[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - Hi everyone, Steve Adubato.

We kick off the program continuing our very important series of conversations around media leadership with a leader in the media, Stefanie Murray, Director of the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University's College of Communication and Media.

Stefanie, good to have you with us.

- Thanks Steve, I'm really glad to be here.

- And the college is significant, we're taping this in the summer of 2025.

Talk to folks about what it means to be a college of media and communication.

- Yeah, so as of July 1st we're the College of Media and Communication here at Montclair State.

Yes, thank you, and we're really excited about that.

In academic terms, it's a big deal because it gives a little bit more independence to what we do here.

It elevates some of our administrators and gives us access to different things within the university.

But what it really means is that enrollment is growing, our programs are growing.

We've added programs in animation.

Our sports communications program is growing quite a lot.

Our film and television program continues to grow and our journalism program.

So that's really the bottom line is that we are continuing to attract students who are interested in different careers in media.

And as that growth, you know, comes we need access to more resources, and so it just made a lot of sense to become a college.

- It's interesting, you talk about the growth at the university, my alma mater, - Yes.

- And you know better than most that in media, not a lot of growth, in fact, going the other way.

You've talked extensively and you're an expert on disappearing local news in the State of New Jersey and the nation.

How bad is it and why is it so important to our representative democracy, please?

- So there's a difference between media and news.

So a lot of the growth that we see that I just talked about is in media, which is exploding and continues to explode.

But what I work a lot in, as you talked about, is local news.

So we support local journalism and local news specifically around the State of New Jersey.

And over the last 10 to 15 years, we've seen a massive contraction in the number of journalists covering communities in our state.

And that's really due to a market failure.

There's been a market failure for local news and the business model underpinning news and information, specifically journalism, has collapsed across the United States, and it's been no different here in New Jersey.

And so we've seen a lot of contraction, a lot of layoffs, a lot of closures of newspapers specifically in our state.

And so that's created news deserts across communities in New Jersey.

There are hundreds of millions of dollars that are spent every day in our state and no one's watching, because there's no independent watchdogs in so many communities in New Jersey.

And that's the problem that we are trying to solve through our work at the center.

And that's really why it's so important is, you know, if you don't have independent media watching what politicians are doing, bringing you great stories of resilience and what's happening in your town to provide that, you know, that social fabric, that community fabric, there are many things that you lose.

- Stefanie, the economic model of ad-based, now we're an independent media organization... We work very closely with our colleagues in public broadcasting, but we're a 501C3, we work... Well more than half of my time is spent raising money.

And you've argued that the ad... the sponsorship ad model doesn't work.

What model, from an economic point of view does work?

Meaning who the heck is willing to invest and care enough about quality journalism, news and media and information that people need as opposed to just going on social media with an algorithm that tells them they're right because somebody in the algorithm world knows how to tell you what you need to hear, no, want to hear.

I'm sorry, that's not even a question, Stefanie.

It's just what's been going on in my head, - I get you, yeah.

So the advertising model, actually, that's not something I argue has failed.

That actually is still strong.

So advertising does underpin a vast majority still of local news, especially in the State of New Jersey.

What I argue is that the future is a revenue mix, is a different kind of revenue mix that doesn't only- - Talk about that.

- Yeah, so that's not only ads.

So traditionally news and information in our state and in states across the United States, every state, was very ad-based.

We sold classified ads, we sold ads on broadcasts, we sold ads in newspapers.

Advertising was the way we brought in money, a little bit of money from subscriptions, but mostly it was advertising and sponsorship.

That has changed as the market has collapsed, and you can put ads anywhere.

You know, I talked about media is exploding.

We have students who go into all kinds of different media, and there are ads everywhere.

You can find ads, you know, when you're listening to Spotify, when you're streaming something on TV, ads are all over the place now.

And so they're not only in news and information and that's the market failure, is that the money went elsewhere in terms of advertising.

It doesn't mean all the money went elsewhere, though, there's still money to be had, and there's millions of dollars made by local journalism organizations in advertising specifically.

But what we need today is more than that.

So we see news organizations that take in a lot more money for membership instead of just subscription, become a member of a news organization, philanthropy, which you know, you're running a 5013C3.

Yeah, looking at foundations and private philanthropy, I believe- - That's right.

- News and information is a public good and should be funded like a public good.

So also public policy I think plays a role.

Philanthropy needs to step up and I think will continue to step up.

Just like the arts are supported, that's how news and information needs to be supported.

So it's a revenue mix that I think we need to see today.

- Stefanie, lemme follow up on this economic mix, the role of government.

There's something called the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium, a not-for-profit driving, innovative media projects, community-driven local media.

You're a senior advisor to this consortium.

Montclair State is the host of it, but there are other universities.

NJIT, Rowan, College of New Jersey, Kean, Rutgers.

- That's right.

- Funded by whom?

Isn't that the government?

- Partly, yes.

So the Civic Information Consortium is the only organization in the country that was established as its own independent 501C3 to take in government and private funding and then redistribute it to support media and information.

So it functions somewhat similar to the Corporation for Republic Broadcasting in a different sense, in a smaller sense.

So if people are familiar to CPB, which funds PBS and NPR across the United States- - As we speak right now, and we're hoping and praying it stays that way, but go ahead.

- Right, exactly, yes.

But it's somewhat of a similar setup in that CPB is an independent organization, so the consurtium is independent, but it currently does take in a grant from the state annually along with private funding.

So foundations including Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the (indistinct) Fund give money to the consortium, and the consortium's long-term plan is to establish an endowment so that it doesn't have to depend on government money.

- Yeah, let's talk about the depending among government money, our production operation does not receive a line item in the budget, but our partners in public broadcasting are part of that.

And by the way, the vast majority of public broadcasting money is private money.

That being said, what happens when politicians, people in elective office, either in Washington or in Trenton decide, "We don't like you, we don't like your news coverage, we don't like the interview that you did with so-and-so."

The governor's peeved, or the president's peeved, or whatever, Senator so-and-so's peeved, and all of a sudden the funding is at risk.

- Yes, yes.

- Talk about that.

How the heck do we maintain our independence?

- Yeah, I mean and that's what we're seeing on a federal level, right, right now with the claw back of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, that is being done under the auspices of that the organizations are producing content that the current administration doesn't agree with.

And we can, you know, talk about that endlessly all day, but that's the reasoning really, is that they think- - But is it that they're right if it's a private entity funded by the people of this country?

- Yes.

I mean... - Well, my own... - So when you have politi... that is absolutely an excellent point.

When you have politicians who get involved in funding local news, funding the watchdogs, it is absolutely going to be, you know, a potential nightmare if it's not done properly.

And you always run the risk of a politician or a political interest lobbying to get something stopped.

And so there are guardrails that you can put in place.

There's independence, things that you can set up at the outset to try to prevent that.

But the bottom line is that it's absolutely possible and we have to be as transparent as possible.

There are lot of policy efforts across United States now to try to get various forms of public funding into the hands of media to support media as a public good.

Some of it's tax credits, some of it's direct grants, you know, it's all over the place.

And a lot of people don't quite realize too, that legal notices still, that's a form of taxpayer funding, and that still supports the vast majority of newspapers across the United States, including here in New Jersey, although that's on the chopping block now too.

- It sure is.

By the way, one more time.

If we couldn't post production, put up the website for Montclair State.

They have a whole range of productions going on there.

I was on campus recently with your dean, Keith Strudler.

- A lot.

- Important, impactful student-centric, student-run production.

That's an exciting thing when you're those of us in the media who've been at this for a while, and you see students who still want to go into journalism news and media.

To Stefanie Murray, the Director of the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University's College of Communication Media.

Stefanie, thank you so much.

We'll talk again soon.

- Of course, thanks Steve.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by EJI, Excellence in Medicine Awards.

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