Mutiny at NJN?

Steering NJN's ship away from rocky financial uncertainty won't be easy. In fact, it may not even be possible according to the some of the folks on deck.

"It's difficult to steer a ship if the crew is in mutiny," stated NJN's Interim News Director Michael Aron.

Aron was commenting on the NJN proposal to transition the station from a state-licensed entity to a community licensed broadcaster.  The audience and the mission of NJN would remain largely unchanged from the perspective of Elizabeth Cristopherson, NJN's executive director. However the station would no longer have to rely on diminishing state funding  (not to mention fickle politics)  to pay its way into the 21st century. 

Oh and of course, most employees would no longer be working at the station as state workers -- and that seems to be a major stumbling block at this juncture. CWA Local 1032 who represents NJN's employees is opposed to the plan in its current form.

"There are potential advantages (to the proposal), but we would have to convince half the staff here that the move would benefit us all," Aron noted. "The state employees are very concerned about their pensions and benefits ... unless they are assured, in writing, that they would be held harmless, I expect they would use all of their resources to oppose it."

An impossibility? 

Not if you consider that other states like Oregon and Vermont have made the transition. And it appears to be the only option on the table for addressing NJN's pressing financial needs -- for the moment.

According to management, "NJN still needs approximately $23 million in capital investment to upgrade its aging infrastructure..." and even a wholesale auction of its television, radio and auxiliary licenses is not likely to generate "significant value as an asset" because of their noncommercial status.

What may be even trickier is for the NJN newsroom to report on the topic as it attempts any transition.

For one thing, two of its union shop stewards will both be reporting the news while perhaps making it.

"It's tricky," acknowledged Aron when asked about the balance.  "We can and should cover it, just like the Ledger when it reported the news about its announcement of 200 layoffs ... We are all professional journalists and will cover the story thoroughly and dispassionately."

"As for the objectivity issue, I think any competent reporter would be capable of fairly covering a situation that involves his or her employer," responded Jeremy Egner who served as the associate editor for Current, a biweekly newspaper about public broadcasting in the United States, before moving to the New York Times last week. 

"For example, most mainstream dailies employ media reporters whose jobs require them to write about their colleagues, who they may or may not know personally, and, at times, their own newspapers," Current added.

Up Next: How much is NJN worth?

Debbie Holtz, PolitickerNJ.com's political media columnist, studies and teaches public policy and writing at Rutgers University.