The Star-Ledger, New Jersey’s largest newspaper and the winner of several Pulitzer Prizes, will stop publishing its print edition early next year, ending a lengthy run as a dominant source of print news in the region, its owners announced on Wednesday.
The shuttering of The Star-Ledger’s printing plant will cause its sister publication, The Jersey Journal, a Jersey City-based newspaper with a storied, 157-year history, to cease publication altogether. Its demise will leave Hudson County, N.J., a densely populated region that is as well known for political corruption as it is for being the birthplace of Frank Sinatra, without a daily newspaper.
David Blomquist, The Jersey Journal’s editor and publisher, said in a statement that the decision to close the printing facility, in Montville, N.J., had “forced us to assess the viability of continuing to publish The Journal.”
“Unfortunately, we have concluded that it doesn’t make sense to continue,” he said, adding: “This is certainly an emotional day for all of us.”
In addition to The Star-Ledger, at least three other newspapers that are produced in Montville, The Times of Trenton, The South Jersey Times and The Hunterdon County Democrat, will also phase out their print editions in February. Advance Local, which owns NJ Advance Media and NJ.com, home to the publications’ news sites, said they would remain available online.
The Star-Ledger stopped publishing its Saturday newspaper in January, and its circulation has dropped 21 percent so far this year, its leaders said in a statement.
Steve Alessi, the president of NJ Advance Media, said that people in New Jersey and across the country had “made clear their preference for news delivered in digital forms.” He said leaders had tried to keep the print editions going but that declining demand and rising costs had made them “unsustainable.”
All 17 employees of The Journal — including nine who work full time — will be let go and offered severance packages, Mr. Blomquist told NJ.com.
Sam Pesin, a community activist and lifelong Jersey City resident whose family fought for the creation and preservation of Liberty State Park on the banks of the Hudson River, called the closure of The Journal “terrible, devastating news.”
“Its stories, powerful independent editorials, letters to the editor and guest columns have been crucial to residents’ being informed about our communities and public policy,” Mr. Pesin said.
The decision to shutter the paper, known by old-timers simply as “The Jersey,” and to cease printing the other publications comes ahead of elections for governor and Jersey City mayor next year that are sure to be combative.
Bill Bayer, a photojournalist who worked as The Journal’s chief photographer for more than 16 years, warned of a looming gap in news coverage.
“There’s no abundance of other alternatives,” he said. “There was a voice there. To see that voice smothered — it’s gut-wrenching.”
Jennifer Morrill, a former reporter for The Journal who also worked for three Jersey City mayors and the state’s longtime former senator, Robert Menendez, said the closure represented “a huge loss” for the community — and for the future of public policy debates.
“The community is going to really suffer,” she said, adding that it was “devastating to think that there’s not going to be somebody going to the City Council meetings anymore.”
The four newspapers that are ending their print editions are part of Advance Publications, which is owned by the Newhouse family of media moguls. Also in the group’s portfolio are Condé Nast and American City Business Journals.
The closures come as a number of newspapers across the country have ended their print operations or closed entirely, as audience numbers have declined and advertisers have shifted their money away.
Despite the industrywide trend, news of The Jersey Journal’s closure stung for readers and journalists who had worked there or had long admired the paper’s work.
Albio Sires, the mayor of West New York, N.J., in Hudson County, who represented the region in the U.S. House for nearly two decades, said he would miss flipping through the pages of The Journal and The Ledger.
“I start at the sports page and work my way to the front,” Mr. Sires, 73, said. “What are you going to do with all these kids who look forward to being in the paper?”
“Where are people going to get their news?” he added. “It’s just a big void.”
Helene Stapinski grew up in Jersey City reading The Journal and then worked in its newsroom for three years.
“It was like getting news that a loved one died,” said Ms. Stapinski, who has also written for The New York Times. “I’m a little sick over it.”
Steven Fulop, the mayor of Jersey City and a Democratic candidate for governor, said on social media that The Journal had scrutinized him “daily” but that he viewed its coverage “as an asset.” He added: “This news is a big loss.”
The Journal is the only newspaper currently dedicated to covering Hudson County, a region that hugs the Hudson River, opposite Manhattan, and includes the bustling cities of Jersey City, Hoboken and Union City. This year, it received the New Jersey Press Association’s award for general excellence in journalism by a newspaper with daily circulation under 15,000.
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