The clock is ticking for NJN. <\/p>\n
New Jersey Network. The New Jersey Channel. JerseyVision (yes, it was once called that).<\/p>\n
Forty years of broadcast television focused on one thing \u2013 the state of New Jersey.<\/p>\n
It would be a shame to lose that. Yet it is difficult to justify NJN\u2019s state operation as an essential government service. However, NJN \u2013 or the existence of some broadcast entity focused on the state \u2013 is essential to New Jersey\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n
While NJN\u2019s audience is small, the impact of having a visual broadcast medium that keeps tabs on state issues five days a week (barring public holidays, of course) is measured in more than Nielsen ratings. Much has been made of the potential loss of NJN News coverage if the station goes dark on January 1.<\/p>\n
Frankly, it\u2019s unique to have a station, public or commercial, devoted to state news. Given the current condition of broadcast media, it\u2019s amazing that NJN has lasted so long in its current form.<\/p>\n
Frankly, NJN should have been planning to move away from state government a long time ago. While accusations of government sycophancy in its reporting are unjustified \u2013 the quality of journalism is among the highest \u2013 the fact that the NJN news team is on the public payroll has allowed those charges to persist.<\/p>\n
That move must be made in a few short weeks, unless the governor relents and extends the transition period until a truly viable solution to re-vision NJN is developed.<\/p>\n
I, for one, hope he does. And not just because I show up on the airwaves there from time to time. I\u2019ve been a member of NJN since 1994, well before my punditry days. I support NJN not just for its news coverage, but for the focus it brings to all aspects of life in the Garden State.<\/p>\n
For a state that lacks a cohesive identity, NJN has helped to bridge the gap between north and south. Growing up in Camden County \u2013 NJN went on the air when I was 8 years old \u2013 NJN conveyed a sense that my state was more than just a suburb of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
That sense is found in shows like State of the Arts<\/i>, Images\/Imagenes<\/i>, and Another View<\/i>. And specials like Our Vanishing Past<\/i>, Greetings from Asbury Park<\/i>, and 10 Crucial Days<\/i> \u2013 highlighting the pivotal role New Jersey played in the American Revolution. These programs could only be produced by a public entity that puts the telling of New Jersey\u2019s story at the root of its mission.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m no Pollyanna. Both the cultural and the news programming of NJN could use a bit of modernizing. But if NJN ceases to exist entirely, the state will be lesser for it. You can\u2019t find this content anywhere else.<\/p>\n
As a pollster, one of my missions has been to bring a focus on New Jersey as a state \u2013 what unites us, what divides us, and ultimately, what drives our quality of life. A sense of statewide identity has always been a major struggle for us. A repurposed NJN can contribute to building that identity.<\/p>\n
Hopefully, this transition period will be used as an opportunity to build a revitalized NJN.<\/p>\n
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The clock is ticking for NJN. New Jersey Network. The New Jersey Channel. JerseyVision (yes, it was once called that). Forty years of broadcast television focused on one thing \u2013 the state of New Jersey. It would be a shame to lose that. Yet it is difficult to justify NJN\u2019s state operation as an essential […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":939,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40802236161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802236161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/939"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40802236161"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802236161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40802247277,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802236161\/revisions\/40802247277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40802236161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40802236161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40802236161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}