Indeed, as the chart (inset) shows, the Virginia/D.C. area -- home to Corporate and USA Today -- was this blog's top source of traffic in the past 30 days, a new Google Analytics report shows. The figures are based on Internet service provider data, so approximate reader location. New Jersey and New York, two more states with lots of Gannett newspapers, ranked high, too.But every state sent traffic my way. What's more, rankings vary by month, depending on which worksites are in the news.
Earlier: In anatomy of a blog, don't mess with New Jersey!
[Data: Google Analytics]
I don't own any software to make charts like the one accompanying this post. Instead, I've developed a cheap alternative:
ReplyDeleteI use Google's free spreadsheet program to create the chart. Then, I make a screenshot, crop it with Photoshop, and -- voila! -- I'm done.
We here in Jersey are vocal. I don't think we think our problems are worse than anyone else's. If anything, it's been helpful to know that evil isn't limited to our corner of the world.
ReplyDeleteThat's true about New Jersey. We're loud and we're proud.
ReplyDeleteAnd we don't like taking any shit.
Loud,yes,Proud,maybe,but definatley full of shit
ReplyDeleteIn Ohio, the dailies aquired there in 2000 have always felt seperate and unequal - probably because most of those papers were crap to start. Problem was, those newsrooms started out with great hope that Gannett would come in, raise the miserable Thomson salaies and improve the papers. Sadly, that didn't happen. The good people quit, and the idiots were promoted. NOTE: Mansfield's publisher is essentially blind yet critiquies the papers (ha). These papers have gone from bad to worse under Gannett. So it is no wonder they are pretty silent. They have been beaten into silence after 7 years of abuse from Gannett people like that idiot Phil Curry. What say you, Gannett staffers in OHio (Cincy don't count)?
ReplyDeleteI bet all your LOUD MOUTH'S in Jersey are cowaring behind there desk's right now just like the rest of us in Gannett
ReplyDeleteYes, in NJ we're worried about our jobs because the cost of living in this state is OBSCENE. And it's not so easy to pull our kids out of school and leave loved ones to relocate someplace cheaper.
ReplyDeleteSo go easy on us, 1:56. I know NJ is a noisy bunch, but we're all in the same boat and we're all very concerned.
My heart goes out to all of you who have to endure this long, painful process, especially ya'll in New Jersey.
ReplyDeleteWe in NJ are not cowaring behind our desks. If and when we lose our job(s) and/or our paper(s) go under, we'll do just fine, thank you.
ReplyDeleteTo Anon 6:28 p.m. who said:
ReplyDelete"...not so easy to pull our kids out of school and leave loved ones to relocate someplace cheaper. "
This just makes me furious!
Today probably isn't the BEST time to relocate, but I have never understood some people's stubborn clinging to one jobsite. To advance in Gannett, I worke at five different papers, each one a larger circulation.
No, it wasn't easy. But it insured I got a bigger paycheck each time I took the risk and jumped.
If you really want to do journalism and you really want to do better for yourself, you have to take a chance and make a change.
Sniveling about miserable conditions, a bad boss and how HARD it is to do anything about it doesn't cut it with me this morning.
5:28
ReplyDeleteIt's difficult to liquidate homes in this state because of the HIGHEST PROPERTY TAXES in the Nation. That limits mobility to move to cheaper states (although I'm trying to solve that problem)
5:28, to add to what 7:33 said:
ReplyDeleteIt's not just about liquidating a home. For us to move, my spouse and I both would have to get new jobs. If it were just me alone, I'd do it. I did it in the past, before I was married and had a child. Now we need both incomes -- unless, of course, we move somewhere that the cost of living is half what it is here in Jersey. And since we're both in the journalism business, it's that much more difficult. And I am speaking from experience because my husband and I have been down this path once before, at a time when the economy and newspapers weren't in the tank. It wasn't easy then. Now, it's sheer hell, especially because one of us is toward the higher end of the pay scale. Have you looked at the job market lately? I have. Trying to find a place that would have jobs for both of us is next to impossible.
The people in New Jersey just reinforce what many people believe, NJ is a miserable place. How could anyone live there?
ReplyDeleteits not easy for anyone to move, but I have done it 6 times in 20 years and it has alwasy been a personal and professional growth opportunity. Plus, NJ cannot be that hard a place ot leave. Its sounds awful.
ReplyDelete1:58, are you moving a family? Two spouses both employed in the industry? That's the difficult part.
ReplyDeleteAs a native Midwesterner who put in a number of years at a GCI paper in NJ, I must speak up for the Garden State.
ReplyDeleteSure, it's expensive. Traffic can be hair-raising. Nerves can be easily frayed. But I loved it.
For one thing, the natural beauty in most of the state is amazing. You won't see it on your way to NYC from Newark Airport, but it is chock-full of gorgeous places -- white-sand beaches, colonial-era towns, mountains, forests, valleys and of course the Pine Barrens.
More important to me though were the great friendships I made there, and the many, many intelligent, creative and spirited people I met. Plus, all the fun I had.
I'm not on the tourist board payroll or otherwise burdened with an axe to grind. But I don't want those who've spent little time in NJ to believe the whole state is really "miserable" and "awful." Not so. For me, it is a fond, fond memory.
yes I moved kids and both my wife and I are in this blessed business.
ReplyDeleteIts not easy but believe it or not, it is done every single day by thousands of people who are forced or choose to move their families for jobs.
Almost always, once the stress of the move passes, the new life brings great new experiences and friendships. Moving for a job is not a death sentence.
Well, I'm glad to know you and your wife fared so well. My past experiences with moving both jobs were miserable. We moved cross country twice. Once we did it without a job for him -- that was a disaster. It killed us financially and it killed his spirit. When we did it the next time, he looked for a job for months -- I know because I helped him with the resumes and cover letters -- and had to settle for a part-time job. I have it easier than most -- my skill set is very much in demand -- but he's in a category that is very, very difficult.
ReplyDeleteI can't watch his spirit get killed again, and that's my biggest concern, quite frankly.