The ''Herald News'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper headquartered in
Woodland Park, New Jersey
Woodland Park (formerly West Paterson) is a borough in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. At the 2020 United States census, the population was 13,484.
What is now Woodland Park was formed as a borough, under the name West Pater ...
, that focuses on the
Passaic County
Passaic County ( or ) is a county in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the county was the state's eighth-most-populous county,
,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
area. Today's ''Herald News'' is descended from several papers, but did not come to be until two Passaic County papers out of
Passaic
Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was the state's 16th-most-populous municipality,Paterson merged in 1988.
The ''Herald News'' is an edition of ''
The Record
The Record may refer to:
Music
* The Record (Fear album), ''The Record'' (Fear album), a 1982 studio album by the hardcore-punk band Fear
* The Record (Boygenius album), ''The Record'' (Boygenius album), a 2023 studio album by the indie rock supe ...
'', a publication serving
Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County is the List of counties in New Jersey, most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Hackensack, New Jersey
Hackensack is the most populous municipality in and the county seat of Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
. Both papers are owned by
Gannett Company
Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation.
It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as severa ...
, which purchased ''Herald News'' parent
North Jersey Media Group
North Jersey Media Group is a newspaper publishing company headquartered in Woodland Park, New Jersey and owned by the Gannett Company, Inc. It publishes ''The Record'', the ''Herald News'' of Passaic County, the ''Daily Record'' of Morris Coun ...
in 2016.
History
One of the two papers that merged to form the now-''Herald News'' was the ''North Jersey Herald-News'', which grew from the mergers of several papers in the Passaic-Clifton metropolitan area, and for many years was known as the ''Passaic Herald News''. The paper was headquartered at the intersection of Main Avenue and Highland Avenue in Passaic, just over the border with Clifton. In the 1970s, the paper became known as the ''North Jersey Herald-News'' and was owned by the Drukker family, with former Congressman
Dow Drukker
Dow Henry Drukker (February 7, 1872 – January 11, 1963) was an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey who represented the state's 7th congressional district from 1914 to 1919.
Biography
He was born in Sneek, Netherlands, and im ...
founding the paper and relative Austin Crane Drukker owning and publishing the paper by the early 1980s.
Beginning publication in 1890, the ''Paterson Evening News'' was one of several daily papers that called the county seat of Passaic county home. The paper's chief competitor was the ''Paterson Morning Call'', which eventually grew and absorbed the ''Paterson Morning News'' to become the ''Paterson News and Call''. By the 1970s the ''News and Call'' and ''Evening News'' were the two remaining papers in Paterson. The two eventually merged in 1980, operating out of the headquarters of the ''Evening News'' on 16th Avenue, and became simply known as ''The News''. At the time, the paper was owned by
Allbritton Communications Company
Allbritton Communications Company was an American media company based in Arlington, Virginia. It was the leading subsidiary of Perpetual Corporation, a private holding company owned by the family of company founder and former Riggs Bank presiden ...
.
In 1985,
MediaNews Group
MNG Enterprises, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Digital First Media and MediaNews Group, is a Denver, Colorado, United States–based newspaper publisher owned by Alden Global Capital. As of May 2021, it owns over 100 newspapers and 200 ass ...
bought ''The News'' from Albritton. Shortly thereafter, the Drukker family sold control of the ''Herald-News'' to a MediaNews affiliate. MediaNews continued to operate both ''The News'' and the ''Herald-News'' out of their respective plants in Paterson and Passaic while beginning to plan a merger. In July 1987, the weekend editions of ''The News'' and ''North Jersey Sunday'' (the name for the Sunday ''Herald-News'') were merged. Then, in September, MediaNews finalized the merger of the daily editions and the paper became known as ''The North Jersey Herald & News''. Following the merger the former ''Evening News'' headquarters were closed, and publishing operations were moved to the old ''Herald-News'' headquarters in Passaic. The ''Evening News'' building is now used by a Paterson elementary school. For its new combined paper, MediaNews developed the slogan "FIRST with the news...everyday!" and designed an accompanying rising sun logo.
In 1997 MediaNews sold the paper to the Borg family, owners of ''
The Record
The Record may refer to:
Music
* The Record (Fear album), ''The Record'' (Fear album), a 1982 studio album by the hardcore-punk band Fear
* The Record (Boygenius album), ''The Record'' (Boygenius album), a 2023 studio album by the indie rock supe ...
'' of
Hackensack, New Jersey
Hackensack is the most populous municipality in and the county seat of Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
. In 2000, North Jersey Media Group was formed as a holding company for the Borgs' assets, including the ''Herald News''.
Early in the 2000s, the paper dropped the ampersand from its name, and later would drop "North Jersey" as well, just being called the ''Herald News''. Shortly thereafter, the operations of both ''The Record'' and the ''Herald News'' were merged. North Jersey Media Group set up a new headquarters in what is now Woodland Park (at the time, the municipality was still known as West Paterson) and moved the entire operation of the ''Herald News'' there. They also moved most of the operations of ''The Record'', including its former Passaic County bureau that was located in
Wayne, New Jersey
Wayne is a Township (New Jersey), township in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Home to William Paterson University and located less than from Midtown Manhattan, the township is a bedroom suburb of New ...
, to the new site. Later, North Jersey Media Group closed the former ''Record'' headquarters in Hackensack and consolidated the remaining resources there into the corporate headquarters in Woodland Park. The two papers have operated largely as a single entity, featuring mostly the same stories but laid out in different areas; for instance, an article might be on the front page of ''The Record'' but be found somewhere inside the main section of the ''Herald News''. Gannett ceased this practice following their acquisition of both papers and both are now identically printed, with the only differences being the papers’ respective mastheads.
The ''Herald News primary area of concentration is in Passaic County, while also covering news in the suburbs of the county (areas of
Bergen
Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo.
By May 20 ...
,
Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
, and
Morris
Morris may refer to:
Places
Australia
* St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia
Canada
* Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry
* Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba
** Morris, Man ...
Counties) as well.
Lineage
*''The North Jersey Herald & News'' (Passaic, N.J.) 1987–2012, , including renamed versions ''North Jersey Herald News'' and ''Herald News''
**''The News'' (Paterson, N.J.) 1980–1987,
***''Paterson Evening News'' (Paterson, N.J.) 1890–1969,
***''Paterson News and Call''
****''Paterson Morning Call''
****''Paterson Morning News''
**''North Jersey Herald-News'' (Passaic, N.J.) 19??-1987, and ''North Jersey Sunday''
***''Passaic Herald News,'' also known simply as ''The Herald-News''
Notable staff
*
Jay Horwitz
Jay Edward Horwitz (born August 14, 1945) is an American professional baseball executive for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball. He was their media relations director for nearly four decades, and is the team's current historian and vice p ...