Plainfield Today readers will be familiar with the decline in the Courier's coverage of Plainfield in recent years, as noted in many posts.
Today's Courier carries news that a new publisher has been appointed by Gannett, the paper's parent corporation. The publisher is responsible for the business side of the newspaper (the editors handle the content), and the job is involved with making sure the paper makes a profit.
Changes are not unusual -- Charlie Nutt, the departing publisher, returned to Central Jersey after a long absence about five years ago. Charlie had gotten his start back in the days of the Plainfield Courier, and once told me that as the business reporter, he had covered the closing of the Tepper's department store in the 1970s. He is taking over the publisher and editor duties at Gannett's Vineland newspaper -- which is nicer for him since his family lives in South Jersey -- and I wish him well in the new assignment.
His replacement, Ketan N. Gandhi, is the subject of an upbeat front-page story today.
I was doing fine until I got to the part where I realized Gandhi was NOT LEAVING his job as publisher of the Courier's sister paper the Home News Tribune (of New Brunswick), but TAKING OVER BOTH papers.
To my mind, this means the Courier is in the Intensive Care Unit.
It may not have flatlined yet, but it's a definite possibility.
Not a good one for Plainfield coverage.
Courier - 7/18/2007: "Courier News gets new publisher"
Homepage: "Home News Tribune"
-- Dan Damon
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4 comments:
Speaking of the Courier ... within the past two months, that paper and another Gannett-owned property, the Daily Record of Morristown, have played a strange game. First, Gannett decided the DR had to be printed somewhere other than in Morristown, possibly because of quality issues. So that paper was sent electronically to Bridgewater each night to be printed in the CN building, and the CN, which had to be produced at the same time, was outsourced to a Gannett facility in Freehold. A short time after this, Gannett had another change of heart -- and either laid off or moved the entire CN production staff. Meaning the presses there are now silent, and nothing is printed in Bridgewater.
This may well be a management consolidation that leads to a single newspaper. When we see that major newspapers around the country are strugging with their print editions, this is not a surprise. I just heard that several papers are eliminating their separate book review editors and consolidating book reviews with entertainment. In the interim, the Mayor of Plainfield, needs to redouble her efforts to get the newspaper coverage that Plainfield deserves.
You write "In the interim, the Mayor of Plainfield, needs to redouble her efforts to get the newspaper coverage that Plainfield deserves."
Redoubling zero equals zero, unfortunately.
Gannett has combined newspaper operations before. I believe what they did that in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties, N.Y. First, they combined the staffs of 10 small dailies. Several years later they combined the titles into one -- as a further effort at cost savings. The result was a loss in circulation and advertising -- readers and advertisers were upset at the loss of their "hometown" paper -- so it would be unlikely we would see something like a "Courier Home News Tribune" on newsstands.
I think you will see the distinct titles/brands continue. It's possible that local news will be zoned to each title's traditional market, so what will exist is really one newspaper with two titles split into two distinct editions.
In Westchester, N.Y., that is what Gannett did for about 10 years with the papers there. Only the front page and a few inside pages were different among the titles.
I don't know why people are worried about declining coverage by the Courier News. Plainfield has seen little coverage in recent years. Heck, the Courier doesn't cover much -- not even in their "hometown" of Bridgewater (Unless you consider stories about shopping at the mall to be news.)
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