Jersey Journal Newspaper Ends Publication This Week

JERSEY CITY, NJ — As Jersey City's centrally located Journal Square neighborhood buzzes with new development, the newspaper for which it was named is meeting its end.

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The Jersey Journal, a once-daily print newspaper founded two years after the Civil War, will cease publication this Saturday.

The paper's publisher said it could not afford to continue after outsourcing its printing to the Star-Ledger, which has announced it will close its production facility in February. (The Star-Ledger will go solely on-line starting Feb. 3.)

The Jersey Journal covered the ups and downs in Hudson County — the sixth most densely populated county in the United States, with a notorious political history. The Journal broke exclusive stories up until the end.

David Blomquist, the general manager of the Jersey Journal, offered no comment when contacted by Patch on Friday, pointing to the Oct. 30 article announcing the paper's closure.

That story noted that 17 people will be laid off when the publication closes.

While Jersey City and surrounding towns have experienced a rebirth, the area has lost several print newspapers over the last few decades.

The daily Hudson Dispatch closed in 1991. The weekly Hudson Reporter shut down in early 2023. Its website seemed to come back to life last year with limited local news, some of which appeared to be written by AI.

Hudson County news is still being reported on a daily basis by Hoboken, Jersey City, and Secaucus Patch, as well as several other on-line outlets. (Subscribe to Jersey City's Patch's free morning newsletter, rounding up local news, here.)

Author Helene Stapinski, who got her start at the Jersey Journal, wrote an ode to the publication in Columbia Journalism Review.

"The city and the surrounding towns, townships, and cities of Hudson County had all kinds of troubles and made all kinds of news," she noted.

Read prior reporting here: The Jersey Journal Newspaper Will Close Entirely Feb. 1.