Please support local journalism.
Our industry is hurting, and we
need you more than ever.
N.J.com,
by
Kevin Whitmer
Original Article
Posted By: Ribicon,
4/23/2020 11:16:22 AM
For a moment Tuesday, everything was wonderfully normal during a quick run to our Woodbridge office for supplies. The lights in the entryway danced off our three Pulitzer prizes, there was a sign on a broken coffee machine and my mailbox was overflowing with letters and magazines. It felt like any other day in the office until I turned a corner and walked into our newsroom. That’s when it hit me: The place was empty and dark.(Snip) Our parent company, Advance Local, announced furloughs and temporary pay cuts. We also will temporarily lose the company’s 401k match, but we avoided layoffs.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Sandpiper 4/23/2020 11:22:11 AM (No. 388786)
Pain and suffering make great stories to write about unless we have to go through it ourselves.
30 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Submariner 4/23/2020 11:22:45 AM (No. 388789)
Learn to code, Kevin.
66 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
LeeBertie 4/23/2020 11:25:05 AM (No. 388793)
GREAT NEWS!
Now your "reporters" can start looking into future CODING jobs. Anyone can learn to code in two short weeks! - Joe Biden
Better yet, get an "essential" job. - Andrew Coumo
63 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
LeeBertie 4/23/2020 11:31:48 AM (No. 388804)
"You are important to us — regardless of your habits — and we will continue to serve you and all 9 million people in our state.
So if you haven’t decided to subscribe (poster's notation: for the low, low price of $.33 a day), please act now by clicking the link."
We really, really do need your money just like Nancy needs your money:
"Can I count on your $10?
I’m humbly asking for $10 and your help before midnight. Donald Trump has smeared MY Democrats and ME with vicious lies. I refuse to let his lies go unanswered — but I can’t do it alone. Can you chip in before midnight and help me fight back"
Posted by Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday, March 3, 2020.
12 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
IowaDad 4/23/2020 11:31:55 AM (No. 388805)
Easy. Call your local hospital and report its bed occupancy, ICU occupancy and ventilator utilization. Just the facts. No opinion necessary. Repeat daily. Expect an award for excellence in journalism.
29 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
pros7767 4/23/2020 11:33:10 AM (No. 388807)
Good riddance to bad rubbish! Maybe NJ will finally get a real, objective newspaper.
Not likely!
28 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Lazyman 4/23/2020 11:37:30 AM (No. 388809)
This was the laugh of the day. I delivered this paper 60 years ago and read it in Jersey. There is no doubt it is a hateful rag and never fair or impartial. These people are not by any stretch of the imagination nice unless you are into group thinking that Orange man bad or cops are your enemy. I recall when a hero Irvington Officer was shot 5 times while sitting in his cruiser writing a report. While the cop was struggling for his life they were interviewing anonymous street people and quoting them that this cop stole their drugs which was a complete fabrication. This is real karma and maybe if they stuck to truth they would have a larger population to market.
34 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
TJ54 4/23/2020 11:38:52 AM (No. 388811)
As long as you post left-wing drivel, we are not interested in your "news"
20 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Toby Ten Bears 4/23/2020 11:38:54 AM (No. 388812)
Sure Kevin... Sure.
16 people like this.
It's a race to the bottom but Advance may be as bad or worse than Gannett although Gannett's aging, annoying web site template just pips it.
Advance are propagandists of the first order in every market they serve. Any journalism is accidental.
14 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Maggie2u 4/23/2020 11:46:31 AM (No. 388817)
Gee Kevin, why would I pay $10 a month when I can turn on my TV and watch any news show, sit-com or drama show and get hate America and Orange Man bad drivel for free?
19 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Mofongo 4/23/2020 11:52:33 AM (No. 388824)
Disappear, traitors!
12 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
poliposter 4/23/2020 11:53:23 AM (No. 388825)
Many months ago, NJ.com eliminated all comments saying it was necessary to cut the costs of having people manage the comments. Most of the comments were conservative with some repetitive lefty trolls tossed in. The commenters predicted the site would be dead in 6 months. I rarely bother to click on anything on the site. It’s lost advertising dollars as well.
22 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
planetgeo 4/23/2020 11:53:30 AM (No. 388826)
Die, enemedia, die.
17 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
TundraStan 4/23/2020 11:55:58 AM (No. 388828)
Sorry to hear the facts have caught up with some of the most opinionated folk on the planet. Tell you what, you report some FACTS and maybe I will once again subscribe, which I have not since the “Great” Walter Cronkite said his job was to sway public opinion, not report facts.
8 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
PCMM 4/23/2020 11:56:27 AM (No. 388829)
Was gonna send $10 but gave it to Lucianne instead. If I wasn’t so lazy, I’d email him to say that exact thing.
16 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
MindMadeUp 4/23/2020 12:01:03 PM (No. 388831)
Clearly, our logical impulse is to laugh harshly and give them the finger, but I strongly suspect our wonderful government will bail them all out (with our money).
4 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
marbles 4/23/2020 12:05:20 PM (No. 388835)
I live in NJ. I aint payin. Got financial problems? Deal with it, like everyone else.
8 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
DVC 4/23/2020 12:07:07 PM (No. 388840)
And I will be happy to see all of them crash and burn.
Their unrelenting leftist propaganda makes me want to see them gone. Zero sympathy.
10 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
texaspast 4/23/2020 12:09:49 PM (No. 388842)
The newspaper industry has a very bad business model. Buy up local papers, keep a few locals on for a little local flavor, fill the rest of the paper with the same stuff every other paper in your chain prints (invariably liberal-slanted) and sell advertising. At one time it worked. The chain had what it considered to be captive audiences (where else are they going to get the little bit of local news we allow into the various links in our chain of papers? And where else can advertisers buy advertising for their sales?). But then things changed. They found that liberals rarely read newspapers and conservatives didn't like the liberal tripe filling their (formerly) 'local' paper. Then ads started to go away. Other publications (in our area its the Thrifty Nickel) that were nothing but pages and pages of classified ads - and those papers were free! That deprived the newspapers of most of their income from classified ads. The growth of the internet sucked more revenue away, when advertisers created their own websites and online shopping mushroomed. So all you were left with to sell was actual NEWS, and all anyone would pay for would be LOCAL news, as national stuff you can get any minute of the day on the internet. But you have decimated your local newsrooms, and nobody who reads wants to read your liberal slant on everything. Face it, Kevin: YOU'VE GOT NOTHING TO SELL THAN ANYONE WANTS TO BUY! So you are reduced to standing on the virtual street corner with a tin cup begging for donations. Not a good business plan, dude.
16 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
Chuzzles 4/23/2020 12:26:38 PM (No. 388886)
Report the lies long enough and eventually you get caught up in the trap you set for the rest of us on behalf of the DNC and congressional democrats. I truly have no sympathy for these people. They need to understand and live with the same problems that the rest of us are dealing with. Not so much fun having to live with the fear mongering now that it has cost you guys finally is it Media? Time to live with the mess YOU people built.
Comments 1 and 2 hit the target perfectly.
6 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
Miceal 4/23/2020 12:26:47 PM (No. 388888)
Report the FACTS and keep your opinions to yourself and the rest will play out...
6 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
seamusm 4/23/2020 12:28:52 PM (No. 388892)
With the competition of the internet the business of news is even more dependent on being inflammatory. That it has become with few exceptions leftist and critical of nearly half our population is sad but not my problem. Get a real job with real worries and maybe even move to the land of we deplorables. I hear some meatpacking jobs will be available. But I am not paying a dime to support your leftward ugliness. I've even used an ad-blocker to reduce your online revenues.
7 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
wilarrbie 4/23/2020 12:29:53 PM (No. 388894)
Drive a stake through journalism's evil heart already. May it rise from the ashes again as the something it was meant to be. Honest, unbiased, fair and balanced. Not just bc FOX news uses that as a motto - I DO want to know BOTH sides of issues, pro & con. Journalists need to REPORT facts first, and present opinions and agenda driven goals that may or may not reflect their own, or their publishers desired narrative. Give me all the angles. Do your research because when one side says the sky is only money-green and the other side says No, it's orange man bad, we KNOW somethin ain't right. We've been complacent and lazy about calling you out on it for far too long. Except for Trump who has earned your venom doing just that, and leading a charge that many are beginning to join. Now, however, seems a good time to dump you until you remember what journalism should be.
8 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
Gruntmedic 4/23/2020 12:37:16 PM (No. 388908)
F off
9 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
HotRod 4/23/2020 12:45:53 PM (No. 388924)
There is little ''local journalism.'' They take their stories from the wire services, which lean far to the left, and from democrat press releases.
They even charge top dollar for obituaries!
8 people like this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
Rather Read 4/23/2020 12:48:12 PM (No. 388928)
And have you sneer at people like me? I think not. Go do something useful. Drive a truck.
8 people like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
NancyD 4/23/2020 12:48:56 PM (No. 388929)
MLive has the same format as NJ.com. They too are asking for $10 per month to subscribe. I wrote to the editor and told him my thoughts... They removed the comment section, so the left wing journalists go unchecked. When they allowed comments we could sight sources and correct their biased reporting. I also told him that they need to be more balanced within the articles instead of making opinions in news articles. I told him that his journalists are lazy or stupid because they report what they think instead of the news, until they change that, I will not subscribe to the website. They can go bye bye for all I care...
8 people like this.
Reply 29 - Posted by:
Smart11344 4/23/2020 12:51:05 PM (No. 388933)
Surely, you jest. Support the media, when most are outrageous liars and buffons. The list is endless. I have dramatically cut back on my news watching. Opinions, not news are all over the ballpark. Please let the professional scientists and doctors air their opinons, and they may even be wrong. The airwaves are overloaded with bumbling bubble headed boobies who even have their shoes labeled....right fot, left foot. But what feet do soxs go on?
2 people like this.
Reply 30 - Posted by:
dbdiva 4/23/2020 1:06:40 PM (No. 388956)
"Reimagining" journalism, Kevin??? Don't you mean reimagining facts to suit your narative??
The MSM lost me ages ago; I doubt there will come a time when I will trust them again.
6 people like this.
Reply 31 - Posted by:
RedWhite&Blue2 4/23/2020 1:13:22 PM (No. 388967)
“Our three Pulitzer Prizes”
I’ve got a prize for you...bend over!
4 people like this.
Reply 32 - Posted by:
BevNJ 4/23/2020 1:14:19 PM (No. 388968)
Dear Kevin: uh . . . no.
2 people like this.
Stop being propagandists.
And your customers would come in droves.
1 person likes this.
Reply 34 - Posted by:
Starboard_side 4/23/2020 1:50:58 PM (No. 388996)
How about telling the truth, the facts, the actual news?
Reading and watching the "news" is challenging, because they leave out so much just to ensure they keep on message with the narrative they've been told to recite.
And, so they can "get Trump".
1 person likes this.
Reply 35 - Posted by:
Penney 4/23/2020 1:56:34 PM (No. 389002)
A good start would be to stop rubber stamping the NYT & WaPo. Just present the facts, not the partisan spin. ''Do your job.''
1 person likes this.
Reply 36 - Posted by:
john56 4/23/2020 2:06:29 PM (No. 389017)
Our local paper is pretty good with local news -- sadly, they went from 5 issues a week to 2 issues a week last fall. Looked at the paper yesterday. Except for a banner ad at the bottom of the first page, the next ad was on page 8 (of 12 classifieds) and maybe at tops, 20% of the paper were paid ads.
2 people like this.
Reply 37 - Posted by:
stablemoney 4/23/2020 2:10:41 PM (No. 389026)
I haven't seen much in the way of journalism in decades. I have seen a lot of rants, personal opinions, gossip, personal ruin stories, and ignorance, almost no journalism. Thanks to the internet, we have citizens that can tell us what is happening in their areas, and can speak from their area of competence. The journalists don't seem to have any competence in any field, and act like undisciplined teenagers. People are not obligated to fund things that have not earned it. So if you want support, do something people are willing to pay for.
2 people like this.
Reply 38 - Posted by:
DCGIRL 4/23/2020 2:38:41 PM (No. 389061)
Rot in hell.
0 people like this.
Reply 39 - Posted by:
ho72 4/23/2020 2:41:53 PM (No. 389069)
I supported my local, big city paper grudgingly even though it became a billboard for gay/trans rights, social justice and every other liberal cause du jour. The final straw was the publisher's decision to accelerate the abominable trend of charging more for less... and as far as real content goes, it became *much* less.
I hope they die a painful death, but I do hope the one or two real reporters left on staff can find honest work.
0 people like this.
Reply 40 - Posted by:
montwoodcliff 4/23/2020 2:47:16 PM (No. 389075)
This is so pathetic. The Newark Star-Ledger is the Paper of Record for NJ. But the editorial page is packed with unbridled hatred for Donald Trump, and before him Chris Christie. What they did to Christie was so mean and evil, that it didn't matter who the Republicans put up against a Democrat, which is how we wound up with Phil Murphy. The Star-Ledger has an editorial page editor who is left of both Stalin and Mao. The paper is failing and they refuse to back off and be even-handed. There is one good columnist there, Paul Mulshine, and that's it. The rest of them are idiots. There used to be articles about what was happening in towns and long, long ago, National and International News. The only thing the paper is good for now are Sports, Comics, and Obituaries. And now they are begging for money so they can stay afloat. I'll go back when they have something to offer.
2 people like this.
Reply 41 - Posted by:
Strike3 4/23/2020 2:51:40 PM (No. 389087)
The death of the current flavor of journalism is one of the bright spots of the Bat Flu, Kevin, and you want our help so you can emulate Joseph Goebbels for a while longer? That's funny.
2 people like this.
Reply 42 - Posted by:
or gate 4/23/2020 3:11:17 PM (No. 389117)
Make them all take a lie detector test.
1 person likes this.
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Comments:
Advance Publications has an odd definition of local, and a curious business model: buy local newspapers across the land, fire most local employees so the regional knowledge and flavor is lost, scale back or eliminate print editions, and repel local readerships via an obnoxiously leftist editorial voice dictated straight from the Staten Island headquarters. Then, when the chips are down, they beg for voluntary subscriptions of $10/month to keep their rotten raft afloat. Other Advance news outlets are running similar pleas for assistance.