Gannett experiences

They are all pretty bad now, but Gannett is just legendarily evil. However, a few tips to survive Gannett makes it easier.

-- Always wear garlic
-- Only look at upper management through a reflection -- never directly.
-- Never say "I'll be right back." That only leads to problems.
-- Never wander the newsroom solo.
-- Fire usually drives away an editor.
-- An editor will only enter your cubicle if you allow it. Never give permission.
-- Unlike the other undead, though, Gannett management can survive in daylight.
-- Avoid work during the Harvest Moon.

 

I have a pet theory I'll throw out FWIW:

Gannett has such a large reach in the business now, non-Gannett shops often have profound Gannett influences, even without knowing it.

I'll give an example of what I mean. I have never worked at a Gannett. But while working for another large chain, I kept seeing decisions that reeked of Gannett. For examples, the "managers" and the "staff" were at about a 1:1 ratio. When the shit was hitting the fan economically, they reacted by shutting down the press and outsourcing printing. Overtime was a dirty word, but they passive-aggressively tried to get people to stuff 45 hours worth of work into 40. The place kept trying to re-invent itself, tossing out new catch phrases into the office lexicon and implying that everything traditional is what was dragging things down. Not all of these things are unique to Gannett, but they all certainly seem to be part of the Gannett culture.

Here's the thing. The publisher cut his chops in the Gannett chain. He would publicly ridicule Gannett, but the Gannett culture is what he knew. He's kind of like the son of an addict who is more likely to also become an addict because it's the lifestyle he knows. Sins of the father stuff.

But it's more than that. For a lot of 40- and 50-somethings, there was a time not long ago when they were young up-and-comers and Gannett was the future. Remember that? The old guys ridiculed "McPaper" but for some up-and-comers who thought themselves clever, what Gannett was doing was sort of hip and their generation, like Apple Computers now (only Apples really do rule). All those Gannett ideas were cutting edge. And all the Type A's who thought themselves as the smartest guy/gal in the room were buying in. They know better now, but there is still a little bit of those days in them.

I saw my EE at that shop that way. He was a 50-something who was a star of the future in the 80s when Gannett was the "future." He also liked to think of himself as the smartest guy in the room. As far as I know, he never worked for Gannett and like the publisher, if the conversation was about Gannett, he'd have little good to say. But in his behavior as a newspaperman, there seemed to be all of these nods to a time when Gannett was the model.

The result? Gannett culture had metastasized all over that newsroom. If that's any kind of snapshot of what it's like elsewhere in the business, well that speaks volumes to our problems as an industry.

 

This happened last year.

An executive editor at a Gannett paper found out that another Gannett paper had gotten hundreds of thousands of hits on a video of one of their employees being tased by police in a demonstration.

The executive editor went to his staff and asked for two candidates who were willing to do the same thing for the paper. When there were no immediate takers, he got pissed and said he was disgusted by the lack of enthusiasm for something that would help get hits to the paper's website.

He eventually got his volunteers. One young photographer and a female writer. The editor decided it might be a bit too much for people to watch the woman get tased, but he sent the photographer to do it.

Six weeks later, guess who was let go during a round of layoffs? Hint: It wasn't the executive editor.

 

Holy shit. You can only hope he gets his in the long run.

 

I think people would really go ga-ga over an editor being tased.

 

All I know is, during my brief stay at a Gannett shop, it seemed like there was a meeting every 15 minutes. And you had to get permission signed in triplicate -- or thereabouts -- to get a legal pad or reporter's notebook or even a damned pen from the supply closet.

I've worked for four other newspaper companies and none have been anything like that. When I started my next job, it was such a relief to walk in and grab two legal pads, three notebooks, a box of paper clips and a handful of pens without having to seek an act of Congress.

There. Posted on the correct thread. I feel better now.

 

Well why the hell was the EE not volunteering himself? Oh, it's OK if your employees voluntarily get tazed, but heaven forbid management should show some true leadership and volunteer themselves.

And there's no mention of anyone getting paid a bonus for going through a tazing. That just might eat into the 27 percent profit margin.

 

I'd watch Craig DuBow be electrocuted.

 

Have worked for Gannett. it's only interested in the bottom line: How much it can make and fatten its idiot execs' bank accounts at the expense of its employees, product and readers.

Run.

 

Run where?

 

We get it Ace. You like your Gannett job.

But to answer your question, most people are leaving Gannett (and other newspapers) for jobs outside the business. A lot of people are afraid to take that leap of faith, but those that do have reported back that their lives improved drastically once getting out the business — health, appearance, social life, family life.

It's one thing being a slave to the grind when that grind rewards you with bonuses or advancement. It's another to be in Gannett now where the grind rewards you with furloughs, layoffs and salary freezes.

 

My Gannett shop wasn't so bad. I was free to take as many notebooks, batteries, pens and other office supplies as I wanted and I didn't feel it was worse than any other place I worked in terms of "overtime is evil and must be pre-approved, but you'd better get all the shit on your beat covered!"

There were meetings occasionally (once a week for reporters, once a quarter for "a business update" that I usually managed to miss), there were wage freezes, layoffs and furloughs, but again, not more than any other chain was going through at the time.

The biggest difference was all the "initiatives," and it may just be my particular shop, but those were viewed with as much disdain by the managers as they were by the reporters and deskers. As long as you pretended to pay attention to it, they left you alone.