After More Local Newspapers Close In NJ, Hoboken Editor Speaks Out On PBS

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — After the 40-year-old Hudson Reporter newspaper chain in Hudson County shut suddenly two weeks ago, other weekly papers in central New Jersey have followed suit.

And an editor who was laid off from the Hudson Reporter/Bayonne Community News spoke out last week on NJ-PBS and WNYC about the shrinking number of local news outlets in New Jersey.

(NOTE: Local news in Hudson County and the rest of New Jersey is still covered by outlets including Hoboken Patch, Jersey City Patch, Secaucus Patch, and more, including some news about Bayonne. Find your New Jersey town on Patch here.)

'It Develops A Sense In People That They Don't Have Much Control'

Gene Ritchings, an editor at the Hudson Reporter chain — which once published weekly editions for Hoboken, Bayonne, Jersey City, and more — was laid off with his staff in a Zoom call on Jan. 20. He spoke with David Cruz on PBS' "Reporters' Roundtable" last Friday.

Ritchings said that when people only have access to national media or gossip sites, "It's not going to cover the local City Council and tell [readers] how their taxes are being spent, it's not going to tell them what the school board has in store for their children, it's not going to let them know if someone has decided to built a high rise right next to their house ... It develops a sense in people that they don't have much control over what's going on."

Aside from local news, the Reporter chain also published investigative reporting, at one point uncovering the source of false national news reports claiming newly elected Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla had canceled Christmas. The Boston Globe and other outlets then followed up on the Reporter's story.

Ritchings spoke also to WNYC on Tuesday about the closing of the "iconic" chain, which had started in Hoboken in 1983.

Several Beloved Central Jersey Weeklies Wind Down

Meanwhile, Newspaper Media Group, which owns other decades-old weeklies in Central and South Jersey, also suddenly closed some of those two weeks ago.

In 2016, NMG had bought 10 local weeklies from Manalapan-based Greater Media Newspapers (two years before they went on to buy the Hudson Reporter). NMG was described at the time as "a catalog of newspapers assembled by Richard Donnelly, chief executive officer of Donnelly Distribution and a Philadelphia native."

Donnelly passed away in late 2018, after NMG bought the Reporter group.

The Old Bridge Suburban and Tri-Town News stopped publishing new articles at the end of last month. The Asbury Park Press said Friday that the News Transcript (Freehold), which dates to 1888, the Independent (Bayshore area), and several others have also shut.

A New Jersey reporter wrote on Twitter:

Newspaper Media Group General Manager Brandon Chamberlain did not respond to inquiries from Patch, but this story will be updated if he does.

'Sad Great Little Paper'

Meanwhile, former Hudson County reporter Daniel Israel, who worked for three years at the Hudson Reporter and Bayonne Community News, said Thursday that he's still thinking about the chain and about his colleagues' sudden layoffs on Jan. 20.

"Two weeks later, I am still saddened by the abrupt loss of The Hudson Reporter and Bayonne Community News," he said in an email Thursday. "However, I am moreso now disappointed at the way everything went down ... Staffing was barebones since when I came on three years ago in December of 2019, yet we were a tiny but mighty team. I know my colleagues and I were hurt to see the papers close, but we are proud of the work we did under all the circumstances."

Comments on Facebook also provided a look at what local papers mean to their readers.

"Oh no. Where will I post my husband’s memorial every year for his anniversary," wrote a woman in response to the closing of the Bayonne Community News. "Sad great little paper."

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