Newhouse kills print editions of Trenton Times, Star Ledger, Hunderdon County Democrat, South Jersey Times, Easton Express Times; RIP Jersey Journal

It’s a sad day for anyone who cares about the state of the media in New Jersey and the importance of local journalism in building and strengthening democracy.

Representatives for New Jersey-based newspaper companies that are all part of the Newhouse family publishing empire announced Wednesday that beginning in February, the companies will stop printing newspapers due to rising costs, decreasing circulation, and reduced demand for print.

There is plenty of news that is fit to print. It’s just that it is no longer profitable to do so, or at least not profitable enough to continue. And consumer demand for print has decreased.

NJ Advance Media representatives said the company is axing all of its print newspapers including The Times of Trenton, The South Jersey Times, the Hunterdon County Democrat, and the Easton Express Times. The announcement came the same day the Star Ledger announced it would cease printing and would close its printing facility in Montville.

The papers all will stop being printed beginning in February. Representatives from the company are trying to assure people that the news will still be published online. They said eliminating the print editions will enable them to put more resources into their online products. Only time will tell whether this is the true or is just corporate speak. The company also acknowledged that the changes “will have a significant impact on existing employees of the company, as well as devoted readers of the company’s print products.”

On the same day, representatives for the Jersey Journal, which is also owned by the Newshouse family, announced the paper will cease publishing as well. But unlike the other publications, the Jersey Journal will no longer have an online presence at all.

“An online-only publication simply would not have enough scale to support the strong, politically independent journalism that has distinguished The Journal,” said David Blomquist, The Journal’s editor and publisher.

The Newhouse’s Advance Media empire has a diversified portfolio of holdings that includes Condé Nast, which publishes Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and 26 local newspapers and magazines. Advance also has substantial stakes in Warner Bros. Discovery, Charter Communications, and social news site Reddit.

The Newhouse Family is ranked the 13th richest family in America, with an estimated net worth of $24.1 billion. Donald Newhouse, who lives in Somerset County, is the richest person in New Jersey and is worth $12.1 billion, according to Forbes.

Sandwiched between two major media markets, New Jersey has never had a strong news ecosystem. But corporate media consolidation has made the problem much worse. Gannett slashed jobs at The Bergen Record after purchasing it, for example. Many new news startups do not cover traditional beats like city council or school board, and more and more frequently these days, local news outlets are often owned by political operatives or are “pink slime” sites made to appear like they are news outlets when they are organs for political parties.

The only other state in the country that has lost more reporters per capita than New Jersey is California. More than 8,2oo U.S. journalists have been laid off since the beginning of 2022, according to job cuts tracked by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based outplacement firm. That is nine percent of the 89,330 people employed as newspaper, broadcast, and online editors, reporters, and journalists in 2023.

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Avatar of Krystal Knapp

Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.