The Connecticut Public Affairs Network, operator of CT-N, says it is suspending operations due to lack of funding and continuing encroachment by the Connecticut General Assembly on its editorial control.
The news came in a letter from CT-N president and CEO Paul Giguere to Jim Tracy, the long-time head of the Office of Legislative Management, after a week of negotiations. Unless something changes during the day on Friday, the public affairs network which has been broadcasting and archiving legislative, executive and judicial branch activities since 1999 will go off the air at 5p.m. Staff positions are being eliminated.
While this is bad news on several levels, it also is an opportunity that may lead to another model for state government coverage that can not be threatened by the possibility of government control over editorial decisions. One model that might be considered is a collaboration between the state’s many broadcast, print and internet news operations whose audiences would all benefit from having access to the video gathered daily by what has been known as CT-N.
