New Jersey lawmakers, advocates are exploring options to save NJ PBS after it announced that it will cease operations next summer because of budget cuts

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A legislative committee held a hearing this week to reimagine the state’s only public television station, so it can stay operational and continue to provide local news, sports and arts programming for New Jerseyans. NJ PBS announced in September that it will cease operations next summer because of drastic state and federal funding cuts, 

NJ PBS, which airs local and national news as well as community and educational programming, used to be known as New Jersey Network. After lawmakers ended public funding for the media company that was run by the state in 2011, WNET in New York City reached an agreement with New Jersey to operate the network, which was renamed NJ PBS.

Bipartisan support

During the 90-minute session, organized by the Senate legislative oversight committee, legislators from both sides of the aisle spoke in support of maintaining public television in the state. Republican Assemblywoman Aura Dunn, who served as the director of federal policy at the Association for America’s Public Television Stations for almost a decade, said for many children and new American citizens, PBS is their first classroom.

“For families that can’t afford private pre-school or expensive streaming service, public television is the only consistent source of educational content in the home,” she said.

Dunn said many parents have told her that Sesame Street was more than just a show.

“It was a trusted partner in their child’s early development, and a critical educational lifeline,” she said.

Democratic Assembly majority leader Lou Greenwald said the power of local news informs and inspires.

“When we invest in honest, reliable, community-based information, we empower people, we bring them into the process and we start to build something that we’ve lost far too much of in recent years, trust,” Greenwald said.

He told the panel that as news organizations have become smaller, with fewer reporters in New Jersey and other states, residents have fewer options to learn what’s going on in their towns.

“It’s about democracy,” said Greenwald. “It’s about community and it’s about a shared truth, in an age when truth is increasingly up for grabs.”

Mike Rispoli, the senior director of Free Press Action, a national nonpartisan public interest media organization that advocates for press freedom and community-rooted journalism, told members of the panel that supporting public television in New Jersey will help Garden State residents navigate their daily lives and feel connected to their neighbors.

“Public broadcasting provides free, publicly accessible news and information that fills a critical need for residents of the state,” he said.

 How was PBS formed?

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed the Educational Television Facilities Act, which provided the first significant federal aid to public broadcasting. In  1967, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act, which authorized federal operating aid to stations through a new agency called the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Two years later, the Public Broadcasting System was created, and a new show called Sesame Street debuted.

A pledge of support

Tom Bracken, president and CEO of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, said maintaining public television programming in the Garden State is vitally important, and private sector financial support can help to make it happen.

“I’ve already spoken with several major corporations in New Jersey who said they would be very interested in coming back to support that because they would know the value of what’s being produced,” he said.

The chairman of the committee, Sen. Andrew Zwicker indicated that lawmakers will continue developing a plan to make sure public television remains operational in New Jersey; however, no specifics were discussed.