Over the years I have written articles about the necessity of our support for the outdoor press. It is the outdoor writers who keep us informed about issues of importance to the anglers and hunters of the state.

In the last issue we mentioned that Al Ristori was forced to take an early retirement and was rehired to do a single weekly column. Now we learn that John Geiser is no longer employed at the Asbury Park Press. Both the Star Ledger and the Asbury Park Press have decided to cut back on their coverage of fisheries and other outdoor issues. They have decided to ignore over 10% of New Jersey’s population who are avid hunters or anglers. This problem is much bigger than these two newspapers. Nationwide, we are losing our outdoor writers throughout print journalism. These are local writers who can speak to issues in the states they cover. Here at home, we are also losing the institutional memory that these reporters bring with them to their jobs. Al Ristori and John Geiser must have 100 years of experience and that will be impossible to replace. This is a loss for all the hunters and anglers in New Jersey. There are blogs on the internet and there are message boards but those are more often opinions than reporting. What the newspapers did was to cover the facts backed by the research that a reporter is required to do.

Newspapers are complaining that they are losing business, but that is shortsighted and they need to rethink the cutbacks. Most anglers and hunters rely on newspapers for these local and statewide columns and news stories and are regular buyers of the newspapers since they could not find that news elsewhere. Newspaper management should realize that we are a niche market that is not served by radio and television. We need to prove to the papers that we are not going to buy if our issues are not covered. I have always subscribed to the Asbury Park Press for the fishing columns and to find out what is going on along the coast. I am considering canceling my subscription. I will wait to see how the paper handles our issues in upcoming editions. If you regularly read or subscribe to the Star Ledger or Asbury Park Press, I think you need to inform that your purchases are motivated by the coverage of fishing and hunting issues. We can find all the other sports news on ESPN, CBS, NBS, and ABC. But the only place for our fishing and hunting news is the newspapers and weekly and monthly magazines.

I hope John Geiser finds another outlet for his knowledge. It would be a shame to lose 50 years of experience.

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