes the piece is supportive of "violence against women."

      Charles, your politics are showing.

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    4. Charles Everett2/05/2014 9:19 AM

      This has nothing to do with politics. It has everything to do with rampant sexism.

      The major media love to promote the sexual sell in everything. Lots of publications use nearly naked cheerleaders as clickbait. USA Today is one of them. While these publications promote T&A they get scooped on big stories -- the NSA, for example.

      Anyone who loves cleavage polls has the same mentality and morality as the Kardashian family.

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    5. And now HuffPost Woman has picked up the story. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/04/free-press-cleavage-poll_n_4725538.html?ir=Women

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

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    7. Charles is right. It is sexism and it objectifies women. It is psychic violence.

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

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    9. Psychic violence. Like Everett, I'm clutching my psychic pearls.

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    10. 1:12 removed? Jim, your politics are showing too.

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  4. Get out now with your dignity intact

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  5. I'm waiting for the "Best Package" package. I vote for Jon Hamm.

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  6. Lafayette Indiana, NEXT on the list for print operations to shutter, Indy will pick up the work.

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    1. This has been guessed at here for months. Provide proof or a source.

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    2. Bill Bolger will be at your site soon, why don't you ask him and Mr I don't know anything Matthews.

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    3. The word is shutter and the entire staff will be riffed, too bad , but it is a sloppy operation and the managers in charge don't have a clue how to run a production plant. So long to the brothers in charge..what a joke

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  7. RIF lists are being finalized.

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    1. This seems to be the case. Our EE has indicated as much without (obviously) coming right out and saying it.

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    2. Lafayette, LA told you this couple of posts back. If I get one to get away from this place it will be like receiving the gold from the Olympics. The queen has taken us to the dogs but I must say for some reason I have not seen her this week. Maybe she is gone? Morale here is at an all time low and no one here that can do something about it cares. There is no one we can talk with. My manager has made it clear to us that she does whatever the queen tells her to do. The competition will soon dry us up and then all of us will get a RIF. Where will they send queen Judi to destroy next?

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    3. Wisconsin in prime for some cuts! Word in each of the two properties Green Bay and Appleton is there’s a plan to further consolidate news and advertising. Eliminating either Genia Lovett, Publisher in Appleton or Scott Johnson, pub in GB, no need for two pubs 30 miles apart! Wisconsin will follow the LA model with the regional editor. Dan Flannery has been the regional editor for some time now, Mike Knuth, EE in GB will be gone. If Scott Johnson stays as pub, he’ll also serve as the AD and John Rowe, AD in GB will be gone as WI has Steven Broas VP of Adv in Appleton. Between GB and Appleton they are very top heavy, it’s time to eliminate the redundancy. Also, they will be cutting their Packers ticket/beverage expense, (well over $200k in expense savings where they do not get an ROI) eliminating the luxury suite and all

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    4. All you need to do is look at Shreveport to see why the one publisher for multiple sites does not work. Judi may be a lot of things, but she is not someone who can multi-manage very well. Shreveport is dying a slow death.

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    5. Gina will survive if she wants to because she heads all 10 Wis papers, and she will protect her favorite boys like Flannery (EE for Wis) and the Internet guy in Appleton who was ME in Wausau, The rest are ripe for cutting. I can hardly wait.

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    6. People in Appleton have been walking around on eggshells for a couple of weeks now wondering if they're next to be shown the door.

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    7. I would think you might see more of Fond du Lac and Oshkosh decisions being made in Appleton as well.

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    8. One of the reasons they’re on eggshells is because Genia isn’t a leader; she’s in way over her head

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    9. She is the only one impressed with herself. Appleton and the rest of Wi papers have gone downhill - in profits, circulation, quality and morale - since she took over. Time for her to pursue other interests or move up in Gannet Land.

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  8. with the Tucson shutdown, does that mean the JOA is expired?

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    1. The shutdown of the website has no bearing on the JOA.

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

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    3. A partnership jointly owned by Gannett and Lee handled printing and other non-editorial functions for both Tucson newspapers until Saturday. Under that joint operating agreement, the two companies shared costs, profits and losses.

      Collins said that while "it is true the closing of the Citizen is an irreparable harm," the state didn't prove any violation to the 1970 Newspaper Preservation Act, which created such JOAs as an exemption to federal antitrust law.

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    4. As a practical matter, given the state of the newspaper business, antitrust enforcement would be pointless, with or without NPA.

      Tucson was only the nation's second JOA, and Congress enacted NPA specifically to overturn a SCOTUS decision against Tucson. Those were the days.

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    5. I accidentally removed 7:11's comment, which said: "There is no JOA in Tucson, it is a partnership."

      Now, here's my response to that:

      In Gannett's annual 10-K report to federal regulators last year, the company said that after the Tucson Citizen's shutdown, "The company retained its online site and 50% partnership interest in the JOA, which provides service to the remaining non-Gannett publication in Tucson."

      So, as of February 2013, the JOA still existed. Gannett will filed a new 10-K later this month, which could have more up-to-date information on the status of the JOA.

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    6. For all intents it's no longer a JOA as most people understand the term, i.e., independent editorial operations sharing business functions within the safe harbor of the NPA.

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    7. 'The term “joint newspaper operating arrangement” means any....arrangement entered into by two or more newspaper owners for the publication of two or more newspaper publications....Provided...that editorial policies be independently determined.'

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  9. RIF- please be me! I would volunteer but then there goes the severance and unemployment

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  10. Please RIF me so I can set up a website about discriminatory practices and collect info for a class action age discrimination lawsuit.

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  11. Ask your Buddy Mr. Bolger, But I am sure he will not come clean on this until the day he makes the announcement.

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  12. March 26 will be the last day of work for many. Good luck with your futures.

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  13. Charles Everett2/06/2014 10:40 AM

    Gannett may be getting a small windfall soon. In New Jersey, a state judge is being urged to order a town to pay out $542,000 for stonewalling a public records request that the Courier News made several years ago.

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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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