Gannett to close Nashville design studio

I don't know if you guys have seen a lot of the print product recently, but they recently went through some templating changes that make 95 percent of the pages look like complete shit. The section fronts can be semi-decent, but everything else is a cookie-cutter approach, with pancaked stories and jumps stacked up on the inside pages. I've seen lots of 4-column, 2-deck heds, even some 6-column, 2-deck heds, lots of gray and nothing attractive.

Can't fault the Design Studio people, as they have a shit-ton of work to do (and even more now) and it's a matter of survival. They have to do the designs, the story trimming (finishing), wire work, and I think they got loaded on their plate things that the local papers used to do, like weather maps and temperatures and busy work like that.

There have been deadline changes that have gone along with the templating at most of the papers, done solely with the goal of killing print and forcing the sites to be digitally focused. It's a shitty decision, to give up things like council meetings, late-breaking news, and any sports event that happens after 2 p.m. I'd have more respect if they just killed the print product and completely waved the white flag.

But the fuck-sticks still realize most of their revenue comes from print. So they will whittle away, alienate more and more of their customers, then whenever the time comes, throw up their hands and say, "We can't compete."

 

Holy shit, what douchebaggery. FUCK that guy.

 

I've been in that boat. It truly sucks.
The designers still care about the work. Nobody else does at this point.

 

I don't know what the scarier thought is - that's a lot more extra work coming, or maybe it isn't a lot of extra work.

 

The scarier thought is this: Once the owners lay off another round, they treat the remaining workers like shit, even as they dump more work on the workers' shoulders. It's insane. Those who are left should not be abused further. In a better world, they would be thanked profusely each day for coming back to ... you know ... awww, fuck it.

 

Exactly.
Just what I thought ... again. Just fucking kill the print product, Gannett. You know, right now we are at the point we're just as a business ripping off the old people who just must get a newspaper. I mean these people are so hooked on routine that they cannot envision life without a morning paper (even with all the delivery problems) and they will continue subscribing until the end. I mean to get rid of this entire plant? 88 people? You said it all. It's going to be a four page local newspaper wrapped around USA Today until they get brave and finally kill the print product. I tell you what. The last folks standing will be the 5-10 newspapers that actually stayed the course and stayed loyal to print and made a modest profit for mom and pop owners. They'll be the last ones standing, continuing to make a good nuff living while letting 95 percent of all newspapers resemble TV stations and radio stations online yet have no advertising to speak of. Listen to Fredrick before it is too late, people. My IQ is so high I've been considered the real Rainman: You suits who want to be TV stations with your videos and radio stations with your podcasts are amateurs compared to real TV stations and radio stations. You are newspapers will brilliant writers. Embrace that before it is too late. LOL LOL LOL. Yeah right.
In concusion ... Newspaper companies should immediately sell the newspaper once they hit the jackpot on the actual newspaper building and the land it is set on. Sell the property, give the CEO his 50 million dollars from the sale of the property, then sell the newspaper. It's the last way to make money for the CEOs: Sell the property. Once you've raked in the profits from the sale of the building, sell the newspaper for pennies. The CEO and his family will thank you as they sail away on their yacht.

 

Say, Freddy, was that a conclusion or a concussion? Please advise ...

 

Good catch. Do you agree with Fredrick's take?

 

Dunno, but I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

 

Maybe they offer a few of their Nashville people a chance to move to the other design studios, but it's safe to say most of those jobs are gone and the other studios will have to do more with less in the short- to medium-term. Putting it bluntly: The remaining design studios soon will degenerate into GateHouse-style sweatshops, if they aren't already there.

In the longer term, the print products will shrink and the remaining studios' workforces will be sliced away gradually like meat in a deli until Gannett finally eliminates print completely.

 

To be fair, with the shrinking width of newspapers (from 78 picas when I started to 59ish today), a 4-column headline today is a 3-column headline of a few years ago, so a 2-line headline isn't all that wordy or ugly.

 

I know that Gannett did a semi-stealth reduction of print frequency for some papers in Louisiana and Mississippi ... am guessing more of that is on the horizon.