Michael Aron

The decision to pick Kent Manahan as the anchor of the New Jersey Network nightly news ultimately rests with the station's executive director, Elizabeth Christopherson.  While the Governor appoints members of the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority, staff decisions - like picking an anchorman - rests entirely with the Christopherson.  She will also name a new News Director to replace Bill Jobes, who is retiring at the end of the month.

Manahan, who has been with NJN for 31 years, makes about $125,000 a year.  That's the same salary as other senior NJN employees, including Christopherson (who may receive additional money as the head of the NJN foundation), and senior political correspondent Michael Aron.  Aron is not expected to be interested in the anchorman job.

At 6:30 this evening on NJN, PoltickerNJ.com correspondent Matt Friedman will join a political roundtable to discuss New Jersey's current political scene. Friedman will be joined by Gannett New Jersey's Greg Volpe, Politifax's Nick Acocella, and the Bergen Record's Charles Stile, with NJN Senior Political Correspondent Michael Aron hosting the discussion.

The roundtable will recap the state's U.S. Senate primary elections, ongoing budget negotiations, legislative hearings on executive county school superintendents and the possibility that Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine's emails to Carla Katz may be made public.

Reporters Roundtable with Michael Aron (Friday at 6:30PM and Sunday at 10AM): Dusty McNichol (Star-Ledger), Mark I’onno (Star-Ledger), Matt Friedman (PolitickerNJ.com) and John Reitmeyer (The Record) discuss the U.S. Senate race, the Farmers Rally in Trenton, proposed state parks closings, and congestion pricing in New York City.

On the Record with Michael Aron (Sunday at 9AM and 11AM and Monday at 6:30AM): Julie Roginsky, Gregg Edwards, Rick Perr and Steve Lonegan talk about the U.S. Senate race

NJN News will provide complete live coverage of Governor Jon Corzine’s Budget Message to a joint session of the New Jersey State Legislature on Tuesday, February 26, at 11:30 am. Kent Manahan hosts the program live from the Trenton studios with senior political correspondent Michael Aron at the State House.  This special public affairs program will be simulcast on NJN Public Radio, and web cast and archived on the NJN web site.  The budget message will be rebroadcast on NJN Public Television at 10 pm. 

Tonight on NJN’s Reporters Roundtable, Gov. Jon Corzine will discuss his toll road plan, Super Tuesday and other topics with host Michael Aron, Nick Acocella of Politifax, Herb Jackson of the Bergen Record and Milennium Radio newsman Kevin McArdle. The show airs tonight at 6:30 and Sunday morning at 10am.

Reporters Roundtable with Michael Aron (NJN, Sunday 10AM): Dunstan McNichol, Kevin McArdle, Charles Stile and Michael Symons talk about Gov. Jon Corzine’s toll road plan, Steve Lonegan’s arrest, the $2.5 billion dollar budget cut, school construction borrowing and the presidential primary.

On the Record with Michael Aron (NJN, Sunday 9AM and 11AM, Monday at 6:30AM): Surrogates for Republican presidential candidates discuss New Jersey's February 5th primary – Bill Baroni, Joe Kyrillos, Murray Sabrin, Paul Beaudreau and George Gilmore.

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie will appear on New Jersey's Network's On the Record this weekend, where Michael Aron will question him on his decision to hire former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft as a federal monitor. The post could pay more than $30 million over the next eighteen months.

Three newspaper columnists will join Michael Aron on Reporters Roundtable this weekend to talk about Gov. Jon Corzine’s monetization plan and the retirement of Rep. Mike Ferguson: Paul Mulshine of the Star-Ledger, Bob Ingle of Gannett New Jersey, and Charles Stile of The Record.

And if you don’t eat turkey and still want a dose of tryptophan, this week’s On the Record features Rutgers Prof. Alan Rosenthal, Jon Shure of New Jersey Policy Perspective, and Gregg Edwards of the Center for Policy Research of New Jersey. 

12th district State Senate candidates Ellen Karcher and Jennifer Beck will debate on NJN this weekend. Sunday at 9AM and 11AM. 

On NJN's Reporter's Roundtable, host Michael Aron and reporters Tom Moran (Star-Ledger), Jonathan Tamari (Gannett) and Trish Graber (Gloucester County Times) discuss Legislative races, ballot questions and Barack Obama's visit to New Jersey. Friday at 6:30 PM and Sunday at 10AM.

Zulima Farber is strongly resisting advice from friends that she resign quickly, according to a source close to the Attorney General. In an interview last month, Farber had told NJN's Michael Aron that she would step down if the Special Prosecutor concludes that she should.