So much for the Daily Record

My first day working for the Daily Record was Nov. 12, 1985. I went to a Madison Board of Education meeting.  I probably will not go to another one, but that really isn’t the issue. The issue is that I would not be surprised if no one from the Daily Record ever goes to a Madison school board meeting again.
That is the problem. My termination was based seemingly on the simple fact that the powers that be at Gannett New Jersey do not think news and politics is important. So, what I did _ editorials, a blog, columns and constant attendance at so many events _ was deemed unimportant.
That view goes like this: “Politics is just people yelling at each other on cable TV shows; how silly.” As for the nuts and bolts of government, well that is just routine, uninteresting and irrelevant.
How can people _ newspaper executives who are supposed to have their pulse on the community _ be so pathetically out of touch? Here in New Jersey, whether you love him or hate him, Chris Christie has made governing the state fun, interesting and exciting to watch. I mean, his town hall meetings, which are held during the work day and which are not publicized extensively, draw SRO crowds.
And this year, with towns and school boards coping with a new cap, their work becomes more interesting and meaingful. Questions abound. What services are being cut? Are cops being laid off; how about teachers? A few years ago, the Daily Record opted to minimize such municipal beat coverage.  The paper, for instance, no longer had a reporter covering either Dover or Morristown full-time. Yet, some in management are astonished when circulation goes down to its current sad level of about 25,000 a day.
And that was before the paper dismissed half its staff. Those remaining are dedicated journalists and they will perform well.  I hope for their sake and the remaining readers that the paper remains viable. If it does not, do not blame rank and file journalists; look at management.

sAD