Press Freedom in New Jersey

New Jersey scores 97 of 100 on the Institute for Free Speech's anti-SLAPP rubric, against a median of 85 across the 51 jurisdictions.

The overall score is two parts coverage to one part protections, as IFS weights them.

What New Jersey actually gives a defendant

The five protections IFS scores. A statute can cover every kind of speech and still leave a defendant paying their own lawyer for two years.

• Case pauses while the motion is heardPartial: 12 / 20
• Plaintiff must show the case has meritFull marks: 12 / 12
• Denial can be appealed at onceFull marks: 25 / 25
• Winning defendant recovers legal costsFull marks: 40 / 40
• Courts told to read the law broadlyFull marks: 3 / 3

New Jersey scores on all five, which only a minority of jurisdictions do.

Incidents logged in New Jersey

The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has logged 85 press-freedom incidents in New Jersey since 2014, of which 76 are since January 1, 2021.

• Assault72

  Physical attacks on journalists covering a story

• Equipment Damage14

  Cameras and gear broken during coverage

• Arrest/Criminal Charge9

  Journalists arrested or charged while reporting

• Equipment Search or Seizure4

  Devices taken or searched by authorities

• Border Stop3

  Stopped and questioned at a border crossing

• Denial of Access2

  Shut out of a public meeting, scene or record

• Other Incident2

  Logged, but outside the named categories

• Chilling Statement1

  Officials threatening the press publicly

• Prior Restraint1

  An order not to publish, before publication

This is a count, not a score. It tracks where the protests and the newsrooms are as much as where the law is hostile, so a big state will out-count a small one whatever its statute says. An incident can carry more than one category, so the categories sum to more than the total. Nothing here is added to the anti-SLAPP score.

Where this comes from

The grade and the five component scores are the Institute for Free Speech's 2025 Report Card entry for New Jersey. Incident counts are the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, used under CC BY 4.0. Both retrieved September 19, 2026. The score is IFS's own judgement and is not part of the FreedomRankings score.

Anti-SLAPP law is one part of press freedom, not all of it — shield laws, public records law and how New Jersey courts actually rule are not scored here. None of this is legal advice; talk to a lawyer about an actual dispute.