Gannett-anigans

[WriteThinking]

The numbers of people taking these buyouts probably reflects more than a fear of what they may or may not get if they decide to hang around and wait until the next round of layoffs.

It's indicative of just how sick of everything people are getting. You get to the ages, and stages in the careers, of such people, and it's like, "You know what? Who needs this?"

I'm guessing a good number of them probably don't, really, anymore. Hence, they're leaving.

It's no longer just about age, and targeting, and people knowing and being mad/insulted that they're the ones being targeted. People are being offered the "option," and they're willingly -- and maybe even happily -- taking it.

 

[steveu]

I would love to know who alerted Romenesko about Khristopher's blog posts. Someone who may have tried for that job in the first place going "hmmm... maybe if I get him fired..."

Naaa, who am I kiddin? It's Gannett. Not surprised.

 

[Guybehindtheguy]

Dealt with Jhris during one of his internships. Nice kid but a little odd. That press release is BY FAR the best thing I've ever seen him write. So apparently his skills have improved, his judgment needs some work though. Fireable? Maybe not. Unnecessary? Absolutely.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I don't give two shirts if it's cocky, don't care if it's hipster and/or douchebaggy.
fork Gannett for firing this guy over it.
And, frankly, fork anybody who agrees with what the company did.

That's quite an unfriendly approach. And vulgar.

He violated the rules, he's gone. Do I think it could have been handled better and short of firing, yes.

But the company decided to handle it the way it did.

I thought he came off as incredibly cocky. (No, that's not a firing offense, but publishing private communications could be.)

How would he know if he was violating the rules if he hadn't even started working there yet?

 

[Baron Scicluna]

From what I've heard at my former shop, this "early retirement" offer is slamming everyplace big-time. Offered to people ages 56 and over with 20 or more years with the company, and my friends still there said they expected half to take it and half to say no.

But it sounds like the percentage of people (smartly) taking it is much, much higher, and corporate is telling the individual sites they cannot replace the departing people because of age-discrimination fears. So there are places losing columnists, sports editors, news editors, opinion editors, photo editors, etc., and they are scrambling to figure out how to get the work done without replacing that exact position.

Last one out, turn out the lights ...

I think this is a situation where the people offered the buyouts took the time to think about it and realized that if they didn't take this "sweet" offer now, they could find themselves without a job in 3-6 months anyway. I don't think Gannett was expecting to get that many to accept it. But it's pretty clear they were targeting the higher-paid employees in an effort to drastically cut payroll.

I personally know eight people who were offered the buyout and seven of them took it. All of them who took it said they felt like if they didn't take it now, they'd regret it a year from now. I think they'll all be better off.

And as far as I know, the shop I'm at is replacing at least three of the retirees. I guess because it was an "optional" early retirement, they've avoided the whole age discrimination lawsuit thing.

And then when the newsrooms don't hit their targets for verticals and passion topics and other stupid shirt, the execs then start whining about how they have to do better. Rather than look in the mirror themselves.

 

[TigerVols]

What happened, in Khris' own words:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/khristopher-brooks/reporter-fired_b_1421275.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008

I wanted to be a fan of his. Who wouldn't choose the reporter in a reporter v. Gannett battle? But as a hiring manager myself (and a pretty good judge of talent, if I do say so myself) I had alarm bells after reading his "press release" and full-on klaxon going off after reading this column in HuffPo.

The guy appears to be a bubble off. Often, that can make for a good reporter; but I get the sense here it just makes for an ongoing headache.

To wit:

I was at a loss for words. When I finally spoke I said, "Well, can I just take it down? I know Romenesko's cell number. I can have him take it down, I'll take mine down, this never happened."

Umm, everyone above the age of 7 these days knows once it's on the Net, it's in stone for life.

And this:

Could I have called my family and told them over the phone? Probably, but that meant also calling all my former colleagues across the nation, at the Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier, The Associated Press, the Omaha World-Herald and Central Michigan University.

Again, a clear lack of understanding social media circa 2012. Not to mention, why do you feel the need to tell everyone you've ever met that you landed a job?

 

[Baron Scicluna]

What happened, in Khris' own words:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/khristopher-brooks/reporter-fired_b_1421275.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008

I wanted to be a fan of his. Who wouldn't choose the reporter in a reporter v. Gannett battle? But as a hiring manager myself (and a pretty good judge of talent, if I do say so myself) I had alarm bells after reading his "press release" and full-on klaxon going off after reading this column in HuffPo.

The guy appears to be a bubble off. Often, that can make for a good reporter; but I get the sense here it just makes for an ongoing headache.

To wit:

I was at a loss for words. When I finally spoke I said, "Well, can I just take it down? I know Romenesko's cell number. I can have him take it down, I'll take mine down, this never happened."

Umm, everyone above the age of 7 these days knows once it's on the Net, it's in stone for life.

And this:

Could I have called my family and told them over the phone? Probably, but that meant also calling all my former colleagues across the nation, at the Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier, The Associated Press, the Omaha World-Herald and Central Michigan University.

Again, a clear lack of understanding social media circa 2012. Not to mention, why do you feel the need to tell everyone you've ever met that you landed a job?

Maybe because he thought his family, friends, and colleagues would like to know that he got a job after a four-month job search?

I thought he wrote that pretty well, although I wasn't too crazy about the Zimmerman reference. Didn't see the relevance there.

 

[Rhody31]

I don't give two shirts if it's cocky, don't care if it's hipster and/or douchebaggy.
fork Gannett for firing this guy over it.
And, frankly, fork anybody who agrees with what the company did.

That's quite an unfriendly approach. And vulgar.

He violated the rules, he's gone. Do I think it could have been handled better and short of firing, yes.

But the company decided to handle it the way it did.

I thought he came off as incredibly cocky. (No, that's not a firing offense, but publishing private communications could be.)

How would he know if he was violating the rules if he hadn't even started working there yet?

Common sense.
I'm an arrogant asshole, but even I wouldn't do something like this. It's no different than when Mary Reynolds sits in the box too long on a homer over the Monster, or when a Shawne Merriman does the Lights Out dance after a sack, or when DeShawn Stevenson stares down an opponent after dunking on him.
He got a nice job, but he's not an APSE winner and that paper in Delaware isn't the NYT. Be humbled by the experience and tell everyone you got the job the same way everyone else in the world does - a simple blog post, a tweet, a Facebook post or, gasp, a forking phone call.
He can say he wasn't doing it for attention, but speaking as a guy who likes to do things to bring attention to how great he is, he was doing it for attention. Of course he's going to say he wasn't, but that's because he screwed up. He sounds like a braggart and we know our own.

 

[SF_Express]

I don't give two shirts if it's cocky, don't care if it's hipster and/or douchebaggy.
fork Gannett for firing this guy over it.
And, frankly, fork anybody who agrees with what the company did.

That's quite an unfriendly approach. And vulgar.

He violated the rules, he's gone. Do I think it could have been handled better and short of firing, yes.

But the company decided to handle it the way it did.

I thought he came off as incredibly cocky. (No, that's not a firing offense, but publishing private communications could be.)

How would he know if he was violating the rules if he hadn't even started working there yet?

Baron, you're hanging on for dear life, but I have the feeling even you are really kind of wondering whether this was really a very good idea on his part, Gannett or no Gannett.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

If you're 27 years old, with a masters degree, all the newspaper experience he has and a loud-and-proud Chips Quinn Scholar, and still don't realize that doing things like putting the newspaper's logo on your own blog, and you don't know that an offer letter is a confidential document that you don't quote your future boss from, then you need more education and experience.

That's common sense, and he shouldn't have to have that spelled out for him that it's against the rules. No one ever specifically told me that I can't come to work with my deck hanging out of my pants, but somehow I've known not to do that.

 

[Uncle.Ruckus]

And now we have showing up to work nude equated with a silly, harmless blog entry.

Might as well lock the thread. No way out of this hole.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

In a sense, they are equal. Both are things that any smart, experienced, college-educated person should know not do to.

I don't think what he did merited his firing, but like was said earlier, the "we can take it down" answer he came up with showed he still has a lot to learn.

If I was his boss, I'd worry about how well he would get along with co-workers, after they read what (in my opinion) was an incredibly pompous and ego-driven description of his talents. "The Big Three"? Please. And I'd wonder what the next "I didn't know I couldn't do that" moment would be from him.

I'm interested in Moddy's take on this. If you hired someone and they did the exact same thing, what would your reaction be?