Photo courtesy of Daniel Israel.
On Jan. 20, 2023, a bombshell story dropped in Hudson County — and there was now one less local newspaper to report on it.
The team at The Hudson Reporter and the Bayonne Community News were laid off unexpectedly after a scheduled meeting, and both publications owned by Newspaper Media Group (NMG) closed their doors.
More than a year later, former staff writers Daniel Israel and Jordan Coll are fighting for local journalism and advocating for the passage of resolutions by local governments across Hudson County commemorating The Hudson Reporter and the Bayonne Community News. The resolutions seek to not only honor the fallen print newspapers and their fired staffers, but also remember the impact of local publications, acknowledge the collapse of the print news industry and begin a discussion on the rise of artificial intelligence in the production of local news and its impact on the situation in Hudson County.
As a staff writer from December 2019 to January 2023, Israel covered Bayonne for the Bayonne Community News, and North Bergen, Secaucus, Union City, Weehawken, West New York and Guttenberg for The Hudson Reporter. He also wrote for three magazines under the NMG corporate umbrella including: Bayonne: Life On The Peninsula Magazine; 07030 Hoboken Magazine; and Jersey City Magazine.
Coll worked at The Hudson Reporter for three months, covering Jersey City and Hoboken. The two told Slice of Culture about the sudden closure, noting that some sources still call to this day to catch up while others ring unaware of the newspapers’ closures.
“It was all so sudden,” Israel shared. “One minute we were a bustling newsroom, the next the rug was pulled out from under us. We were working diligently until the last minute before it happened.”
“The news was just striking,” shared Coll. “Prior to having our weekly editorial call on Fridays, I was piecing together a story about the very thing we got laid off from–local news deserts in our media landscape. I found it to be quite ironic.”
Before the staff’s weekly Friday editorial meeting, they got an email with a calendar alert showing that all of the staff had been scheduled for a mandatory meeting shortly thereafter. Staffers began to speculate that bad news was on the horizon, and Managing Editor Gene Ritchings told Israel and Coll to stop writing any more stories.
“During that afternoon meeting, we were laid off without any other prior notice nor any severance pay. We were told that The Hudson Reporter and the Bayonne Community News would shutter because the revenue didn’t justify the expenses,” said Israel.
“This was in reference to the fact that the newspapers were printed in South Jersey and shipped to Hudson County in North Jersey, on account that NMG is based out of Cherry Hill.”
Staff members at the time of the layoff included Ritchings, Israel and Coll, Art Directors Terri Bish and Mary Helen Fink, Ad Manager Tish Krasyk, Senior Account Executive Ron Kraszyk and Bookkeeper Sharon Metro.
“I remember being irate because the General Manager who laid us off didn’t even look at any us,” Israel said.
“He just had his eyes offscreen, probably reading what to say from a script or something. I was fuming, as were other staffers because it appeared they had not really tried to sell the print newspapers based off of the conversations with the General Manager that day, and they told us they would likely soon shut down the digital website. We were blindsided. I was personally a little hurt that there would not be a final goodbye issue of either print newspaper, nor any announcement of the closure on the digital website.”
“The thought I had running through my mind was of all of the stories I had in the pipeline and all of a sudden getting hit with a hard stop of no longer running the paper like business as usual,” shared Coll. “My editor called me, and literally told me ‘to not write a single thing for this company anymore!’ and that’s when I knew we were out of business. It was all too real, too quick. It felt short-lived as someone working there for three months, but also felt like I had known my sources for years.”
After the layoffs, Israel, Coll and other staff members made sure other local news outlets knew what was going on to document what had just happened to these historic 40-year-old local newspapers. The Hudson Reporter and the Bayonne Community News were not about to “go gentle into that good night,” to quote poet Dylan Thomas.
“The Bayonne Community News was like my baby, I always joked, because that was my primary beat. I put so much blood, sweat, and tears into the production of that newspaper, it felt personal to see it and The Hudson Reporter go under after running it for more than three years through the COVID-19 pandemic,” shared Israel.
He said that in addition to Ritchings and Coll, he had also learned much from other former colleagues at the newspapers, including Editor in Chief Kate Rounds and former Staff Writer Marilyn Baer. In the weeks following, other NMG publications in Central Jersey were also closed and their staffs were laid off. More than one year after the day the newspapers closed on Jan. 20, 2023, the print publications are making headlines again.
Israel and Coll have been lobbying the local municipal councils to pass resolutions commemorating The Hudson Reporter and the Bayonne Community News, and have since successfully unanimously passed resolutions in Jersey City, Bayonne, Secaucus and Hoboken. Officials in North Bergen and Union City are also reviewing similar resolutions that they may also adopt in the near future.
“The point of the resolutions is to cement the history of what happened to the newspapers, since they closed so abruptly, as well as to honor the staff who were laid off and the other greats who came before us,” said Israel. “We also want to start a conversation about the state of the print news industry–and the news industry in general–as well the rise of artificial intelligence in journalism and its contribution to the situation here in Hudson County.”
There have been suspicions that the former The Hudson Reporter website may or may not still be owned by NMG. In addition, there is also some inkling that artificial intelligence (AI) may contribute to the content now posted on the new rebranded The Hudson Reporter website, which contradicts what the company told staff when they were laid off.
“The owner of The Hudson Reporter website removed the archive of the two print newspapers going back decades that was hosted online. They also took down many of the former writers’ stories,” said Israel.
“And while some have returned, those stories were scrubbed of the original authors’ names in the byline. But you could tell it’s our work because of our signature paragraphs at the end of the story denoting the original author’s email, Twitter handle, and more.”
While these resolutions may only honor the fallen print newspapers and their staff, the duo are dedicated to expanding on the conversation they have struck. The goal is beyond remembering the past, but carving out a better future for the print news industry and the news industry in general.
“Overall, we hope to first honor the print newspapers in all Hudson County municipalities. Then we hope to start a conversation about AI and its contribution to the papers’ closing and the current state of the website, and turn discussion into action through more municipal or other measures,” shared Israel.
As these two journalists stand up for the importance of local journalism and its shrinking industry, they hope that it becomes a larger fight so that the same fate does not befall other publications in Hudson County, around New Jersey, and, overall, just worldwide.
Coll and Israel seek to spark a discussion to identify potential solutions for the problem, acknowledging that AI can be a helpful tool for journalists if used properly but not a replacement for human reporters.
“I think at the end of the day, people continue on with their lives, society moves on. But I also think it is worth noting that the role of the press is crucial,” said Coll. “We have a market that seems to be shrinking but at the same time thriving while covering some of the most intense times of our history. We hope that our actions can start a conversation in the public discourse and aim to spark legal questioning, in terms of how to prevent less closures of good hard-hitting newsrooms like The Hudson Reporter and Bayonne Community News, and so many others alike.”
“The closure of The Hudson Reporter was a blow to local journalism. It was a historic institution of over four decades and it signaled the continued death of print media in Hudson County,” shared Israel.
“I’m not sure if you can prevent the continued decline of print news. But we can prevent AI from taking over online news, like what most likely happened to The Hudson Reporter. I think we have a chance to set a precedent here and prevent takeovers of online newsrooms by AI through commemorating the closed newspapers and bringing awareness and prompting conversations about the AI issues. There is a space for AI to be used alongside human journalists as a tool, but it is reprehensible for the company to tell staff they would likely shut down the website and then seemingly replace them all with AI in some capacity.”
As City Councils across Hudson County have been passing Coll and Israel’s resolution, they have gained hope that the fight for local journalism can go in the right direction. Now, they continue to bring awareness to the issue and facilitate dialogue with each measure they pass by a local municipal council.
“I think the investors and CEO did not value the staff and its incredible journalistic history. We’ve been able to get a unanimous approval from Jersey City’s [Bayonne’s and Hoboken’s Council]. This comes to show that there is power and the wheels of justice can steer in our favor, through our activism and effort towards the community. The market is definitely shifting, and layoffs such as ours can show how a movement can generate right after. And we both are still active journalists in our respective newsrooms,” said Coll.
“Journalists are the fourth branch of government. As the so-called ‘Fourth Estate,’ it is our job to hold governments, institutions, organizations, people, etc., into account and tell the stories of the local community. AI cannot do this alone,” shared Israel.
“In this day and age, we need to facilitate a culture of prioritizing people over profits to prevent the prominence of AI taking jobs in journalism, as well as other fields, before the damage done is irreversible. As Oscar Wilde once said, ‘…journalism governs forever and ever’…
“We need to address the situation now and bring about a solution that contributes to the growth of local online- and hopefully print- newsrooms, so that we can live in a future where more newspapers are opening locally, not more newspapers going out of print in Hudson County.”
