The Missing Watchdogs: How Staff Cuts at Newspapers Hurt Democracy

As 2008 drew to a close, so did an era of newspaper reporting in New Jersey, as Editor and Publisher chronicled so poignantly in its cover story in the December issue and online. The impact of The Star-Ledger's decline is being felt throughout the state. Here at the ACLU of New Jersey, we've already suffered the consequences of the paper's "shrinking" pains.

The reality of the paper's situation hit me in October when the Star-Ledger failed to cover a story concerning three young men who were roughed up by the Newark Police. In the past, the paper consistently covered stories about our police-practices lawsuits and assigned reporters to both thesState and Newark police beats. Those days are gone.

The loss of more than 150 news staff that left The Star-Ledger under the buyout leaves a chasm in state and local democracy that won't easily be filled.