A number of powerful people are watching the new WWOR newsmag Chasing New Jersey, though they might not exactly be the viewers Fox management envisioned. United States Senator Robert Menendez wrote to the FCC, reports the NY Times, urging a “prompt and thorough review” of the license that permits WWOR to profit from the public airwaves.
He wrote:
“In light of WWOR’s decision to drop their nightly news programming, a decision which affects millions of New Jerseyans, it is becoming increasingly critical that the F.C.C. make a determination about WWOR’s license and whether they are adequately serving New Jersey as the law and F.C.C. rules stipulate.”
WWOR, half of Fox’s New York DMA duopoly, is licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, and is obligated to cover New Jersey public affairs. As Menendez notes, on June 8, Chasing New Jersey took the place of WWOR’s lone newscast at 10 p.m.
Dianne Doctor, WWOR VP and station manager, asserts the new program effectively covers the Garden State. She said in a statement:
“Based in Trenton, Chasing NJ is a news program immersed in all aspects of the state. Politics. People. Issues. It’s enterprise journalism that no one else is doing.”
