On a day when approximately one dozen employees of NJ PBS were laid off — the result of a double-budget cut from both the state and the federal government — the state’s public television got a big show of support from State Sen. John Burzichelli.
Burzichelli (D-Glassboro) said he is asking Gov. Phil Murphy to provide a temporary funding fix until the legislature gets back in session — when he pledged to raise the issue with fellow legislators.
“The first line of defense in democracy has got to be availability of news and information,” he said. “We will be ill served if we don’t have a legitimate NJN News-type format doing something somewhere.”
Burzichelli, who was first elected to the General Assembly in 2001, said he has been a proponent of local news for decades — noting that he came up short in his efforts when NJN was essentially abolished during the Christie Administration.
NJ PBS, which works under the umbrella of WNET in New York and essentially serves as NJN’s replacement, could face the same fate.
Here’s why: NJ PBS, which has an annual budget of approximately $12 million, not only had its funding cut by the state from $1 million to $250,000 — it lost all of its federal funding by the federal government when Congress approved a bill President Donald Trump wanted that stripped funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
That’s why Burzichelli said the state needs to act — and needs to act now.
“Frankly, I think they got caught short in the budget process,” he said. “I don’t even think it happened with intention, but they got caught short.
“That, coupled with the Trump administration’s jihad on public broadcasting and free speech and opinions that they don’t agree with his, now puts us in a spot where I think we have to step in with some immediate support to get them propped up.”
A spokesperson for Gov. Phil Murphy declined to comment on the matter.
Burzichelli had plenty to say. The problem is that he’s struggling to get a large audience — as many members of the Senate are on break and all the members of the General Assembly are out campaigning.
But the issue is something Burzichelli is confident will get discussed when the Legislature is back in session.
“I think this is a topic that gets people’s attention,” he said. “Getting short in the budget can sometimes happen because there’s a lot of moving pieces.
“They could have survived that, but the one-two punch of us shorting them in their budget request, coupled with the ways of the Trump administration, is something they can’t survive in any kind of form that will keep them meaningful and allow them to report in real time with some substance.”
Burzichelli said he’ll keep talking on the issue.
“The communications with the governor’s office is beginning,” he said. “That kind of short-term relief would have to come as the governor’s initiative until the legislature’s back.
“It’s unusual, coming out of a budget cycle, that we would make that kind of request – to ask the governor to get back engaged —but the federal action is just unique and unprecedented. So, our reaction has to follow suit.”
