gannett plans to layoff 3,000 by december.

I don't know if this is the place, but has anyone else heard the bullshit line from their boss that they "should just be happy to have a job in this climate?"
My manager pulled that shit on me the other day and I wanted to knock him silly.
No shit I'm happy to have a job. But that doesn't mean I approve of constantly being lied to and living in fear of being losing my job in the coming weeks.
Fuckin assholes!

 

I don't know many people who went to work at a newspaper just because they wanted "a job." The only reason so many people are putting up with the bullshit is they feel a sense of duty to their readership and the community. You want to screw me over? Fine. Don't tell me I have to take it with a smile on my face.

 

Three years ago, you would just leave and say fuck it.
Today, the only reason people take it is there isn't anything else available.

 

I don't feel any sense of duty about covering stories for the readers because they don't care and only call to say something when you screw up.

 

With all due respect, Riddick, what's he supposed to say? Unless he does it in a dickish tone, he's sort of right, and he's probably in the same boat as far as job security.

For the umpteenth time, we're not the only industry going through this shit. People are getting bent over everywhere. I have countless relatives and friends who have experienced everything we're going through in the newspaper biz and sometimes worse.

If there were better options, I'm sure we'd all be seeking them. But the fact is that the options are extremely limited, so there is an element of feeling fortunate about having a job for everyone.

 

I can understand where you are coming from because I too am happy for having a job. However, I am not happy with the job I have because of the tactics of corporate.

 

Is there a way to tell an employee he's lucky to have a job in a non-dickish tone?

 

Well,

I'm currently a proposal writer for a collection agency. Let's say you're a university looking to collect on past due tuition bills or other odds and ends from a debtor. As the university you would send out a Request For Proposal (RFP) out to collection agencies to see who can provide the best work for your university (price and other factors are considered in this process). The RFP's come in to our sales team, who in turn hand them off to the Proposal Writers, who (you guessed it) WRITE the proposals. The proposal process can be very lengthy, like a special section or long series of stories. During this process, you're dealing with demanding sales people (who can be overbearing and assholes JUST like editors or readers). You're asking questions to others involved in the process (the sales person, and maybe some other members of upper management and sales staff, who become part of the process, especially if it's a contract that has a potential for a ton of money). A lot of the tiem, excellent time management is involved just like managing several stories and other tasks during your typical day at a newspaper. At the end of the proposal writing process, the sales person (with proposal in hand) goes out and tries to sell our services to the university, utility company, or whoever is looking for collection services.

Do I watch games for a living anymore? Nope

But I'm writing everyday, dealing with people, forming relationships (you do have salespeople who are nice and appreciate what you're doing for them and the company just like SOME readers are apprecitative of the work that say a high school reporter does), using the thick skin I developed as a journalist (for those asshole sales people), and ability to perform under deadline pressure (yes these proposals have deadlines and they can come down to the LAST minute, which can cause a lot of running around).

After watching the free fall of Gannett, I don't regret my decision to leave one bit. Sure I miss going to games for free and getting to interact with some cool people on the job. But I don't miss the crappy pay, crappy hours (long and odd) and other bs I had to deal with.

Hey that's just my story. Just wanted to show there is hope out there after journalism/newspapers.

 

Some hope. But the liferaft doesn't have a fraction of the spots you made it sound like it should have for all the people wanting to bail from the sinking journalism ship.

I know you're not trying to taunt people here, but a quick read of this board shows just how many people are hanging on not because they love their paper and/or company but because the jumping-off points aren't as plentiful as advertised.

Back to topic, you think that many people are staying with Gannett because they have any faith whatsoever in decisions from McLean coming down with the best interest of its employees?

 

Agree with your comment. The "liferaft" (good choice of words cause that's exactly how I look at it, as I'm lucky and grateful to be where I'm at) doesn't have that many spots on it and I think that's because of the economy of course. Maybe, things will look better for those hoping to leave the business once the economy picks up.

From reading Gannett Blog on occasion, I get the feeling that some people are split and it seems like that difference in opinion has to do with age. Veteran reporters who have put 10, 20, 30 or 40 years into this, just don't want to give up without a fight. Can you blame them? Dedicating a good portion of your life to something and then to potentially see it either all taken away or on the verge of being taken away, is sad and frustrating. So they want to hang on. Then there are those looking to get out as they see "the writing on the wall" with A LOT of other people in journalism and other fields looking for jobs, it's not easy. The point I was trying to make with my initial post is that there ARE other fields/jobs out there where journalists can use their skills and be effective without having to go back to school or just completely starting over career wise. Wasn't trying brag or anything like that. I have a ton of friends still in the business, who I think about a lot and hope they can get out of this business (if that's what they want to do) or wait out this storm and continue to be successful in this business.

 

I hear you ... and thank you for your clarification.

I didn't have much choice, not because of the biz but because where I moved for a bigger life reason didn't have media options. And many of those that might exist down the road are terrible. I'm with a strong organization that doesn't pay well, but has very good benefits and generally treats its employees well. And I still miss the business.

If a place worth moving to offers - AND I think the company actually cares about its employees - I'm gone.

 

Sam Mills---don't blame Bulls for the dearth of alternative-type jobs out there. He's well aware of it, and I don't even know him/her. I think the spirit of what he/she is saying is that there ARE other jobs out there if you are willing to look under other rocks that you wouldn't find in journalism job listings.

Obviously, jobs ARE scarce all around---we all know that, and so does Bulls. It looks like what he did in taking his skills in an entirely new direction is just what can happen if you network properly and think outside the box. I didn't take what he originally said as braggadacio at all--he's giving some good advice in terms of what else to be looking for. Every bit helps.