Gannett – “GCI is among the worst of the worst.”

Pros

If you negotiate a good deal -- and that's a big if -- the pay is reasonably good for the industry. There are not many more positive things that I can say. When I signed on years ago, there were enough good journalists in place that one felt as though he/she could do good work in spite of the corporate culture. After several rounds of massive layoffs, most of those people are gone and those who remain are simply clinging to their jobs. Bottom line: Gannett is a place to come for a paycheck, not a career. If you're ambitious and care about quality, choose it as a last resort.

Cons

Poor management, extremely poor quality control, and a commitment to maintaining unreasonably high profit margins at all costs. As a rule Gannett managers are promoted because of their willingness to carry out corporate edict, not based on talent. That means you work for folks who are very good at giving PR-style speeches and putting a positive spin on bad news. They are not, however, good at examining their resources and coming up with creative solutions to problems. For example, our company recently faced massive layoffs, and we are working less efficiently now than ever before. We have multiple leaders arguing over how things should be done, while workers are left confused and frustrated. There would be an easy fix, but not in this environment. The people at the top simply do not inspire confidence and routinely ignore employee suggestions that would improve products and the working environment.

Advice to Senior Management

Reinvent the company from the top down. There is no way you will succeed as a 21st century media firm using the status quo leadership that you currently have in place.