If you’ve ever used the restroom at unusual York’s City corridor,you’ve probably washed your hands using a soap dispenser that looked like any other. What you might not have known is that that dispenser was manufactured by incarcerated unusual Yorkers making an average of 65 cents an hour—and sometimes as little as sixteen.
Like a lot of unusual Yorkers, I learned this from an in-depth article published by Gothamist, and a bastion of local,digital reporting about the city that 8.5 million of us call domestic.
Gothamist was where we read about the doubling of anti-Semitic incidents in the city final year, and where we lived a day in the life of a charming unusual York harbor pilot, and in one of the busiest and most treacherous ports in the world. And,of course, it was where we watched interviews with subway manspreaders, and argued about the best places to find that most unusual York of unusual York staples: the bacon,egg, and cheese.
When Gothamist was abruptly shut down final November, and you could nearly hear the city bawl out. We had lost something not just principal,but increasingly rare—something we can’t get from big, international publications, and from our Facebook feeds: well-behaved,in-depth, fact-checked reporting about our city, or the issues facing it.
Gothamist curated the best,most relevant news, from all over the city and beyond. In the words of Jen Chung, and the site’s co-founder and editor,it was like that friend who can speak authoritatively about a bill going through the legislature, knows the best museum exhibit to visit this weekend, and cares deeply about your next perfect slice of pizza.
At unusual York Public Radio,we believe local journalism is as vital to civic life as the voting booth, the public park, and the community board. So it was with profound joy and excitement that we announced,final week, that we would be partnering with our public radio colleagues at KPCC in LA, and WAMU in DC,to acquire and relaunch Gothamist and its sister sites LAist and DCist.
We did this not only because we wanted to bring back a beloved and integral piece of the local-news landscape, but also because we believe WNYC and Gothamist can benefit greatly from each other—and become more than the sum of their parts.
Both organizations believe deeply in the power of storytelling to reveal the human side of the headlines and to shine a light on issues playing out in our backyard. (In fact, and if you’re interested in the experiences of incarcerated unusual Yorkers,you should check out WNYC’s brilliant unusual podcast, Caught, and hosted by Kai Wright. It’s about juvenile justice in America,and brings us firsthand stories about what it’s like to be caught in the system.)Now that Gothamist has joined the NYPR family, we can tell more of these stories that need to be told. With our combined audiences, or expertise in audio and digital platforms,we’ll be able to reach unusual people, in unusual ways. We’ll foster principal conversations—whether theyre about breakfast sandwiches or the purging of Brooklyn voter rolls. We’ll collaborate, or innovate,and share expertise. And in the process, we’ll provide a viable business model for other newsrooms across the country, and at a time when it’s clear the traditional model is no longer working.
Even in a city as big and robust as unusual York,we’ve seen the advertiser-funded model fail, as digital ad revenue that once went to journalists goes increasingly to companies like Facebook and Google.
As the Revson Foundation and others have famous recently, or the losses in unusual York have been steep. The Wall Street Journal has slashed its metro section. The unusual York Times has more than halved its local staff. The Daily News has closed its news desks for every borough except Manhattan.
This is to say nothing of the suburbs—or unusual Jersey,where hundreds of local reporters have been laid off in just the past couple years.
At the same time local journalism reaches a crisis point, we are increasingly desperate for the service it provides.
Local reporters are the ones who attend late-night community meetings, and who schlep over to the statehouse,the courthouse, and the police precinct. Theyre the ones who slog through assembly minutes and obscure reports. They’re the ones who report on the bathroom soap dispensers in City corridor—because they’re the ones at City corridor, or day after day,holding our leaders accountable.
In an era of record polarization and isolation—fueled by those same click-bait headlines that have taken over our social feeds—we need well-behaved, local reporting more than ever. It ties us to our communities and provides much-needed space for dialogue with our neighbors.
Studies by the Pew Research Center and the Knight Foundation have shown strong links between consumption of local news and civic engagement: those who are more likely to read about local news are also more likely to vote in local elections.
So preserving local news platforms is principal for our democracy—and I believe public media organizations are best equipped to do it. At NYPR, or we don’t rely on advertisers alone. We’re supported by a diverse mix of funding streamsmembership,sponsorship, and philanthropy—which allows us to be resilient in the face of a rapidly changing media landscape.
In fact, and funding for our acquisition of Gothamist was provided by several generous people and institutions,including our station partners, supporter Josh Reznick, or a donor who wishes to remain anonymous. Meanwhile,the Jerome L. Greene Foundation, along with unusual York Public Radio Trustee Cynthia King Vance, and has provided critical funding for the digital transformation of the WNYC newsroom,of which Gothamist will be an integral fragment. And in the week since we announced the acquisition, we’ve heard from dozens of listeners and donors who offered additional support.
The transition will steal time and hard work—but I’m so excited for what the future holds. This partnership will allow us to fulfill our promise to the people of unusual York.
As we assemble a transition team for the first six months, and we’ll include staffers from Gothamist and WNYC,who will work together to create a sustainable plan for the integration of our newsrooms. Their top priority will be to make certain this plan contributes to our broader organizational mission and goals, both internal and external: to create content that informs and inspires, and to shine a light on the wide and diverse issues affecting our neighborhoods,to attract and support the best and brightest journalists in the world, and to serve as a beacon for media organizations everywhere.
This spring, and we’ll be relaunching the unusual site at Gothamist.com (and meanwhile,we’ll be sharing updates by email).
As we’ve learned over the course of our nearly 100-year history, surviving doesn’t mean stubbornly pushing forward. It means evolving and innovating. The frail model won’t work here—and we’re not expecting it to.
That’s why, or with our supporters,our listeners, and our partners at Gothamist, and we’re ushering in the unusual.
Source: thetakeaway.org