Dooley & Andreu leaving the Gainesville Sun

Musclepug

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Its definitely a weird time to retire, with the gators run to Atlanta and hopefully more and Trasks run to the record book. He said that on the radio the other day he and slobbie both had 66th bday and they can collect social security....so there's that
 

LagoonGator68

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Dooley in his FB announcement says, “I am not retiring but retiring from the paper,” adding that Andreu is leaving with him.

Does anyone buy into the motion that they decided to retire together? This sounds like a Sun house cleaning.


Sun probably made an executive decision to drop Sports Section due to lack of traffic.
 

gator1946

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Local talk Radio (Frangie) says Robbie's also in the middle of buyout negotiations. According to Donkey, the issue is whether the amount will be 5 bucks even, or $5.50. They are at an impasse.
 

oxrageous

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This really is interesting. Any theories as to what the Sun has up their sleeve? Do you think it was a pure monetary decision (want to bring in someone cheaper, they have no money) or a performance thing?
 

gator1946

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Also from Frangie. He, Frangie, had a discussion with Dooley yesterday. Sum and substance. Dooley wanted to stay through the end of the season. But he and management couldn't come to an agreement. I had to think about that for 30 seconds. If Dooley wanted to stay but they couldn't come to an agreement, that sounds like a shove out the door. Whatever you think of Dooley, after 30 plus years at the same paper, that's an ugly way to end a decades long career at the same place.
 

gator1946

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This really is interesting. Any theories as to what the Sun has up their sleeve? Do you think it was a pure monetary decision (want to bring in someone cheaper, they have no money) or a performance thing?

I've got plenty of theories but no knowledge of the newspaper business. Where's '78?
 

oxrageous

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Also from Frangie. He, Frangie, had a discussion with Dooley yesterday. Sum and substance. Dooley wanted to stay through the end of the season. But he and management couldn't come to an agreement. I had to think about that for 30 seconds. If Dooley wanted to stay but they couldn't come to an agreement, that sounds like a shove out the door. Whatever you think of Dooley, after 30 plus years at the same paper, that's an ugly way to end a decades long career at the same place.
Yes, this ain't 2017. We're talking about a SECCG, a possible playoff run, and a Heisman. It's not the kind of season you leave right in the middle of after 3 decades.
 

LagoonGator68

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This really is interesting. Any theories as to what the Sun has up their sleeve? Do you think it was a pure monetary decision (want to bring in someone cheaper, they have no money) or a performance thing?

Management sees 2 fat, lazy, old men who rarely work in the office. Traffic is waaaay down. Management doesn’t want to admit it is due to pay wall.....fire the old guys and blame it on them.
 

soflagator

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People think Im kidding when I say Gannett pays less than a garbageman salary.

This is accurate. As far back as the early 2000's it's been this way. I have no idea why anyone would even consider a journalism degree. Had some exposure to Gannett during that time because of a deal I was working, and it was mind-blowing. I also dated a girl with one from UF and aside from knowing how to write AP style, it was useless and she couldn't afford to pursue her career because of the pay.

Great body though.
 

LagoonGator68

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So far, this has been all about shareholders and all about the financials — it hasn’t been about journalism at all,” said Bernie Lunzer, president of NewsGuild-CWA, the nation’s largest union of journalists.

“The only the way they are going to be able to pay (debt service on the deal) is they are going to have to lay people off,” Lunzer said. “There is going to have to be less news (for readers as a result), and everyone loses.”

New Media is taking out a $1.8 billion, five-year loan from private equity firm Apollo Global Management — at an annual interest rate of 11.5% — to finance the acquisition. Reed has characterized that debt as a bridge loan, saying the combined company plans to pay it off early and refinance at a lower rate.
 

LagoonGator68

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New Media is the parent of Gatehouse and the surviving company of the New Media/Gannett merger operating now under the Gannett name only.
 

jmskjrgator

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They are probably having a hard time paying the electric bill. How long ago did you see someone reading a newspaper? All newspapers are going out of business, it’s just a matter of time. As ugly as Dooley is
he doesn’t need to do any type of video.
 

78

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The Sun was long overdue to shake things up and toss out the deadwood. I applaud their move. Gator sports is the ultimate home field advantage and they did little in the past to exploit the opportunity into a business advantage.

I have no idea how many young fledgling sports writers there are out there anymore, but the bar was already low at the Sun. Go to the Alligator, go to the homeless shelters, but get some energetic new blood that acts like it wants to be there. And for heaven’s sake, stop acting like a homer. Challenge these overpaid administrators in their decision making.
 

oxrageous

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They are probably having a hard time paying the electric bill. How long ago did you see someone reading a newspaper? All newspapers are going out of business, it’s just a matter of time. As ugly as Dooley is
he doesn’t need to do any type of video.
Welcome back!
 

oxrageous

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The Sun was long overdue to shake things up and toss out the deadwood. I applaud their move. Gator sports is the ultimate home field advantage and they did little in the past to exploit the opportunity into a business advantage.
But right in the middle of a big season? Wouldn't you find that to be unusual?
 

ShelbyGator

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But right in the middle of a big season? Wouldn't you find that to be unusual?
Perhaps because it's a big season and half the US is hiding in their basements surfing the net but Sun traffic is still in the toilet, the execs finally realized that these 2 tools are not the ones to keep so they decided to pull the plug now.

To quote (or maybe paraphrase) the best AD in history "what must be done eventually should be done immediately".
 

78

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But right in the middle of a big season? Wouldn't you find that to be unusual?

The homeless shelters start accepting holiday RSVPs around this time. There’s a lot of jockeying around for space among the scribes. I think the Sun was looking to get a leg up on its competition.
 

Swamp Donkey

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Yes, this ain't 2017. We're talking about a SECCG, a possible playoff run, and a Heisman. It's not the kind of season you leave right in the middle of after 3 decades.
I doubt Dooley has left his basement. He has been sitting by a CNN screen drinking straight vodka shaking uncontrollably in fear of Wuhan sniffles.
 

Tunaboat

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The only real takeaway for me is the Gainesville paper is on the rocks. Dooley's lip-smacking was my only real beef with him (I broke a decent set of headphones against the wall) - you can see worse from hacks like Bianchi at the Slantinel and our resident Tampa jackal Fenelly, who showed his prowess by keeping the Gators at #8 after beating #5 UGA so he could stick CincyFingNatti and BYU ahead of us. The Sun has shown zero leadership letting its once-breathing forum die, and now finishing off their wobbling sports department is the smartest thing these fuchs could come up with.
 

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