Newspapers owned by Advance, the Ledger's parent company.
For a complete list of the Courier's parent, Gannett, see here.
For a complete list of the Courier's parent, Gannett, see here.
While driving with the radio on Thursday afternoon, I heard a report on Bloomberg that Gannett, the parent company of the Courier (and the Home News, Asbury Park Press and Courier-Post, among others in NJ) was going to lay off 1,000 people -- in their advertising departments, it seemed. This comes on top of previous cuts and a forced buyout at the Courier, and rough news for the Ledger (which I previously covered here).
Then, yesterday, the good folks over at the Countywatchers blog forwarded a link to a story about New Jersey newspapers and their problems from this week's NY Observer (see here). You should know the Observer, published weekly, is owned by young Jersey-raised Jared Kushner, who also owns the PolitickerNJ website (which is now expanding its franchise to many other states, as you can see from links on its homepage). And that Kushner, should things come to that, is rumored as a potential buyer for the Ledger.
My old standby, Editor and Publisher magazine, confirmed the Gannett news (see here), and also posted an update on the Advance (parent of the Ledger) organization's Michigan situation (see here), where three of its papers are consolidating printing and ad production -- reminiscent of Gannett's moves with the Courier.
But the real dirt comes from Jim Hopkins' Gannett Blog, where he posted the layoff memo (see here). Hopkins, former business editor of the Arkansas Gazette, has a hoppin' blog on all things Gannett. (As he notes, Frank Gannett would NOT be pleased.)
It all boils down to advertising moving away from print media. Classifieds, long a homely stepsister, but a cash cow, led the way, but now it has bled to national advertisers -- including cars most prominently. And, of course, the economic situation has not been helpful, especially as far as real estate advertising goes.
So, how long will you be able to pick a copy of the local paper out of your bushes every morning?
Or how long will you even want to?
Postscript: While print media flounder, their online presences do better, as can be seen from this exclusive report posted online this morning by E&P -- see here.
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