''The Hudson Reporter'' was a

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 ...

chain based in

Hudson County, New Jersey Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It lies west of the lower Hudson River, which was named for Henry Hudson, the sea captain who explored the area in 1609. Part of New Jersey's Gateway Region in t ...

mainly focus on local politics and community news. The oldest newspaper in the chain was the ''Hoboken Reporter'', founded in 1983. The chain stopped publication on January 20, 2023. It has subsequently become an

online newspaper An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical. Going online created more opportunities for newspa ...

owned and operated by Newspaper Media Group. The company published eight weekly newspapers and three local lifestyle magazines. The ''Reporters'' covered news and features in Hoboken,

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.North Bergen North Bergen is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a total population of 63,361. The township was founded in 1843. It was much diminished in territory by a ...

Weehawken Weehawken is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located largely on the Hudson Palisades overlooking the Hudson River. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 17,197.

Secaucus Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,West New York West New York is a town in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, situated upon the New Jersey Palisades. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 52,912. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates ...

, Union City, and Guttenberg. In

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

it was known as ''

Bayonne Community News The ''Bayonne Community News'' is a weekly community newspaper serving Bayonne, in Hudson County, New Jersey. The paper is one of nine weekly publications produced by The Hudson Reporter Assoc., L.P. The ''Community News'' was founded in 1978 by ...

''. The lifestyle magazines covered Bayonne (''Bayonne: Life on the Peninsula''), Hoboken (''07030''), and Jersey City (''Jersey City Magazine'').

History

''The Hudson Reporter'' was founded in 1983 by Hoboken-based developer

Joseph Barry Joseph Barry (born 1940) is an American real estate developer and co-founder of the Applied Housing Companies and founder of the ''Hudson Reporter'' newspaper chain. which Barry published out of a small building in downtown Hoboken. It subsequently moved to a basement office on 14th Street. As Barry's real estate holdings in Hudson County grew throughout the 1980s, the organization bought a chain of local newspapers and consolidated them into a coordinated weekly paper group. In 1995 the chain moved to a large, historic bank building at 1400 Washington Street, across the street from the basement office. Lucha Malato joined the company in 1983 and David Unger in 1985. both becoming his minority partners. In 1987, the chain began ''The Secaucus Reporter''. In addition to articles written by the reporting staff, the paper's letters-to-the-editor page spawned a book of letters, ''Yuppies Invade My House at Dinnertime'', in 1987. It eventually added similar papers as part of its ''Reporter'' brand for

, Union City, and

West New York West New York is a town in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, situated upon the New Jersey Palisades. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 52,912. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates ...

. The company purchased the ''Bayonne Community News'' in 2004 and relocated to Bayonne in 2016. In 1999, with the real estate market becoming even busier, Barry no longer had time to dedicate to the newspapers, and sold his majority share in the company to Malato and Unger.

After both offices lost power during Hurricane Sandy in October/November 2012, the staff worked out of

Palisades Medical Center Palisades Medical Center (PMC) is a 186-bed hospital located in North Bergen, New Jersey, United States, that serves a population of 400,000 in Hudson County and in Southern Bergen County. The non-profit medical center is part of the Hackensack Me ...

. In early June 2016, after 33 years in Hoboken, the paper moved its main office to 447 Broadway in Bayonne, three blocks from the 22nd Street Light Rail station. The consolidation of the staff at the new location also saw the closing of the small satellite office in Bayonne that published the ''Bayonne Community News'' for years. Among the reasons Malato cited for the move was the amount of unused space at the previous Hoboken location, such as the large

darkroom A darkroom is used to process photographic film, to make prints and to carry out other associated tasks. It is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of the light-sensitive photographic materials, including film and ph ...

that became obsolete since the staff's adoption of digital photography around 2000. The company continued using its distribution facility in North Bergen. On June 10, 2018, it was announced that publishers Lucha Malato and David Unger had sold the Hudson Reporter Assoc. LP, the company that publishes their papers, to the Newspaper Media Group (NMG) of

Cherry Hill, New Jersey Cherry Hill is a township within Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a population of 74,553, which reflected an increase of 3,508 (+4.94%) from the 71,045 counted in the 2010 census.

, a publisher of more than 50 weekly community newspapers in Central and Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia, as well as a monthly newspaper on

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

. NMG owner and CEO Richard Donnelly stated, "The decision to purchase the Hudson Reporter was an easy one. The award-winning publications fit perfectly into our successful business model of community newspapers. Pooling resources and talent will ensure an even greater success story down the road. We are excited to add this exceptional group of papers to our growing family.""Newspaper Media Group (NMG) acquires Hudson Reporter Assoc. LP, a group of 8 weekly local newspapers"
''

Philadelphia Weekly ''Philadelphia Weekly'' (''PW'') is a website based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a newspaper in 1971 as ''The Welcomat'', a sister publication to the ''South Philadelphia Press''. In 1995, the paper became ''Philadelphia Weekl ...

''. June 8, 2018 By June 2021, the company's headquarters had moved down further south to 166-168 Broadway. On the afternoon of January 20, 2023, during the ''Hudson Reporter''s staff's weekly editorial meeting, Media Group General's owners, speaking via a

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for image ...

call, informed employees, including reporters, sales staff, and art staff, that the paper was ceasing operations that day. The announcement was a surprise to its staff (which included two reporters and one managing editor), who were informed by newspaper Media Group General Manager Brandon Chamberlain that the reason for the closure was that the revenue generated by the chain did not justify its expenses. Between five and ten staff members lost their jobs without

severance pay Severance may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Severance'' (film), a 2006 British horror film * ''Severance'' (novel), a 2018 novel by Ling Ma *''Severance'', a 2006 short-story collection by Robert Olen Butler * ''Severance'' (TV series), a ...

. The closure affected both the print and online versions of the publications, according to reporter Daniel Israel, a three-year veteran of the chain, in a tweet posted on January 20, the staff's final day at work.

Accolades

The chain and its writers have won numerous awards for investigative reporting, going beyond the norm for weekly newspapers. The company has become a training ground for reporters and writers in the New York area, having sent two to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', and several to other top publications including ''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to ''The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of wh ...

'' and news organizations like

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

. Other writers, like Caren Matzner, have published novels.

Publications

Newspapers

*''Jersey City Reporter'' *''Hoboken Reporter'' *''Union City Reporter'' *''West New York Reporter'' *''Weehawken Reporter'' *''North Bergen Reporter'' *''Secaucus Reporter'' *''

Magazines and guides

*''Jersey City Magazine'',''Jersey City Magazine''
printed twice annually *''07030'', a magazine about Hoboken *''Bayonne: Life on the Peninsula'' *''Hudson Current'', an arts and entertainment publication *''Gateway Guide'', a quarterly New Jersey tourism magazine published until late 2006

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson Reporter, The Mass media in Hudson County, New Jersey Newspapers published in New Jersey Companies based in Hudson County, New Jersey Defunct newspapers published in New Jersey 2023 disestablishments in New Jersey