Readers continued to drop The Record and NorthJersey.com in 2021 -- 5 years after $40M purchase by the Gannett Co.

EX-PUBLISHER TURNS DEVELOPER: Stephen A. Borg, former publisher of The Record, is a partner in the development of Print House, luxury apartments and retail at 150 River St. in Hackensack, where the newspaper operated until 2009.

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39,683 daily, 48,684 on Sunday

is the new circulation low

 Editor's note: I just received an email listing the sale and purchase of homes by Malcolm A. Borg,  former chairman of North Jersey Media Group; and the divorce granted to attorney Jennifer Borg, his daughter. See the comments section at the end of this post for details. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The world's biggest newspaper publisher seems powerless to stop the slide in circulation at The Record of Woodland Park and NorthJersey.com.

In 2021 -- 5 years after Gannet Co. bought the prize-winning daily newspaper founded in Hackensack and its website -- circulation of both fell to only 39,683 daily and 48,684 on Sunday, according to the media company's annual report, filed last week.

That is a shocking development given the numbers at the end of 2016, when circulation of The Record and NorthJersey.com stood at 235,681 daily and 147,609 on Sunday

That includes circulation of affiliated publications  like the Herald News and the weekly Hackensack Chronicle.

Dramatic changes

A year later, at the end of 2017, the precipitous slide began: 

Circulation of The Record and its website dropped to only 91,032 daily and 97,149 on Sundays.

Meanwhile, in the first 8 months or so after Gannett acquired North Jersey Media Group in July 2016, about 350 employees were laid off and pay was frozen.

Survivors wake up

But it wasn't until 2021 that survivors of the bloodletting formed a union called The Record Guild to bargain with Gannett, which continues to deny them raises.

The vote in The Record newsroom to form the union was 59-4.

The union's total membership is not known, but includes employees at NorthJersey.com, The Daily Record of Parsippany-Troy Hills and the New Jersey Herald of Newton.

In its annual report, Gannett said that only about 17 percent of is 13,800 employees in the United Sates are represented by labor unions.

Change, change, change

At the end of 2021, according to the annual report, The Record and NorthJersey.com of "Bergen, New Jersey" were listed in 11th place among Gannett's major publications, led by USA Today, one place lower than at the end of 2020.

But when The Record was acquired in 2016, it stood in third place among Gannett newspapers after USA Today and the Detroit Free Press.

Gannett's annual report for 2021 lists a total of 9 daily newspapers, 14 weeklies and 2 production facilities in its New Jersey portfolio.

Corporate revenue

The amount of circulation is the primary factor in the pricing of advertising space, meaning Gannett likely has had to reduce how much it charges for ads in The Record, Herald News and on North Jersey.com, reducing corporate revenue.

Circulation also fell after Gannett editors cut the amount of local news even further after buying The Record in 2016, and then switched to a subscription-only model for NorthJersey.com in 2019. 

In January, The Record and Herald News told subscribers they will no longer receive home delivery of the Saturday edition.

The print edition of The Record may not be long for this world, judging by Gannett's annual report for 2021, which cites the company's "evolution from a more traditional print media business to a digitally focused content platform."

READ: Shit in driveway wasn't from dog walkers

READ: How Stephen Borg turned 

The Record into crap

 

FREE PAPER: The weekly Hackensack Chronicle, which has no staff and reprints stories and photos from The Record, is delivered free to Hackensack residents.

Big downsizing 

The Record had been based in Hackensack for more than 110 years when then-Publisher Stephen A. Borg executed the biggest downsizing in company history in 2008.

He targeted veteran employees who were earning higher salaries, then closed the headquarters building at 150 River St. in 2009 and moved The Record to a bank building overlooking Route 80 in Woodland Park.

Stepen Borg also ended separate Local sections for news from Bergen and Passaic counties, and Bergen readers often were inundated with news of Paterson and other Passaic communities.

After closing the building at 150 River St., Stephen Borg monetized The Record's parking lot by renting spaces to Hackensack University Medical Center and Bergen County.

North Jersey Media Group

In its 2016 annual report, Gannett and the USA Today Network hailed as a strategic acquisition purchase of North Jersey Media Group, the Borg family company that published The Record, Herald News, (201) magazine, NorthJersey.com and about 50 weeklies.

The Borg family held onto nearly 20 acres along River Street in Hackensack and the former headquarters building.

The headquarters, other NJMG buildings and a diner were torn down, and in mid-2020 Stephen Borg and his partners began construction of luxury apartments and retail along River Street.