More than 460 jobs have been eliminated in two years at six Gannett newspapers in New Jersey -- Morristown Daily Record, Asbury Park Press, East Brunswick Home News Tribune, Bridgewater Courier News, Cherry Hill Courier-Post and Vineland Daily Journal. The Newhouse chain's Newark Star-Ledger staff is half what it was a year ago. The New York Times eliminated its New Jersey section and its Jersey bureau.
So what?
Well, the Record got a Pulitzer nomination in 2008 for local reporting, which was an investigation of corruption run rampant. The state oversight was non-existent. Says Record editor Frank Scandale: "This was a bad deal for the state, and people lost a lot of money. Without the Record investigating it and turning over those rocks, this wouldn’t have been discovered."
New Jersey governor Jon Corzine recently signed a bill that will give the state more oversight over public and private projects that use government dollars and cents.
But, without newspapers "turning over those rocks," corrupt politicians and private individuals and companies still may have a field day.
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