![The Star-Ledger (2007-08-08)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/The_Star-Ledger_%282007-08-08%29.svg)
''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
in the U.S. state of
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
and is based in
Newark
Newark most commonly refers to:
* Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States
* Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area
Newark may also refer to:
Places Canada
* Niagara-on-the ...
. It is a sister paper to ''
The Jersey Journal
''The Jersey Journal'' is a daily newspaper, published from Monday through Saturday, covering news and events throughout Hudson County, New Jersey. ''The Journal'' is a sister paper to ''The Star-Ledger'' of Newark, ''The Times'' of Trenton and ...
'' of Jersey City, ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' of
Trenton and the ''
Staten Island Advance
The ''Staten Island Advance'' is a daily newspaper published in the borough of Staten Island in New York City. The only daily newspaper published in the borough, and the only major daily paper focused on a borough, it covers news of local and ...
'', all of which are owned by
Advance Publications
Advance Publications, Inc., doing business as Advance, is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse Jr. It owns a large number of subsidiary companies, including Condé Nast, an ...
.
In 2007, ''The Star-Ledger''s daily circulation was reportedly more than the next two largest New Jersey newspapers combined, and its Sunday circulation was larger than the next three papers combined. It has suffered great declines in print circulation in recent years, to 180,000 daily in 2013, then to 114,000 "individually paid print circulation," which is the number of copies being bought by subscription or at newsstands, in 2015.
[
In July 2013, the paper announced that it would sell its headquarters building in Newark. In the same year, Advance Publications announced it was exploring cost-saving changes among its New Jersey properties, but was not considering mergers or changes in publication frequency at any of the newspapers, nor the elimination of home delivery.
]
History
The ''Newark Daily Advertiser'', founded in 1832, was Newark's first daily newspaper. It subsequently evolved into the ''Newark Star-Eagle'', owned by what eventually became Block Communications
Block Communications Inc. (also known as Blade Communications) is an American privately held holding company of various assets, mainly in the print and broadcast media, based in Toledo, Ohio. The company was founded in 1900 in New York City when ...
. S. I. Newhouse bought the ''Star-Eagle'' from Block in 1939 and merged it with the ''Newark Ledger'' to become the ''Newark Star-Ledger''. The paper dropped Newark from its masthead sometime in the 1970s, but is still popularly called the ''Newark Star-Ledger'' by many New Jersey residents.
During the 1960s ''The Star-Ledger''s chief competitor was the ''Newark Evening News
The ''Newark Evening News'' was an American newspaper published in Newark, New Jersey. As New Jersey's largest city, Newark played a major role in New Jersey's journalistic history. At its apex, ''The News'' was widely regarded as the newspaper ...
'', once the most popular newspaper in New Jersey. In March 1971, the ''Star-Ledger'' surpassed the ''Evening News'' in daily circulation, because the Newark News was on strike. The ''Evening News'' shut down in 1972.
After the ''Newark Evening News'' moved to a high-traffic area (with the potential of trapping its delivery trucks in inner-city traffic) the ''Star-Ledger'' opened a satellite plant in Piscataway Piscataway may refer to:
*Piscataway people, a Native American ethnic group native to the southern Mid-Atlantic States
*Piscataway language
*Piscataway, Maryland, an unincorporated community
*Piscataway, New Jersey, a township
*Piscataway Creek, Ma ...
. The Piscataway location offered quick access to Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
, Monmouth
Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...
, Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
, and Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
counties.
The ''Star-Ledger'' was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting
The Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting is a Pulitzer Prize awarded for a distinguished example of breaking news, local reporting on news of the moment. It has been awarded since 1953 under several names:
*From 1953 to 1963: Pulitzer Priz ...
in 2005 for its comprehensive and clear-headed coverage of the resignation of New Jersey Governor
The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official res ...
Jim McGreevey
James Edward McGreevey (born August 6, 1957) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the 52nd governor of New Jersey from 2002 until his resignation in 2004 following the revelation of his extramarital affair w ...
, after he confessed to adultery with a male lover.
The paper awards the Star-Ledger Trophy each year to the number one high school teams in their respective sport in New Jersey.
21st century: financial troubles
In 2005, George Arwady became the publisher of ''The Star-Ledger''. A graduate of Columbia University, Arwady had previously been the publisher of the ''Kalamazoo Gazette
The ''Kalamazoo Gazette'' is the daily newspaper in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and is part of MLive Media Group, Michigan's largest local media organization. ''The Gazette'' publishes seven days a week. Papers are available for home delivery on Thurs ...
'' in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Having worked closely with the Newhouse family for years, Arwady was asked to move to Newark to financially revamp the paper.
Due to financial losses, the paper's parent company Advance Publications
Advance Publications, Inc., doing business as Advance, is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse Jr. It owns a large number of subsidiary companies, including Condé Nast, an ...
announced on July 31, 2008, that it would sell the ''Star-Ledger'' unless 200 non-union staff voluntarily left under a buyout
In finance, a buyout is an investment transaction by which the ownership equity of a company, or a majority share of the stock of the company is acquired. The acquiror thereby "buys out" the present equity holders of the target company. A buyout ...
offer, and its unionized truck drivers and mailers agreed to concessions. On September 16, publisher George Arwady sent employees an email saying that management felt progress had been made on the buyout and concessions from the mailers, but that management is "far from an agreement with the Drivers' union.". The email continued:
:Since it is doubtful that the Drivers will ratify an agreement by October 8, 2008, we will be sending formal notices to all employees this week, as required by both federal and New Jersey law, advising you that the Company will be sold, or, failing that, that it will close operations on January 5, 2009.
On October 24, 2008, the newspaper announced that 168 newsroom employees had offered to take the company's buyout offer, and that the company had accepted 151 of them, which resulted in a 40% reduction in newsroom staff.
On January 16, 2013, the newspaper announced the layoffs of 34 employees including 18 newsroom staff.
The Newark headquarters of the ''Star-Ledger'', home to the state's largest newspaper for nearly 50 years, was sold to a New York developer in July 2014, according to a news article released by the paper.
''The Star-Ledger'', which Vezza said will continue to be published seven days a week, will retain a presence in Newark in leased office space located within the downtown Gateway Center complex, where the publisher, the newspaper's editorial board, its columnists, its magazine staff and a handful of other jobs will be based. Advance Publications, the owner of the newspaper, launched a new media company — NJ Advance Media — in 2014 to provide content, advertising and marketing services for its online presence at NJ.com, and many of its New Jersey newspapers out of the offices in Woodbridge. The sales and marketing staffs moved to Woodbridge in June 2014.
Management
Presidents
* Amzi Armstrong (1832–?)
* William Burnet Kinney
William Burnet Kinney (September 4, 1799 – October 21, 1880) was an American politician and diplomat.
Early life and education
His grandfather, Sir Thomas Kinney, came to the United States from England before the Revolution to explore the mine ...
(?–1851)
* Thomas T. Kinney (1851–1895)
* James Smith, Jr.
James Smith Jr. (June 12, 1851April 1, 1927) was a newspaper publisher and United States Senate, U.S. Senator from New Jersey. A leader of the Irish Catholic community, he was the Democratic party boss who sponsored Woodrow Wilson to the governo ...
(1895–1915)
* Paul Block
Paul Block (November 2, 1875 – June 22, 1941) was president of Paul Block and Associates (later Block Communications) and publisher of the ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' and ''Toledo Blade''.[Samuel Irving Newhouse, Sr.
Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr. (born Solomon Isadore Neuhaus; May 24, 1895 – August 29, 1979) was an American broadcasting businessman, as well as a magazine and newspaper publisher. He was the founder of Advance Publications.
Early life
Newhouse ...]
(1939–1979)
* Donald Newhouse (1979–Incumbent)
Publishers
* Richard Vezza
Executive editors
In October 2009, managing editor Kevin Whitmer
Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ).
The variant ''Kevan'' is anglicized from , an ...
took over as editor. After Whitmer left in September 2015, Richard Vezza assumed the position as editor.
Prior to Whitmer, James Willse
James Willse is an American journalist who served as editor of The New York Daily News from 1989 to 1992 and of The Star-Ledger in New Jersey from 1995 until his retirement in 2011.
He is credited with leading The News out of bankruptcy and with m ...
manned the helm from 1995. He was appointed following the retirement of 32-year veteran editor Mort Pye
''Mort'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett. Published in 1987, it is the fourth ''Discworld'' novel and the first to focus on the character Death, who only appeared as a side character in the previous novels. The title is the ...
. Willse was the former editor and publisher of the ''New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
''. Prior to accepting the ''Ledger''s editorship, Willse headed the review of electronic information options for all Newhouse newspapers. He also expanded the ''Ledger'' use of color and encouraged a more aggressive editorial team. The National Press Foundation
The National Press Foundation is a nonprofit journalism training organization. It educates journalists on complex issues and trains them in reporting tools and techniques. It recognizes and encourages excellence in journalism through its awards.
...
named Willse its 1999 recipient of the George Beveridge Editor of the Year Award in recognition of ''Ledger''s coverage of racial profiling
Racial profiling or ethnic profiling is the act of suspecting, targeting or discriminating against a person on the basis of their ethnicity, religion or nationality, rather than on individual suspicion or available evidence. Racial profiling involv ...
by the New Jersey State Police
The New Jersey State Police (NJSP) is the official state police force of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a general-powers police agency with statewide jurisdiction, designated by troop sectors.
History
As with other state police organization ...
.
In popular culture
* ''The Star-Ledger'' was featured prominently various times in the hit television series ''The Sopranos
''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...
'', an HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
drama series set in New Jersey. Tony Soprano
Anthony John Soprano is a fictional character and the antihero protagonist in the HBO television drama series ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007), portrayed by James Gandolfini. Soprano is a member of the American Mafia, Italian-American Mafia and, ...
received home delivery of the paper, and several episodes opened with him picking it up at the end of his driveway.
**''The Sopranos'' creator David Chase credited a ''Star-Ledger'' story by journalist Guy Sterling
Guy Sterling (born September 23, 1948) is an American journalist, author and historian. He spent most of his 35-year newspaper career as a reporter with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark, New Jersey, primarily covering the courts and criminal justice ...
with inspiring the theme for the series’ fifth season.
* ''The Star-Ledger'' serves as the inspiration for a fictional newspaper in an award-winning series of mystery novels by Brad Parks
Brad Parks (born July 13, 1974) is an American author of mystery novels and thrillers. He is the winner of the 2010 and 2014 Shamus Award, the 2010 Nero Award and the 2013 and 2014 Lefty Award. He is the only author to have won all three of tho ...
.
* The newspaper was referenced by comedian George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercul ...
in the 2004 comedy-drama '' Jersey Girl'', which was written and directed by New Jersey native Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film ''Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, co ...
.
* ''The Star-Ledger'' was also featured in Robert Kurson
Robert A. Kurson (born April 18, 1963) is an American author, best known for his 2004 bestselling book, '' Shadow Divers'', the true story of two Americans who discover a World War II German U-boat sunk 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey.
Care ...
's 2004 novel ''Shadow Divers
''Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II'' is a 2004 non-fiction book by Robert Kurson recounting of the discovery of a World War II German U-boat off the coast ...
''.
* ''The Star-Ledger'' was featured in the 2021 Showtime series '' Yellowjackets''.
See also
* Beachgate
* Zan Stewart
Zan Stewart (born March 29, 1944) is an American jazz writer, musician and former disc jockey.
Life and career
Born in Los Angeles, California, Stewart is the son of Cassius Lynford Stewart (1907–1997) and Elizabeth LeGrange Wilbur Stewart (190 ...
References
External links
''The Star-Ledger''
mobile
''The Star-Ledger's'' Business Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Star-Ledger, The
Advance Publications
Pulitzer Prize-winning newspapers
Daily newspapers published in the United States
Newspapers published in New Jersey
Mass media in Newark, New Jersey
Publications established in 1832