By Wally Edge | December 4th, 2008 - 10:28am
| More

In an interview with the American Journalism Review, Star-Ledger editor Jim Willse says he's not sure he'll replace Washington,D.C.-based reporters Scott Orr and Robert Cohen, who both took buyouts. 

"Frankly, the delegation doesn't produce enough news to keep two reporters busy," Willse told AJR editor Jennifer Dorroh about the fifteen New Jerseyans who serve in Congress.

Here's the New Jersey section in the AJR story:

Both of the Washington reporters for Newark's Star-Ledger, another Newhouse property, accepted buyouts as part of major cutbacks at the paper. At AJR's deadline, it was unclear whether they would be replaced, but it seemed unlikely. "Until we're sure who still works here, we're not really in a great position to decide any of the beats, including Washington," says Editor Jim Willse.

He says not much will be lost in terms of covering specific members of Congress, since the paper decided several years ago to forego comprehensive reporting on the delegation in favor of beat coverage. Scott Orr covered technology and Robert Cohen tracked the Food and Drug Administration and the pharmaceutical industry. Both beats are important to New Jersey. "Frankly, the delegation doesn't produce enough news to keep two reporters busy," Willse says. "In our case, I would say that less than 20 percent of their work time was devoted to a kind of classic regional reporting. But pharmaceuticals is a big local industry, so in a sense it's regional reporting."

Willse says he wasn't eager to reduce coverage of Washington, where the Star-Ledger has had two reporters throughout his 13-year tenure at the paper. "Anytime you have a reporter who produces a lot of good stories and then leaves, you lose all of those stories. Both of them were extremely productive, and we're going confront that in a number of areas, not just Washington. We're going to have to find out how to compensate for that loss."

Wake-Up Call

Morning News Digest: May 24, 2012

Morning News Digest: May 24, 2012By Missy RebovichTry State Street Wire, Follow PolitickerNJ on Twitter and Facebook. Text "PNJ" to 89800 to receive alerts      In News 12 debate in Teaneck, Pascrell hounds Rothman on decision not to face Garrett After diving into a five-month slugfest...

Op-Ed

As Senior Population Swells, State Needs to Lift Moratorium on Adult Day Care

By Roberto Muñiz The NJ Department of Health and Human Services has documented the many financial abuses in the adult day care system, reporting numerous providers who have scammed Medicaid to reap small fortunes off the backs of taxpayers. Negative... Read More >

Contributors

Cory Booker was right…the first time.  Anyone who follows the political game knows that Cory Booker is embroiled in a national soap opera involving presidential politics.  Last Sunday on... more »
In New Jersey, nominations of judges and Senate Judiciary hearings make news. What most people don’t know, however, is that the New Jersey judicial appointment process is more... more »
Judge Glenn Berman sentenced former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi to 30 days in the Middlesex County jail, three years of probation and 300 hours of community service for... more »
For both Obama and Romney, the poll numbers are ugly indeed  The polls show that a majority of the American electorate perceives the administration of Barack Obama as... more »
Why has the current council in Keansburg NJ, ignored the DEP warning about arsenic in the water and left it to their challengers to warn the people about the... more »
April 30, 2012: Nets Get Lost on Way to Brooklyn, Team Gets Mugged Upon Arrival“Welcome to Brooklyn, Mother F$#%kers,”In an effort to save money, the former New Jersey Nets... more »

Resources

Visit the PolitickerNJ.com/resources page for links to the best collection of information on New Jersey state government.

 

  • Polls
  • The best blogs
  • Columnists
  • State election results
  • Assembly election results
  • Local party websites
  • And more.

PolitickerNJ.com/resources