(The) Public(‘s) Media: The New Jersey Model

I am delighted that Montclair State University (MSU) has won its bid to take over New Jersey public television, for in this moment I see an opening to reimagine and reinvent public media in a new image — as the public’s media. And nowhere better for that to happen than in New Jersey, where threads have been coming together over years — most running through MSU — to support and grow the broader news ecosystem in the state. This support has come from private-public partnerships working with the university in what we have come to call the New Jersey Model. Adding public television adds one more piece. Montclair State has first-rate television facilities and the chance to involve students and faculty in producing content for the channels. But to me, television is the least of it. What really excites me is that Montclair has the opportunity to build on the strong foundation of its NJ News Commons and Center for Cooperative Media, which now serve more than 300 independent, community-based…