Updates

TRENTON — On Monday, advocates rallied in Trenton in support of legislation that would use millions in proceeds from the recent spectrum auction to help fix New Jersey’s local news crisis.

At a recent event held in Asbury Park, local residents and members of the local media came together with Free Press Action Fund to brainstorm how proceeds from the $332-million sale of old public-media licenses should be used to better inform communities.

New Jersey is getting ready to receive a one-time infusion of $332 million in revenue thanks to a nationwide auction of broadcast airwaves that was held earlier this year. With a new state fiscal year about to begin in a matter of weeks, two Democratic legislative leaders are now pushing to earmark at least some of that money to bolster local journalism in New Jersey.

Roughly two dozen journalists, academics, librarians, public-relations professionals and activists attended the Free Press Action Fund gathering, where they broke into two groups and brainstormed how to improve local news in the Garden State.

A bill introduced Thursday by state legislative leaders would create a fund for supporting and fostering local journalism.

TRENTON — On Thursday, the majority leaders of the New Jersey State Assembly and Senate introduced legislation to establish the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium, an initiative joining New Jersey’s leading universities in support of the news-and-information needs of communities statewide.

What would you do if you had the opportunity to reshape local news coverage in the Garden State?

News Voices: New Jersey, a project of the media-advocacy group Free Press, wants to hear your answers.

Full Frontal producer Razan Ghalayini called New Brunswick Today after independent news advocates at the national organization Free Press had recommended the paper to the show.

The News Voices project, which existed in New Jersey for two years before launching last month in Charlotte and Durham, aims to connect journalists with residents of Charlotte’s more marginalized communities and populations and help them build more in-depth relationships with the people they report on.

Two recent events kicked off News Voices: North Carolina, a new initiative from the advocacy group Free Press, which is aiming to foster collaborations and strengthen the bonds between journalists and the communities they cover.