Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Layoffs at CL yesterday.

Gannett is in the process of laying off 700 employees. The Gannett blog details the carnage. Hattiesburg American won't fill two open positions. No word about the Clarion-Ledger. Monroe paper lost 27 positions. Read more here.

One comment this morning stated "Regarding Jackson, MS four in the newsroom were let go, including the presentation editor, the Metromix editor, a sports copy editor and an online person.

There were also one in circulation, two in finance and one in prepress. There have been mixed reports that there may have been one in IT as well."

Here is a supposed email sent by Publisher Leslie Hurst:

"From Publisher Leslie Hurst at the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss.:

Everyone,

Please review the attached letter from Bob Dickey, president of
Gannett's USCP division. He refers to a reduction in force (RIF) that
will take place at some USCP locations today. Unfortunately, The
Clarion-Ledger Media Group is in the group that will be initiating a
RIF. All of the affected employees will be notified today. It is
important to me that this be done in a short window to minimize anxiety
and uncertainty.

Please know that the Operating Committee and I feel very deeply the
anxiety and pain this causes the entire workforce, not only those
affected but those who have worked with them side by side. I understand
how incredibly hard this is, and that it affects people's lives and
families. We will do all that we can to help those affected employees,
including offering a transitional pay package.

This has been a challenging year, as you all know. We do, however, have
a strategy to build revenues as we mentioned in our employee meeting a
month ago. We will continue to focus on our 2011 Operational Plan (see
strategic goals posted around the building) and the local controllable
business that we can impact.

We will continue to work our plan to improve revenues and I hope that
all of you will take to heart the strategic objectives of the
organization and work toward that end. We are in this together. I
appreciate everything that each of you does each and every day to make
The Clarion-Ledger Media Group the No. 1 media company in the market.

I hope that after you absorb the information about the RIFs, you will
re-read the strategic objectives and feel good about the direction in
which we are headed. The RIFs are unfortunate, but we must position
ourselves to remain strong and relevant into a long future.

Please know that your colleagues affected today are not being let go for
any performance issue; we must restructure to align our costs with
current revenue trends. I sincerely thank them for their hard work and
dedication. They will be missed.

- Leslie



25 comments:

Anonymous said...

If C-L would just dump Hampton and hire some carriers who actually deliver papers, they might make money.

Anonymous said...

Well, now I know why they overcharged my credit card without authorization - However, they will not get a second opportunity - I canceled my subscription and threatened them with legal action if the money was not returned immediately - bunch of crooks!

Paul Mitchell said...

If the IT department is responsible for the website, they all need to be fired. Just saying.

Anon 8:11, I canceled my subscription and continued to receive papers for almost three years. Enjoy your future windfall.

Anonymous said...

I am thinking about cancelling despite having a paper delivered at my house since the day I was born. The customer service department is a joke. Nobody at the Clarion Ledger cares about service. Lay-off the whole bunch as far as I'm concerned.

Anonymous said...

I'm touched by the compassion shown by Donna Ladd as she tweets and updates her facebook status every fifteen minutes regarding Gannett. Jesus. Could she be a bit more subtle as she literally foams at the mouth? This couldn't possibly be easy for any of these people including the ones that survived. And while she goes on and on blah blah blah about being local, the PEOPLE that work at Clarion-Ledger/Gannett are local too. THEY live here. THEY shop here. THEY work here. So while I don't have the appetite to endure her self-righteousness in person, I'll send this message to her through here (since we all know she reads it).

Donna, take your insincere, disingenuous, self-rightous and self-promoting (all in the name of the voiceless) ass and SHOVE IT!

Anonymous said...

The CL will go the way of the dinosaurs.......their time has come and gone!!

No credibility in their work, no standards, no ethics, not one hour
of continuing education required to work in the field, no governing body...it makes you wonder how in the world someone can get a degree in that field. My advice to people who work there......get a real job in the real world.

Anonymous said...

Posted at the Gannett Blog is this comment claiming to be CL Publisher Leslie Hurst's email to staff.

Anonymous said...

1. If they are the #1 Media group in the market, that should mean #2 and #3 should also be laying off?

B. There is no customer service in Jackson it was all moved to Greenville, SC a few years ago with their last reduced what ever they call it.

Anonymous said...

Should have kept the editors judging from the minor expletive/typo in Dear Abby today.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of frauds, Morgan Keegan settled today for $210 million. Seems like a bargain compared to the damage they did.

Anonymous said...

The best use for that rag is fodder for charcoal grill starters! Beyond that, it's worthless...

Anonymous said...

11:47

They've all laid off or at least not replaced with attrition. Broadcasters, cable, print, ad agencies. CL just has more to cut and so when they do they hit the headlines. Two years ago Clear Channel laid off 2200 in one day company wide including several here. Not a word of it that I recall appeared in the news. They seem to be doing fine. It happens. Everyone is be challenged in ways that are unprecedented.

Anonymous said...

The problem with the C-L is Gannett. If the local people here could make their own decisions, it would be much more profitable and not nearly as many layoffs. Gannett has ruined that paper, and it's a shame.

Anonymous said...

I called early this am about typo in Dear Abby. Was told by Ronnie Agnew's assistant that it was syndicated so they had nothing to do with it. Later I found out how wrong she was. Check out Dear Abby's column today in some other venues. The line was supposed to say "she beat on me." How did they get the expletive out of that? Why are they fooling with the column anyway? Should be printed as written.

J. Kev said...

Donner Kay is all for the "little guy/working man/woman," so long as they don't work for her competitors. If they do, she morphs into an unrepentant capitalist in the mold of the great achievers in "Atlas Shrugged." Dog-eat-dog is swell then.
Glad she's not a hypocrite.

Anonymous said...

Obviously those of you commenting about Donna are racist. I know that because everyone who doesn't agree with every word she speaks or writes is a racist. She went to Columbia, you know. And she lived in NEW YORK CITY. She understands things in a way we never will because bad things happened where she grew up in Neshoba. So please apologize for slavery and leave her be. Did I mention she went to Columbia?

Anonymous said...

She's got such a boner over all this. It is ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

Feel a little sorry for the laid off folks.

Gannett now makes laid off employees first qualify for state unemployment. If you do you get Gannett severance, which is your package LESS state $ so instead of getting total Gannett beni's and then state money you get the Gannett total which now includes state money. So you wind up with less money and they wind up with more.

Anonymous said...

On the days I don't get my paper, I call them, they tell me I will get credit, but instead of credit, they go up on my yearly fee. If they would have some competent people working there that could spell, it would be nice. Unless I see Marshall's name on the cartoon, I don't even read it.

Anonymous said...

No leadership. No vision. And on many days, no paper.

Anonymous said...

I'm touched by the compassion shown by Donna Ladd as she tweets and updates her facebook status every fifteen minutes regarding Gannett. Jesus. Could she be a bit more subtle as she literally foams at the mouth?

But the joke is on Ladd as her entertainment weakly is in no position to fill the void. More people read JJ for investigative reporting than they do the Fondren cage liner.

Anonymous said...

I cancelled my subscription long ago but CL is still sending me a paper everyday. They are pretending that they have a bigger audience than they actually have in order to sell adds. Many of the people I talk to are sick of the liberal bias and have cancelled their subscriptions as well.

Shadowfax said...

They still have that wannabe Indian drum beater doing a garden article. Wam-Wam Bom Poom or something like that. Surely they're not paying him to do that. Old Bill Minor will surely drop dead of grief if they lock the iron gates.

Anonymous said...

Oddly enough the C-L is hiring for two positions in Jackson:

http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1265078

Rumor has it these jobs will go to Nashville within a year though.

Julie Liddell Whitehead said...

Who actually in the newsroom lost jobs? I know Carey Miller used to be Metromix editor--don't know if he was still there or not when this came down. Any other names?



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If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

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