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Mike Reed Sets Goals for New Gannett

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Readallover, Jan 19, 2021.

Page 11 of 84
  1. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    Holy shit.
    Apparently this is the front of the weekend edition of USA Today. It's a four-page advertising wrap for, near as I can surmise, some Netflix show coming out soon. It has "Advertisement" at the top, but it is wrapped around the rest of the paper so that this looks like A1.
    I haven't seen this myself in the wild. One of our carriers brought it in thinking it was real, and even I had to do a double take on it. God only knows who else will never pick up on it as an ad.

    060421-USA-Today-1.jpg
     
    Batman, Jun 4, 2021
    #121
  2. Woody Long

    Woody Long Well-Known Member

    Gotta pay the hedge funds their dividends...
     
    Woody Long, Jun 4, 2021
    #122
  3. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    I wonder if hyrbrid babies count for mainstreaming points for Gannett's Real Life, Real News 2021 contest for its Local Information Centers?
     
    Baron Scicluna, Jun 4, 2021
    #123
    dixiehack and Batman like this.
  4. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    Maybe this is Gannett's new employment initiative. Get rid of the rest of the paid newsroom staff and replace them with hybrid babies grown in Gannett labs.
     
    Batman, Jun 4, 2021
    #124
    I Should Coco, PaperDoll, Tarheel316 and 2 others like this.
  5. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    Exciting times!
     
    Baron Scicluna, Jun 4, 2021
    #125
    Woody Long likes this.
  6. Matt Stephens

    Matt Stephens Well-Known Member

    Am I the only one outraged by this? I've seen little to no reaction to this on journalism Twitter and I'm starting to question whether I'm overreacting here. To me, this is one of the most irresponsible acts of journalism I've seen in a long time. The ad label is way too small. When I first saw it this morning, I didn't look at the label until googling and not finding anything -- and I'm someone who usually pays enough attention to print labels that I get annoyed if ours aren't uniform. A four-page wrap around a weekend edition purposely designed to look like a real A1 story in the newspaper. Are you freaking kidding me? As public trust erodes in journalists, this is just pushing folks further over the edge.

    And we are sure this actually ran, right? I've seen some public posts on Facebook when I searched, and seen some Tweets. I also went to six different places this morning looking for a USA Today and no one, from Walmart, to QuikTrip to CVS, carries it.
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2021
    Matt Stephens, Jun 4, 2021
    #126
    ChrisLong likes this.
  7. Woody Long

    Woody Long Well-Known Member

    As a former Gannett employee, I'm outraged, but not surprised. And what am I going to do about it, anyway? I'm just another journo who was thrown away mid-career by Gannett. It's not like my voice really matters in the journalism world.
     
    Woody Long, Jun 4, 2021
    #127
    BurnsWhenIPee likes this.
  8. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    You're certainly not the only one outraged, I think a lot of journos just can't muster public anger anymore. Just resignation that this is what the ship will look like as it's going down.

    I remember when we'd have pages and pages of debate here over the one-inch high ads that ran across the bottom of A1 and whether or not that was the most intrusive and obnoxious stain on journalism. Those were the days.
     
    playthrough, Jun 4, 2021
    #128
    I Should Coco, wicked and ChrisLong like this.
  9. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    It's going to get even worse if these publications continue on toward their last breaths. It's a morton's fork, of sorts. If you don't sell that ad, you are turning away revenue at a time that you are overrun with more and more debt to just try to keep things afloat. If you do sell the ad, it's just an embarrasment, and you are probably hastening the decline in readership, as @Matt Stephens said. So you feel like you are heading toward the same result either way.

    I remember having these kinds of battles with a publisher at a magazine that was struggling, but was at least earning some money. When you are bleeding readers and are heavily in debt in an effort to keep things afloat? I don't know how you hold off the ad. It would frustrate the hell out of any editor.
     
    The Big Ragu, Jun 4, 2021
    #129
  10. SoloFlyer

    SoloFlyer Well-Known Member

    It's real. I'm not sure if it was a wrap everywhere, but it's included as a special section even in the E-Edition.

    It does not appear it was included in local Gannett papers, but it definitely ran in USA Today.
     
    SoloFlyer, Jun 4, 2021
    #130
  11. Matt Stephens

    Matt Stephens Well-Known Member

    I wrote “little to know ...” Now I am outraged at myself.
     
    Matt Stephens, Jun 4, 2021
    #131
    Batman likes this.
  12. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    I picked up lunch at Kroger, in part just so I could check their news rack. It was wrapped around A1 on two copies of USA Today.
     
    Batman, Jun 4, 2021
    #132
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