LETTERS Respond to Strupp Column on Newark 'Star-Ledger'

By: E&P Staff Joe Strupp's current column -- see our home page -- on the current problems at (and threat to sell) his home state paper, Newark's Star-Ledger, inspired a number of impassionated letters. Here are just some of them.
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I read with interest your web site comments on the cuts which brought a nostalgia attack. I was Summit born & raised, lived at the corner of Prospect & Tulip, went to Brayton school, although , unlike you, I was brought up on the old Newark News, delivered it for a while and while in high school at Seton Hall (when the prep school was on the campus in South Orange) I got my newspaper start working part time in the classified department.

At the time the News was dominant in the state and there was no Star Ledger; just the Ledger and the Star Eagle. Now the News is no more and the Star Ledger is in trouble. It makes this 50-year veteran of newspaper classified (now retired) wonder why the financial gurus who pushed (and maybe still do) for 20% plus margins could not see the forest for the trees. I am of the opinion that in this time of national economic problems it is more important than ever to have strong, vibrant newspapers. Maybe I'm just old fashioned but New Jersey will be poorer with the a weaker Star Ledger.

Robert Browne
Sarasota, Florida


Enjoyed your column on the Ledger but too bad about what?s happening. But I remember when the Newark News was the big gun in the State. While I am showing my age, I worked at the Newark News when we had about 6 reporters in the Elizabeth bureau and the Ledger had 1 in all of Union County who also had to cover the courthouse. And the Elizabeth Journal really was our competitor in Union County with a host of weeklies doing a great job covering the area.

Of course, the dominance by the News ended with the demise of Newark News in 1972 (I think) and the Ledger became the big gun as you rightfully point out. The Ledger was able to soak up all the gravy advertising and expand into the suburbs and prosper for many years. Different times.

I still run into seniors who talk about the News and how they miss it. But too bad about the Ledger ?

Ray Kozakewicz
Manager Corporate Communications
Media General, Inc.


I admire your work on a regular basis and can empathize with your nostalgia piece on the Newark Star-Ledger. I am a Newhouse veteran, having worked 45 years on the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 30 of them
under Newhouse ownership. I had a cordial relationship with S.I. Newhouse and Si Newhouse while serving as news editor, associate managing editor and editorial page editor. I maintain respect for the
Newhouses. There were days when their papers were derided by critics as cheap, but if I'm not mistaken the Star-Ledger, Globe-Democrat, Plain Dealer, Times-Picayune and Oregonian have all won Pulitzer
Prizes. I wonder if any other ownership group can claim as much.

Martin Duggan
St. Louis

Great article about your hometown newspaper. One paragraph stuck out for me:

"The cracks could be seen in recent years as the paper, like most
Advance Publications dailies, was slow to expand to the Web. While the
papers had Web sites, none of them offer a real breaking news pizzazz
or individuality. All of the chain's cookie-cuter sites share the same
template and are still among the most difficult to navigate."

If you want to see cookie-cutter websites, go to ottawacitizen.com,
then click to other CanWest newspaper sites from the bottom of the
page. Every paper but the National Post, which redesigned its website
last year, has the same jumbled cookie-cutter look. Ugh!

Again, nice article. I was a copy editor at the Ottawa Citizen for 17 years before taking a voluntary buyout last December ...

Garey G. Ris
Ottawa