A Superior Court Judge will hear oral arguments on January 6 on Warren County’s challenge of a state law requiring legal notices be posted in newspapers at the expense of the taxpayers, an emergent issue following an announcement that the Star-Ledger and other New Jersey newspapers will shut down at the end of January.
The county claims it won’t be able to designate an “official newspaper” because none will meet the statutory requirement of having circulation in Warren County or being printed in New Jersey.
The New Jersey Association of Counties has filed an amicus brief, saying the “cessation of publication by the Star-Ledger and other newspapers has created a narrow window of time in which counties must determine how to proceed with respect to designating official newspapers.”
John Donnadio, the executive director of the association, said in his court filing that “it should be no surprise to anyone, including the Superior Court, that technology has advanced at a pace completely unanticipated by the Appellate Division at that time, and that physical newspapers are now largely, for good or ill, a relic of an earlier time,” Donnadio said in his brief.
“The New Jersey Association of Counties finds itself in a difficult situation, to put it mildly, as Warren County is merely one of the several counties in this state that face the prospect of having no newspaper that will satisfy the definition of an official newspaper, or a situation as in Warren County where there is a physical newspaper, such as the Daily Record, that has such limited circulation in a county that designating it as an official newspaper serves no purpose,” Donnadio told the court.
Counties and most municipalities designate newspapers to publish certain items, including ordinances, contracts, bids, foreclosures, public hearings, sheriff’s sales, and meeting notifications when they reorganize next month.
Donnadio pointed out that a 1976 New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that legal advertisements must appear in newspapers is outdated.
“In 1976, it was commonplace for anyone to stop by the corner convenience store and pick up the local newspaper, or have it delivered to one’s doorstep, and a person could expect to find legal ads in those newspapers because they had ‘community ties,’” he stated. “Those days are over.”
Warren County Commissioner James R. Kern III told the court in his lawsuit that “Warren County does not have a single, dedicated physical newspaper for publication, physical purchase, or circulation, which is available throughout the entire county.”
In addition to the Star-Ledger, the Jersey City-based Jersey Journal, the Trenton Times, the South Jersey Times, and the Hunterdon County Democrat will also shut down; only the Newhouse-owned NJ.com will continue, in an online-only format.
Dan Sforza, the executive editor of the Bergen Record, denied that his newspaper is considering going all online.
Some municipalities have weekly newspapers that will still qualify as official newspapers.
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