The Corporation for New Jersey Local Media (CNJLM) today announced the launch of an annual Byrne-Kean Dinner to benefit its work of expanding non-profit journalism and civic engagement in New Jersey. The dinner will be held on Wednesday, September 29, at 5:30 p.m. at The Stone Terrace by John Henry’s in Hamilton Township.

“Brendan Byrne and Tom Kean were two of New Jersey’s greatest governors. They embodied New Jersey’s best tradition of principled leadership and bipartisanship, both during their governorships and in the statesmanlike roles they played in civic life in the decades that followed,” said CNJLM Chair Nicolas Platt. “We expect the annual Byrne-Kean Dinner to not only become a staple of the New Jersey political calendar, but serve as a fitting tribute to the best of New Jersey.”

Launched 14 months ago, CNJLM is a 501c3 non-profit that is working to preserve and strengthen community journalism by expanding the Philadelphia Inquirer model of non-profit community ownership to newspapers in New Jersey. CNJLM’s Community Engagement Series webinars enhance civic engagement by bringing critical public policy issues to a broad audience. The non-profit is also working with Montclair State University’s Center for Cooperative Media to establish a solution journalism-based collaborative in New Jersey, an effort to bring the state’s news organizations together to work on major projects.

 “It is critical to the future of democracy and civic engagement that the Corporation for New Jersey Local Media succeeds in its effort to preserve community journalism by transitioning newspapers to non-profit ownership that can sustain and expand them as a public trust,” said former Governor Tom Kean. “I am proud to lend my full support to this initiative.”

“We hope this dinner will serve as an annual reunion for the public officials, political leaders, influencers, advocates and journalists whose hard work shaped New Jersey over the past half-century,” said Ruthi Zinn Byrne, the dinner co-chair. “Nobody would have loved that more than Brendan, who appreciated the critical role that a strong and independent press plays in our democracy.”

The entertainment for the evening will include a revue of songs from Byrne- and Kean-era Legislative Correspondents Club Shows performed by a cadre of journalists who covered the two governors. A commemorative newspaper will be published to mark the occasion.

Tickets for the dinner are $150 and sponsorships are available through the CNJLM website at www.NewsWeNeed.org. Rachel Holland, president of Rachel Holland Special Events and Consulting, is serving as the dinner coordinator.

“We are pleased that our dinner is honoring these two governors, whose years of ‘Byrne-Kean Dialogues’ in the Sunday Star-Ledger set a standard of civil bipartisan discourse in the tradition of the Adams-Jefferson correspondence that our Civic Engagement series seeks to emulate,” said Amanda Richardson, CNJLM executive director.

CNJLM itself is a “Team of Rivals” – Platt, a Republican, and Richardson, a Democrat, teamed up to found CNJLM after running against each other for Harding Township Committee in 2019 in a campaign marked for its public-spirited debate.

“For democracy to flourish, we know we need to do the work of journalism in new ways,” said CNJLM Vice-Chair Linda Stamato, Senior Policy Fellow at Rutgers University’s Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. “Finding a sustainable model is more than a public good, it is a civic necessity.”

Richardson said CNJLM chose the Stone Terrace for the location of the Byrne-Kean Dinner because its large ballroom, adjoining terrace and tent allows for proper social distancing. “We wanted to take every precaution to ensure we can have a safe and successful event,” she said.