May 4, 2003

Jerome Aumente to Write Book for the New Jersey Press Association (NJPA) on History of Newspapers in New Jersey and NJPA Contributions

The New Jersey Press Association (NJPA) has commissioned Jerome Aumente to write a history of newspapers in New Jersey and the key activities of the association to mark the 150th anniversary of the NJPA in 2007.

NJPA is believed to be the oldest editorial association of its kind in the United States to meet continually without interruption. The story of daily and weekly newspapers in New Jersey extending back to the mid 19th century presents a fascinating opportunity to chronicle major developments in the newspaper industry, Aumente said.

Aumente is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies (SCILS) at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. He was founding chair of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, and founding director of the Journalism Resources Institute (JRI). Both units are in SCILS. During his directorship, over 14,000 journalists in New Jersey and internationally participated in JRI programs, many of them cosponsored by NJPA.

“The experience of weekly and daily newspapers in New Jersey, one of the most sophisticated and competitive news environments in the United States, offers a great opportunity to trace the evolution of the print media from handset type to today’s advanced computer age,” Aumente said. “The role of NJPA in nurturing the evolving newspaper industry over 150 years is a parallel story of great importance to the state's history.”

John J. O’Brien, executive director of NJPA, who approached Aumente to take on the project and who will work closely with him in its execution over the next four years said: “This is a golden opportunity for NJPA to capture the challenges and excitement of New Jersey’s newspaper industry over the last century and a half. The state's newspapers have always played an important role in providing residents with comprehensive coverage and
a sense of identity.

“Since the number one and number seven electronic media centers in the nation (New York and Philadelphia) serve New Jersey, but are located outside its boundaries, there is a void of comprehensive statewide, regional and local coverage of the state’s more than 7 million residents.

“Unlike elsewhere in the nation, newspapers fill that void in the Garden State. The quality of the journalism and the excellence of the newspapers makes New Jersey the newspaper capitol of America. This book will capture this phenomenon and document it for future generations.”

The Board of Directors of NJPA has officially approved the long term project, and the association is providing funds for the writing and research.

Aumente said the book will be rich in factual history, but told in readable, human terms through the journalistic experiences of the professionals who publish, edit, and report the news, and from their colleagues who provide the advertising, circulation and marketing dimensions of the newspaper industry.

NJPA’s actions in supporting newspapers by providing training and education to newspaper professionals, and scholarships to journalism students; promoting diversity in the newsroom, and representing the newspapers' interests at local, state and national levels in legislation involving press freedom, full access to information, regulatory and financial issues will be documented.

The initiatives of the member newspapers and NJPA in confronting many changes and challenges over time, Aumente said, deserve special attention, including:

The transformation of the newspaper industry from the era of hand set type, to a time of high speed presses and linotype, then on to all the changes of the computer age, newer media and the Internet.

The complex changes as New Jersey's population shifted from rural and urban to new patterns of city, suburb and rural areas in transition, and what all this meant for daily and weekly newspapers--from the largest urban centers of the state and region, to the quiltwork of new suburbs and changing rural communities. Shifts in population, the impact of the auto and then the super highways all affected the newspaper industry and its markets in New Jersey-the most densely urban state in the nation.

The special challenge of intense media competition , with member newspapers located in the most densely populated state in the nation, and sandwiched between New York City and Philadelphia. (Benjamin Franklin called New Jersey a keg tapped at both
ends.)

How the NJPA member newspapers dealt with the competing challenges of radio, then television, and now the Internet, and what tests newer media may bring in the near future.

The impact of newspapers reporting a series of wars from the Civil War and Spanish-American War through two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, the Gulf War, Afghanistan, Iraq and the continuing war on terrorism.

The demands NJPA newspapers faced as stories became more complex and society increasingly more diverse. And how the NJPA and the newspapers developed specialized journalism; investigative and enterprise reporting, promoted more diversity in its newsrooms and better coverage of minority issues.

Aumente said the book should attract a wide audience-general interest readers; grammar and high school students; libraries within the state and the region; college and university students preparing for careers in the news media; public relations and corporate readers, and those in government at the local, county, state and regional levels, and especially, professionals in the news media.

“Research for the book will look at the published work of member newspapers. Interviews will be done with selected publishers, editors and reporters; those from the business side of marketing, advertising, circulation and production, and from current and previous NJPA management and staff,” Aumente said.

“I will ask the NJPA and its member newspapers to prepare background memos tracing the history of each newspaper, listing highlights of coverage and development, and providing some sample front pages and selected photos for possible use in the book,” he said. “It should be a wonderful cooperative effort to chronicle this history.”

The taped interviews and materials may later be made available to scholars and researchers by giving copies to a university library in New Jersey for permanent preservation and archiving, Aumente suggested.

Aumente said he is discussing with the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies and its Journalism Resources Institute, and the Scholarly Communication Center at the Rutgers University's Alexander Library plans for possible future symposia on milestones of the newspaper history in New Jersey as the book is researched and written through 2006. He will also involve students as paid research assistants.

Besides publication of the book timed for 2007 and the 150th anniversary of NJPA, portions of the research materials going beyond the published 200 page book might be incorporated into a website for distribution over the Internet, Aumente said. He will also approach New Jersey Network (NJN) to explore possible interest in a documentary program on the state's newspapers, Aumente said.

Aumente retired from Rutgers University in 2000 as distinguished professor emeritus after 31 years, but continues as special counselor to Dean Gus Friedrich of SCILS, and is also director emeritus and Senior Research Fellow at the Journalism Resources Institute, working closely with his successor as director, Professor John Pavlik.

Aumente is a graduate of Rutgers University, the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He was a reporter with newspapers in the United States and Europe for ten years before joining Rutgers University as a faculty member in 1969. He worked for newspapers in New Jersey : the Newark Evening News and the Cranford Citizen and Chronicle. He was urban affairs and Canadian affairs specialist at The Detroit News. He has published three books on problems of misinformation; new media technologies, and journalism in Central and Eastern Europe following the downfall of Communism, as well as numerous magazine articles.

He continues with journalism training projects and curriculum assistance to universities in the United States and overseas, and has been to Europe and Latin America over 80 times since 1989 in connection with his funded projects in Poland, Bosnia, Russia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia , Spain, Panama, Colombia, and Jamaica in the Caribbean.

Aumente was awarded the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Alumni Award in 2001 for lifetime contributions to global journalism education, and also received a special commendation in 2000 from the NJPA Board of Directors for his contributions to journalism education. He received the Rutgers University Presidential Award in Public Service for his outreach efforts with journalists.