In early tabulations, the totals from 61 responses:
- Asbury Park: 13%
- Bridgewater: 29%
- Cherry Hill: 32%
- East Brunswick: 14%
- Morristown 1%
- Vineland: 8%
Why the long faces?
The Jersey group has lately had a difficult time. The Courier News saw its circulation plunge 11.7%, to 30,620 -- one of the steepest losses among GCI papers in the most recent reporting period. Publisher Ketan Gandhi forced it into a merger with the Home News Tribune in East Brunswick. Then, two months ago, Gandhi abruptly left Gannett under circumstances the company has never addressed. (His successor was announced only yesterday.)
And yet: Cherry Hill's Courier-Post, at 67,258 daily, entered the match already down in the dumps!
Morristown is least miserable! WooHoo! Go Joe, Go Joe! Don't let Collins keep your soul. You can be tough and NOT an asshole too.
ReplyDeleteThe Courier Post just got put into the Community Newspaper Group with Brian Donnelly as Prez. Sorry folks...you got the Irishman. Too bad Gary.
ReplyDeleteThat was the old way...small versus big papers. Watson won the duel.
And the Philly Inquirer must be still fast asleep.
In all fairness, the employees in Cherry Hill are miserable, have always been miserable and are just horrible to work there (which I used to do). Their work ethic is the worst I have ever seen. They want everything for nothing. The Teamster mentality exists even exists in non-union departments.
ReplyDeleteHey, I'm not saying Collins wasn't a jerk to work for, but I'm telling you that the employees in Cherry Hill are the WORST! And they expect managers to go out of their way for them when they are always trying to pull fast ones. Get in the real world. It's a round world!
Wow, East Brunswick is alot lower than I expected. well, I guess for the vast majority of folks that do not do actual work there, it's still "fiesta time!" plus, the place is incredibly unprofessional. I was convinced about 10 of the staff were homeless based on appearance and their mental "issues."
ReplyDeleteWould'a replied sooner to the Courier-Post comment, but I was on my fourth lunch break of the day.
ReplyDeletePlease.
To anon 7:15 a.m.: There are some slackers at the C-P who are the ultimate survivors. How they have managed to keep their jobs, I don't know. But I think most of us work very hard and care deeply about the job and the people we work with. I know I do.
ReplyDeleteFellow Gannett NJ folks: At some point we're going to need to stop complaining and start meeting these challenges, so let's start now. Only little old Vineland bucks the NJ circulation trend, so let's look there for a possible solution. What makes Vineland different? It's this: Vineland is an intensely local newspaper that has a very defined market. They don't try to cover 100 towns half-assed. They cover a handful of towns well. If you're at one of the other Gannett NJ papers, could you pinpoint the towns that are most important to your readers? (CP: Could you even name the mayor of Lumberton without looking it up? Then why pretend to cover it.) The future of the Gannett NJ papers should be focused, narrower coverage strategies. Push your editors and publishers to do this, and you'll see circulation hemorrhaging stop like it has stopped in Vineland.
ReplyDeleteHey, 7:56, I agree the CP should focus its coverage instead of spreading so thin, but it ain't gonna happen til they turn us into a bunch of weeklies.
ReplyDeletebtw, how's that buyout offer feeling down there in little 'ol Vineland?