The Star-Ledger, New Jersey’s largest newspaper, will stop printing newspapers on January 30, 2025, and move to an entirely online format.
The move will also affect the Trenton Times, the South Jersey Times, and the weekly Hunterdon County Democrat. The Jersey Journal will close entirely after 157 years.
The Star-Ledger has been in existence since 1832, beginning as the Newark Daily Advertiser and then as the Newark Star-Eagle. It became the Newark Star-Ledger in 1939 when it was merged with the Newark Ledger.
Advance Publications cited “rising costs, decreasing circulation and reduced demand for print” as the reasons for the decision.
“Today’s announcement represents the next step into the digital future of journalism in New Jersey,” said Steve Alessi, president of NJ Advance Media. “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.”
Alessi promised to reallocate resources to strengthen its newsroom.
The Star-Ledger’s daily print circulation dropped 15% in 2023, according to reports filed with the Alliance for Audited Media.
The newspaper reported average daily print edition sales at 34,400, a catastrophic decline from just eight years ago when they sold 110,000 newspapers daily and 360,00 on Sunday.
Once the crown jewel of New Jersey journalism, the 192-year-old newspaper has been in sharp decline since its last Pulitzer Prize win in 2005. Financial losses have gutted their newsroom, which is down more than 70% since pre-Pulitzer staffing levels.
The Star-Ledger stopped printing Saturday newspapers at the end of last year.
Advance Publications, which owns the Star-Ledger and three other New Jersey newspapers, is one of the largest privately held companies in the U.S.
A smaller market daily newspaper, the Star Tribune in Minneapolis-St. Paul, reported its circulation at 83,500. More newspapers are sold in Buffalo than in New Jersey.