Double-digit ad-revenue losses, like those Gannett disclosed last week, raise serious questions about the survival of some papers -- and the solvency of their parent companies, The New York Times says today. "It’s going a lot worse than anybody predicted, and if we have double-digit ad declines for two years, some newspapers will be in real financial jeopardy,” Benchmark Co. analyst Edward Atorino told the NYT. "You’re going to see structural changes: papers could drop a day or two per week, they could outsource printing."Gannett's Courier News in New Jersey's Bridgewater was merged with the Home News Tribune last year, readers have said, to save the Courier from failure. But that combination and other steps weren't enough to prevent layoffs in the troubled New Jersey group.
Earlier: N.J. circulation roundup: Read 'em, and weep
[Image: this morning's Home News Tribune, Newseum]
"Merged" might not be the right word. The Courier News is still a separate daily paper. Gandhi did lump as many ops together as he could (mostly disastrous) to save money just like a lot of papers are doing. I haven't heard anyone with any authority say for sure it was to keep CN from shutting down.
ReplyDeleteInteresting like about the future of the company and the CEO.
ReplyDeletehttp://seekingalpha.com/article/82255-how-low-will-gannett-go
from above:
ReplyDeleteAdding to the black marks on the company is greedy management. The CEO earned 7 million dollars in bonus money in 2007, despite a drop in revenues, tightening margins, a lower return on capital, and a stock price down 30%. Don't you wish you were awarded 7 million for that kind of performance?
Considering how badly the Courier-News advertising management fails to mine the market, and considering how out of touch the Courier-News newsroom management is with the paper's actual readers, they should have put the thing out of its misery. The Courier-News staff thinks it can reach the big-bucks people up in real-mansion horse country (yes, New Jersey has horse country), but the only people faithful to the paper are blue-collar guys who used to work in the asbestos plant.
ReplyDeleteRE: The alleged merge of the CN and HNT:
ReplyDeleteNo money saving efforts there. The Home News still rents a too-small building in the slums of Middlesex County and the Courier News still owns a beautiful building which is less than half occupied in the heart of prestigious Somerset County. No more than a handful took the buyout and even less were laid off.
No one was dropped from the ADS department in the Home News or Courier News. And we understand the Courier News has twelve (yes that's 12) staffers on board and not sending ANYTHING to India. That's three less staffers than the Asbury Park Press, who are currently staffed at 15 and required to send 100 ads to India. And the HNT has 5 staffers and is required to send 50 ads to India.
And what's the circulation on each of these three papers?
You do the math!
Everyone in NJ knows that the CN is one of the worst dailies in the state. It was just as bad before Gannett. No one will miss it if it vanishes tomorrow. It's a rag!
ReplyDeleteBefore, I was a believer in the Courier News. Now I realize, like so many of my coworkers, that we are on a sinking ship. So is the Home News. Inept management is just part of the problem. Morale is at an all time low, complaints to management go nowhere and we are all supposed to be positive. We can't take pride in the newspaper if we don't feel good about what is going on around us. People don't show up for work, no one is held accountable and we are all stressed - Except our "Manager" who is totally, totally clueless. Put us all out of this misery.
ReplyDeleteThe CN has a beautiful building? Maybe for 1989 Bucharest.
ReplyDelete