Montclair State has won the right to create and run a new model for public broadcasting in this state.
Given New Jersey’s current fiscal condition, cost was a significant factor in the state’s selection — but MSU’s proposal was also the most aspirational of those submitted. While its existing infrastructure will be supportive, substantial risks lie ahead. Here are the ones that matter most.
The media environment is ruthless. Audiences expect free news; social media has commoditized information and drained local media of revenue; and AI is reshaping how journalism is produced and distributed. Running a sustainable public television operation in this environment is genuinely hard for anyone.
Editorial independence must be protected structurally, not just culturally. When a university or state official signals that a story might create problems, formal ethics policies don’t always hold the line. Political pressure operates subtly and accumulates over time. MSU’s governance model relies on advisory boards and an ethics committee. But advisory boards advise; they don’t govern. Ultimate financial and operating authority rests with university management and its state-appointed board of trustees. That’s a gap.
Budgets are projections, not promises. Public university budgeting is famously fungible. Overhead allocations, benefit estimates and in-kind contributions will likely shift once operations begin in earnest. If found necessary, any future state budget funding will rely on the same legislative process that has let New Jersey public media down before.
University priorities evolve. Leadership changes. Today’s MSU administration may be fully committed, but institutions change. Consider a future university president or dean, a budget crisis or a shift in state politics. Any or all can alter the calculus. There is no structural safeguard that survives a change in leadership the way a standalone, independent, single-purpose entity would.
MSU is a startup, and the state must act like a partner
MSU’s proposal is ambitious and earnest, but ambition and execution are different things.
Building a newsroom from scratch, developing new revenue streams, standing up a fundraising operation and simultaneously managing a broadcast network — that’s a startup, regardless of the institutional pedigree and resources behind it.
Some building blocks exist: NJ Spotlight News, Caucus Educational Corporation, existing arts programming and elements of a donor base. But most of this is new territory.
Startups are often challenged when executing their plans. They find that aspirations collide with operational reality, and projections change. The contract includes a five-year review window — but the state shouldn’t treat that as permission to disengage for four and a half years. Active partnership and ongoing oversight are essential from day one.
One structural option worth pursuing is a hybrid news model: MSU (or perhaps the state) contracting the news operation to an independent third party. That would reduce both MSU’s governance and operational risks, but may require state financial support — another reason an active MSU/state partnership matters.
The state also needs a Plan B. If the MSU model underperforms or fails outright, there should be a framework for what comes next. Waiting until a crisis hits is how New Jersey ended up with its transition from state-run to independently run in 2011 — and with its current situation, when the WNET/NJPBA negotiations for the programming services contract broke down last September.
The Legislature should revisit the New Jersey Public Broadcasting System Transfer Act. The law was written in 2010, designed to facilitate the transfer to the WNET system. Introduced and enacted in eight days, it was built for a moment, not a mission. Fifteen years later, with Montclair State University operating a public media system in a fundamentally different environment, the law needs to catch up.
Amendments should include ongoing oversight and contract management, contingency planning if the arrangement fails, and explicit protections ensuring the news operation is treated as a nongovernmental entity under laws such as the Open Public Records Act.
Newsroom independence requires legal insulation; that protection shouldn’t be assumed, but written in. Amendments can also consider off-budget financing approaches; Sen. Andrew Zwicker has drafted and introduced a bill along those lines. That approach might also help address the hybrid model for the news function.
Now it’s our turn
The legislative window to pause this award has effectively closed. MSU is moving forward, and those who were part of this discussion, regardless of where they stood, have a stake in its success.
The Legislature should take up the statutory reforms described above. The administration should engage as a genuine partner, not a passive funder.
And the concerned public? Watch. Donate. Engage. Speak up. New Jersey’s public television system has survived state control, private management and a turbulent transition. What ultimately sustains it is whether the public treats it as worth sustaining.
MSU has made its commitments. Now we must hold MSU to them.
Marc Pfeiffer is the associate director of Bloustein Local, part of the Center for Urban Policy Research at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. He has been involved in New Jersey state and local government administration and public policy activities for more than 50 years.