Editor & Publisher

With an October 1 deadline looming, Editor & Publisher's Joe Strupp reports that the Star-Ledger is falling short of their goal to get 100 newsroom staffers to accept buyouts -- something that could cause the Newhouse family to put the state's largest newspaper up for sale. An e-mail exchange between veteran reporter Ron Marsico and publisher George Arwady suggests that the Star-Ledger's buyout offer (one year's salary) is less than at other Newhouse newspapers across the country.  (And Strupp's second story of the day, on the Star-Ledger's possible breakup with the Associated Press, is also a must-read.)

"At this time I have no update to give you on our buyouts thus far, except to tell you that the newsroom has a long way to go to reach the goal that Jim announced," Arwady wrote to Marsico on Sunday in an e-mail that E&P says was circulated throughout the paper. "As I've said repeatedly, people should make decisions about the buyout offer based on what's right for them."

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Fourth in a five-part series on the revolving door between journalism and government in New Jersey. Yesterday, Debbie Holtz asked if reporters protect their former sources when they move from journalism to working for politicians.

Gov. Jon Corzine's new Communications Director is a Star-Ledger reporter who has covered him for the last three years These days, it seems like a week does not pass by without news of red ink running through daily newspapers. Is the troubled financial condition of the newspaper industry driving more and more reporters to PR jobs?

“Anyone who reads the business section of the newspaper knows the current climate,” explained Dr. Barbara Reed, a professor of Journalism at Rutgers University. “Everyone in journalism is aware of the current climate and we are all very worried.

“Whether it is the New York Times, the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune or the Miami Herald – and these are among the best 10 papers in America - they are all experiencing hard times. It’s a very hard place to be in because the advertising is drying up.”

Back in and around New Jersey, the picture isn’t any rosier.

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