Tag Archives: Gannett

More on newspaper recruitment and Craigslist

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Yesterday’s entry concerning use of Craigslist to recruit people for newspaper delivery brought a surprising number of comments, and some background on the practice.

Here’s one version. According to this tale, the shift to Craigslist began several years ago at the Advertiser while under Gannett management. Up until then, delivery agents could request free in-house ads recruiting carriers. I recall those being pretty common.

But when classified revenue plunged and the classified section shrank, agents were suddenly told there wouldn’t be space for their job ads unless they paid regular classified rates like other customers. The response? The nominally independent elivery agents turned to Craigslist.

I was told Craigslist ads gets more immediate response, but the in-house classified ads result in more qualified applicants.

There may be other versions of this history floating around. We’ll see.

Honolulu Advertiser employees desperate for information about conditions and consequences of the newspaper’s sale

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The Newspaper Guild reports it has gotten nowhere in bargaining with Gannett over the effects of the upcoming sale of the Honolulu Advertiser.

Both the Hawaii Newspaper Guild and the ILWU have filed grievances against the company for transferring the severance pay obligation from the Advertiser to Oahu Publications Inc. Other unions are expected to file like grievances.

To date the company has rejected all attempts by the unions for so-called effects bargaining. The Company was unable to make any decision again, despite stating previously that the bargaining committee had authority to make decisions.

No word on the lastest meeting, which was scheduled to be held this past Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Advertiser employees are lacking even the most basic information about the sale and transition.

In an email sent to Advertiser publisher Lee Webber and copied to Gannett’s top executives, Advertiser staffer Patricia Kaniho asked for basic information regarding severance, health benefits, accrued vacation and other benefits, conditions on the offer of employment from HA Management, the management company formed to operate the Advertiser during a transition period following closing of the sale to Oahu Publications.

Time is running out and we have been asked to make decisions that will affect our future and the lives of our families. We have been seeking answers to questions that no one seems to have the answers to. Our managers as well as our HR department has been kept in the dark just as much as we have so I guess you could say we are all in the same boat.

I am asking for your help. Would you please try to get answers for us that will help with our decision making? It seems that Gannett has thrown us out with the dirty laundry. We can’t expect anyone from Gannett to understand us, they have not lived with us, they have not shared our food, and they have not seen our smiles or heard our laughter. They do not understand our ways as Kama’aina. BUT, YOU HAVE. You have shared our food; and we have gracefully and willingly shared our smiles and laughter with you.

You will be leaving Hawai’i soon and WE will still be here, WE will still be sharing our food, our smiles and our laughter because that’s how we are. We are The Honolulu Advertiser. We are Maka’ai nana.

Click here to read the full list of questions Kaniho sent to Webber and Gannet. They reflect the dismal lack of basic information being made available to Advertiser employees. It isn’t clear whether there’s any more information available down the street at the Star-Bulletin.

More on the Star-Bulletin/Advertiser deal, and Peer News gets another editor

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Advertiser business writer Rick Daysog reported yesterday on a key investor backing the Star-Bulletin’s recently announced purchase of Gannett’s Honolulu Advertiser.

In yesterday’s Advertiser, Daysog identified the investor as Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. of Toronto, which will also name a director to sit on the board of the company formed to operate the new paper that will merge the two Honolulu dailies.

Daysog’s blog, Biz Bites, followed later in the day with additional details.

Daysog’s blog entry had an interesting choice of headline–“The Advertiser’s new investor”.

Technically incorrect, because the investment apparently is in the new venture that will result when the Star-Bulletin and Advertiser are merged.

The problem is that there’s a lot of uncertainty about what kind of newspaper is going to result.

Will it be more like MidWeek and the Star-Bulletin, emphasizing shorter news stories, more features, arts, and photos? How short-staffed will the newsroom be? In prior deals, Black has started by slashing newsroom jobs and budgets. Will that be necessary in Honolulu? No one, except perhaps Black insiders, has a clue.

On the other hand, I’m told that with Gannett’s salary cuts over the past couple of years, salaries of Star-Bulletin reporters currently exceed those paid in the larger Advertiser newsroom.

In a Q&A published after the deal was announced, Black credited his lack of “overwhelming debt” as the key to his success.

As one columnist observed last week:

Newspapers do not have a profit problem. They have a debt problem. Gannett returned a Q409 margin of 20 percent.

Gannett’s debt has been lowered to “junk bond” status and analysts are beginning to see the possibility the company could default when large notes come due over the next year or two.

Meanwhile, Black and others have kept smaller, community newspapers alive and profitable, according to a story from Portfolio.com.

In terms of his newspaper philosophy, Black spoke both of the “watchdog element” of newspapers as well as being “a booster and being a cheerleader” for “progressive change” in the cities they serve. What does that signal about the shape of news to come? I worry.

Speaking of news…the Peer News web site hasn’t been updated, but editor John Temple’s blog yesterday announced the hiring of Wall Street Journal reporter and columnist, Sara Lin, as assistant editor of Peer News.

Sara was born and raised in Hawaii and graduated from Punahou School, where she was editor of the student newspaper for two years. She’s a graduate of Princeton University, where she majored in Politics and minored in East Asian Studies. While a student, she worked as an intern at Honolulu Weekly and The Honolulu Advertiser. After graduation, she went on to a reporting career at two of America’s great newspapers: the Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal, where today she is a real estate reporter and columnist.

Wednesday…Gannett discrimination case dismissed, but documents still provide window to the newsroom

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The lawsuit has been dismissed. Former Advertiser deputy editorial page editor Pati Poblete failed to sustain the burden necessary to have a chance to show she was a victim of discrimination.

But documents and sworn statements made during the initial stages of the litigation nonetheless provide some interesting items. None have been tested through a trial’s give and take, but they’re still part of the record.

For example, ever wonder about the deals offered to Gannett managers? In mid-2006, Poblete was offered a $90,000 salary, immediate availability of vacation, $10,000 in moving and related expenses, and a $10,000 “signing bonus” to cover other incidental expenses.

That certainly sounds generous compared to the Guild scale.

And if you thought there might have been a pro-military slant in the Advertiser’s views at times, check what Poblete said about her initial job interview with then-president and publisher Mike Fisce.

According to Poblete:

“He expressed to me that he felt very strongly about the military and asked what my opinions were about the military….”

Poblete doesn’t describe her response to Fisch, but what would an aspiring Gannett manager likely say?

And I’m not sure this defense offered by Gannett lawyers will make local political candidates feel a lot better:

Poblete claims that Mariani-Belding said certain Filipino candidates were not smart, but Poblete admits that Mariani Belding would also refer to the ideas of non-Filipino candidates as stupid.

In any case, here are links to some of the documents filed in the case by both sides.

Defendant Gannett Publishing, LLC’s Separate concise statement of facts

Poblete claims that Mariani-Belding said certain Filipino candidates were not smart, but Poblete admits that Mariani Belding would also refer to the ideas of non-Filipino candidates as stupid.

***

Poblete never objected to the remarks Mariani-Belding made regarding political candidates when they were made.

***

In March or April of 2007, Poblete had decided that she did not want to keep working for The Honolulu Advertiser and she told her husband Ruben Poblete that she did not want to make arrangements to have their children come and live with her in Hawaii because she did not plan to stay very long.

***

While in California for the Thanksgiving holiday, Poblete interviewed for a job.

Deposition of Pati Poblete (excerpts), Part 1 and Part 2.

She (Mariani-Belding) said Phil Curry with Gannett corporate told her that they–they wanted her to become a publisher. She was not sure yet if that position was going to be in–in Honolulu or at a different paper, but she know it was going to happen.”

***

Q. What did you talk about with Mike Fische (sic)?

A. He asked me about my experience. He expressed to me that he felt very strongly about the military and asked what my opinions were about the military….

Email dated 12/6/2007 from Elizabeth Kieszkowski to Pati Poblete (turning down request for vacation over Christmas holidays)

Poblete’s resignation, same day.

Plaintiff’s concise statement

“Belding stated about Filipino candidates: Nestor Garcia-“has a brain the size of a pea”; Rida Cabanilla-“he’s dumber than a doorknob”; “oh, here comes another Filipino”; A.J. Hagalao-“no not him, he would just cater to his Filipino constituents”; “Filipinos sticking together”.

***

“Pl (plaintiff) only socialized with Belding because as Pl testified in her deposition, Belding would become “angry” when she learned that Pl socialized with others & did not invite Belding. Belding demanded to be part of Pl’s life in & out of work.”

Declaration of Pati Poblete

“Editor Belding told me that she could not tell anyone that she was recruiting me because I would be hired to replace the existing Deputy Editorial Page Editor Jerry Burris (Caucasian), who Editor Belding was “trying to move out”.

Employement offer as Deputy Editorial Page Editor

Your starting salary will be $90,000….We are waiving the usual requirement on vacation accrual so that you can begin taking vacation before your six-month anniversary….

***

We will pay your airfare and airfare for your two children from San Francisco to Honolulu. We will pay up to $10,000 that will include thefollowing: the movement of your household goods and one car, a rental car of up to one month and temporary housing of up to one month.

To assist you with any minor expense not associated with the package described here, you will receive a signing bonus of $10,000.

Response to Nov. 1 (2007) meeting with Miki Sugikawa, Honolulu Advertiser Human Resources Director

Jeanne claims that the comments she made about Filipinos were never meant to be offensive. THis means Jeanne acknowledges saying disparaging remarks about Filipinos, and that because she didn’t mean it to be offensive that it excuses her behavior. As national president of the Asian American Journalists Association, Jeanne should be well aware that this defense is inexcusable. It does not matter what her intention was.

Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, notice of charge of discrimination