Gannett's 'great new look' for print edition means a lot more white space, far fewer stories and much less news -- period

Today's New York Post cover  reports that after Ivanka Trump appeared on Sunday's "60 Minutes" with her father the president-elect, her jewelry company sent out an email blast to fashion reporters about her $10,800 bracelet.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The payroll-slashing Gannett Co. today springs a surprise makeover of The Record's print edition on readers who were already wondering where all the local news went.

Page 1 carries only three stories -- compared to eight stories and briefs on Tuesday's A-1 -- and a cleverly worded Gannett  promotion to mask how the changes will reduce content even further:

"More great news, great new look."

Local or Section L carries only a handful of local-news stories -- if you don't count 2.5 pages of death notices -- and those stories are outnumbered by wire-service and staff stories in an expanded Business section.

In addition to employing a great deal of white space and larger photos, Gannett even revised page numbers: A-1 becomes 1A, L-1 is 1L and so forth. 

Under The Record masthead on Page 1, Gannett has replaced the Borg family's boastful but inaccurate motto -- "North Jersey's Trusted Source" -- with the address of the North Jersey.com website.

Staff slashed

The editorial changes coincide with Gannett cutting in half the remaining 426 positions at North Jersey Media Group.

That resulted in a great many retirements among employees in their 60s who received only one week of severance pay for each year of service.

And production of The Record was moved from Woodland Park to a Neptune design center, where six other Gannett New Jersey dailies are put out in the headquarters of the Asbury Park Press.

NJMG publishes The Record, Herald News, (201) magazine, a reduced number of weekly papers and North Jersey.com, which was revised on Tuesday.

Those reporting and editing staffs have been consolidated in Woodland Park.

In July, Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper publisher, purchased The Record and other NJMG assets from the Borg family for a reported $40 million.

Gannett to lay off more than 200, go after younger readers

The moving notice of North Jersey Media Group and The Record still is visible at the public entrance of the landmark headquarters at 150 River St. -- seven years after they abandoned Hackensack. The building and nearly 20 acres of the land were not part of the sale to Gannett, the nation's biggest newspaper chain.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Gannett, the payroll-slashing newspaper publisher, is delivering bad news to about half of the 426 employees left at North Jersey Media Group and its flagship daily, The Record.

More than 200 of them "will see their jobs end in mid-November," according to a story on the first Business page today (L-7).

News of the so-called restructuring appeared on NorthJersey.com on Wednesday morning.

NJMG includes The Record, Herald News, NorthJersey.com, 50 weekly newspapers, (201) magazine and "an Events Group," Gannett says.

The New York Post, which reported Gannett paid the Borg family $40 million for NJMG, has said layout, news and copy editors would be getting pink slips by mid-October after production of The Record is moved to Neptune.

That's where Gannett has been putting out the Asbury Park Press and five other New Jersey dailies the company publishes.

Now, it seems, those layoffs have been pushed ahead to mid-November.

Digital, schmigital

Today's story also delivered bad news to The Record's older readers -- who are believed to be the majority -- especially those who don't own smart phones or text or use computers.

In fact, many believe "app" is short for "appetizer" on an early bird dinner menu.

According to Gannett, the goal of the restructuring is to make the "newsroom and sales department more responsible to the growing digital demands of readers and advertisers" (L-7).

Sure to sail over older readers' heads is Gannett's pledge to deliver "a broader array of story-telling techniques and advertising solutions" to "the sophisticated and increasingly digitally minded New Jersey audience and advertisers." 

No. 1 source?

"We are proud to be North Jersey's No. 1 local news source," one Gannett executive boasts in today's story.

But it's clear from the looming layoffs, Gannett's main goals are lower labor costs, more ad revenue and higher profits.

Readers don't see any "local news" on Page 1 today, only mindless coverage of New York baseball teams under this headline.

"BASEBALL BACK FROM THE DEAD"

Yet it's doubtful Gannett will be able to resurrect The Record, once a leader in delivering municipal news to readers.

6 N.J. papers -- but not The Record -- call for Christie exit

YOU CAN'T GET THERE FROM HERE: It's a good bet the street in Hackensack you're looking for is closed for utility work. Above, First Street and Central Avenue, not far from the high school.

On State Street, construction equipment parked at the curb, above, has eliminated parking spaces used by parents when they pick up their children at the middle school across the street.

On Tuesday afternoon, another lane of State Street was closed. Main Street and many others in Hackensack have been crudely patched --not repaved -- giving drivers a rough ride

Near the Hackensack border, Huyler Street in South Hackensack was closed on Tuesday, forcing drivers heading for the new Costco Wholesale in Teterboro to detour.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

On Tuesday, the Daily Record of Morristown, Asbury Park Press, Courier Post of Camden and three other New Jersey newspapers called on Governor Christie to resign.

The Record of Woodland Park isn't among them, and today, readers won't find a story on the editorial blasting Christie that appeared in six Gannett-owned dailies.

"The news outlets ... issued a joint editorial on the heels of Christie's surprise endorsement of Republican front-runner Donald Trump and his most recent snub of the state's press corps," NJ.com's Matt Arco reports.

The newspapers blasted Christie's "arrogance" and said they were "fed up" with him, citing Christie's "long neglect of the state to pursue his own selfish agenda." 

And they said they were "disgusted" with his endorsement of Donald Trump" after he spent months on the campaign trail "trashing him" and calling him "unqualified" to be president.

"For the good of the state, it's time for Christie to do his long-neglected constituents a favor and resign as governor," the editorial stated.

"If he refuses, citizens should initiate a recall effort."

Borg family

Readers of The Record can only speculate on what influence the Borg family has on the editorial policy of their flagship paper, and all of the others published by North Jersey Media Group.

Real estate mogul Jon F. Hanson, Christie's chief fund-raiser for his two gubernatorial elections, is a close family friend and a business associate of the Borgs, although The Record has never identified him as such.

Hanson was called the governor's "go-to guy" in a May 2015 profile on NJ.com:

'Chris Christie's go-to guy'

New England

Although The Record didn't report on the six New Jersey newspapers seeking Christie's departure, it gave prominent play to two conservative New England newspapers expressing their regret for supporting the GOP bully.

A brief appears on Page 1, referring readers to the full story on A-3.

Yogi again!!! Readers get another front page of stale news

Baking a sweet potato until the natural sugar oozes out. Unless you want to gain wait or clog your arteries, ignore Record freelancer Nina Rizzo's advice in the Better Living section today that the only way to enjoy sweet potatoes is to add butter, heavy cream and sugar to them.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Editor Martin Gottlieb of The Record is filling the front page today with more warmed-up old news: 

Yogi Berra, Afghanistan, the faked Planned Parenthood video and Pope Francis.

Local news

The local-news section today is filled with non-profit news, as it is every Monday (Local).

On L-1, there are stories about a food drive, special games and hundreds of motorcyclists -- some of whom delight in violating local anti-noise ordinances -- on a run to raise money for charity.

Inside, three of the five municipal news stories are from Little Falls, Pompton Lakes and Lincoln Park (L-2 and L-3), and there's not a single word about Hackensack, Teaneck or Englewood.

Food news

Nina Rizzo, a food writer for the Asbury Park Press, ignores all of the Record readers who are diabetic or watching their weight and cholesterol with sweet-potato recipes filled with butter, heavy cream and sugar (BL-1 and BL-2).

Missing is a recipe for mashed sweet potatoes with heart-healthy extra-virgin olive oil and seasonings, including curry powder, cinnamon, red-pepper flakes and garlic powder. 

In a sidebar comparing sweet potatoes and yams, she doesn't explain the latter are starchier and have more calories.