gannett plans to layoff 3,000 by december.

The way I see it, every newspaper group is cycling through this. For the last few months, it's been Gannett. Last summer it was McClatchy. Then it's the Tribune group. Then NYT.

Just bashing away at Gannett in this ridiculously long and repititive thread isn't accomplishing a thing, and I seriously doubt Dubow even reads this site, let alone cares that it exists.

Why doesn't everyone just switch egars and go bash some other media group for a change. For crying out loud, some of you obsessive bashers should be using that energy and creativity to knock out some freelance pieces and at least get paid for it.

Of cousre, for saying all this, I'll get bashed. Ok, fire away guys (see what I mean?)

 

Thanks for posting, Craig Dubow. We'll keep that in mind.

 

Clutch is right. This isn't about Gannett. We're all going through this.
And, frankly, having sat through three rounds of layoffs at my place lately, I'd take this deal in a second if the alternative is more people getting tapped on the shoulder and led out of the building.

 

doesn't matter if we've all gone through layoffs, the problem with clutch's post is that we should be using our 'energy' to write freelance pieces. maybe i'm more concerned about my fulltime job and want to vent about it. maybe old clutch should worry about some freelance pieces and shove the rest of his post up his ass.

 

But there's no evidence whatsoever that this won't lead to more people getting tapped on the shoulder and led out of the building. And there's no evidence that this is anything but a panicky Band-Aid move by a company that has repeatedly shown that just because an idea is new and different doesn't mean that it's better. And there's no evidence at all that this will pull the company out of its largely self-made death spiral, in which round after round of cuts and cutbacks weaken the product to the point that revenues suffer and make more cutbacks necessary, further weakening the product, ad infinitum.

 

WFW

 

DING! DING! DING!

 

Are you insane? Brainwashed maybe?
My god. This gannett company is a fucking disgrace to mankind. It is the dregs of businesskind. My god. I will bash gannett as much as I want and as long as I want. Freelance pieces? Are you some 10 a.m. meeting corporate fuck? Geezus. gannett is disgracefully bad and I have no desire to do freelance right now thank you. I'm too fucking busy working 70 and getting paid for 40. Yes I am thank you because for some reason they've successfully convinced sports writers that they must work overtime, not get paid for it because it's such a fun job you know.

 

I guess the biggest complaint about Gannett is that the company isn't competing any more, instead its just making its profits on the sacrifices of its employees. Times are tough, I get that, but does anyone remember Gannett in the past saying "wow, things are going great, have an extra week of paid vacation." Maybe I'm naive, but it should be a two-way street.
It's not even about being treated well, just with a little bit of respect and professionalism.

 

My problems stem from that. Gannett says times are tough, then in the next breath says "We're a solid company." Bullshit. Solid companies don't have layoffs every four months, then resort to one-week unpaid leave 14 days into the first quarter.

Gannett is making a shitload of money. PERIOD.

Gannett will continue to make a shitload of money. PERIOD.

And they don't give a shit how many lambs they slaughter to make sure their fats cats are staying fat.

That is pure and evil corporate greed. And I hate every bit of it.

So, clutchcargo Dubow, I'll bitch about it all I want. Because I've put my heart and soul into this God-forsaken company for the last eight years, missing out on things like my kids' 2nd birthday party, working 50-60 hour weeks (and being a nice little Gannettoid and writing down only 40) because I CARE about what goes in the paper and what goes online. And you know what all that LOYALTY has gotten me? One week of unpaid leave and the mind-numbing reality that I'm about to leave the only career I've ever known or ever wanted to pursue.

So, yeah, I think I've earned the right to be bitter. Now, I think I'll go work on that freelance article. Jackass.

P.S. If the Gannett-bashing bothers you so much, stay the hell out of the threads.

 

Having worked for Gannett and for another company that occasionally gets ridiculed around here, Gannett has its own nasty quirks and is big on the obnoxious consultant/PR speak, but it's really been about the same in terms of random freezes/wage issues/layoffs/general corporate bullshit (and from a workplace to workplace experience, Gannet was actually better for me, but that has a lot to do with individual newsroom things).

Both companies I've worked for are completely about the bottom line and not about journalism. It sucks. But it's not limited to Gannett. The working 60 hours in a 40 week and not getting paid regular time for the hours, let alone OT is not limited to Gannett. The fat cats always getting fatter isn't limited to Gannett.

This move blows. It blows for me financially, and it worries me about what they plan for the future. I have no plans to use my time off to freelance or any other such b.s.

But I just can't muster a level of individual venom for Gannett more than I can for Scripps' wage freezes or McClatchy's massive layoffs and copy desk reorganizing or the whole idiotic DMN/FWST content sharing deal or the Tribune's multiple screwups or CNHI's disregard for it's employees, and the list could go on and on.

 

Is she fun and unpredictable?