NJ, Pa. newspapers to end print editions in 2025

The owner of newspapers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania is ending print publication for five papers.

Advance Local announced Wednesday the Easton Express-Times and the [Newark] Star-Ledger, New Jersey's largest circulation newspaper, will cease publishing print editions early in 2025.

The decision was made due to rising costs, decreasing circulation and reduced demand for print. the company said.

In addition, Advance Local, which owns NJ Advance Media and NJ.com , announced it is ending print publication of dailies The Times of Trenton and the South Jersey Times, as well as the weekly Hunterdon County Democrat.

Online newspapers for The Express-Times, The Star-Ledger , The Times of Trenton and South Jersey Times will continue to be produced seven days a week for subscribers.

The final print editions of the Express-Times and the New Jersey dailies will be published on Feb. 2, 2025.

The final weekly print edition of the Hunterdon County Democrat will be published on Jan. 30, 2025, and its subscribers will have access to the Star-Ledger online newspaper.

The Easton-Times newsroom's staff will continue to provide robust local coverage of the region, which will also appear on lehighvalleylive.com , the company said.

"Today's announcement represents the next step into the digital future of journalism in the Lehigh Valley," said Steve Alessi, President of NJ Advance Media, which operates lehighvalleyli ve. "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."

At the Star-Ledger, Alessi said that ceasing print publication will allow NJ Advance Media to reallocate resources to strengthen its core newsroom. He said that the newsroom has more reporters than it did a year ago and has plans to continue to grow in 2025 as the organization looks to bolster reporting in previously under-covered areas of the state.

NJ Advance Media's journalists will continue to produce content that appears on NJ.com , as well as in the online newspapers of the The Star-Ledger , The Times of Trenton and South Jersey Times .

Alessi said, "As an organization, we have vigorously embraced the digital world and all of its potential to reach new audiences and provide value, reaching audiences on podcasts, via TikTok and Instagram, even on WhatsApp message groups. We will continue to invest in the digital future and cutting-edge technologies that can enrich the quality of our journalism and deliver more timely news with even greater frequency to our users."

In August, the most recent month for which data is available, NJ.com ranked as the #1 local news site in the country, according to Comscore, a media measurement and analytics company. That month, the site had 15.2 million unique visitors, placing it even ahead of such national news brands as Wired, The Atlantic and Slate on Comscore's rankings.

The company will also close its New Jersey production plant in Montville, with which it contracts to print its newspaper.

As a result of the production facility closure, the Hudson County-based Jersey Journal also announced that it will be ceasing publication. Its final print edition will be published on Feb. 1, 2025.

Star-Ledger leaders acknowledged that the changes will have a significant impact on existing employees of the company, as well as devoted readers of the company's print products.

But, they said, the shift in readership habits from print to digital is in keeping with national trends in consumer and behavior. Thus far in 2024, Star-Ledger print circulation is down 21% in the last year.

In recent years, the production and distribution costs of newspapers have skyrocketed. At the same time, record numbers of users are now accessing news and information digitally from myriad platforms, including websites, online newspapers and newsletters.

"This decision was not made lightly, but the reality is that the print news model cannot be sustained," said Wes Turner, an executive who works with The Star-Ledger.

Turner said that the company would be providing affected employees with generous severance and transition assistance packages.