Memphis Commercial Appeal layoffs

Considering everything, it's really not a bad approach as a business model.

 

Doc, as someone who works in the Advance shop, I can tell you it isn't a bad model. The bad thing is it appears we have fewer reporters than some other markets. But it is what it is, I guess.

It'll be very interesting to see what Gannett does with these three shops in terms of staffing.

 

The Advance model isn't great. The big thing is the local sites have almost zero control over what goes in the paper. It's all done from the hub. That would be a big change for Gannett, which has been saying for years that local sites won't lose control over the print product. That would also lead to many more layoffs as Gannett still has a thick layer of management (editors, coaches, etc) at many sites that would not be needed without the need for planning a newspaper.

 

The Advance model still hasn't proven to be able to make money as it kills off print. And, of course, it has total disregard for local knowledge.

 

FWIW, the editors seem to insist that they will have total control over what goes in the paper.

At McClatchy hubs, there is a Google document that each local shop fills out. Tells what stories to run, where to run them, what's the lead, what's the centerpiece, etc. And any change to the plan is simply relayed by phone call or email.

 

It's coming. They just need to figure out how to divvy it all up. When they added Naples and Treasure Coast in that JMG purchase it started the ball rolling. They've already continued that by taking Pensacola virtually out of the "Florida" market and lumping them with Montgomery, Hattiesburg, and the Louisiana papers. That part does make sense because Pensacola is as much Alabama and Louisiana as it is Florida.

I think the big hangup will be coverage of Gainesville. While I was still there, they talked at great lengths about having our own network (among Florida papers and USAT) and basically getting rid of AP. But again, a big concern was how the Gators would get coverage. Tally doesn't have the staff to send someone to Gainesville. Melbourne would be an option, but I don't know that they have the staff either.

But I'm fairly certain that this model will be coming to Florida in the near future, once they can figure out how to reach that Gainesville market.

 

TIFWIW, but I work at an Advance shop. We haven't had layoffs in more than two years and I've gotten a raise three years in a row.

 

I got a raise every year until the axe dropped. Just sayin'. They got to the point where they figured they could get by with three newsroom "editors" sending stories to the remote hub as opposed to a 15-person production hub at the site. Wiped out the PubHub with one 45-second meeting.

 

Years ago, Melbourne sent someone to Gainesville on game days. Not sure what they did beyond that.

 

Especially true if Gannett ever succeeds in acquiring tronc and/or its papers in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale (friends at the local tronc paper expect Gannett to make another bid down the road). The beat writer for the two tronc papers would solve the Gainesville/Gators problem.

Also, a question for anyone in the know: Has Gannett gone to this model in Wisconsin, another state in which it went on a buying spree?

 

The model at our shop has been to hire people who previously had been interns to handle the sports duties at most of our papers. These interns have little to no knowledge of local history, institution. (Why do you think I'm trying to move on? lol) Of course, the same could be said for other papers...

 

Oh, yeah. They totally axed the clerks in sports. Coaches are now expected to input their own stats into the front-end system.