Pascrell, Menendez, Booker Urge New Owners of New Jersey TV Outlet and FCC to Continue Local Coverage

Using public airwaves, WJLP must not follow WWOR’s example to worsen the Garden State news desert

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) and U.S. Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (both D-NJ) today wrote to the pending new owner of New Jersey TV station WJLP urging the company to maintain the channel’s local news coverage.  The Members also sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding Weigel Broadcasting’s ownership application.

“A broadcast license is valuable public property. A station that possesses one holds a public trust. In return, the station must provide a public service in the form of news and public affairs programming to the communities within its coverage area. At time when the residents of New Jersey are starved for local news, and as more and more newspapers and other media outlets downsize or shutter outright, it is imperative that stations like WJLP continue to provide local coverage of the issues that matter to the Garden State,” the members write Weigel Broadcasting President Norman Shapiro.

Weigel Broadcasting of Chicago recently purchased WJLP, which has based in Middletown, New Jersey since 2014. WJLP holds an FCC broadcast license which requires it to air local New Jersey news coverage. The application to transfer WJLP’s television broadcast license from PMCM TV, LLC to TV-49, Inc., a subsidiary of Weigel Broadcasting Company (Lead File Number: 0000163354), is being evaluated by the FCC.

“We hope and expect that the FCC’s review and analysis of the WJLP application will include a focus on local news and public affairs programming. This issue is of the utmost importance to New Jerseyans. Our state’s local news and public affairs programing has suffered because WWOR-TV has refused for decades to live up to the public interest standards articulated by the FCC,” the members write Acting FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel.

Perhaps no other state’s residents suffer from a lack of local news coverage more than New Jerseyans. Sandwiched between the New York and Philadelphia media market, New Jersey lacks its own designated market area.

For years, Pascrell and Menendez have highlighted New Jersey’s media desert, focusing on WWOR-TV’s long refusal to fulfill its legal obligations to provide local news. This summer, Pascrell and Menendez published an op-ed in the New York Daily News discussing WWOR’s decades of dereliction.

On June 24, the three members introduced the Section 331 Obligation Clarification Act, which would require Section 331 FCC license holders like WWOR to broadcast local news programming, consult with local leaders, and make it easier for the public to participate in the license renewal process. The measure was the subject of an House Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee hearing last month.

The text of the members’ letter to WJLP’s pending new owner and the FCC are provided below.

November 5, 2021

Mr. Norman Shapiro

President

Weigel Broadcasting LLC

26 N Halsted St

Chicago, IL 60661

Dear Mr. Shapiro,

As the new owner of a public broadcasting station in New Jersey, we welcome you to the Garden State. We write on behalf of New Jersey’s 9.2 million residents to request WJLP continues to provide a reliable source of robust local news and public affairs programming.

A broadcast license is valuable public property. A station that possesses one holds a public trust. In return, the station must provide a public service in the form of news and public affairs programming to the communities within its coverage area. At time when the residents of New Jersey are starved for local news, and as more and more newspapers and other media outlets downsize or shutter outright, it is imperative that stations like WJLP continue to provide local coverage of the issues that matter to the Garden State.

Perhaps no other state’s residents suffer from a lack of local news coverage more than New Jerseyans. Sandwiched between the New York and Philadelphia media market, New Jersey lacks its own designated market area. As a result, we often find coverage of our state affairs dominated by events occurring in our mega-metropolis neighbors. New Jersey’s designated local news station WWOR-TV continues to shirk its statutory obligation, leaving our constituents with few options. We hope WJLP will not follow in WWOR-TV’s footsteps, but rather seek to produce programming that can inform New Jerseyans of important issues to our state. Additionally, we ask you to keep WJLP’s operations in New Jersey.

Ensuring a well-informed citizenry is a prerequisite for any healthy democracy. There is little doubt that our inability to obtain incisive journalism about our own communities is a driving cause of our growing national divisions. A healthy democracy rests on the bedrock foundation of a vibrant, independent press and we hope that you and your new station can continue to deliver for the Garden State.

Sincerely,