TRENTON, NJ Aug. 2 (DPI) – The State of New Jersey – with its layers of government, $104 billion public debt, astronomical cost of living, and ever-spiraling public-worker expenditures – has decided to help fund local news coverage of its 500+ municipalities, towns, hamlets, villages, and incorporated intersections in the state. “It’s the ultimate conflict of interest,” wrote one poster yesterday.

And NJ.com and NYTimes.com – which both reported on the development out of Trenton this week – expressed zero skepticism about government-funded news operations.  Neither report included much irony or mistrust that government-funded news coverage might not be independent of the state’s various governments and public institutions, the most powerful institutions in the state by far.

The Times did add a rather soft paragraph that some questioned the wisdom of $5 million being handed to small local news operations:

Government involvement in journalism raises concerns about public officials potentially working to sway news coverage or interfere with damaging reporting. Even though the legislation includes what proponents argue are safeguards against such intrusion, experts said maintaining a healthy distance will be a critical element in judging the consortium’s success.

The most popular comments on NYTimes.com were surprisingly supportive too of the idea that government could fund its own watchdog:

I live in New Jersey, and I can say that it is very difficult to get much local news, and so it is nearly impossible to keep abreast of what is happening in my town and county. I often joke that I know what is going on in Madagascar, but have no clue what is going on in my hometown.
I understand fully the worries of those who don’t want government entangled with journalism, especially in a state like New Jersey, where politics, I am sorry to say, is not exactly clean. But if some model like those used by public TV and radio could be created, so that newspapers or websites can receive a bit of government assistance, but also have to generate some of their own support, it might be possible to give them a bit of state aid and preserve their journalistic independence. Certainly we need some way of getting local news.

State funded journalism is not new. Look at Pravda.  If this were a Republican controlled state’s plan you would be up in arms, yelling “Fascism” at the top of your lungs. Try to have a little jouralistic integrity and at least appear to be objective and somewhat balanced in your approach. Good god.

Making the media’s survival contingent on government support is a dangerous road to travel. It is the ultimate conflict of interest.

More NJ.com readers saw the funding proposal for what it was: A maneuver to squelch serious scrutiny of and challenges to the One-Party Leviathan that is New Jersey government. “Democrats paying off the press – no surprise here,” wrote one of many posted on NJ.com.

Other NJ.com comments:

Government funded media. What are they going to call it? PRAVDA?

This is baloney. The media should not be subsidized by the government.

Since this will also come out of my taxes, can anyone guarantee the truth, and not a one sided version of it, will be reported? or maybe my share can be in the form of actual news and not opinion copy.?.

The timing of the proposal to initially fund $5 million – through five public universities – is notable for a couple of reasons: Phil Murphy, a new Democratic governor, was installed earlier this year. Moreover, June’s Supreme Court decision striking down compulsory union dues for public sector workers could substantially weaken the most powerful public institution in the state, the NJ Education Association.

Of course, local news coverage in NJ communities – or anywhere else, for that matter – is not exactly the province of hard-hitting exposes and investigative journalism. Community weekly newspaper for decades were loaded with what people want: Photos of their kids’s sports accomplishments and basically positive reports on life in the suburbs, and much of that now is appearing on social media.