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BY THE SIERRA CLUB NEW JERSEY CHAPTER

COMMENTARY

The Sierra Club opposes the potential sale and privatization of NJN, one of New Jersey's greatest assets. Along with our beaches, forests and state parks, NJN benefits all the people of New Jersey and is one of the state's most valuable resources.

NJN is owned by all of us and fulfills its mission every day to educate, inform and entertain the people of New Jersey. It enhances our lives and holds the government accountable. There is no other voice like it for the citizens of New Jersey. NJN airs programs that cannot be found anywhere else and covers issues overlooked by other television or radio stations. NJN is truly the electronic Main Street for the people of New Jersey.

"We are concerned that this will lead to more government behind closed doors and limit the ability of the citizens of New Jersey to understand what's happening in Trenton and with their government," said Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club Director. "With the decline of many media outlets, like newspapers, NJN has become more important for people to better understand to the environment and the world around them."

We oppose the state selling off or privatizing NJN's licenses to a separate corporation over which the citizens will have no control. Even though this license is non public, NJN is an asset to our people and should not be sold off to other entities that may not have the best interest of the public in mind.

We believe quite strongly that if NJN is sold off and privatized, it will lose its independence and New Jersey will no longer have a voice for its people. We will lose the oversight we desperately need over our government and its agencies. With the privatization of NJN, we are concerned that instead of being objective, the news will become an infomercial by special interests aimed to support their agenda. Instead of educating people in the issues, NJN's documentaries may be used to promote political agendas or even products.

NJN's professional and award winning staff consistently provide the thoughtful, independent programming that people of New Jersey need to stay informed. The station's content is specific to New Jersey issues, from law to the environment to shows like Caucus New Jersey to Reporters' Round Table. It airs documentaries about the Pinelands, historic Lucy the Elephant, or the Race for Open Space, which has been used to educate New Jersey's college and graduate students on the environment and planning. An NJN documentary about Sterling Forest helped lead to its protection and acquisition as open space.

We believe NJN needs to reorganize and develop a financial plan so it can be self sufficient. We can't simply throw it off a cliff. NJN should develop a new financial plan for self suficiency in the next six months and implement it within three years. We do not need to sell off this asset, because once we give up these licenses we can never get them back.

The transformers, studios, licenses, and frequencies owned by NJN are worth much more to the public good than whatever amount money the state might get from selling these assets. The Sierra Club believes we should leverage those assets to structurally reform NJN and come up with the financing needed to keep it solvent under the current system.

NJN is as much a part of New Jersey as Island Beach State Park, or the Highlands or Pinelands. Currently, NJN's state subsidy is only $11 million. We can spend $180 million to bail out the Xanadu mall but we can't spend a fraction of that to help one of New Jersey's great assets?

"If this goes through, then NJN will mean No Jersey Network," Tittel said. "That hurts the public ability to understand what's going on in their government."