JACKSON, NJ – The Jackson Township Council has voted to name the Lakewood Scoop, Jersey Shore Online, and the Asbury Park Press as the official newspapers of the township. Based out of Lakewood Township, the Lakewood Scoop primarily serves the growing Orthodox Jewish community of Lakewood, Howell, Jackson, and Toms River.
The vote was unanimous, with newly elected Councilman Chris Pollak voting yes, to make the Lakewood Scoop the township’s official newspaper.
The change in direction by the township council has also omitted Shore News Network, the only Jackson-based newspaper, from the list.
The company says its coverage of local news topics, in particular its coverage of issues sensitive to the Orthodox Jewish community led to the council president and mayor’s decision to cease its relationship with the paper, established in 2008, initially as Jackson NJ Online.
That online blog evolved into JTOWN Magazine which published magazines for over 10 years in the community, mailed monthly to 22,0000 homes.
Eventually, the company grew to become Shore News Network, and is still based out of Jackson.
“The council made it clear to me after they lost big in their election that they were unhappy after we reported that the leader of the Toms River Jewish Community Council was receiving free healthcare benefits for a one-hour-per-month job,” said Phil Stilton, owner of Shore News Network. “The council president was visibly upset when we reported that Shmuel Ellenbogen had become the first Orthodox Jewish person to ever win a county commissioner seat. He became increasingly upset when we reported on the sale of McAulife Middle School to BMG, and he cut off all communication with us after I refused to remove or change the stories. I get it, Mordy’s under a lot of pressure to deliver for his community, but we refused to look the other way, and boom, Lakewood Scoop replaced us, it is what it is.”
Stilton said he was glad, in a way, that the township changed course because the agreement with Jackson had caused some conflicts of interest.
“When you’re working for a town, you try to keep the work to township business and focused on the good of the township, but in Jackson, our work and conversations always drifted to elections, and the desperation that set in after they lost in a landslide to Chris Pollak, and how our coverage of Chris Pollak impacted their new plan to try to win over Pollak,” Stilton continued. “We did great work for the township with their news site and keeping the town informed, but the constant underlying tone from Jackson officials was how to win elections, and some of our coverage is not in line with their political agendas, and I just refused to budge on it, and here we are. Politically, they are in a bad spot this year. The local Republican Club faces losing power in the township for the first time since 2008. When the local Orthodox Councilman loses the trust of his own community, I get it. You gotta do whatever it takes to stay in power and keep their shrinking voting base happy, even if that means aligning with your opponents and digging in on a losing strategy. It was easy to cut us, add the Lakewood Scoop to try to save face witht he community, but it’s doubtful they can overcome what’s coming at them during this upcoming election.”
Stilton says Shore News Network will be fine and isn’t worried about losing the Jackson advertising and media contract.
“Our business is always evolving and growing, despite the downward trend in the news and media industry. We’re fine, in fact, we’ll be even better in 2026,” Stilton added.