How to Get Press in New Jersey Local News Outlets: Who Covers What, How to Pitch, and When
To get press in New Jersey local news outlets, match the story to the newsroom that covers that kind of story, send it through the published tips channel each outlet maintains, and tie it to a date the newsroom already cares about. New Jersey has a layered press: a statewide digital newsroom in NJ.com, two business titles in NJBIZ and ROI-NJ, a public affairs newsroom in NJ Spotlight News, a 24-hour cable channel in News 12 New Jersey, news radio in New Jersey 101.5 and public radio in WBGO, two hyperlocal networks in TAPinto and Patch with a site for most towns, regional dailies such as the Asbury Park Press and NorthJersey.com, and niche outlets for real estate, lifestyle and Hudson County. Research from Montclair State University’s Center for Cooperative Media counts 730 outlets serving the state but finds most are small businesses with few staff, which means a pitch that arrives ready to publish, with a local hook, a named person and a visual, wins. This guide covers who covers what, how each newsroom takes tips, how and when to pitch, and where guaranteed placements fit alongside earned coverage.
Key takeaways
- New Jersey has 730 news outlets, 627 in state, down 50 in five years, and most surveyed newsrooms run on $500,000 a year or less. Short-staffed editors reward pitches that need no extra work.
- Outlets specialize: NJBIZ and ROI-NJ for business, NJ Spotlight News for policy, News 12 and NJ 101.5 for breaking news, TAPinto and Patch for towns, NJ.com for statewide reach.
- TAPinto runs more than 95 franchised local sites with no paywall and an ethics policy that bars its franchisees from opinion journalism; Patch sites are run by professional editors and accept community posts.
- News 12, NJ 101.5, NJ Spotlight News, NJBIZ, ROI-NJ and Jersey Digs all publish a tips channel. Use it, and write the subject line like a headline.
- Earned local coverage and guaranteed placements do different jobs. Local news reaches the people who can buy from you; guaranteed placements in named outlets give search engines and AI assistants the corroboration they weigh.
How New Jersey’s local news ecosystem actually works
New Jersey sits between the New York and Philadelphia media markets, and its own press has long been a thick layer of newspapers, hyperlocal sites and a few in-state broadcasters. That layer has thinned. The Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University published new research on the state’s local news landscape on August 26, 2026. It counts 730 news outlets serving New Jersey, down 50 in five years, or 627 once out-of-state providers are excluded. Most surveyed newsrooms are small businesses with annual revenues of $500,000 or less, most municipalities lack a single designated news outlet, and the analysis identifies 11 counties as critical information needs deserts.
Ownership shapes the pitch. The same research counts 387 independently owned outlets, 281 owned by national newspaper chains and 59 by national broadcast chains. An independent hyperlocal site is often one or two people who decide in an afternoon; a chain-owned daily routes pitches through a regional desk.
| Outlet type | New Jersey examples | Who decides | What they need from you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statewide digital newsroom | NJ.com (NJ Advance Media) | Beat reporters and section editors | A statewide angle, or a local story with a statewide implication, and a source available today |
| Business press | NJBIZ, ROI-NJ | Editors; press releases accepted through published channels | Deals, hires, expansions, openings, funding, lists and awards, with numbers |
| Public affairs newsroom | NJ Spotlight News (NJ PBS) | Reporters covering policy, government, health, environment, business | A policy angle, data, or an expert who can explain a state decision |
| 24-hour cable and radio | News 12 New Jersey, New Jersey 101.5, WBGO | Assignment desks and newsroom editors with published tip lines | A visual or a voice, a place to shoot, and a same-day interview |
| Hyperlocal networks | TAPinto, Patch | A town-level editor or franchise owner | Anything that happens in the town, with a photo and a date |
| Regional dailies | Asbury Park Press, NorthJersey.com / The Record | Regional desks (Gannett) | County-level stories, data, human interest, business openings |
| Niche and county outlets | Jersey Digs, New Jersey Monthly, Jersey City Times, Hudson County View | Small editorial teams | Real estate and development, dining and lifestyle, Hudson County news and politics |
New Jersey newsrooms are small and getting smaller, so a pitch is judged on how little work it creates. The general method for shrinking newsrooms is in how to get your story in local news; the rest of this guide is specific to New Jersey.
Which New Jersey outlets cover what
Each description below comes from the outlet’s own published pages.
Statewide: NJ.com and The Star-Ledger
NJ.com is the statewide digital newsroom. Its content is produced by NJ Advance Media, formed in 2014 to supply content to NJ.com and Advance’s New Jersey newspapers, including The Star-Ledger, Newark’s paper since 1832, which ended daily print on February 2, 2025 and continues online. It is the hardest local pitch in the state and the most valuable, because a story there reaches a statewide audience on a domain search engines trust. It wants a statewide angle, or a local story that says something about the whole state.
Business: NJBIZ and ROI-NJ
NJBIZ has covered New Jersey business since 1987 with a weekly print edition read by more than 19,000, 24/7 online coverage and daily newsletters. Its contact page publishes addresses for press releases, story tips and column submissions, and its reader recommendation form feeds its Power Lists and People to Watch issues, with the final call made by its editors. ROI-NJ covers New Jersey business online and in print, and its contact page gives separate addresses for editorial questions and for press releases and event photos.
Policy: NJ Spotlight News
NJ Spotlight News is part of NJ PBS at Montclair State University and covers state government, education, health, the environment and business. Its contact page takes news tips. Pitch it a policy, a public decision or data, not a product.
Broadcast and radio: News 12, NJ 101.5, WBGO
News 12 New Jersey is a 24-hour local news channel carried by Optimum, Xfinity, Spectrum, Service Electric and Fios, and its contact page publishes a newsroom email, a news tip line and a talent appearance form for events. New Jersey 101.5, Townsquare Media’s WKXW-FM, publishes a newsroom contact page with its reporters, a press release address and a promise to keep tips confidential. WBGO 88.3 FM, Newark Public Radio, is a nonprofit founded in 1979 with a weekly audience of close to 300,000 in the New York and New Jersey metro area and news programming alongside its jazz format: the radio pitch for Newark arts, culture and community stories.
Regional dailies: Asbury Park Press and NorthJersey.com
The Asbury Park Press, founded in 1879, Gannett-owned since 1997 and based in Neptune in Monmouth County, is described as the third largest daily in New Jersey. NorthJersey.com is the home of The Record, founded in 1895, Gannett-owned since 2016, serving Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Passaic Counties. Both are among the New Jersey titles in our publications directory available as guaranteed placements.
Niche: real estate, lifestyle and Hudson County
Jersey Digs, founded in 2015, covers real estate and development statewide, and its contact page publishes a tips address. New Jersey Monthly, founded 50 years ago, says more than half a million New Jerseyans read it, visit its site, get a newsletter or follow it each month, and it owns dining, travel and the annual Shore Issue. In Hudson County, Jersey City Times, a local news site founded in 2019, and Hudson County View, an independent outlet covering news and politics across the county, cover Jersey City, Hoboken and Bayonne.
TAPinto, Patch and the hyperlocal model
For most New Jersey businesses the first story runs on a hyperlocal site, and the two networks work differently.
TAPinto describes itself as a network of more than 95 independently owned and operated local news and digital marketing platforms in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida, each franchised to a local owner and publisher who provides original daily local news. It began in 2008 as a single site in New Providence; the Lenfest Institute’s 2020 profile explains that franchisees run their sites to common procedures and can share coverage across the network. TAPinto’s about page says every site must follow the Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics, that franchisees and journalists are barred from editorializing and opinion journalism, that there is no paywall, and that all sponsored content is clearly marked. It lists content marketing, native advertising, sponsorships and branded content among its paid products. So: the editor is usually the owner, a clear local factual story with a photo is welcome, and anything promotional belongs on the paid side, labeled.
Patch says its sites are run by professional editors and encourages community members to post directly; its help page explains how to create an account, post events and classifieds, and contact the local editor. Patch New Jersey runs town sites across the state. Post the announcement yourself, and pitch the editor separately for a reported story.
Hyperlocal coverage is modest in reach and large in effect: the story ranks for your business name, the people who can walk in read it, and it shows a regional editor that someone has already covered you. Start here; the rest of the ladder is in press coverage for small businesses.
How to pitch a New Jersey newsroom
The format barely changes between outlets. The addressee, the angle and the attachments do.
- Use the published channel. News 12, NJ 101.5, NJ Spotlight News, NJBIZ, ROI-NJ, Jersey Digs and Hudson County View all publish a tips address, a form or a tip line. A pitch sent there is logged and read.
- Write the subject line as the headline. “Hoboken bakery opens second shop Saturday, hiring 12” tells the editor the town, the event, the date and the number.
- Lead with the local fact. First sentence: what is happening, where in New Jersey, when, and why it matters to the people who live there. Second sentence: the person who can talk, with a phone number and availability today.
- Attach what the format needs. Photos for hyperlocal and digital, a shoot time and place for News 12, a voice for radio, numbers for the business press.
- Name the beat. Read the last ten stories from the outlet and name the one yours resembles.
- Follow up once, two business days later, with one new fact. Then stop.
Two New Jersey specifics. Towns matter more than counties: “a Montclair business” lands on the Montclair TAPinto and Patch desks, while “an Essex County business” lands nowhere. And NJBIZ’s reader recommendation form for its Power Lists and People to Watch is a real door, with its editors making the final call.
When to pitch: timing around New Jersey events and seasons
New Jersey newsrooms plan around a calendar, and pitching into it is the biggest improvement most businesses can make.
| Moment | What newsrooms cover | Who covers it | How to use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shore season, Memorial Day to Labor Day | Openings, beach towns, tourism, seasonal hiring, weather | Asbury Park Press, New Jersey Monthly’s Shore Issue, News 12, NJ 101.5, TAPinto and Patch Shore sites | Pitch openings and seasonal stories in April and May, before the season starts |
| Business list and award cycles | Power Lists, People to Watch, industry rankings | NJBIZ, ROI-NJ | Use the recommendation forms; nominate early and with specifics |
| Legislative and budget moments in Trenton | State decisions and their local effects | NJ Spotlight News, NJ.com, NJ 101.5 | Offer a local business owner or expert who can explain the effect on residents |
| Development and real estate milestones | Approvals, groundbreakings, openings, leases | Jersey Digs, ROI-NJ, Jersey City Times, Hudson County View | Pitch at the approval and again at the opening, with renderings and photos |
| Holiday season | Shopping local, charity, events, year-end lists | Hyperlocals, News 12, radio | Pitch in late October; newsrooms assign holiday coverage early |
Two rules of thumb. Pitch an event two to four weeks ahead so a hyperlocal editor can list it and a TV desk can schedule it, and pitch a reaction the same morning the news breaks. Mid-week mornings are the best time to land in an inbox, and Friday afternoons are the worst.
What gets covered in New Jersey, and what does not
The stories that run share a few shapes. The ones that do not share one: they are about the business rather than the community.
What runs
- Openings, expansions and hires with a number. A second location, a new facility, 12 jobs, a lease.
- Firsts and onlys within the coverage area. The first of its kind in the county, the only one in the town, the oldest on the block.
- Local data behind a statewide trend. Your bookings, your prices, your waiting list, with a willingness to be quoted.
- Community impact. A program for residents, a partnership with a school or nonprofit, a response to a local problem.
- Development and real estate. New Jersey has a dedicated press for it.
- A person whose story says something about the place. A third-generation owner, a returning resident.
What does not
- A product launch with no local angle.
- A press release that reads like an ad; TAPinto would label it paid content.
- An award from an organization nobody in the newsroom has heard of.
- An opinion piece from a business owner, which TAPinto’s franchisees are barred from running as news.
- Anything without a named, available human being.
The test: would a resident who has never heard of you forward the story to a neighbor? If yes, it is local news. If only your staff would share it, it is marketing, and it belongs in a labeled sponsored feature, a legitimate route and the next section’s subject.
Where guaranteed placements fit alongside earned local coverage
Earned coverage and guaranteed placements are different tools, and most New Jersey campaigns use both.
Earned coverage is decided by the editor. It carries the most trust per reader, costs nothing but preparation, and reaches your town and county, but it runs on the newsroom’s schedule and is usually one story in one outlet. Press release distribution is a weaker third option for most local goals; its costs are covered in press release distribution cost.
A guaranteed placement is a feature in a named outlet that the publication has confirmed in advance, which is why the outlet, format, timeline and refund terms can be written down before you pay. Most are sponsored or contracted features and carry the disclosure the outlet requires. They do a job earned coverage cannot: a known publication’s page about you in the results for your name, on a schedule, and the independent corroboration search engines and AI assistants weigh. How that works is in how press coverage gets your brand recommended by ChatGPT.
The sequence that works: land the hyperlocal story first, because it is the most achievable and proves you are real; add a guaranteed placement in a regional title for a durable page on a trusted domain; then pitch the statewide and business press with both in hand.
Where Viral Spike fits
Viral Spike Marketing is a PR agency based in Jersey City that works both routes for New Jersey clients. Our public relations work pitches the New Jersey newsrooms above, from TAPinto and Patch editors to NJBIZ, ROI-NJ, News 12 and the regional dailies, with the hook, the person, the visual and the timing each one needs, and the deliverables and refund terms are set in writing before work starts. Our guaranteed press placements cover named outlets from a network of 1,600+ publications, including New Jersey regional titles listed in our publications directory: you approve the draft, the article is published and indexed on Google, and the engagement is refunded in full if it never runs. The New Jersey version of that service is on our New Jersey press placements page. If you want to know which outlets fit your goal before you commit to anything, contact us and we will send a named outlet list with the terms.
Start with one town and one date
Pick the town your business serves, find its TAPinto or Patch site and the regional daily for the county, and read the last ten stories on each. Take the next real date on your calendar and write one subject line with the town, the event, the date and a number. Send it through the published tips channel with two photos and a phone number, follow up once, and save the link when it runs. Every outlet above is easier to reach once that link exists.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get my business in New Jersey local news?
Match the story to the outlet that covers that kind of story, send it through the newsroom’s published tips channel, and tie it to a date. For a first story, pitch the TAPinto or Patch site for your town with a local hook, a named person who can talk today, two photos and the date. Business announcements with numbers go to NJBIZ and ROI-NJ through their press release addresses. Visual stories with a place to film go to News 12 New Jersey’s tip line. Follow up once.
Which New Jersey news outlets accept press releases?
NJBIZ publishes a contact page with addresses for press releases, story tips and column submissions. ROI-NJ’s contact page separates editorial questions from press releases and event photos. New Jersey 101.5 publishes a newsroom contact page with a press release address. NJ Spotlight News takes news tips through its contact page, and Jersey Digs publishes a tips address. TAPinto and Patch handle announcements through their local editors and, for Patch, through community posting tools once you create an account.
What is TAPinto and how is it different from Patch?
TAPinto is a network of more than 95 independently owned, franchised local news sites in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida, founded in 2008 in New Providence, with no paywall, a Society of Professional Journalists ethics requirement for every site and a policy barring franchisees from opinion journalism. Patch is a network of town sites run by professional editors that also lets community members post events and classifieds directly. Both cover local business stories; TAPinto’s editor is usually the site’s owner, and Patch adds a self-serve posting route.
Does NJ.com cover small businesses in New Jersey?
NJ.com is the statewide digital newsroom of NJ Advance Media, which also produces The Star-Ledger online after the paper ended daily print in February 2025. It covers the whole state, so a small business story needs a statewide angle, a local story with a statewide implication, or a trend with a local face. It is the hardest local pitch in New Jersey and the most valuable when it lands. Check the current reporter for your beat on the site before pitching, because staff change and the site blocks automated tools.
When is the best time to pitch New Jersey media?
Two to four weeks ahead for an event, so hyperlocal editors can list it and TV desks can schedule it, and the same morning for a reaction to breaking news. Seasonally, pitch Shore and summer stories in April and May, holiday stories in late October, and business list nominations as soon as the recommendation forms open. Mid-week mornings are the best time to reach an inbox; Friday afternoons are the worst.
Can I pay for coverage in New Jersey outlets?
Yes, through sponsored or contracted features that carry the outlet’s disclosure label, which is how a guaranteed placement can name the outlet, format, timeline and refund terms before you pay. TAPinto lists content marketing, native advertising and branded content among its products and marks all sponsored content clearly. Regional dailies such as the Asbury Park Press and NorthJersey.com appear in Viral Spike’s publications directory as guaranteed placements. Earned coverage from the newsrooms themselves is pitched on merit, not bought.
Sources
Primary sources referenced in this article, in order of first use.
- new research on the state's local news landscape (medium.com)
- NJ.com (nj.com)
- The Star-Ledger (en.wikipedia.org)
- NJBIZ (njbiz.com)
- contact page (njbiz.com)
- reader recommendation form (njbiz.com)
- ROI-NJ (roi-nj.com)
- contact page (roi-nj.com)
- NJ Spotlight News (njspotlightnews.org)
- contact page (njspotlightnews.org)
- News 12 New Jersey (newjersey.news12.com)
- contact page (newjersey.news12.com)
- New Jersey 101.5 (nj1015.com)
- newsroom contact page (nj1015.com)
- WBGO 88.3 FM (wbgo.org)
- Asbury Park Press (app.com)
- the third largest daily in New Jersey (en.wikipedia.org)
- NorthJersey.com (northjersey.com)
- The Record (en.wikipedia.org)
- Jersey Digs (jerseydigs.com)
- contact page (jerseydigs.com)
- New Jersey Monthly (njmonthly.com)
- Jersey City Times (jcitytimes.com)
- founded in 2019 (pressfreedomtracker.us)
- Hudson County View (hudsoncountyview.com)
- TAPinto (tapinto.net)
- 2020 profile (lenfestinstitute.org)
- Patch (patch.com)
- help page (patch.com)
- Patch New Jersey (patch.com)
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