This Is My New Jersey

Growing up, one of my favorite things to do was walk up to Plaza Chemist on Franklin Avenue and pick up copies of The Belleville Times and The Belleville Post. By the time I reached high school, I began to appreciate a morning cup of coffee with the Sunday paper. After Sunday dinner, family members would pass sections of the paper around and discuss what they read.

When we moved to Morris County, I had The Star Ledger delivered every Sunday for years. Unfortunately, delivery was spotty at best, and a crazy downstairs neighbor used to throw away the paper before I could retrieve it because “it looked messy.” At one point early in my career, I worked for The Catholic Advocate in their graphics department, and I have The Italian Tribune, La Nostra Voce and, until recently, The Beacon delivered to our home.

And sadly, almost all of them are gone.

The Death of the Local Newspaper

While newspapers like The Belleville Post and The Italian Tribune are still in print, others are not. The Catholic Advocate is no longer in print, The Beacon, the newspaper of The Archdiocese of Paterson, ceased publication in December of 2024, and in another month, The Star Ledger, a newspaper that started as 1832 as The Newark Daily Advertiser and morphed into The Star Ledger, will cease print publication in February of 2025. Instead, New Jersey news will be on nj.com.

This is devastating news.

Local journalism is the heart of a community. New Jersey lives in the shadow of the New York City media market, and as a result, what is covered in the five boroughs is key. New Jersey doesn’t receive nearly the amount of coverage, and if something happens all the way out in Sussex County? Well, it might as well not happen at all. It seems the farthest a New York news van will travel is Morristown or Seaside.

It is the local journalist that is the watchdog of politicians. It is the local paper the elderly go to for news and information. It is the local newspaper that prints a town council meeting agenda and public notices. Those are all key parts of a community.

But there is something you can do about it.

Support local journalism. Purchase your local paper. If you decide to do business with an advertiser, make sure to tell them you saw their ad. It takes subscriptions and advertisers to keep local papers going. Make sure you will support them. Otherwise, one day you will mourn their loss.