Star-Ledger On "Life Support"

What? Another paper having problems?

Funny how they have not a clue how to change with the marketplace. (And their website is STILL: THE. WORST. EVER.)

Oh, well. I bet they still go to record stores too.......

Agreed about their web site. Needs a major overhaul.

I hope they are able to get their house in order and keep the paper viable.

Were it not for the investigative reporting of the Star-Ledger, much of the governent corruption and waste in this state would go unnoticed.

I feel very bad about people losing jobs. It's bad for them and their families, but it's also bad for all us when our neighbors struggle to make mortgage payments and have no disposable income to support our neighborhood businesses. The misery is spread around. I subscribed to the Ledger for years until I got tired of reading all the "If it bleeds it leads" stories. Very little real news content. Still, regrets to the hard working staff.

I hope they are able to get their house in order and keep the paper viable.

Were it not for the investigative reporting of the Star-Ledger, much of the governent corruption and waste in this state would go unnoticed.

The Star-Ledger website is quite cumbersome. Many print products are unfortunately in trouble these days with the immediate access to information via the Internet. The papers always have the story the day after it appears on AOL News.

I hope they are able to get their house in order and keep the paper viable.

Were it not for the investigative reporting of the Star-Ledger, much of the governent corruption and waste in this state would go unnoticed.

Ok, I only clicked once on "Post"!

I don't agree with the "If it bleeds, it leads" characterization. They've often have some great investigative reporting and human interest stories. Having traveled a bit around the country, I regard the Ledger as being one of the better local papers around.

I hate the Ledger.

I find the organization of the paper to be lacking.

Too many ads. (I guess, not enough...)

As for its "investigative reporting," I wouldn't know.

But if they can't produce a product folks want---- goodbye!

I wouldn't miss this outrageously slanted, sloppily edited and written (the entire staff seems to lack an understanding of the difference between "it's" and "its") and hack-ridden (especially the sports pages) rag one bit. Save for the comics and the daily word puzzle.

The wonder is that management didn't react much earlier to financial issues. But then, the Ledger for many years grew fat upon advertising revenues as the only "game" in town. (God bless Macy's for those fat years, you know?) Yet even as they did, they lost touch with their readers and displayed total ignorance of the need to develop a genuine.
relationship with their readers.

And for those who praise the paper's investigative reporting, I can think of several curious lacunae there which the Ledger never rushes to fill. Curiously, for example, there is always the almost complete lack of coverage of the gaming industry. Nor is there ongoing coverage of organized crime, or of its changing ethnic face in NJ.

Nor, too, did the Ledger wail and bemoan the journalistic state of things when its worthy former rival. the Newark News, bit the dust.

Sod rhe Newhouse family on this one.

Oh crap! What am I going to line my litter boxes with?

I guess I'll have to subscribe to the Times "All the News that Fit for Cat S_ _ _".

we're talking MUNCH MOBILE, people! I never go on their site but I really do like the paper (once I dispose of the real estate and automotive parts). A very decent arts section on Friday and definitely some good serious reporting. And the sports guy who does their NFL picks has helped make me look good among my peers during the season!

The website is run by NJ.com and the paper is owned by Newhouse. They are two wholly separate entities. The website is very crappy and the printed paper is considerably better.

prof sez:

"I find the organization of the paper to be lacking."

And prof again still can't handle clearly labelled sections; front page, state, county, lifestyle, business and sports. : P

Actually, spots, if you were capable of a bit of digging (the kind NOT done with your paws), you'd have ascertained that NJ.com is in fact a joint venture of all of Advance Publications' NJ-owned papers. And Advance is the Newhouse family-owned business which owns the Star-Ledger.

But arf!, arf! anyway. Good doggy!

The print version seems to have too many ads and stories from Associated Press.
But the Ledger's investigative reporting is unusually terrific considering the amount of resources and support it gets from the owner and publisher.
Don't forget the paper has won Pulitzers, most recently for the coverage of Gov. McGreevey's meltdown.
It would be a shame to lose the Ledger. The other NJ papers don't cut it.

I think I'll wait while the backbiters bitch slap each other around, and then read about the topic tomorrow ... in the Ledger.

I enjoy the sports coverage and the county sections and will miss it as a paper to cover the state...in my neck of the woods I'd have to get the daily record

There are some good reporters/writers at The Star-Ledger, but, like most everything else, a newspaper is a business that must make profit in an ever-changing economy. Maybe the print edition needs to take a backseat to a redesigned web site, where readers can subscribe to email alerts and RSS feeds. I still love reading printed newspapers, though, and maybe they can cut back on the entertainment/lifestyle sections and concentrate on local news stories. I also like early morning delivery in my driveway, so maybe they can find ways to consolidate deliveries instead of using individuals in their own cars.

It's a shame Profwilliams doesn't have an appreciation for newspapers. The entire industry is struggling, even where a paper has a sophisticated Web version. So it's not so simple as blaming The Ledger for not producing a product folks want.
It sounds like the "prof" would be happy if people were just uninformed.

You're kidding me, right Buster?

As I've posted here before, one of my joys is my morning ritual at 6am- reading the Times and listening to Howard Stern.

But just because I have no sympathy for business that cannot find a workable model does not mean I'm "happy" people are uninformed.

Sadly, it is that comment that points the finger at you-- and your assumption that without newspapers everyone is uninformed (as it that's the sole means to get info).

Talk to someone under 35 and ask them the last time they read a paper.

This announcement is sad considering I am a former newspaper person (including the struggling Newhouse Jersey Journal). It is difficult to teach college journalism classes when the State's newspapers are doing so poorly. Students see the Web as the news, with occasional references to CNN.

Profwilliams, I also listen to Howard Stern; that is about all that we have in common. And, yes, I read and teach from The Times, The Ledger, and several other national newspapers, daily.

Isn't it ironic that the internet has created many of us to become information junkies, yet newspaper companies, most of which have web presence, continue to lose money and many small town/regional papers have ceased operating? While it has broken down the walls and barriers by giving us access to state, federal, and international news, information, and services, what the internet seems to do less well is give us access to our neighborhood news, information, and services ... which were once the domain of small town newspapers.

Maybe the print edition needs to take a backseat to a redesigned web site, where readers can subscribe to email alerts and RSS feeds.

If only it were so simple.

I think the Ledger's main weakness is its lack of local news (despite what editor Willse claims as a strength). We can get international and national news from a plethora of sources, but where does one turn for local stories? I live in Baristaville and routinely refer to our part of the paper as the Everything-but-Essex Section. There's a break page of Essex news, then restaurant reviews for places in South Jersey and way, way too much filler. Of course, that's the editor's attempt at cost saving, but it doesn't do much to create interest in the paper. JMHO.

If the Star-Ledger went southwards (for instance got sold to a cannibalizer like Scudder-Singleton), the baristas might actually have to dig themselves for items, reallyoldtimer. Would that be so bad?

Willse hasn't been the most dynamic of editors. In there a long time, but more of a placid lifer than a real dynamo. Perhaps what the Ledger could really use is a new editor, working for a new owner (but not Sam Zell) who really believes that more can be gotten out of less. And a staff less prone to snoozing and more to journalistic enterprise.

The prospect of never again having to read the bylines of Fran Wood, Paul Mulshine, Jeffrey Braun and "Jerry Izenberg, Columnist Emeritus," I admit, gets me salivating.

I do not read the Ledger, but somehow I doubt it consists of a bunch of journalists who work an hour or two a day and sit around boozing or snoozing the rest of the time. More likely it consists of overworked, underpaid people of varying degrees of talent who are worried as hell about the future. And let's not kid ourselves: it will be a long time before the likes of Baristanet and other citizen Web sites pick up the slack (no offense guys, you know I love you, especially Liz). And again it's not because they're lazy, it's because they don't have the resources.

I'm not saying this is leading to Armageddon. Just that it's a painful transition for many people, who are not necessarily getting payback for their sins, other than to be at the right place at the wrong time (or they might of said the right thing, but must've used the wrong line). One more newsflash: during this transition the quality of news, writing and commentary we all get is going to suck, at least for a while.

Agree with you re Willse, cathar. Way too many who-cares and feel-good stories...BOOOOORRRRRRRRRING!

With a few notable exceptions, Ledger reporters just don't dig and don't ask the tough questions that need to be asked. Plenty of good stories are out there, if only the reporters and editors cared enough to find them. I guess complacency takes over when you're the only game in town.

"With a few notable exceptions, Ledger reporters just don't dig and don't ask the tough questions that need to be asked."

Agreed. Their real estate pieces read like PR fluff. No real digging here.

Only game in town? You need to get out more, reallyoldtimer, lest you continue to go round in circles like a one-eyed goose. Why is the Ledger is trouble? Because there's more competition than ever, perhaps?

yeah, and that stupid Ledger truck speeds at break neck pace down my street @ 5:30 every morning scaring my cats!

The problem with the Star-Ledger, walleroo, has always been that while it has the resources (and the power to get its reporters' phone calls returned), it has rarely used them to any great extent. Instead, it has sat back and enjoyed real estate and classified advertising and, especially, the generous support of Macy's. It has been content as a newspaper to go with a relative few old sweats prominently sprinkled throughout the newspaper, not to develop and nurture new talent, new columns, new ways of approaching old stories. The word "predictability" comes to mind.

And the actual copy editing is just awful, the paper seems utterly lacking in the famous old hawkeyes of the newspaper industry who'd as soon die as settle for typos and bad grammar.

Going by an average day's Ledger, too, the coverage we get already sucks. New editorial leadership really might just change that, even in these parlous times for advertising revenues.

Unfortunately, as mediocre as we may feel that the SL is, if it folds there is nothing to fill the void. With the possible exception of the Bergen Record, most areas of NNJ will have no investigative paper in which to turn. Certainly the NY Times or the Daily News will not provide this role.

Bring back the Newark Evening News.

My guess is that new leadership might improve coverage but only if the paper narrowed its scope considerably, concentrating its shrinking resources. Maybe that would be a good thing, I don't know. Like I said, I don't read it. From your description, though, it sounds like Ledger managers did their training at GM. Perhaps some Japanese media company will buy the paper...

I would suggest, kissmygrass, that if the Ledger folded, then the Record would descend, vulture-like, into the "void" thus created. The Borg family has already shown itself far more aggressive than Jim Willse has ever seemed to be.They also have "attitude" in a way that Newhouse, Willse et al. completely lack.

For so long, too, the Star-Ledger has imagined itself, by virtue of its success and circulation, immune to any real criticism of its journalistic lassitude and failures of coverage. It also, I'd bet (I'm addressing this oen directly to you, walleroo), became a sinecure for many, since its staffing numbers relative to its circ seem rather high for the industry.

I worked myself for some years for a newspaper trade association, thus have a reasonably good handle on the woes of newspapers. (All of which were predicted within the industry even 20 years ago, they've had all this time to get ready, honest.) But I have also noted newspapers, such as the Charlotte Observer in NC and the San Jose Mercury-News, which have successfully geared up for the challenges. That the Ledger hasn't is its own considerable fault. That Si Newhouse apparently now mulls selling the Ledger is merely a result of his previous disinterest in anything regarding the paper beyond its bottom line, and of his fickleness.

Really, if it folded altogether (which I doubt very much would happen), the Star-Ledger would only be getting exactly what it deserves after such long neglect of its journalistic franchise and the servicing of its advertisers. And some parts of the paper designed to stanch the financial bleeding, such as its numerous "special advertising sections," are just very badly done indeed.

The last thing we want here, walleroo, is a Japanese media company. Manga on the comics page? The hot-schoolgirl-in-knee-socks picture of the day? All of it would make even the NY Post at its most visceral seem like the most steadfastly high-toned journal out there.

I too, MellonBrush, miss the Newark Evening News.

Perhaps the Baristas should contact Phil Read to get his take on all of this.

Cathar is absolutely right about the lack of proofreading. I have also noticed this in books lately as well, and think it's pretty sloppy in general.

My beef with S-L is that lately, the Sunday paper hasn't arrived by 9AM and I have to call every week. When it does arrive, it gets only as far as the sidewalk in front of and below the retaining wall - not even on my first level of steps. I'm not asking for the door mat, but come on!

My other complaint is when stories are continued in an entirely different section. I find this highly annoying. If I take section one outside with my coffee (or beer, depending on when I get to read it!) I would like to *finish* the story with the section I have in hand. Is that too much to ask or is that industry practice?

Hubby complains that the sports section is so thin it's almost worthless. He gets all his info and stats online now.

Finally, at one time a former employer of mine subscribed to the Record and I thought it was great. I even called to subscribe and they said the didn't have a route in Montclair. Haven't seen a copy in a while though.

The Star Ledger needs to take a lesson from The Wall Street Journal. Their revenue from the online edition now surpasses the print copy. The WSJ understands how web readers behave and has lots of graphics online. Wake up Star Ledger!!!

Does this mean that they will stop littering on my front lawn? I keep finding garbage wrapped in a plastic Star Ledger bag whenever I mow my lawn or clean out my hedges.

Hubby complains that the sports section is so thin it's almost worthless. He gets all his info and stats online now.

Perhaps that's why the sports section is so thin - most of the content is stale by the time the readers see it the next day, because they've already seen it, heard it, or read it somewhere else.