It is with great pleasure, we bring to you the first episode of our new podcast series interviewing local figures connected to our fight in Central Jersey.
Our first guest is Charlie Kratovil, editor in chief of New Brunswick Today. Join us as we discuss past student movements, the changing media landscape of the city, why he chose to run for mayor, some of the difficulties of competing against the local Democratic Party, and the inner workings of one of the last holdouts of Tammany Hall – The Cahill-Lynch Machine.
All that, plus more on the first episode!
Here is a transcript for this episode of the Weaver:
*Intro*
“The Weaver is brought to you by the Central Jersey Socialist’s Theory and Education Committee.”
Nishad: Hello and welcome to the first ever episode of the weaver, a new multimedia project presented by you, the Central Jersey Socialist. I am your host, for the morning, afternoon, or evening depending on when you choose to listen to this, Nishad Datta. Now, if you have been involved in organizing in New Brunswick and to some extent Middlesex county and New Jersey at large, then you have undoubtedly come across this guest in some way shape or form. Here with me is none other than local activist, community organizer and editor in chief of new brunswick today, mister Charlie Kratovil. Charlie, welcome.
Charlie: Thanks Nishad, a real pleasure to be here and honored to be on the first episode. Thanks for having me.
N: Thank you for being here. So first things first, tell us about the newspaper, what inspired you to found new brunswick today?
C: I came here to go to Rutgers and got a degree in journalism and media studies. I did not anticipate actually working in that field but the more i learned about it the more i learned how important it was and how it has influenced the history of our planet and country. I took more of an interest in it and graduated in 2009 and by then had already gotten very involved in activism and organizing here in NB and I saw some of these shady practices of the power structure. And I started to notice over time how lacking the local coverage was. Once there was a robust media ecosystem that was really not serving especially areas like NB and I knew this because I was going to the government meetings and seeing really important and significant struggles and developments and getting little to no coverage for any of those things. So I saw an opportunity to fill and serve the community but I didn’t immediately do that. I got a job at a local non profit to start a paper in paterson and that’s what gave me the confidence to be able to try that in our city here. I worked with one of the best journalists in the state, getting Paterson Press up and running there and learned how to cover a big city and get people to trust ya, and talk to ya, and read what ya write. And then when i moved on from that it only made sense to try that here and it has been a great success.
N: Did you originally intend to focus on investigative journalism and community organizing efforts or did that happen organically?
C: Yeah, so I was really blessed to go to Rutgers at a time when there was a really strong student movement that was interested in doing more than just supporting students but actually tried to build those bridges to our neighbors, the rest of NB and we were able to give the political machine here a run for their money in the 2009 elections and really ultimately it was a beautiful thing to work with people in every neighborhood. I was interested in doing more than just, you know, supporting students but actually trying to build those bridges to our neighbors, the rest of New Brunswick and we were able to give the political machine here a real run for their money in the 2009 elections. Really, ultimately it was a beautiful thing to work with people in every neighborhood, all different backgrounds, old, young, students, non-students, and so that was an amazing experience. We didn’t know how good we had it back then because now it is really hard to put together those kinds of movements. So, that experience really drove me to want to pursue a lifelong commitment to organizing and in seeing how the media was struggling to cover some of this stuff because the media outlets were constantly having turnover, NJ has always been in a poor position because we don’t really have our own TV stations as much as NYC or Philly. So just seeing this kind of stuff is one of the moments that really made me decide to get more incovlved in the journalism side was seeing the tragic murder of Barry DeLoatch, who killed this unarmed man, just a couple blocks from where i live now. And seeing what amazing movement came together out of that but the media coverage was just kind of like they would parachute in, do a story and be gone the next day. There wasn’t the follow up the accountability that we needed so sorely. That was the moment that I decided that we have to start our own media outlet and that can dovetail with the organizing from time to time but certainly there was a void, a necessary thing, probably why you’re starting this multimedia project here. People need to have the facts and be educated in order to make a difference and get organized.
N: So you mentioned back when you started there was a more robust media ecosystem here and I know of the only papers that really align with anything that I personally am interested in is your paper (New Brunswick Today) and El Americano as well. Even the “Home News Tribune” is a shell of what it used to be, so what are some of the institutions that are no longer here that you are referring to?
To continue reading the transcript of the rest of this conversation, click here!
Please join us for part 2 of our interview with Charlie, coming soon!
Central Jersey Socialists 