The Corporation for New Jersey Local Media (CNJLM) has assumed ownership of the New Jersey Hills Media Group, ensuring the future of the quality community journalism that this newspaper and 13 others provide in Morris, Somerset, Essex and Hunterdon counties.

“We are grateful that these newspapers will remain community-owned as they continue to provide responsible local journalism, expand their coverage, serve as watchdogs on local government, and keep their readers informed on the day-to-day lives of the 50 municipalities they serve,” said Amanda Richardson, CNJLM’s executive director.

“These papers have benefitted from ownership by the Parkers, community leaders who shepherded and grew these papers for generations.”

“We are thankful to the many donors, large and small, who have already contributed to the community fundraising drive that is making this transition possible, and we are proud to be part of the national movement to nonprofit news ownership that is playing such a vital role in the preservation of local journalism that is so critical to civic knowledge and engagement in our democracy,” said Nicolas W. Platt, CNJLM’s Founding Chair who led the fundraising effort.

The decision by the New Jersey Hills Media Group, the largest remaining independent weekly newspaper group in New Jersey, follows in the footsteps of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Sun-Times, Tampa Bay Times, Salt Lake Tribune, and Colorado Community Media, whose 24 weeklies in the Denver suburbs converted to nonprofit ownership last May.

CNJLM took over ownership of the New Jersey Hills Media Group on March 31, 2022 and will follow a model first used by the Lenfest Institute and the Philadelphia Inquirer. The newspaper group will function as a societal benefits corporation with its own board.

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