Posts Tagged ‘ GateHouse Media ’

I write this with all love and respect to the local guys because they ROCK, but Comcast is Satan

March 20, 2010
By Billy Dennis

I’m the kinda guy who is always going to wait until the very last minute to pay his cable bill. Usually, I find out it’s due when I can’t get on the Internet So I’m in the Comcast office on Dries Lane ever other month. Those guys rock. Professional, friendly and quick. Kudos. But when I have...
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Posted in Local | 13 Comments »

No one is buying GateHouse’s story about fired reporter

March 10, 2010
By Billy Dennis
No one is buying GateHouse’s story about fired reporter

I’m not the only one who is siding with fired Dodge City Daily Globe reporter Claire O’Brien. From the Society of Professional Journalists FOIFYI blog: This is an outrage on two levels. First, O’Brien suffered terribly during this process as she faced going to jail and felt that few people were on her side, based on...
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Posted in Local | 3 Comments »

It turns out there are a LOT of greedy, incompetent pigs running newspaper companies

March 10, 2010
By Billy Dennis

Before there was GateHouse Media, there was Copley Newspapers, which bought the Peoria Journal Star out of its employee stock ownership program. As the intrepid reporter Don Bauder reports, reporter Copley has been run into the ground while the big boss rolls in luxury.
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Posted in Media | 4 Comments »

Peoria Station got it right

March 10, 2010
By Billy Dennis

The Peoria Journal Star finally reported on various new developments at the airport, including that jet service to Minneapolis was coming. David Jordan reported this on February 5. And he predicted it would be at least a month before the Peoria Journal Star picked up on the story. He was right. I don’t blame the staff. I...
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GateHouse fired the reporter it wouldn’t pay to protect from subpoena (UPDATED)

March 9, 2010
By Billy Dennis

Remember that reporter who tried to fight a subpoena to testify about a confidential source, but her employer — GateHouse Media — refused to pay for her attorney? Well, they fired her: Reporter Claire O’Brien said her firing on Friday from the Dodge City Daily Globe stems from comments she made to media outlets after she...
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Posted in Media | 1 Comment »

Did GateHouse Media plagiarize an ad?

March 8, 2010
By Billy Dennis

Not only are GateHouse Media bosses lining their pockets with huge bonuses while they are firing employees, they are apparently a href=”http://www.fitzandjen.com/2010/03/canton-repositorys-sincerest-form-of-flattery.html”plagiarizing other newspapers’ ads: Consider this ad for the Canton (Ohio) repository: Now look at this one from The Sun in the United Kingdom:
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GateHouse is ruining lives, killing good journalism in Missouri, too

March 7, 2010
By Billy Dennis
GateHouse is ruining lives, killing good journalism in Missouri, too

The The Turner Report vents a little about GateHouse Media: It takes some nerve for GateHouse Media CEO Michael Reed to brag that his company was planning to initiate further cost cutting moves…when he received a half million dollar bonus the same day and other company officials received $650,000 in bonuses, for a total of...
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Expect more bloodletting at GateHouse

March 6, 2010
By Billy Dennis

They’ve already cut staffing at the Journal Star so much that veteran reporters say it can hardly function as a newspaper anymore. But it isn’t over yet. The blog The Turner Report looked at a Securities and Exchange Commission report filed by GateHouse and discovered that they plan to make money by firing more...
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Posted in Media | 3 Comments »

Everything about GateHouse Media sucks — except if you’re a boss

March 5, 2010
By Billy Dennis

An unhappy GateHouse employee sent me the following information from the company’s annual report. I was going to post it later today, but what the heck: Item 9B. Other Information (a) On March 4, 2010, awards of annual cash bonuses to certain GateHouse Media, Inc. executive officers were declared, as set forth below. It is anticipated that...
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Posted in Media | 8 Comments »

Journal Star ‘has ceased to be a real newspaper’ (UPDATED 2x)

March 4, 2010
By Billy Dennis

I am pretty much cut off from society at work today. But I did manage to see this message: “I can’t believe you aren’t all over the layoffs and subsequent job shifting at the JS. Today, the paper ceased to be a real newspaper, sadly. Half of the copy desk (half!) and half of the...
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Posted in Media | 16 Comments »

GateHouse Media knows what’s REALLY important: Money

February 11, 2010
By Billy Dennis
GateHouse Media knows what’s REALLY important: Money

Here is the GateHouse News Service article about the reporter who is claiming that GateHouse Media abandoned her and refuses to pay her legal bills as she tried to prevent a a judge from ordering her to reveal he confidential sources and notes. Guess who is not quoted, not even once. Go ahead, guess. No, it’s not...
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Posted in Media | 2 Comments »

GateHouse media refusing to help reporter threatened with jail

February 11, 2010
By Billy Dennis

Via the Associated Press: A Kansas judge found a subpoenaed newspaper reporter in contempt and fined her $1,000 a day after she failed to show up to testify Wednesday about a jailhouse interview and her confidential sources in a murder investigation. Well, it’s a good thing Dodge City Daily Globe reporter Claire O’Brien has the backing...
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Posted in Media | 7 Comments »

Journal Star: Easter layoffs and the end of Monday papers?

December 20, 2009
By Billy Dennis

That’s the rumor being recounted at Peoria Illinoisan. *sigh* You know, Peoria used to have both morning AND afternoon newspapers. And Chicago newspapers did a healthy business delivering to Peoria homes as well.
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Posted in Media | 3 Comments »

Pekin Times moving to morning, causes scheduling nightmare for entire staff (UPDATED)

December 8, 2009
By Billy Dennis

A reliable source tells me that GateHouse Media officials stunned the staff of the Pekin Daily Times this morning with an announcement that the afternoon newspaper is moving to morning-only. This means every employee at the paper will have to adjust their work schedules. Also, deadlines for the morning paper will be in the late...
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Posted in Media | 7 Comments »

Don’t expect any more reporting like THIS from the Journal Star

December 7, 2009
By Billy Dennis

Apparently, statehouse political reporter Adriana Colindres had a few long-form article in the can before GateHouse Media dumped her to save some cash.
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‘Massive’ Christmas layoffs at the Journal Star today (updated 2x)

December 4, 2009
By Billy Dennis

A reliable source told me moments ago via email that there were “massive” layoffs at the Peoria Journal Star this morning, much like last year. Victims include two newsroom managers and several other staffers plant-wide. My condolences to the newly unemployed. UPDATE: They sure don’t waste any time. Bill Liesse — the sports editor if rumored to...
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Posted in Media | 23 Comments »

Mixed financial news for GateHouse

November 6, 2009
By Billy Dennis

Via Editor & Publisher: GateHouse Media reported total revenue on a same-store basis fell 14.9% to $144.9 million in Q3 year-over — a sequential improvement over previous quarters. In Q2, the Fairport, N.Y. chain reported that total revenue was down 15.2% and in Q1 it fell 16.3%. Net income at the company was $2 million compared...
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Posted in Media | 3 Comments »

GateHouse Media picking a fight with Police-based Website (UPDATED)

October 29, 2009
By Billy Dennis

GateHouse Media kicked the New York Times ass over the same issue. But I’m not too sure they have a case. It didn’t stop gatehouse from sending a cease and desist order to a Massachusettes bulletin board. We wish to advise you that the stories, headlines andlor ledes that you are copying are the...
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Posted in Media | 3 Comments »

This will not end well for the Observer

October 29, 2009
By Billy Dennis

Diane Vespa’s Peoria Rocks notes that the Peoria Times-Observer is being delivered as an insert in the 61614 area code. Both newspapers are owned by GateHouse Media. Diane is “warmed” by the synergy of the new newsrooms working together. I am not. I’ve seen this before: A community weekly is swallowed by the larger daily. A lot of...
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Posted in Media | 14 Comments »