Editorial of February 6, 2025

The Death of a Star

Last Sunday, “The Star-Ledger” print publication took its last breath, another grim blow to the world of news media and up-to-date information. New Jersey’s longtime paper of record and the recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes, “The Star-Ledger” is one of more than 3,200 print papers—weeklies, for the most part—that have vanished from the American scene since 2005, and one of 129 papers in New Jersey, more than in any other state save Maryland. That amounts to a few more than two newspapers lost every week, all fairly small and very local, surrendering to the seismic shift in the media landscape that is now dominated by Internet behemoths that not only gobble up most of the revenue but also produce little relevant news and information.

For the most part, these newspapers—taken over by big hedge fund magnates whose base is never nearby and who replace the local, seasoned staffs with national reporters who have little or nothing to do with local news—disappear altogether, taking with them their dedicated publishers, editors, editorial board, community involvement and support staff as well as their loyal and multi-generational readership. But, luckily or not, in the case of “The Star-Ledger” its digital presence, NJ.com, is its new main publication. Local?

The Star-Ledger’s sister New Jersey publications, “The Times of Trenton” and the “South Jersey Times,” all owned by the Newhouse media family’s vast empire, Advance Publications, Inc., also last week abandoned their print publications in favor of a digital presence. Another sister, “The Jersey Journal,” has closed its doors altogether.

Advance Publications also owns Condé Nast (“Vanity Fair,” “Vogue,” “The New Yorker,” “Wired”) and a substantial number of newspapers across the country, and it has a conspicuous interest in Reddit and Warner Bros. Discovery. This organization is simply too big to have an interest in—or an opinion about—local New Jersey news, let alone the state’s oft-smarmy politics, or an appreciation for its many well-seasoned writers and editors.

It’s over for “The Star-Ledger” in its original, close to a century-long, run, during which time its skilled journalists published myriad stories and photographs of note and of importance to their fellow citizens. To many of its old guard, its demise is not surprising, although it is a brutal blow. Times have changed. Print newspapers are less frequently read, circulations throughout the United States have dropped considerably, buyouts have increased exponentially, and network digital sites (of which New Jersey has 130, the most in the country and 43 more than New York) have become the community news providers.

Will the Ledger’s NJ.com, under the ownership of the Newhouse family’s NJ Advance Media (launched less than a year ago and owned by Advance Local, which operates 10 local news and information sites in the U.S.) be a local news agent? Truly accountable reporting, aggressive governmental and political coverage, a running archive of history and the control of legal ads by the newspaper of record are all gone, not to mention clippable, fridge-mounted photographs of schoolkids and beloved community members.

There is a tiny bright side. The growth of nonprofit and independently owned digital news sites is, we hope, imminent. Perhaps this is where we may be headed. While we love our hard copies, we know they won’t last forever.

“The Star-Ledger” print edition may have died, but we haven’t.