Picturing the future at NJN

An excerpt from the Garden State Grapevine blog:

Employees at NJN, New Jersey's public television network, are fighting Gov. Christie's proposal to privatize the network as of Jan. 1.

Workers argue that's not enough time to plan the transformation.

Christie has proposed cutting in half the network's $4 million subsidy for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The state also contributes $2.4 million in employee benefits and $4.5 million in state facilities, parking, and other costs to support the network.

Harold Blumenthal, NJN's interim executive director, told the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee the network planned to transform into an independent nonprofit.

But Dudley Burdge, senior staff representative for Communications Workers of America Local 1032, which represents about 95 of NJN's 129 employees, said employees feared the state was moving too quickly and with no concrete plans or vision for the new NJN.

"Will something called NJN exist? Yeah, probably," Burdge said. "Will it have some kind of news program? Probably. But I think what our members feel is that it will be a shadow of its former self," he said.

- Adrienne Lu