New Jersey A 4677: Establishes advertisement set-asides for eligible local news organizations.

Bill Text

A4677 

ASSEMBLY, No. 4677 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

� 

INTRODUCED MARCH 10, 2026

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman� LOUIS D. GREENWALD

District 6 (Burlington and Camden)

Assemblywoman� LINDA S. CARTER

District 22 (Somerset and Union)

Assemblywoman� MITCHELLE DRULIS

District 16 (Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman Simmons, Assemblyman Egan, Assemblywoman 
Murphy, Assemblyman Freiman, Assemblywomen Morales, Park, Collazos-Gill, 
Speight, Assemblyman DeAngelo, Assemblywoman Rowan, Assemblyman Angelozzi, 
Assemblywoman Brennan, Assemblymen Karabinchak and Tully

SYNOPSIS

���� Establishes advertisement set-asides for eligible 
local news organizations. 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT 

���� As introduced.

�� 

An Act establishing advertisement set-asides for 
eligible local news organizations, amending P.L.2018, c.111, and supplementing 
Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.

���� Be It 
Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of 
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1. �(New section) �The 
Legislature finds and declares that:

���� a.� New Jersey residents 
benefit from robust local news services that provide trusted and essential 
information to the community, encourage transparency, accountability, and 
citizen participation, help combat misinformation, and mitigate community and 
individual alienation.

���� b.� Local news organizations in 
the State and throughout the country are struggling with newspaper advertising, 
which, according to the Pew Research Center, has decreased by 82 percent 
nationally since 2000. �This loss of advertising has led to newspaper closures, 
a 75 percent drop in the number of reporters on average nationwide, and, 
according to a recent study, New Jersey specifically employed the lowest number 
of journalists per capita in the nation at fewer than five journalists per 
100,000 residents.

���� c.� Local news organizations 
are trusted sources of information for communities throughout the State, and 
monies spent on advertising with these organizations provide for the effective 
dissemination of important government information to the communities they 
serve.

���� d.� Government initiatives to 
increase spending on local news advertising have been successful in both 
supporting local news organizations and in producing a well-informed citizenry.

���� e.� The State can implement an 
advertising set-aside and transparency policy while preserving the editorial 
independence of local news organizations selling advertising space.� Moreover, 
the State acknowledges that any diversion of advertising spending that has the 
effect or appearance of an attempt to influence the editorial content of a 
local news organization violates the federal and State guarantees of freedom of 
the press and freedom of speech.

���� 2. �(New section) As used in this 
act:

���� a.� �Advertising or marketing 
agency� means any agency that creates, plans, and manages advertising campaigns 
or marketing strategies, or both, for clients.

���� b.� �Eligible local news 
organization� means an entity that:

���� (1)� engages professionals or 
students to create, edit, produce, and distribute original content concerning 
matters of public interest through reporting activities including, but not 
limited to, conducting interviews, observing current events, or analyzing 
documents or other information;

���� (2)� has at least one person, 
which can include a sole proprietor, working at least 30 hours a week to 
provide coverage of the local community and living within the State, who 
gathers, prepares, collects, photographs, writes, edits, reports, or publishes 
original local or State news for dissemination to the local or State community;

���� (3)� in the case of a local 
newspaper or publication published solely as a print edition, has published at 
least one print publication per month over the previous 12 months and either (1) 
holds a valid United States Postal Service periodical permit or (2) has at 
least 25 percent of its content dedicated to local news;

���� (4)� in the case of a local, 
digital-only newspaper or online news publication, has published an average of 
three original news pieces about the local community or the State per week over 
the previous 12 months and, within a 12-month period, has at least 50 percent 
of its digital audience in the State;

���� (5)� in the case of a local 
news organization that publishes both print editions and online news 
publications, meets the requirements of either subsection c. or d. of this section;

���� (6) �has disclosed in its 
print publication or on its Internet website its beneficial ownership or, in 
the case of a not-for-profit entity, its board of directors;

���� (7)� maintains and publicly 
displays an editorial policy for error correction and clarification that 
includes an accessible process for reporting errors or complaints to the 
eligible local news organization;

���� (8)� has not received