Bergen.com

The primary local newspaper that people read in my area is the Bergen Record. Up until recently, I never really noticed how legitimate the paper was. For instance, they review the Jets & Giants pretty often as they play in the Meadowlands, which is in Bergen County. I also found out last night when I randomly Wikipedia-ed Christina Ricci (my friend and I were watching the episode of Grey's Anatomy where she is a paramedic), that she grew up in Montclair, N.J. and was "discovered" by the Record when she was 8 years old and performing in a children's play there.

Aside from putting out a pretty hefty paper six days a week, the Record has put together its online edition- NorthJersey.com, which grants free access to all of the Record's recent stories (I believe non-subscribers can read stories up to 30 days old or something like that), and all sorts of content. There are pretty high quality videos on local stories as well, such as the real interesting must-watch video I showed in class about cops who have voice-activation systems. Good to see tax payers $$ put to good use. BUT, under the "today's" stories- there is a SLIDESHOW and a PHOTO Gallery which I just discovered. That's cool. The slideshow is on the British invasion of Fort Lee, N.J., about 200 years ago. For New Jersey, revolutionary war ties are a big deal I guess, since we don't have nearly as many as Mass. 

I guess you could say none of the content is too compelling but because it's presented well it seems cooler. There are blogs, high school sports sections, an opinion page, a "town" page where you can find out the happenings goin' on in your town. Yet, I was disappointed to find that my town's "happenings" were all business related or had to do with high school sports for the private school in town (my high school's sports teams didn't even make the town news hahah). 

The community section was also lacking, as it pertained to stuff going on in Manhattan and not anything in town- proving why my friends and I do nothing but sit at Dunkin Donuts if we are not hanging out in the city. There is absolutely nothing to do. 

The site did not lack ads for ritzy living places near the GW bridge, or BMWs, Volvos, etc. It's clear who reads the site- rich, business people. There was also this annoying ad that you had to click out of in order to read part of the page. And I had to put my pop-up blocker on.

Conclusion- where I live may have a nice website but it lacks culture. It's true. 1 of the reasons why I love Massachusetts and plan on going to grad school in Boston!