gannett plans to layoff 3,000 by december.

Had to laugh, saw the local paper still hadn't changed the copyright year on its front page. Usually one of those "oh shit" moments on Dec. 31 during proofing, maybe an oh crap, thing when you see the Jan. 1 paper. But Jan. 11?

 

Content one strikes again.

The company is now working on rolling out a micro site for March Madness which will include a "pick-em" game. This might actually work. I think a collaborative of sports writing in one place featuring the best articles from all the Gannett papers/USA Today plus the Freep's extensive coverage (Final Four is in Detroit this year) might be a great site.

The pick em will obviously get a lot of involvement and may be one of those things a daily reader goes to and signs up for, instead of going to ESPN, or Yahoo. Lets face it, the inauguration micro site is pretty cool looking. Soft on content, but if they can fix that portion for March Madness and get some good videos and photos throughout the tournament they may be on the right track.

 

Gannett just announced that all employees to be furloughed for one week.

http://gannettblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/breaking-gannett-confirms-unpaid-weeks.html

 

I like the part where it says "unions will be ASKED to participate." Uh, that's why they call it a contract.

 

When I heard this might happen, I held out hope that it was just a really bad rumor.

This is really, really unreal. I'm beyond words. But with this shitty company, I shouldn't be surprised.

I guess we should be lucky they don't ask us to wash Dubow's cars for free on the weekend. Maybe Bob Dickey forgot to include that part in the memo.

 

I initially thought this was a badly timed joke. Just when you thought this business couldn't take another black eye comes a move that I'm sure others are going to follow.
Damn. I knew that Gannett ate its young. Now, it's eating everyone in sight.

 

Welp, I'm going to look at this positively and say I just got an extra week of vacation.

 

On an even more positive note, that's better than getting an idenfinite vacation.

 

As I'm sure you know but many others here may not, Mansfield has always been the "flagship" of the Newspaper Network of Central Ohio. If the MNJ is cutting to this, I hate to see what the smaller papers in Lancaster, Chillicothe, Zanesville, etc. are down to. Being a former Newark employee I keep pretty close tabs on that shop but have yet to talk to anyone up there today on this furlough business.

 

States are doing the same things to their employees. Maryland is asking its employees to take either a one or two week furlough, I believe. It's better than getting rid of more employees, just like 32-hour work weeks at the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

 

I can understand you trying to be optimistic, but I don't see anything positive coming from this. It's just another sign that this company will not be around much longer.

If Gannett is willing to enforce such an idea, what else is it capable of doing? I, for one, expect massive layoffs again in the next month or so.

It's like the people running this company are Scrooge McDuck, spending all day swimming in their money bin and complaining to average joe that they're not rich enough.

Maybe Gannett should follow Jerry Seinfeld's advice to George Constanza: Do the exact opposite of what you think you should do.

"If every instinct you have is wrong, then the exact opposite would have to be right."

 

Glenn,

Yeah another bad sign. But if the company isn't around, then I don't have a job, and if I don't have a job, I'm not finding another one. Not in this industry, not in this economy.