Mike Reed Sets Goals for New Gannett

Jeez, this guy must've interned at Media General corporate ...

 

Crazy thinking what kind of twisted personality it takes to lead newspapers companies now. Sure, there are always going to be people who will ignore the low pay and dicey career outlook to follow the dream, inspired by countless movies about reporters "doing good" - but who decided 20 years ago, I want to rise to the top of a newspaper company? Who?

 

1- People who started out as “doing good” reporters and moved up to pay the mortgage

2- People who wanted to be corporate raiders but couldn’t hack it in competitive, desirable industries

 

Actually, both corporate and family owned newspapers did the “hey, you’re a good reporter, I’m sure you would make a great manager” move.

And without providing any training, guidance or clarity about their new roles, those moved-up reporters usually did as well as you would expect …

 

See also university presidents - "Hey, you are a well-respected botonist, how about overseeing a multi-million dollar budget and a community the size of a small town?

 

Rick Stain would!

 

Convergence. Or something else stupid that used to come out of Richmond ...

 

“Synergies.” “Moments of Life” Etc.

 

The same was true 25 years ago. A friend of a friend of a friend happened to be at the same party as an HR guy at our company. HR guy was bragging about how cheap the company could be because there’d always be another wave of suckers willing to work for peanuts. I’m sure he was getting a bonus for going under budget or something similar.

 

A shrinking* marketplace flooded with wannabe journalists will drive down salaries immensely. That's Ragu 101.

*shrinkaging?

 

Yep, this was us, somewhere else ...

A year before he joined the paper in 2012, Murphy said the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle had a newsroom with 86 union members — a count that excludes editors and other managers — but that the number is now down to 23.

“Those of us who are left are kind of local journalism sickos who just can’t stop doing this,” he said. “As we’ve had cutbacks and cutbacks and they’ve asked us to do more and more, we’ve done it because we think it’s important that the work get done, and that’s just how we’re wired. But it’s one thing to do that when you have 86 people going to 80 or 73, but to 23? It doesn’t make sense anymore.”