TV is cheating New Jersey viewers

[Commentary] New Jersey’s news sources are disappearing. And there is little of substance coming to replace them.

In 2011, the operations of New Jersey Network were taken over by out-of-state broadcasters, and the station’s nightly newscast was replaced by a half-hour news magazine. Earlier this year, the owners of this newspaper listed The Star-Ledger’s headquarters building for sale and threatened to cease operations by year’s end. And last month, New Jersey’s only full-powered commercial television station, WWOR-TV Channel 9, killed off its news division and completely eliminated its news broadcasts. When he shut down NJN, Gov. Chris Christie justified the move based on budget constraints. He also pointed to the news programming on WWOR-TV — a station that relocated to New Jersey nearly 30 years ago for the express purpose of providing New Jersey’s citizens with the news and public affairs programming they deserve — as an alternative. Now, that programming no longer exists. When broadcasters fail to meet their public interest obligations, their free use of the airwaves amounts to little more than corporate welfare — a largesse being doled out to some of the largest and most profitable media companies in the nation. If our state couldn’t afford to maintain NJN, we certainly can’t afford this. It is time for the rest of New Jersey and its elected officials to speak out. Let us demand that the Federal Communications Commission act to provide us with the news and public affairs programming we deserve.