✅ The Star-Ledger will end its print edition in February

✅ It will sell its printing facility which is also used by The Jersey Journal

✅ The Jersey Journal will stop publishing in February


New Jersey's largest newspaper will soon no longer be available in a print format.

The Newark Morning Ledger Co., the owner of the Star-Ledger, said it will no longer publish a print edition of the newspaper after Feb. 2. The company also plans to close its Montville production facility. The online version will continue at NJ.com.

Sister newspapers owned by the Ledger parent company Advance Local — the Times of Trenton, the South Jersey Times and the weekly Hunterdon County Democrat — will also end their print editions. All will continue to be available online.

According to Advance Local, Feb. 2 will be the final publishing date for the South Jersey Times and the Times of Trenton. The Hunterdon County Democrat's last publish date is Jan. 30, the company said.

Front pages of the Star-Ledger and The Jersey Journal
Front pages of the Star-Ledger (Star-Ledger) and The Jersey Journal (The Jersey Journal)
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The closing of the Montville print facility means another daily newspaper under Advance, The Jersey Journal, will cease publication on Feb. 1 after operating for 157 years.

The Secacus-based newspaper, which for generations was based in its namesake Jersey City neighborhood of Journal Square, outsourced its printing several years ago to The Star-Ledger. Journal officials said Wednesday the paper could not remain in business following the production facility's closure, noting it would likely face increased costs with a new printer and its circulation is small and dependent on newsstand sales.

The Journal's 17 employees ― eight full-time, nine part-time – will be let go when publication ends.

“Today’s announcement represents the next step into the digital future of journalism in New Jersey,” said Steve Alessi, president of NJ Advance Media, which is owned by Advance Local. “It’s important to emphasize that this is a forward-looking decision that allows us to invest more deeply than ever in our journalism and in serving our communities.”

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Part of journalism's transitioning

Steven Miller, director of Undergraduate Studies for the Rutgers University Department of Journalism and Media Studies in New Brunswick, adds technology to the list of reasons for the decisions. Newspapers have been around since Roman times and big or small was the authoritative source for people to get their information. He says journalism is transitioning.

"It was newspapers to radio, radio to television, then television to online, and now online in terms of computer and then computer to your phones," Miller said. "People have made the transition from physical mail to email now to texting. We live in a society now where, if I remember correctly, a few years ago, the president of Hewlett Packard was fired over text."

Another factor is the bottom line financially for larger companies like Gannett that bought up newspapers and don't have a local presence physically.

"It's not just Citizen Kane, where I own the San Francisco Chronicle. They own television outlets, they own books, they own this and that. And newspapers are just another line on their spreadsheet, and if it's in the red they're more likely to cut it."

Miller said there are hyperlocal options like Patch and TAP to try and fill the void, but those are not known enough. They have helped change the dissemination of information from top-down, where it came from news anchors like Walter Cronkite and establishment media sources like the New York Times, to bottom-up where social media has made everyone a kind of a reporter who looks at likes and re-tweets.

"It just creates a lot of confusion. It can plant seeds of distrust in what the information is," Miller said. "We're now electing presidents in the United States based on 280 characters."

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