Jackson Jambalaya

Ouch. Just saw this post on Gannett blog about her. Read at your own risk.

Horse tape?

Here's another one. Ouch again. Guess we should start watching the placement of handicapped parking spots.

Can it go any further down?

Not to steal this thread, but I just tried to vote for the Best of Jackson.

I have to give my name and phone number, and am told don't bother voting for non-local chains. WTF, what if they are the best? What a crock.

(sigh)

I really, really miss Bill Hunsburger.

Looks like Hurst has a marketing background. If she does her due diligence she should easily reach the conclusion that Hampton is costing the paper paid subs.

Dave Hampton was on a rampage last week about coaches giving back salary. He has never ask Gannett to take back any of his.

I watched one publisher die and the other 2 (and I am sure this one) "RETIRE", as in they escort you to the door! Really ESCORT you to the door.

If she is a Group VP and female you can be she is a Gannett ballbuster.

I just pulled up the CL website and all it is showing is news from Sunday (except for the most important news of the Johanssen/Reynolds divorce ~~not)! Not a good start if this is her first day.

If the Gannett blog is to be believed then she is a bi-polar, narcissistic ego-maniac. What a disappointment for the remaining staff at the CL. Many rejoice with the news of Whitaker's departure only to be met at the door by this mess.

Question is...

Hatchet Hurst a new AKA?

I've seen these types, they love to dance on tables while yelling obscenities to minions b/c they have an underlying complex (short, fat, parents, whatever), BUT the parent allows the behavior b/c their short term problems are solved.

My guess, the entire newspaper is done. They will go online and end the daily for a weekend edition only.

C-L survivors keep in mind that exec types still standing during winnowing of corporate bloodlettings (like that @ Gannett) are the ruthless hardballers who don't get emotional about downsizing people out of their jobs. Capos like Hurst get brought in by design because they have NO connections to people they are cutting. For these types bonuses, options and ongoing utility to the mothership is all about the numbers. GCI is a dead stock with a vanishing top line. Trying to catch a falling knife (eroding revenues) is all about relentless deep cutting and operational consolidation. I'd wager a serious big name or three beyond Whitaker are goners no later than February. Another big staff cut will follow that. Very surprised (bad PR) if Agnew gets it. Doubt Whitaker was whacked. More likely he was encouraged to 'retire' by a sweet package. Rank has its privileges.

OMG - I just realized what a feast Donner K will have when she finds out all the (ahem, alleged) dirt about this woman on the Gannett blogs ;-)

Please, please, please, please dump David Hampton. While you're at it, drop Leonard Pitts' column as well. Those spaces would be far better used for classifieds, TV guide, ANYTHING else.

I rarely if ever agree with anything that David Hampton writes, but he's a decent man who happens to have a different political philosophy. The answer to the paper's problems isn't simply becoming the print version of Fox News. They just need to add some better conservative writers, and never ever waste any more space on an Agnew column.

Actually what they need is a conservative, or even a moderate, Editorial Director and let Hampton write the columns representing the left.

Keeping Hampton in the job is no different than electing a conservative Democrat to Congress who in turns votes for Pelosi to be Speaker.

The person at the top sets the tone. Hampton slants the C-L as if Mississippi was a die-hard blue state.

I have rarely, if ever, agreed with David Hampton when it comes to important political/cultural issues, BUT he has always, and I mean always, been willing to publish articles I've sent to him from an unabashedly conservative perspective. They also publish Ann Coulter, George F. Will and Thomas Sowell. I frankly don't mind when they publish Leonard Pitts and the like, because they look like idiots by comparison to the conservative columnist they publish. I do sometimes take issue with some of the Editorials. In any regard, while the paper is clearly struggling, I echo an earlier comment...DH, for all of his misguided political ideology, is a decent man.

Who above has questioned Hampton's decency @11:10 AM? Why do you keep trotting out that straw man?

The issue isn't whether or not he publishes your opinion columns. The issue is the editorial direction of a local newspaper that isn't reflective of the community in which it attempts (and fails) to sell its product. If you believe that Hampton's leftist drumbeat is non-contributory to the annual 7-10% losses in paid subscriptions they've been enduring then you are naive.

Loss of subscriptions is one thing but combined with loss of rack and store sale, then you get the true picture of how bad things are for the C-L.

Just go to Kroger-walgreens-CVS-Wal-Mart etc and buy your $1.75 Sunday paper for 99 cents, why. Its the only way to keep circulation numbers up on Sunday.

From the Gannett Blog:

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the Clarion-Ledger Media Network! She talks a good game about caring what the community wants, but believe me, all she's there to do is downsize. She's Gannett's grim reaper. She managed to get to The Lafayette Advertiser's newsroom from a healthy 45 employees to an anemic 15 total employees in just three years. Congrats Leslie! Enjoy that President's Ring!

And if her past in Lafayette is any indication, she'll spend approximately 1/3 of her time in the building in Jackson and the rest of her time out jet-setting across the country.

Leslie is a nice person deep down inside, but as a publisher she's ruthless. I guess that's why Gannett likes her so much. My prediction is that Jackson's newsroom, err information center, err media network, will shrink by at least 50 percent in the next year.
12/15/2010 11:31 AM