Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Wednesday April 29 -- Got news or a question?

If you have news or a question, post it in comments.
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25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Time Warner Profit Falls 14%

Time Warner Inc.'s first-quarter net income fell 14% on weakness at its America Online and publishing businesses.

Media companies continue to be hurt by worries about declining advertising sales and uncertainty over the transition to digital content.

With its spinoff of Time Warner Cable Inc. complete, Time Warner's next challenge is deciding what to do with AOL, the struggling Internet unit. Time Warner cleared another hurdle earlier this month by winning approval from bondholders of $12.3 billion in debt to adjust covenants that limit the media giant's ability to dispose of AOL's assets.

Anonymous said...

eMarketer: Blogs Are Now Mainstream Media
Marketers must join the conversation or get left behind
April 29, 2009

NEW YORK The blogosphere has reached a point where it is no longer distinct from mainstream media, says eMarketer.

Blog sites now reach tens of millions of people in the U.S., and the numbers of blog readers and creators are expected to continue their upward trajectory.

In 2009, 96.6 million people are blog readers, representing 48.5 percent of the Internet population, says eMarketer. By 2013, 128.2 million people -- or 58 percent of all U.S. Internet users -- will read a blog at least once per month.

This blogging activity presents new opportunities for marketers to influence and monitor conversations that may be relevant to their businesses.

Of course, these conversations will continue to happen with or without participation from marketers, but those that join in -- whether through their own sites or through a brand presence at independent venues -- will have a place at the table.

Anonymous said...

A couple/few finance people at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram are due to receive severance packages at 10:15 today CDT due to outsourcing to India. What a nice thank-you for the hard work and training of others to take your job over the last two months. Thanks again to the two stooges. (Pruitt and Wortel)

Anonymous said...

Funny how no one at the FWST thought the following email from Wortel was worthy of posting to McClatchy Watch yesterday.

From: Wortel, Gary
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2009 8:55 AM
To:
Subject: 6-month circulation figures down, but Star-Telegram fares
better than other major Texas papers | Business | Star-Telegram.com

http://www.star-telegram.com/business/story/1343052.html

As you may have seen in today's Star-Telegram, ABC released 6 month circ
figures yesterday. In spite of challenging advertising environment we
fared better than all metro texas newspapers in both daily and Sunday
circ declines. We also grew print and audience growth at 7%, tenth best
in the country.

You should feel proud of these numbers.
Thanks for all your hard work.

Gary

Anonymous said...

A leaking ship is still a sinking ship.

Anonymous said...

In this horse race to the bottom and oblivion, we're doing better than our competitors, for now. You should be proud.

PUTZ!

Anonymous said...

8:10 AM

That's like Jim Witts line he uses at our meetings where you are bragging for being the tallest midget.

Thanks for what hard work? We are a sinking ship!

Anonymous said...

-Bankruptcy: No option for newspapers-

Even if they could wipe out all their debt, they'd still lose money on a product that can't compete with the Web.

(breakingviews.com) -- It's hard to imagine any U.S. industry worse off than the automotive sector. That is, [until one considers the newspaper business.]
Excerpt:
As a result, McClatchy has now reached a point where the price of paying its reporters and printing and delivering newspapers to its customers is $11 million greater than the income it generates. And that's before making the $34 million interest payments due to its creditors each quarter.
April 27, 2009

Anonymous said...

Those 1st quarter circulation numbers mean NOTHING. The S-T just doubled the price of their daily a month ago; people are cancelling their subscriptions left and right or buying the DMN instead (same price, much better value). I seriously doubt that Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum (aka, Wortel and Witt) will be crowing next quarter.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Kevin Gregory said...

9:53 comment removed for violating the rules.

Anonymous said...

At this time it looks like only one person in the FWST credit department has received their walking papers. No one confirming or denying more finance layoffs are around the bend.
Seems odd there were so many people from India for training and only one person is being let go.
Hmmm...

Anonymous said...

Not surprising after all the bad PR they got for forcing people to train their replacements in KC and elsewhere. Be careful, there will be a rapid rise in firings for cause going forward.

Stealth firings are the rule of the day since mass layoffs are being publicized against the company wishes.

Anonymous said...

Letter from GP states:

"A two-thirds company match on the first 6 percent of employee contributions when the match is reintroduced, possibly next year;"

and

"A profit-sharing contribution equal to 2 to 4 percent of eligible pay in years the company grows operating cash flow;"

So if this company is "sinking" like portrayed here, why would they bother redoing the 401k and even mention a profit sharing plan?

Anonymous said...

the key word here is POSSIBLE.

Keep dreaming.

Anonymous said...

That is not the point.

The point is why bother to put out something like this when the market (read McClatchy Watch) has you pegged for Chapter 11?

I mean what employee is going to use this as a reason to "stick around".

Anonymous said...

-Guild Leaders: 'Baltimore Sun' Editor Cuts 'Shocking'-
@ E & P
"They are clearly trying to move to be an information producer, not a newspaper publisher," said Angie Kuhl, Guild unit chair at the Sun. "It is a flattening of the newsroom." She also fears as many as 20 guild members will be laid off as well. Sun officials have yet to respond to requests for comment.”

Anonymous said...

A poster told us about ‘stealth’ layoffs weeks ago, and a pro-MNI poster pooh-poohed such a suggestion. Why wouldn’t these jokers think firing under the radar keeps employees working until they toss them on the garbage heap? Because a hired MNI poster pooh-poohs on cue? I smell Melanie Sill on this blog.

Anonymous said...

Hold that opinion at the N&O?
-Dental firm sues woman for discussing her bad experience with News & Observer-

@ Raleigh News & Observer
A Georgia-based dental practice says Lorna DeWalle's statements in the News & Observer's Triangle Troubleshooter column, and statements she left on the column's comments section were false and have hurt business. The defamation suit seeks damages of more than $10,000.

Anonymous said...

Pru's 401 match and profit sharing is nothing more than danglin a carrot in front of u. If buy any of that you're not as think as you dumb you are.

Anonymous said...

Anon 1:03 I assure you that it is impossible to "stealth fire" anyone in McClatchy because of the legal hoops you have to jump through to get a firing approved, they are so paranoid of getting sued. Unacceptable performance, misconduct -- yes, people get fired for those when there is an airtight case that will hold up in a court of law.

Think like a business owner. Most every company nowadays wants to get the absolute maximum productivity out of all of its employees. And if there are people who aren't meeting expectations and are dragging down the rest of the team, why is it wrong to fire tem?

That's not to say there might not be some limited "separation programs" like outsourcing in one department that aren't tied to a big layoff. But those are not "stealth firings."

--Not Melanie whomever she is

Anonymous said...

I heard that as much as half of USA Today's circulation comes from hotels. 1. Is this true? 2. What happens if other hotels follow Marriott's lead? J.W. Marriott got tired of tripping over unused copies in the halls.

Anonymous said...

1) Yes it is true
2) Where Marriott goes Hilton shall follow

Anonymous said...

I mean what employee is going to use this as a reason to "stick around".

================
Lots of those left will believe almost anything they're being told now. Why not? They have no hope of finding anything else now. Look at the fools in KC that came here bragging about how they were set for the next year because Zieman's flunky told them so. Then all of a sudden...oops earnings were worse than expected, not enough to make it till next year.

Look at the 5:30 post telling you that Stealth firings are impossible when the KC Star was already caught red handed quietly firing people long after the pink slips went out.

The simple fact is, they have to keep a carrot on the stick so those that they tricked into doing the jobs of several people are still going to be around to close out operations.

What do you expect him to say? "We're going under and we're not going to give you a buyout, but we need you to stick around and board the windows"

Anonymous said...

--Not Melanie whomever she is--
5:30 PM
==
Miss Melly, I don't blame you one bit. I wouldn't want to be you either. Ruining the Sacbee is enough for you to bear. Write anonymously all you want.