Get the scoop on Cherry Hill’s ‘Poopgate’

Journalism: Jim Hopkins blogs about “L’Affaire Poopgate” over at Gannett Blog. It seems working conditions are so bad at the Cherry Hill, N.J. Courier-Post, employees are venting their anger by pooping on the bathroom floor.

Nation: Wired reports that the rocket being used to shoot down the spy satellite may have a critical flaw. “The primary cause of one of the few U.S. flight test failures is the new guidance control system, the Divert and Attitude Control System, whose ceramic components cracked during a test. This problem has not been remedied and is not being used in its most advanced mode. Which means that the SM-3’s maneuverability against more demanding targets may be affected.” Oh, great. CNN reports that the first attempt by the Navy to shoot down the wayward satellite will come Thursday.

Health: The death toll from bird flu in Indonesia has reached 105, Reuters reports. With the latest death of a 3-year-old from South Jakarta, the country now has the highest number of bird flu deaths in the world, the story says.

Health: The Guardian reports on a new study that found “mounting evidence that air pollution can both increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in the long-term and induce heart attacks within hours of traffic exposure.”

World: Germany is considering pulling out of the anti-terror efforts in Afghanistan after it’s current pledge expires this fall, Der Spiegel reports. The news drew criticism from Henry Kissinger who even suggested Germany should withdraw from NATO. He told Der Spiegel, “In the long run, we cannot have two categories of members in the NATO alliance: Those that are willing to fight and others that are trying to be members a la carte.”

O P I N I O N

These are not happy times for Gannett employees. On Sunday night, members of the unions at the Honolulu Advertiser voted to authorize a strike. It couldn’t happen immediately; the unions would have to give a 30-day notice. Why are the workers so unhappy? According to the paper, “The company has proposed a two-year contract that calls for a 1 percent pay raise, a 1.5 percent bonus, and increases in employees’ contributions to their health plans. The proposed deal would expire on March 1, 2009.”
     Meanwhile, over on the other coast, employees at the Cherry Hill Courier-Post are striking back at their employer in a scatological fashion. What gives?
     Last fall, the Wall Street Journal’s blog pondered whether Gannett was “girding for a sale.” In the comments that followed, Gannett employees across the country unleashed stories of their bleak situations. Here are some quotes:
     “Rochester’s idea of decorating is to leave the desks of departed employees undisturbed for months at a time. After all, there’s no sense tidying up the place for the new guy, since great and valuable employees who leave are rarely replaced.”
     “At my Gannett paper, every hourly worker I know is working off the clock illegally because they are being told they will be fired if they don’t finish their impossible workloads. Turnover is through the roof. I’ve never seen so many people cry in the bathroom, at their desks, in the halls. I’m thinking a buyout would be a good thing because it couldn’t get worse … could it?”
     “How bad is it to work for a Gannett paper these days? One employee is so miserable at our paper he’s in talks with a defense contractor to drive bombs to military posts in Iraq. Budgets cuts are so deep we can’t even get AP style books for new employees, let alone any other essential tools of the trade.”
     “At the Cincinnati Enquirer the unpaid overtime theme runs the underhanded course. Although managers and workers are specifically told that there will be no overtime either worked or paid, it is a way of life for exempt employees.”
     Since it’s obvious Gannett can’t take care of its current holdings, why then is it pursuing college newspapers such as Colorado State University’s Rocky Mountain Collegian? It’s curious, but obvious that journalism is not what Gannett emphasizes. This is all about “doin’ the shareholder shuffle” in an attempt to squeeze every drop from every dollar, squeezing them as Bessie Smith once sang, “’til that eagle grins.” In the New York Times story about the Collegian takeover attempt, Gannett spokeswoman Tara Connell responds, “There is no grand Gannett strategy.”
     You can say that again.

◊ Quit tally: Here is the tally of people who have quit/left the newsroom of my local paper in the past four months: 6