Gannett to close Nashville design studio

Some 88 jobs affected.

Seems like they will be producing 100-something papers at three sites: Louisville, Des Moines and Phoenix.

Gannett to consolidate Nashville design studio as part of digital evolution

 

88. Ugh.

 

Sure glad I didn't take that job when it was offered to me a couple of years back. Come to think of it, I sure am glad to be out of newspapers, period.

 

What DeskMonkey said. Do not miss that axe hanging over the head one bit.

 

I don't mind the axe over my head. Just means I'll get some unemployment once it falls, then I'm off to the beach for a year.

 

That's not the year I'd worry about.

 

Lots of people I call friends work at that design studio. That sucks.

 

Holy shit. They already closed the Asbury Park studio and spread that work to the other 4 studios. Now add another studio's work on top of that.

That's about the time they cut the workers at the studios (at least 1 of them) to 35 hours a week for the months of May and June. More work and less hours/pay - truly the Gannett way.

Remember, Gannett has had fairly deep bloodletting at the end of October the last two years. Those things seem to be annual, so there could be another bad scene on the short-term horizon.

 

Next step is to just get rid of the print product altogether, which I believe will happen by 2019.

What this move means is that every paper from the Tennesseean to the Tallahassee Democrat to the Montgomery Advertiser will look the same, save for probably 2-3 pages which will have all of the local content. Essentially, print subscribers will start getting USA Today with a 4-page local wrap around it.

 

Got a few friends there, too. One of them recently turned 60, and he and his wife both have had serious health problems in recent years. I hope he at least gets a decent settlement out of all this -- although knowing Gannett, I'm not optimistic.

And then there's this from some corporate bozo in the Tennessean's story. All it's lacking is a quote about how these are "exciting times."

"We are rethinking the way print pages are produced," Stewart said. "Readers will continue to enjoy beautifully designed print editions, while at the same time enjoying our outstanding news coverage on their smartphones, tablets and desktops. We are fully dedicated to providing the best and most engaging content possible — however our readers want to consume it."

 

Unless, of course, they are loyal print subscribers and want to read local content in their local print edition.

I know they kept telling us that nobody reads print anymore, but until the day I quit my job I got 1000 times more calls about mistakes/things missing from the print edition than I got about the website. In fact, I think I can count on one hand how many times I got a complaint about a story not being on our website. But I got at least one call (sometimes a half-dozen calls) every day complaining about the print edition. But nobody reads print.

 

This has been the long-term plan for a long time. It was being discussed before I left Gannett 9 years ago.