NJ.com/Star-Ledger owner is major Sherrill donor

An heir to the $24 billion Newhouse publishing empire that owns NJ.com and the Star-Ledger has contributed over $400,000 to Democratic candidates nationally, and $16,700 to Mikie Sherrill’s campaigns for governor and Congress.

Ben Newhouse, a 43-year-old Jersey City resident who runs strategic investments and acquisitions for Advance Media, also pumped thousands of dollars into New Jersey’s 7th district to help Democrats Tom Malinowski and Sue Altman at a time when his newspaper was taking repeated shots at Republican Tom Kean, Jr.

With matching funds, his $5,800 to Sherrill for Governor gave Sherrill $17,400 in cash to capture her party’s nomination.  He had been a large donor to Sherrill since 2017, when GOP Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen was still in the race; by the end of the cycle, he’d donated $5,300 to flip the congressional seat in New Jersey’s 11th district.

The grandson of S.I. Newhouse, Jr., gave Malinowski $2,700 when he unseated five-term Rep. Leonard Lance in 2018, and $2,900 when he unsuccessfully sought re-election against former Kean in 2022; Newhouse donated $5,800 to Altman in her bid to unseat Kean in 2024.

In 2024, Newhouse also contributed $3,300 to the New Jersey Democratic State Committee and $3,300 to the NJ Dems Victory Fund.   His wife also donated to Sherrill.

Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris Plains), who faced Sherrill in the 2018 campaign, told the New Jersey Globe that he was not aware that one of the Star-Ledger’s owners was contributing to his opponent at the same time they were covering him.

Contributions from Newhouse to Sherrill also came for the 2020, 2022, and 2024 cycles.

He also gave to the House Majority PAC, and to Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris.

Newhouse isn’t the only Advance Publications official to dabble in New Jersey politics: Michael Fricklas, the chief legal officer and corporate secretary, has contributed $15,100 to Rep. Josh Gottheimer’s congressional campaigns.  Fricklas has donated nearly $200,000 to Democratic candidates across the U.S.

Journalists who work for Newhouse have also been campaign contributors:

Dave D’Alessandro, who was the Star-Ledger’s deputy editorial page editor until the newspaper shuttered its opinion page earlier this year, made modest personal contributions to the Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Barack Obama presidential campaigns, along with nearly twenty Democratic Senate and House candidates outside New Jersey.   The Star-Ledger endorsement of Harris did not include a disclaimer that D’Alessandro – or Newhouse – had donated to the Democratic nominee.

A statehouse reporter, Sue Livio, donated to America Coming Together, a now-defunct progressive, George Soros-funded group that funded Democratic voter turnout activities.  Kevin Whitmer, the former Star-Ledger editor and executive, gave to the same group.  Those contributions came in 2004.

Steve Alessi, the president of New Jersey Advance Media, did not respond to two calls seeking comment last week.  Newhouse did not immediately respond to a message left on his cell phone on Friday.

As part of his training, Newhouse spent 2008 to 2011 at NJ.com, shadowing the general manager.

In a position paper, the Society of Professional Journalists Ethics Committee recommended that journalists stay out of political campaigns: “No. Don’t do it. Don’t get involved. Don’t contribute money, don’t work in a campaign, don’t lobby, and especially, don’t run for office yourself.”

“Skeptics of journalistic objectivity are quick to point out that some publishers and owners of news media outlets may not follow the rules they lay down for their employees. A few get more deeply involved, and they may contribute to candidates. Is this ethical? It’s at best a double standard and a questionable practice,” the SJP group said. “But at the very minimum, there should be public disclosure — in their own media — when media magnates get politically involved in this way.”

None of the Star-Ledger columns, editorials, or news stories advised readers that one of their owners was a major donor to candidates they were covering.

In 2022, former Gov. Thomas H. Kean supported his son’s decision to skip an editorial board meeting with the Star-Ledger in his race against Malinowski because of the bias of the editorial page editor, Tom Moran.

“Tom Moran has put things in the paper that are inaccurate, unfair, and he’s never been given a chance to answer those things,” the former governor said.

As part of their bid to influence legislation that took away requirements for public notices, NJ Advance Media hired a Trenton lobbying firm – a move that does not violate any state law.

Advance Publications is the 47th largest privately-held company in the United States.  Conde Nast, the Discovery Channel, Reddit, and dozens of daily newspapers across the nation are just part of their portfolio.  Forbes estimates Advance’s annual revenue to be $6.25 billion.

In 2020, Advance announced an all-cash deal to buy the Beijing-based Ironman group for $730 million. One week before that, Advance announced a $200 million investment in Scopely, a “fast-growing mobile games space” that allows you to play Wheel of Fortune on your smartphone.  Newhouse was a leading actor in those deals – a signal that the company chose to put its money into a global triathlon and mass participation sports marketing company instead of local news.

Campaign contributions from the media aren’t unusual: Rupert Murdoch, the owner of News Corp., has donated millions to conservative candidates, and former Vice President Dan Quayle was the scion of the Pulliam newspaper chain.