Is Gannett really that bad?

Gannett was making cuts before it became the hip thing to do...

 

Yup, they're already bare bones.

 

Ahead of the curve.

 

I work in a Gannett shop.
I took the gig because I wanted management experience. I got a pay raise and a lower cost of living to boot.
In this position, I've been allowed to take more risks and learn more than I ever would have at my last job.
However, I've seen positions remain dark for as long as a year at a time, micromanagers in the middle and people that need to buy a clue on top.
I'm grateful for the experience I had, but God willing, I'll never work for another Gannett paper again.
Take that for what it is.

 

I've worked for family owned papers as well as papers belong to the New York Times Regional, Knight Ridder, Harte Hankes (before Scripps bought them), Gannett and now back to Scripps. Gannett was by far the worst at micromanaging and making decisions at the whim of the executive editor. Most of his brilliant, high salaried hires, by the way, didn't last more than two years. He ran them off too.

 

It sounds like a lot of bad experiences with Gannett has to do with bad editors than with the company itself.

 

That's how it seems to be at the Gannett stop about 2 hours away from me.

 

Actually, yes. Very much so.

 

I've been at a Gannett shop my whole career, and I think the opinions expressed here are valid, good and bad. Certainly, there is way too much micromanaging and if you have corporate lapdogs in upper management life can be awfully tedious. Also the bit about the Hispanic lesbian was so very true. Which is a way of saying the "real people" crap can get very old in a very big hurry. On the other hand, the pay is solid and the bennies are excellent, in my opinion. And I'm lucky in that I have an SE that takes care of his people and absorbs a lot of the corporate BS, leaving us free to do our jobs. If you interview, talk to a real reporter (as opposed to an editor), preferably a veteran, and ask them to be candid. Weigh what they say and make up your own mind.

 

All I know is, during my brief stay at a Gannett shop, it seemed like there was a meeting every 15 minutes. And you had to get permission signed in triplicate -- or thereabouts -- to get a legal pad or reporter's notebook or even a damned pen from the supply closet.

I've worked for four other newspaper companies and none have been anything like that. When I started my next job, it was such a relief to walk in and grab two legal pads, three notebooks, a box of paper clips and a handful of pens without having to seek an act of Congress.

 

It's interesting to see this thread resurface. Most of the posts were pre-2009ish-now bloodletting. I doubt if there are still any defenders out there.

 

Oops. I meant to post this on the Gannett thread that just started. I looked up this one to get some background and inadvertently posted on it.

Sorry.