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| LOCAL JOURNALIM OR LITTER? The Hackensack Chronicle, owned by the Gannett Co., long ago lost its own staff and now reprints news stories and other material from The Record of Woodland Park. I find the free weekly in the driveway of my home every Friday. |
By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR
HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Despite having a captive audience in 2020, The Record and NorthJersey.com continued to lose readers and advertising revenue for the 4th year in row.
Gannett's annual report for 2020 shows once again the widely reviled print edition and website failed to hold onto readers, despite the Covid-19 pandemic that forced many North Jersey residents to stay home or work remotely.
In July 2016, Gannett bought Hackensack-based North Jersey Media Group -- including The Record, Herald News, NorthJersey.com and numerous weekly newspapers -- from the Borg family for nearly $40 million in cash.
More than 110 years
The Record had been based for more than 110 years in Hackensack before the Borgs executed the biggest downsizing in company history in 2008, closed the headquarters building at 150 River St. in 2009, and moved to Woodland Park.
In 2020, circulation of The Record and its affiliated website, NorthJersey.com, declined to 47,004 daily and 62,057 on Sunday, according to Gannett Co.'s annual report.
That compares to 52,623 daily and 70,682 on Sunday at the end of 2019.
Compared to total readership in 2016, that's pathetic.
At the end of 2016, total circulation for the print edition and website was given as 235,681 daily and 147,609 on Sunday.
In 10th place
In 2020, The Record and NorthJersey.com held onto 10th place among Gannett's major publications across the United States, including USA Today, the Detroit Free Press and The Arizona Republic.
According to a the Letter LY blog, U.S. newspaper print circulation is the lowest in the last 80 years:
- In 2020, The Wall Street Journal’s circulation fell below the 1-million mark.
- Due to declining readership, 1 in 5 US newspapers has folded in the last 15 years.
- American newspapers will see their ad revenue cut in half by 2024.
- Newsroom employment dropped by 23% since 2008.
- Americans prefer digital newspapers over social media as a news source.
#gannettruinedmypaper
NorthJersey.com carries photos of all staff members at the website, The Record and (201) magazine, a total of 86 employees.
Last week, Gannett employees who want to form a union announced on Twitter they had prevailed in an election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board -- by a vote of 59-4 -- and called on the company to bargain with them.
In the first 8 months or so after Gannett acquired North Jersey Media Group in July 2016, about 350 employees were laid off.
Previous reports
Here is my previous reporting on readership of The Record and NorthJersey.com since Gannett took over; laid off hundreds of employees, including reporters, editors and copy editors; and gutted local news coverage of Hackensack and other communities:
In 2019, The Record and NorthJersey,com lost 16,000 readers daily, 19,600 on Sunday
Ganett admits readership of The Record, NorthJersey,com dropped dramatically after takeover
Staffers at The Record, two other Gannett dailies are trying to join a union
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