Gannett furloughs affect KSDK
Employees of KSDK (Channel 5) were told Wednesday that they all will have to take one week of unpaid “vacation” this quarter. This order comes down from parent company Gannett and is a move to avoid layoffs. KSDK wouldn’t comment except to refer to Gannett. Unclear at this point what the unions will do about this and whether contracts allow the furloughs.
Gannett CEO Craig Dubrow is quoted as saying in a memo to employees: “After much consideration, we decided a furlough program would be the fairest and least intrusive way to meet these fiscal challenges in the first quarter, which is traditionally the lightest time of the year. We sincerely hope this minimizes the need for any layoffs going forward.”
Here’s a good story from Editor & Publisher about how Gannett-owned newspapers (85 including USA Today) are affected.
Instead of zero pay for one week, they should set aside a 4 week period where the pay is cut by a 1/4 each week? At least it would lesson the pain.
cornhead should stop looking for “reasons” to hate.
Hey there (EJRotert),must correct you. Show me one local talking head who could be referred to as a “reporter”. These clowns on air couldn’t do an investigative report if their life depended on it.All they do is read a teleprompter with script written by some twenty five year old recent graduate from Mizzou school of journalism.TV news is a joke,and the newsprint media in this town almost shares the same status.
Stop putting reporters in plumbing stores to tell us how to protect our pipes in zero degree weather. I died laughing this morning when I saw an employee of the plumbing store DEMONSTRATE how to open the cabinet doors and turn a faucet on so it drips. Do they really think we are that dumb that we need a demenstration????? (different channel I know but I thought to myself what a waste of gas driving to the location and a waste of a reporters and cameramans time).
The key phrase here is “this morning.” No St. Louis TV station can fill 2 hours with news that broke since 10:35p last night, so it’s necessary to pad the slot with “service” features like the faucet piece. Plus, of course, traffic and weather, traffic and weather, traffic and weather . . .
If hard news is what you require, you will find more of it on the nation’s most popular early-morning news: “Morning Edition,” on KWMU 90.7.
I agree with the nauseating self-promotion. No other channel goes on about how great the announcers are. I like Channel 5, I like the news, but those commercials gag me.
No big loss-The local newscast are a joke anyhow-Channel 2 spends first 5 minutes of news plugging “news” stories-next 10 minutes of team reports on some snow flurries,and rest of the newscast on American Idol promos.Channel 5 spend waste most of their newscast putting people in a panic about how digital TV going be armaggadon.Or Channel 4 reporting that if you pass gas in your house you may die from carbon minoxide poisoning.What a joke!I the one that should get paid to watch that junk!
After surfing local channels between 6 and 7 a.m. to avoid Heidi Glaus, like it or not, KSDK is still the best. Heidi Glaus never seems to get the facts correct (Mizzou’s colors are gold and black, NOT gold and blue) and is thrilled by the sound of her shrill voice…how this mediocre talent got an Emmy is beyond me. Generally, local news is pretty much amateur hour in this town. Giving background info, like “we’re still getting more info,” not covering fairly important local news, repeating constantly and just plain dull and stupid “features” seem to be the hallmarks of local St. Louis stations.
Why not match the KSDK furlough? Turn off the television for a week.
Better yet, keep it off for at least six weeks. (And if you’re a cable subscriber, cancel that, too.)
At the end of week 6, see how much you miss it.
They may all be taking a week off without pay, but I guarantee you it will be a much bigger hardship for the secretary than it will be for Craig.
Management gets paid the big bucks because of the responsibilities and risks of their jobs. It shouldn’t be the workers at the lower end of the totem pole who pay for their poor business decisions. Until the executives start losing their jobs, nothing will change.