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Monday, February 03, 2014
33 comments:
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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Gannett pulls plug on Tucson Citizen, again
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/013114_citizen/gannett-pulls-plug-tucson-citizen-again/
Four and a half years after the press of the Tucson Citizen rolled for the final time, the final employee of what became a blogging site was laid off Friday. Newspaper chain Gannett announced that the website would become an archive, letting go sportswriter Anthony Gimino (for the second time) and shutting down the site.
Gannett closed the Citizen newspaper in May 2009, but kept on a shoestring staff who administered an open-to-all blogging site to keep the U.S. Justice Department off the company's back.
Mark Evans, a former assistant city editor for the newspaper, served as the site's administrator until leaving to head up Inside Tucson Business last September.
With a phone call Friday, Gimino was laid off by Gannett for a second time. He was a sportswriter for the print newspaper from 2004-2009, and then began writing for the online version of the Citizen when Gannett received a grant to pay for a part-time reporter. He later moved to a full-time position, helping Evans corral the site's stable of bloggers while continuing to report.
When Evans departed, Gimino was left to handle the reins alone.
Neither Gimino nor Evans were surprised by the move to shut down the site — nor were other former employees of the newspaper.
"I'm disappointed but not surprised," Evans said Friday. "The site's only purpose was to exist."
When the Citizen newspaper was publishing, the partnership was supervised by the Justice Department under a Joint Operating Agreement — an exemption from anti-trust laws allowed by the Newspaper Preservation Act.
The last editor of the newspaper, Jennifer Boice, said Friday that the decision to keep a website operating was a move to "placate the Justice Department" by providing "an editorial voice." Months of negotiations with federal authorities preceded the January 2009 announcement that the newspaper would be sold or be closed down by Gannett.
A call to Kate Marymont, Gannett's senior vice president for news, was not returned Friday. Justice Department officials with knowledge of the case were said to be "in a meeting" Friday, and did not respond the phone and email requests for information.
In a terse statement posted on the Citizen website, Marymont said, ""We are pleased to continue tucsoncitizen.com as an important community resource for Tucsonans who want to research the history and traditions of their city."
The post, which replaced every page on the Citizen site Friday, said a free archive of stories dating back to 1993 "will be available in several days."
The Citizen's press made its final run for the Saturday, May 16, 2009, edition. The paper printed its first page for Saturday, Oct. 15, 1870.
The last person to hold the title of "publisher" for the Citizen was Michael Chihak, who resigned in 2008 (the same period that Gannett began active discussions about closing the newspaper).
"It's always a loss to the community when a viable source of news and information goes away," Chihak said Friday on learning the site had been shut down.
"The Citizen was part of Tucson for so long, for 144 years," said Chihak, now the news director at Arizona Public Media.
More on Gannett's "benign neglect" of the site, and the fate of the newspaper's archive, at http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/013114_citizen/gannett-pulls-plug-tucson-citizen-again/
The South Park operation under which the Citizen fell, along with the Arizona Daily Star, is a partnership between national newspaper chains Gannett Inc. and Lee Enterprises, with each holding a 50 percent share.
I'm sorry to hear about Tucson. But there is good news in Nashville.Our director of marketing and communications has asked us to post this on our social media sites. This is the facebook version, promoting our ad to air during the Super Bowl: The Tennessean is excited to be advertising during the Super Bowl. Here is a special preview just for you!
ReplyDeletewww.tennessean.com/catspot. #RocktheCatSpot
Now that is hysterical, and so the after Gary Watson Gannett.
DeleteThis will be going up against some of the best TV commercials of the year,
DeleteAmong all that. will viewers remember this one? I doubt it.
And if they do, it might not be very favorably..
Stupidest spot ever. And I LIKE cats!
DeleteWhatever Marymount is being paid is way too much. A complete non entity.
ReplyDeleteMarymont. Read. Learn.
DeleteNo. Reason. To bother. Gannett executives are about sel preservation.
DeleteAre the USA Today pages that run in several of Gannetts Sunday papers done specially for Sunday or are they rerun from the past weeks USA Today?
ReplyDeleteWow, what a way to target potential subscribers -- using the GannettBlog. Seriously, there are ads promoting subscribing to the Asbury Park Press on the GannettBlog. Hilarious. Freaking genius!
ReplyDeleteIn all likelihood, you're seeing those ads because someone previously searched for APP subscriptions on your computer.
DeleteNope. Just visit the website for stories periodically. Have not and will not ever subscribe.
Delete3:54 if you read their stories that explains why you are seeing the advertisement.
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ReplyDeleteGo Broncos!
ReplyDeleteWhoops.
DeleteThat was a big, old can of Whoop-ass!
DeleteIn our Sunday paper (Montgomery) was a full page ad about changes coming on 2/9/14. There was also an editorial from the editor about the changes. Although he mentions beefed up local news as well as government and features, every other item mentioned partnering and content with USAT. Should be interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest story out of Super Bowl 48 is not the game or the overhyped commercials. It's the horrible travel conditions: Overcrowded train platforms, not enough trains or buses, people forced to wait for hours on end in a police-state setting. NJ.com, NorthJersey.com and New York City TV were all on top of the story. What does Gannett New Jersey do? Carry on as if nothing happened. Unacceptable and unprofessional!
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure what newspapers you’re looking at, but the Asbury Park Press’s front page was all about the super bowl and the train problems. The Newark Star ledger had a full page photo of a junky actor that overdosed.
DeleteA junky actor that overdosed. Swell. That junky actor was one of the best actors of the last 20 years. You idjit.
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DeleteThere is no call to engage in personal insults here and call somebody else an idiot, not matter how cutely you spell the word or how much you disagree with that person's post.
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DeleteHey Charles, regardless of what you consider a police like setting. Lighten up, Better to be safe than sorry.Do you honestly think that people, didn't believe their would be delays? Would you rather have reported a major incident, like in Boston? Are you that impatient that you can't wait a few hours? These are the times we live in: Wake Up ! Totally insignificant story to cover delays, that any person with common sense, can rationalize would happen.
ReplyDeleteThe trains to and from the Super Bowl were operated by NJ Transit -- a state government agency that answers only to Gov. Chris Christie. Most everyone knows what he has been up to lately. The only people who don't know are those who rely only on Gannett-owned media.
DeleteAnd I take it that you would prefer US Army soldiers on American soil forcing innocent people into their homes at gunpoint. That's what happened in Boston after the bombing.
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DeleteThere's more going on in Nashville than a guy dressed in a cheeky cat costume and dancing ....
ReplyDeleteA parody Twitter account, The Fake Tennessean (@FakeTennessean) has been posting often-hilarious (and usually accurate) barbs at the newspaper since launching last week.
Some examples:
Make sure to check our Obit pages today to see how many subscribers we lost .
Visit our website for a photo gallery of Peyton Manning's greatest losses.
We had to put 2/3 of our staff on furlough to afford that Super Bowl commercial.
I wonder: Have any other Gannett properties been so parodied or is the Tennessean a special case?
No, unless you count the site you are now reading, which can come across as self-parody.
DeleteDarn. I wanted to read more, but it looks like the account has already been pulled.
Delete