NJ Lawmakers Advance Local Journalism Bill
A New Jersey bill to promote local journalism and civic information through a consortium of five state universities cleared the Senate Higher Education Committee in a unanimous Monday vote. An amendment to S-2317 removed a $20 million appropriation from the…
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bill, with the group to be funded $5 million via a separate budget resolution. Sen. Thomas Kean (R) said he would support on the condition it’s amended to require both political parties be represented on the committee. New Jersey faces a local news crisis, with thousands of journalists laid off, said Free Press Action Fund State Director Mike Rispoli at the livestreamed hearing. Without local news, “it’s the public that suffers,” he said. Rispoli supported Kean’s proposed amendment, saying keeping people informed locally shouldn’t be partisan. Dearth of local news especially hurts minorities and the poor, said Chenjerai Kumanyika, a Rutgers University professor and co-producer of Gimlet Media’s Uncivil podcast: “This consortium offers an inspiring vision of hope to address those historic inequalities.”