Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Kotz / Media Beaten at its Own Game, Gannett Considers Creating Rival Blog
Posted by Pete Kotz on Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 5:43 AM
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For employees of The Tennessean and Gannett papers nationwide, the Gannett Blog is the go-to destination for company news. Run by former USA Today reporter and editor Jim Hopkins, it's obsessed with all things Gannett, from layoffs to management moves to leaked memos. 
But to the regret of execs, it's not exactly a friendly site.
Along with most newspaper concerns, the company has been taking a financial pounding. It's stock price has plummeted and its layoffs have been measured in the thousands. Yet instead of turning to the company for the straight word, employees have turned to the Gannett Blog, a site so popular it now ranks among the top eight in blog traffic. It's an astounding position considering the site is largely restricted to insider news. And what seems to be worrying Gannett is that that news is unfiltered -- and not exactly charitable to management.
So according to CNN, the company is considering creating its own rival blog. It's hard to say how this will work. After all, Hopkins already has a lock on the audience. "They don't want to acknowledge that they've lost control of their employee communications," he says.
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