News Journal owner Gannett wants the world, or perhaps its workforce, to know it is an awesome media company.
Taking center stage for the lip sync rock band was Gannett CEO Gracia Martore, joined by top executives.
Martore pulled down more than $12 million while presiding over a painful restructuring process that required editorial staff to reapply for their jobs.
Those not rehired were often replaced with less experienced staff. The News Journal underwent the process, which is now being undertaken at the Daily Times and its weeklies on Delmarva.
One reason for the video was the separation of Gannett’s growing digital properties (Cars.com) and TV stations and the troubled legacy newspaper and website business. The digital business will be known as Tegna.
Gannett wanted to send out the message that is more than a collection of TV stations, newspapers and related websites.
The video was probably part of a team-building exercise as it is loaded with cringe-worthy features including a misspelling of the word commission and one exec advising to “turn that frown upside down,” which some might interpret as a reference to morale problems at various properties.
Click on the photo above to access the video. The video may not be available should Gannett decide it does not want it online.
The existence of the video was first revealed by media observer Jim Romenesko, perhaps with the help of a Gannett employee who found the video on GoogleDocs.
