Miami Herald moving out of Doral offices...

Gannett has a 125 million dollar interest payment due at the end of the month and then they need to make 50 million dollar payments quarterly. Management says it can sell 100 to 125 million dollars of real estate. But there is skepticism that Gannett has that much real estate left to sell.

 

I don't mind working from home, but my situation isn't universal. I'm blessed to have a home office. Had this been a decade ago, I would have been a 20-something working from the couch in my small apartment everyday and that would not have been ideal. Being a sports reporter helps. Even if life was normal, I really wouldn't need to be in the office anyways since my work is in the field. Any collaborative work that I need to accomplish with a co-worker can easily be done over Zoom/phone.

I miss seeing my friends and the buzz of the newsroom. I also like not spending money on gas and the nearby coffee shop. It all balances out.

 

I too have enjoyed working from home for the past three months (that ends on Friday, when the newsroom becomes the last group of employees required to be back in the building).

As a copy editor/page designer, the collaboration is better when we're all in the building together, especially on deadline ... but I see no reason why news or sports reporters need to be there.

We've discussed this before, but requiring everyone to physically be there seems more like a boss/employee trust issue, instead of lowering costs and more efficiency.

 

I miss the buzz in the newsroom.

But that disappeared about 12 years ago.

Pre-pandemic it was not unusual for me --- working in an office --- to spend 8 hours looking at Google document budgets, communicating by Slack or chat and doing my work without saying a word. Because I was usually working on papers hundreds or thousands of miles away.

 

my company’s phone system routes calls to personal cell phones. So you dial the central number, and the call automatically bounces to whoever’s up.

 

Ah, the buzz of the newsroom:
DAMMIT, IT'S TOO QUIET IN HERE. SOMEBODY FART OR SOMETHING!!!

 

There was always the one person who would complain it was too loud in the newsroom. Dude/honey, you're in the wrong business.

 

Avoid this like the plague. It's trash, and anyone who advocates an organization to use this is trash.

 

We haven't taken reports by phone for the last decade at least.

 

And you gave up shaving in protest?

 

Pick up the phone and make a call. Or do Zoom or FaceTime. Works just as well.

 

Exactly. All my coaches email results. And, yes, the onus is on them for mistakes. Of course it would help if they all had rosters on MaxPreps. But that’s asking too much.