- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by RWJBarnabas Health.

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- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The way we change Presidents in this country is by voting.

- A quartet is already a jawn, it’s just The New Jawn.

- January 6th was not some sort of violent, crazy outlier.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- I mean what other country sends comedians over to embedded military to make them feel better.

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

-_ It’s not all about memorizing and getting information, it’s what you do with that information.

- (slowly) Start talking right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - We are honored to be joined by Neal Shapiro, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the WNET Group.

Good to see you, Neal.

- Good to see you, Steve.

- As we put up the website for the WNET group, tell everyone what that group is, because it involves a whole range of media operations.

- It does.

It's three broadcast stations, THIRTEEN, WLIW21, and NJPBS, as well as WORLD, Create and ALL ARTS.

So we do a lot of stuff.

- Talk to us about this.

I'm obsessed, and I think you know this, about the role of public media in our representative democracy.

"Democracy in Danger" is the graphic that'll come up.

How do you see our role in public broadcasting and particularly your role as the leader in this region, of public broadcasting as it relates to promoting, protecting our representative democracy?

- I think it's vitally important.

I think, you know, a democracy depends on an informed electorate, and that electorate can only be informed as places to go where it can get news they can trust and depend on, news without an agenda, news that is in-depth and news that gives you a range of things from international, national and local issues.

And that's, I think, what public media does extraordinarily well in this time when the country's so polarized.

And part of the reason it's so polarized is because it's so easy to surround yourself with news that you agree with.

And I think what makes public media so important is it comes to you with no agenda.

It's job is not to convince you of anything.

If anything, it's job to give you lots of different points of view.

So you make up your own mind.

And the world is such a changing place, that no matter what you may think is right today, it could be wrong tomorrow.

So getting more and different points of view and more interpretations is vitally important.

- So the whole range of programs that you go on the website to find out, and for me, national, international affairs, "Amanpour & Company", which Neal had a huge role in connecting public broadcasting in this region to CNN to make that happen.

Also, "Firing Line" with Margaret Hoover, one of my favorites.

But do this for us locally in our region.

How important is it that that for NJPBS previously NJTV, established in July 1st of 2011, largely 'cause Neal took the lead on this, the WNET Group, to make that happen so we wouldn't go black with public broadcasting.

There's a question here, the balance in your mind between local regional programming and the national international programming of public broadcasting with the WNET Group?

- Well, you know, in some ways they're obviously very different.

As great as "Amanpour" is and "NewsHour" and "Frontline", they can't cover local news and don't intend to, and so much of news is local.

So having important coverage in the state, having what you do, long in-depth interviews, having what "NJ Spotlight News" does every night, incredibly important.

The other thing that is interesting in this time is how often what happens internationally is connected locally.

So there's no better example of what's happening in Israel and Gaza right now, an international story, which has all kinds of implications on college campuses and communities and how people interpret that.

So the world's an interconnected place.

It's important to have trusted sources everywhere you go.

- Along those lines, I was having a conversation with Neal offline.

Like, we're a New Jersey-based operation.

We're trying to understand what's going on in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

You've got the largest Palestinian population in New Jersey, a huge Jewish population in New Jersey.

To say like, "Well, it's just New Jersey."

It doesn't work that way, which is why also, by the way, check out "NJ Spotlight News".

They do a great job every night trying to understand the bigger picture and how it relates to our state of New Jersey.

Neal, you have a...

There's a public broadcasting special coming up in the new year.

We're taping in the middle of December-- - Yeah.

- 2023.

This is 2024.

Go ahead, please.

- Yeah.

It's around a book that Richard Haass wrote.

Richard Haass, as you know, former head of the Council on Foreign Relations, has advised Democrats and Republicans.

And his notion is there are 10 things that... an obligation or responsibility that every citizen has to each other to preserve democracy.

So he runs us through this thing, and he came forth because he said, you know, "I worked around the world and I never thought democracy would be in danger in our own country.

But I studied, and I've written this book because I worry that it is."

And it sings like reminding us that being civil with each other, finding trusted sources, understanding what's happening, giving back to your communities are things that are very, very important.

And there's things that every citizen can do.

And there's a tendency, I think, as we become so frightened about what we see, not just around January 6th, but the level of intensity of anger and vitriol in this country, that there are a number of ways in which people at the grassroots level can make the difference.

And you know, if you think about it, something like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, that was one woman who was upset about the tragic death of her daughter and changed the country, right?

There are ways in which individuals at a grassroots level can make great progress.

- Along those lines.

And that program, Neal, what, does it have a... What's the working title?

- It's "A Citizen's Obligation".

It's Richard...

It's Hari interviewing Richard Haass.k - Interesting.

You know, but Neal, go back to something before that I mentioned the "Amanpour & Company".

I'm huge fan of Christiane Amanpour and...

But it's not just her.

And that's the thing that strikes me is It's a group of journalists who come in and... And actually, to be super candid about it, it's influenced my thinking about what we do and having more folks with different perspectives, different ages, interviewing people.

It's "Amanpour & Company".

- That's right.

And you say-- - Talk about that.

- It's exactly right.

There are three other great journalists at different... all smart, all accomplished, but at different points in their lives.

Walter Isaacson, brilliant biographer a renaissance man who's an author and a journalist, Michelle Martin from NPR, and of course our own Hari Sreenivasan.

And the three of them always do it.

So at least one interview in the show, and Christiane does the others.

And by melding what Christiane brings and what CNN brings, frankly, a huge arsenal of international coverage combined with what we can do here, I think makes it tremendous programing.

- Along those lines, Neal, do you see this a partnership between the WNET Group and CNN?

Do you see those kinds of partnerships and collaborations between public broadcasting and other entities outside of the universe of PBS coming together to produce programming that would be much harder to produce on your own, on our own?

- Absolutely, absolutely.

I think "Amanpour & Company is a better show for both CNN and for us, because we're all involved and I think we're gonna keep trying to find different partners and ways to bring news and information to people.

But the one thing which is common about, Steve, and you know this well, is we rely on our viewers to help make it happen, right?

We're not a place, we don't have commercials.

It is why we come to you with points and say, "Please support nonprofit journalism," because it's so important.

And it does survive because our viewers support it.

- So Neal, I'm glad you mentioned money, which helps.

People go, "Do you love your work?"

And I say, I love interviewing people.

Don't love raising money.

And Neal doesn't either, but it's his job.

It's our job, any of us involved.

Here's the question.

If you go where to go all the way back, and it's probably an unfair question, Neal, about July, 2011, the creation of NJTV, which turned into NJPBS, again, check out "NJ Spotlight News" every night, You made a decision together with others, but you stepped in and said, "We're gonna do this."

Do you ever realize the impact it would have in terms of the economics of running a station in New Jersey that's largely funded privately?

- It was a bigger challenge than I thought.

It is a big challenge.

Part of that is though, what I always thought was vitally important that New Jersey not be the only state that didn't have its own public television.

- Explain to folks what that really... Like, there'd be nothing, Neal.

- There'd be nothing, right?

And you know, I think people who live in New Jersey know these sort of get dwarfed by what happens in New York and Philadelphia and that those are covered by often big commercial stations who come and go.

And there's so much important in the state that needs its own separate station.

They can do things that are important to New Jersey.

Not just news, but arts and culture and all of that needs to be preserved.

And that's what public media does.

So I thought it was very, very important, and I'm grateful that so many people did step up and help us.

But as Steve said, it is hard work and demanding and requires resources.

And in fact, we want to do more, not less.

We wanna reach people in all different platforms, not just on TV, but digitally in every way we can.

And as there are more challenges across the state, we want to be there to help you deal with those.

- Stay on the digital point, Neal.

You've been talking about this for years with us.

You don't separate broadcast from digital and other platforms to be... to distribute our content.

How much has that changed your view of being the CEO and the leader of the WNET Group and how you view programming and where it goes and who sees it and how we see it?

Not to mention how you raise money for it.

Go ahead.

- Well, the big change is, content is content.

And we didn't use to think about that, nobody did.

In the early days of media, digital was an afterthought.

They put things on the web and thought nobody would see it.

Now what we know is there are giant audiences that often different audiences.

And the way in which some people consume television because they like the linear experience of sitting down and watching it, often watching it live as one audience.

There's another audience who wants to find things and find it when they wanna see it.

And there's an audience which wants to find segments.

And sometimes they overlap and sometimes they don't.

And the important thing is we wanna reach all those audiences and help them in every platform we have.

So it's important to view it as a continuum of content over many different platforms.

- 30 seconds left.

Neal, why is what you do and what public broadcasting is, all that, why is it so personal for you?

- You know, because when I was a young boy, I remember ducking into the school library to watch the Watergate hearings.

And I thought, "Wow, democracy is on the line."

It was really a plan by somebody to subvert the Constitution.

And then we're not for some reports in the Washington Post world would be a different place.

Well, now let's look at what happened in our... where we live right now, an assault on the Capitol.

Democracy is still in danger.

And we still need journalists and we still need an informed electorate and public media has a vital role to play.

I monitor, I can be a part of it, but I so want people to realize how important this is.

As Richard Haass says, "There's no guarantee that our democracy will continue."

It's up to all of us to keep sure, keep it strong.

And that means vital media is a part of that.

- Neal Shapiro, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the WNET Group.

Thank you, Neal.

- Steve, always a pleasure.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we’ll be right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- Recently I sat down with Chris Paladino, who is the president of New Brunswick Development Corporation, otherwise known as DEVCO.

DEVCO is involved with a whole range of other folks down in New Brunswick with something called the HELIX.

The HELIX is health and life science exchange.

It is a fascinating operation being built as we speak, innovation, discovery, academia, healthcare organizations, not-for-profit institutions.

A whole range of folks coming together at the HELIX.

A one-on-one conversation with Chris Paladino.

Here we go.

This is Lessons in Leadership.

You've been waiting for it all week.

Here we are, Sunday morning.

You see us right here on News 12 Plus.

Lessons in Leadership, Mary, we have a very special guest who's a longtime partner who understands leadership and innovation better than most.

Go ahead, Mary.

Make the introduction.

- Oh, I'm so excited.

So we have Chris Paladino, President, New Brunswick Development Corporation.

But more importantly, we're gonna be really talking a lot today about our special series, Lessons in Leadership, Discovery and Innovation, in New Jersey.

Chris, thank you so much for joining us today.

- Thank you, Steve.

Thank you, Mary.

Great to be back.

- You got it.

And Chris, DEVCO is the acronym for New Jersey Development Corporation and the HELIX is the logo behind Chris Paladino.

Chris, put the HELIX in context for us.

What is it and why does it matter?

- So the HELIX is more than a neighborhood of buildings.

It's more than a place.

It's more than a district.

It's an ecosystem that we hope will foster scientific collaboration, discovery, commercialization.

Why is it important?

We know where companies, where discoveries are made and where companies expand, they usually do that within 10 miles of where they started.

And you know, they grow, they hire people, they go public.

And this is, you know, could be a important part of the New Jersey economy, basically growing in the innovation economy.

The second thing that's important, discoveries that are made here are going to impact people's lives.

Therapies, medications, medical devices, and artificial intelligence.

It's incredible, the amount of things that it can be.

But they're really going to impact the average citizen because they're gonna be the beneficiary.

And the third thing that's probably important, very important is that it's gonna somewhat help us stem the brain drain.

You know, our kids who graduate colleges with computer science degrees, engineering degree, mathematicians, don't have to go to Boston or don't have to go to North Carolina or California to work.

They can stay home and we can enjoy our grandchildren.

- And to that point, Mary's got two in college, outta state.

I've got, we have two in college out-of-state.

And we tried to push New Jersey schools and failed in that regard.

And to be clear, one major institution of higher learning that's very involved, because the partnerships at the HELIX are key, Rutgers University, very involved, correct?

- Yes, they are, you know, basically in our first building, they're our major partner.

They have committed to not only 250,000 square feet of translational research, which is final stage research before commercialization, but moving the Rutgers RWJ Medical School downtown and putting in a completely modern facility to be compatible with the New Jersey Innovation Hub.

But Rutgers is not only doing that, but they've committed to over a quarter of a billion dollars to recruit new scientists that'll work in this building.

- And also Princeton, is involved, as well?

- Princeton and then our other two very important partners are Robert Wood Johnson, Barnabas Health, and Hackensack Meridian.

You know, people don't really understand this, but Rutgers and Princeton together, on an annual basis, are the beneficiaries of over a billion dollars of third party research.

This is money that comes from NIH, it comes from the National Cancer Institute, it comes from the FDA, it comes from foundations.

So basically, you know, bringing these two incredible research universities together, good things will happen.

- HELIX will open officially, when, Chris?

- In the December of 2025.

- Got it.

Mary?

- Yeah, I love watching all of your posts, Chris, on social media where it just shows, it's amazing.

You blink and there's like a new structure going up any day.

You talked a little bit about the partnerships.

I believe it's connected to the Innovation Hub.

How are you helping startups?

How are you helping those businesses that are really just up and coming and true entrepreneurs?

How are you helping them through the Innovation Hub?

- So in two major ways, A, we're creating a place for them.

So we're creating a place where a startup, it may be three postgraduate PhD students who have a great idea, who wanna start a company and want to continue their research and they use our shared laboratories, or they use office space and conference rooms.

It may be somebody at the end of their career who's leaving Johnson & Johnson, who's leaving Bristol Myers and they've got a project that didn't get pursued and wanna, with some colleagues.

It may be the person that called me recently from a major research institution in New York City who said, "I've been working in my lab, my partners and I are ready to commercialize this.

We have to leave the university space to do it.

We all live in New Jersey.

We'd love to have a place to do this."

So creating a place is important.

But the other place is creating this ecosystem where startups can, you know, at lunch, having a cup of coffee, a drink afterwards, can meet academic scientists who are working for Princeton or Rutgers or working with physicians from either of the two hospitals, being in the same place, sharing ideas, helping solve problems, saying, "Hey, can you come to my lab and look in my microscope?

I see something interesting."

So we're basically creating a place where creative collisions can happen.

- So Chris, let me get on this because you and I have known each other a long time, and one of the things I think we have in common, other than being Italian American is this... We've been at this for a long time, but Mary knows this and I think Mary does think of this sometimes, like, "Steve, when is enough enough?"

When do we say, "Hey, we're good the way we are?"

What's all this with a new idea, new series, new this?

Why are we spinning off to innovate?

And what I said to Mary, and trust me, there's a question here is, when I stop doing that, that's when I don't want to do this anymore.

That's when you're done.

I know, I've known you.

Chris, you don't stop, meaning this innovation initiative, discovery innovation in New Jersey, the HELIX.

I'm not saying it's you alone, but are you sitting up?

There's a question in this way.

Do you sit up at night thinking about all these possibilities?

- Usually when I'm driving or taking a shower or shaving, usually I'm pretty good when I go to sleep, I go to sleep.

But look, cities that do not continue to reinvent themselves suffer.

- And we're talking about New Brunswick.

By the way.

HELIX is in New Brunswick, to be clear.

- Right.

- Go ahead, Chris.

- And look, innovation is the lifeblood of New Jersey, of New Jersey's economy.

The HELIX, hopefully, will create an ecosystem that will reignite the entrepreneurial spirit of Edison, Sarnoff, Waxman, Claude Shannon, you know, unlocking that potential, unlocking that excitement for the next generation.

So, you know, we kind of always have to rediscover and reinvigorate and reignite.

Let it be, you know, you know, a city or you know, or just getting people to be excited about being in a place.

- And whether it's a higher ed institution that has to evolve constantly, innovate media organizations, hospital systems that you just talked about, both of whom are our underwriters of our programming, RWJ Barnabas Health and HMH, Hackensack Meridian Health.

Mary, one more quick question - Yeah, definitely.

And as an outsider looking in, it seems like everything has just gone like clockwork with the HELIX, right?

I see all the posts and I'm like, "Wow, everything's."

But I know probably behind the scenes there have been some challenges.

Can you share one of those challenges and more importantly, the lesson that you learned, whether tied to innovation, leadership, whatever, because as I said- - About logistics, Mary?

Logistics.

- And logistics.

(laughing) I'm obsessed with logistics.

- Well, you know, I think, in a micro sense, next week we're gonna pour 1400 cubic yards of concrete that has to be in one continuous pour and it has 150 trucks coming and it has to happen continuously or you have to start over.

- What could go wrong, Chris?

What could go wrong!

- Wait a second, though.

- A flat tire.

- I don't know a lot.

- The truck falls in the hole.

- But doesn't temperature matter?

Well, isn't that a factor with concrete as well or am I making- - Temperature does matter.

So we have to get that the right day.

But you know, look, I think the biggest challenge and certainly one of the bigger accomplishments are getting our partners, the EDA, Rutgers, Hackensack- - Economic Development Authority and Tim Sullivan, go ahead, - Robert Wood Johnson, Barnabas Health, Princeton, to get on the same page, to make concessions, to take some risk and see the big picture.

And then one day, the light goes off and you know, you kind of bear down and get the deal done.

You know, you don't wanna see how, you know, sausage is made.

You don't wanna see how laws are made.

You really don't wanna see how public and private partnerships are made.

Mayor Cahill said to me one time when we were doing a ground break- - Mayor Cahill, the mayor of New Brunswick, go ahead.

- Yes, and he said to me as we were walking off the podium at a project that had some real rough going, getting to that gate.

And he said, "Don't you just once before you're done want to get up here and say, 'Hey, I'm gonna tell you what really happened'?"

Because everybody's really happy at groundbreakings and at ribbon cuttings.

But there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes.

But you know what?

We are fortunate in New Jersey.

I'm certainly fortunate in New Brunswick to have some people who have some real foresight and are true leaders and are able to come together and do something in a collaborative nature that could not be done by any one of these institutions, by themselves.

- That's the beauty of partnership.

And Chris Paladino, the president of New Brunswick Development Corporation, DEVCO, leading the way, being the QB, as I like to say, the point guard, the quarterback, the facilitator of the HELIX initiative.

Chris, thank you so much.

We appreciate it.

Discovery and Innovation in New Jersey.

Thanks, Chris.

- Thank you, Steve.

Thank you, Mary.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by RWJBarnabas Health.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

The New Jersey Education Association.

PSEG Foundation.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

And by The North Ward Center.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com.

And by BestofNJ.com.

- [Narrator] To see more One on One with Steve Adubato programs, visit us online at stateofaffairsnj.org.

If you would like to express an opinion, email us at info@caucusnj.org.

Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/steveadubatophd and follow us on Twitter @steveadubato.

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