A report by the New Jersey Policy Perspective details the struggle newsman and their consumers are facing in the state:

The report, “Less News is Bad News: The Media Crisis and New Jersey’s News Deficit,” shows the need for new revenue sources to fund news production or new ideas for disseminating information so media resources can better help check corruption in the state…

Instead of watching local newscasts devoted to New Jersey issues, people in the northern part of the state tend to watch TV news centered on New York City, while people in the south watch stations based in Philadelphia. Many New Jersey residents also listen to out-of-state radio stations and read out-of-state newspapers, the report states. As a result, they know less about their state than people elsewhere in the country know about theirs. Lower levels of knowledge about politics have distorted campaigns and elections in the state and may be a factor in the endemic problem of political corruption.

insufficient television coverage may be one reason New Jerseyans have been especially dependent on newspapers for news about state politics and government, and they may be affected more than residents in other states by declining circulation and cutbacks in newspaper journalism.

The report recommends developing innovative newsgathering models, including non-profit news groups, to resolve this issue. THe authors of the report might also want to take a look at citizen journalism in the non-profit model, as well. In fact, dozens of residents in New Jersey are already doing just that, according to former Forbes editor Scott Reeves:

The New Jersey Press Association’s decision to issue press credentials last week to reporters at a hyper-local website underscores the changing nature of news-gathering in the digital age.

TheAlternativePress.com — which proclaims that it has “more than 120 paid reporters, all residing in New Jersey” — recently announced the accreditation amid stories on three holes-in-one at the Summit Municipal Golf Course during a single week and Boy Scouts who rafted through the Grand Canyon…

TheAlternativePress.com covers news the New York Times and even Newark, New Jersey-based Star-Ledger can’t. And it may represent the future of local news by delivering what advertisers crave: a clearly defined audience.

Perhaps help is already on its way.