Gannett furloughs employees for a week (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Reuters ^ | January 14, 2009 | Robert MacMillan

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Gannett Co Inc (GCI.N), the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, will make workers take a week off without pay because of what it called some of the most difficult economic conditions it has ever experienced.

"This means that most of our U.S. employees -- including myself and all other top executives -- will be furloughed for the equivalent of one week in the first quarter," Chief Executive Craig Dubow wrote in a memo to employees on Wednesday.

Gannett, which publishes USA Today, the largest U.S. newspaper by circulation, is instituting the furlough after cutting thousands of employees from its payroll to deal with a severe decline in advertising revenue.

"We have made some very difficult decisions this past year, all with the goal of keeping Gannett strong and preparing for the future," Dubow wrote in the memo. "I understand I have asked a great deal of you, and I regret adding to your burden with this program."

Dubow in November said that he would take a voluntary 17 percent cut off his annual pay in a show of solidarity with other workers at the chain.

Dubow's 2008 base salary was $1.2 million, according to Gannett's 2008 proxy statement. His total compensation, including bonus, stock awards, options and deferred compensation, is about $7.5 million.

Gannett and other U.S. newspaper chains are facing dark days in 2009 as ad revenue declines accelerate because of an advertising cutback brought on by the world financial crisis. In addition, people continue to drop their printed newspaper habits in favor of reading free news online.

snip

[abb]

This, just in...

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ping

[ConservativeMind]

SWEET!

[abb]

[abb]

http://gannettblog.blogspot.com/
Breaking: GCI confirms mandatory unpaid week off, hopes move ‘minimizes the need for any layoffs’

[ladyvet]

Bush’s fault!

[The Anti-One]

I guess all the leftist rags will need to be rescued and run by the government eh?

Another "bailout?"

[abb]

http://www.dailynewstribune.com/opinion/letters/x1125161128/Weitman-Hightower-wrong-about-Zell
Weitman: Hightower wrong about Zell

http://cronkite.asu.edu/mcguireblog/?p=95
The newspaper demise is accelerating; the market must respond

http://www.foliomag.com/2009/just-42-magazines-saw-ad-page-increases-08
Just 42 Magazines Saw Ad Page Increases in ‘08
Consumer auto, business, music titles hit hard.

[Loyal Buckeye]

I don't understand the problem. Contributors to my morning newspaper tell me they know how to run the world.

How is it then that they do not know how to run profitable newspapers?

[jalisco555]

One down, fifty-one more to go.

[jalisco555]

Another "bailout?"

Don't laugh, it's coming.

[Cheerio]

I don't understand the problem. Contributors to my morning newspaper tell me they know how to run the world. How is it then that they do not know how to run profitable newspapers?

I think if you asked a libtard they will tell you that BIG BUSINESS is running the "news"papers into the ground. The Libtards will tell you that profit is evvviiiill and once the "news"paper stops trying to make those evil profits all will be fine and jobs will return. Libtards (socialists) think they know how the world should be managed.

The fact of the matter is that while "news"papers might be BIG BUSINESS, all the content drivel is dished up by LIBTARDS, with very few exceptions.

[abb]

http://cancelthebee.blogspot.com/
Uh oh!... one of McClatchy’s largest advertisers in California goes belly up

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003930013
Gannett Announces One-Week, Unpaid Furloughs

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003930003
Time for Newspaper Folks to Fight Back! Here’s How

[codercpc]

Breaking: GCI confirms mandatory unpaid week off, hopes move ‘minimizes the need for any layoffs

Are the employees eligible for unemployment for that week off, or do they have to be classified as "laid off" for that?

My husbands company is doing the same thing, except that they are looking at 3 more weeks off in the next 2 months. This is after his company was shut down for 2 weeks at Christmas time. He is eligible for unemployment for all these weeks though, so he is at least collecting something.

[relictele]

Bye bye Christine Brennan - hope you make it on the lecture circuit moaning about Title IX.

[Sir Hailstone]

Ahhh, a week without the moonbat Indianapolis Star??

We could only hope.

[Enchante]

All that the liberal socialist newspapers need is for the liberal socialist govt. to feed them endless quanities of taxpayer funds in yet another “bailout”....

....... but I’m much rather see them all crash and burn!!

[abb]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_607015.html
Trib offers buyout to employees

http://voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2009/01/14/this_just_in/198ut011309.txt
Slimmed-Down U-T Lays Off Press Workers

http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090114/new-york-mag-to-staff-youre-keeping-your-jobs-getting-a-pay-cut/
New York Mag to Writers: You’re Keeping Your Jobs, Getting a Pay Cut

[bert]

When there is congestive heart failure, it gets very hard to breathe.

[abb]

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/01/when-newspapers.html
When newspapers are gone, what will you miss?

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=123&aid=156854
Newspaper JOAs Reach End of the Line

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003930086
Gannett Furlough Sparks “Scramble” and “Uncertainty”

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2009-01-14/news/hearst-to-p-i-drop-half-dead/1
Hearst to P-I: Drop Half-Dead?