Bye-Bye Gannett Blog
One of my fascinations this year has been with Gannett Blog, published by former USA Today editor and reporter Jim Hopkins.
The outpouring of emotions, gossip and facts by Gannett employees in the face of unprecedented changes in the newspaper industry was almost overwhelming. The information answered many questions I had piled up in my mind over my 16-year stint with the Courier News. I will not go into details. Suffice it to say it was extremely revealing to see my thoughts echoed in numerous posts.
Gannett Blog will end this week, but the fate of the Gannett organization is still being played out, with reallocations of resources through regionalization, furloughs, layoffs and other modifications. And to think I was taken aback by the end of free coffee in the newsroom and the end of profit-sharing!
The newsroom of today, as Managing Editor Paul Grzella tells us, is really an Information Center with a print product and Internet platforms. The general public will have to make of that what it will, but to us old newsies, the memories of journalistic life in the old days will always have a special flavor. Where is that editor that sent me through the night twice to get something from police on the story of a man who killed his wife because he saw her as the devil in the shape of a fish? When I drove through the fog for the second time, I got the same non-response from police and saw the man himself handcuffed to a bench, as the station had no other means of confining him.
Then there was the time I was sent to a fire scene in Manville and spent hour upon hour at an editor's command awaiting an official comment that was not forthcoming. Once there was a federal case outlawing uncompensated hours, editors became more judicious about making reporters camp out endlessly in adverse conditions to get an official quote.
Deadline at one time was in the early a.m. and I must say I did relish going home at 2 a.m. on Route 22 with no other drivers in sight, in contrast to the rush hour traffic that garnered the highway the nickname "Blood Alley."
Over time, I came to know many city sites as the locations of homicides or fatalities, something Mark Spivey said he is already beginning to register as he goes about the city. When Maria and I did some of our "field trips" around Plainfield, those same sad recollections colored my memories.
Since retiring six years ago, I have made myself available to all four reporters who followed me, sharing whatever information or resources I have. Hopkins is making much of his closure of Gannett Blog, but I suspect that if a good story comes up, he will be on the case by Twitter or whatever means to break the news. The instinct dies hard.
Anyway, Gannett Blog has carved its place in news history and its departure as a daily fix will be lamented by many, including me.
--Bernice Paglia
The outpouring of emotions, gossip and facts by Gannett employees in the face of unprecedented changes in the newspaper industry was almost overwhelming. The information answered many questions I had piled up in my mind over my 16-year stint with the Courier News. I will not go into details. Suffice it to say it was extremely revealing to see my thoughts echoed in numerous posts.
Gannett Blog will end this week, but the fate of the Gannett organization is still being played out, with reallocations of resources through regionalization, furloughs, layoffs and other modifications. And to think I was taken aback by the end of free coffee in the newsroom and the end of profit-sharing!
The newsroom of today, as Managing Editor Paul Grzella tells us, is really an Information Center with a print product and Internet platforms. The general public will have to make of that what it will, but to us old newsies, the memories of journalistic life in the old days will always have a special flavor. Where is that editor that sent me through the night twice to get something from police on the story of a man who killed his wife because he saw her as the devil in the shape of a fish? When I drove through the fog for the second time, I got the same non-response from police and saw the man himself handcuffed to a bench, as the station had no other means of confining him.
Then there was the time I was sent to a fire scene in Manville and spent hour upon hour at an editor's command awaiting an official comment that was not forthcoming. Once there was a federal case outlawing uncompensated hours, editors became more judicious about making reporters camp out endlessly in adverse conditions to get an official quote.
Deadline at one time was in the early a.m. and I must say I did relish going home at 2 a.m. on Route 22 with no other drivers in sight, in contrast to the rush hour traffic that garnered the highway the nickname "Blood Alley."
Over time, I came to know many city sites as the locations of homicides or fatalities, something Mark Spivey said he is already beginning to register as he goes about the city. When Maria and I did some of our "field trips" around Plainfield, those same sad recollections colored my memories.
Since retiring six years ago, I have made myself available to all four reporters who followed me, sharing whatever information or resources I have. Hopkins is making much of his closure of Gannett Blog, but I suspect that if a good story comes up, he will be on the case by Twitter or whatever means to break the news. The instinct dies hard.
Anyway, Gannett Blog has carved its place in news history and its departure as a daily fix will be lamented by many, including me.
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 8:29 PM
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