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May 12, 2009

Call For Community Board Bloggers

There's been a lot of discussion in recent weeks about the decline of newspapers and whether blogs will be able to pick up the slack as newspapers cut back in general and on their local coverage in particular. We'd like to try to take one step to address this issue by increasing our coverage of what's happening at the community board level. To that end, we're putting out a call for people who would like to cover their community boards. All we'd expect is that you'd make it to the general meeting every month plus the odd land use, transportation or parks & recs committee meetings when there's something particularly juicy on the agenda. No formal journalism skills are required. Reliability, attention to detail and some common sense should be all you need. You could be in grad school or a grandparent, we don't care; and you should own a digital camera. There will be a modest stipend for each report but don't expect to retire on it. If you're interested, please email brownstoner@brownstoner.com with "Blogger: CB #" in the header (substitute whatever community board number you want to cover for the "#" symbol). Let's see how this goes...Update: Thanks to everyone who's emailed already. Keep 'em coming! We're going to let the dust settle before getting back to everyone directly in the next couple of days.




Posted by Brownstoner at 10:14 AM | Comments (30)
Categories: Blogs

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" We'd like to try to take one step to address this issue by increasing our coverage of what's happening at the community board level. "

ROTFLMMFAO!!!!!!!!! Lets spin it from "OUR" point of view!

"All we'd expect is that you'd make it to the general meeting every month plus the odd land use, transportation or parks & recs committee meetings when there's something particularly juicy on the agenda."

Yeah lets put out lies and half truths about the community! Lets obfuscate everything, this is going to be fun!

"ou could be in grad school or a grandparent, we don't care; and you should own a digital camera. There will be a modest stipend for each report but don't expect to retire on it."

Yeah we will "pay" you for BS about the neighborhood. We have no connection to anyway and don't worry we wont check out the "Sources".

This coming from someone that will not come around on Fulton St and check out why people don't want the BID! Now Brownstoner want to be a "Community Blogger", ROTFLMMFAO!!!!! You are a joke Jon..

The What

Someday this war is gonna end...

Posted by: Return of The What at May 12, 2009 10:23 AM

So we'll put you down for CB2 then, What?

Posted by: brownstoner at May 12, 2009 10:26 AM

"So we'll put you down for CB2 then, What?"

You would have a better chance on being Mayor of New York!

The What (RIGHT!)

Someday this war is gonna end...

Posted by: Return of The What at May 12, 2009 10:30 AM

Now there's a thought...

Posted by: brownstoner at May 12, 2009 10:41 AM

hey what,

i think brownstoner is addressing an issue better than your trolling does.

but thats not news here, is it?

good luck brownstoner. more viewpoints than the politicians give us is a good thing. even if done by amateurs. and since you have a non-trivial number of readers/trolls it should be more interesting than the local rags.

Posted by: bkn4life at May 12, 2009 10:43 AM

Jon,

This is a perfect next step for the site. It would really knit together the home and community connection in a more substantive way than restuarant reviews and such. Community boards make a lot of decisions that affect our homes and neighborhoods and generally fly a bit under the radar even when MSM was healthier. If you pull it off, a good move for small d democracy.

Posted by: slopefarm at May 12, 2009 10:54 AM

"whether blogs will be able to pick up the slack as newspapers cut back in general and on their local coverage in particular. We'd like to try to take one step to address this issue by increasing our coverage of what's happening at the community board level."

Talk about cutbacks....newspapers once paid people real salaries to do what Brownstoner will likely be able to get on a stipend basis. I guess that's what we call progress. Still, I guess he's paying SOMETHING.

"Reliability, attention to detail and some common sense should be all you need."

Objectivity?

Posted by: East New York at May 12, 2009 11:42 AM

This is a bad joke: "There will be a modest stipend for each report but don't expect to retire on it."

Brownstoner will keep making money with the advertising and we have to write for a "modest stipend for each report". Are we professional or not? This is clearly not a non-for profit organization, someone is making money and it's clearly pushing the luck!

Maybe that's why Brownstoner is asking for "grad school or a grandparent"...

Posted by: robertpear at May 12, 2009 11:50 AM

Big newspapers with large circulations once paid people real salaries, East New York. Neighborhood circulars and zines did not. As you know. We'll see what Brownstoner and other blogs become. This is community journalism by and for ourselves.

Posted by: mopar at May 12, 2009 11:53 AM

Mopar, I disagree. This is not community journalism. Brownstoner is a private enterprise: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/realestate/25cov.html . Some bloggers make money (http://www.brownstoner.com/advertise/ ) and shouldn’t expect to ask people to contribute for write for a "modest stipend for each report". This is just not serious business! Let’s be honest. This is not about community, it’s about money.

Posted by: robertpear at May 12, 2009 12:03 PM


"Big newspapers with large circulations once paid people real salaries, East New York."

Yes, that's what I said, Mopar. Big newspapers with large circulations once paid professionals to cover local news. That's ending now. Meanwhile, "Neighborhood circulars and zines" NEVER covered local events with the sophistication, reliability and professionalism of the average local newspaper.

"This is community journalism by and for ourselves."

Actually, it's NOT "journalism," it's something else - community blogging, perhaps, but definitely not journalism. As you said, we will see what it becomes. Maybe it will be good overall and even superior to what we have to this point. That's certainly not guaranteed, regardless of what you may believe. But a new paradigm IS coming. I do recognize that.

Posted by: East New York at May 12, 2009 12:03 PM


"shouldn’t expect to ask people to contribute for write for a "modest stipend for each report".

robertpear, no one HAS to do it. You don't like the offer, don't take the job. Besides, there isn't NEARLY the money in blogs that was once made in "traditional" media. It's to Mr. Brownstoner's credit that he's offering ANY stipend. He clearly recognizes he won't attract seasoned, professional journalists and I don't believe he expects he will.

My original observation had more to do with the rapid transformation of the media paradigm, as newspapers once employed large staffs for reporting that's increasingly done by bloggers. That may be good or bad - time will tell. But it's definitely bad news for a lot of people who made their livelihoods in traditional media.

Posted by: East New York at May 12, 2009 12:12 PM

Hey, last time we checked The Times wasn't paying any of the community bloggers on either of its Local blogs anything at all! We're going to pay $25 per CB report which is $25 more than someone interested in the meeting would have gotten for attending before and enough to grab some food and a couple of beers afterward. Plus, it's a chance for them to publish something on a blog that gets more online readership that all the Brooklyn newspapers combined. No one's got a gun to their head either. As newspapers have started to realize, you can't run a business paying people full-time salaries and health benefits to cover this kind of stuff. The entire industry is in flux and this is just one experiment with one model of doing things. We'll see if it works.

Posted by: brownstoner at May 12, 2009 12:15 PM

When was the last time any major paper regularly sent its salaried reporters to all of brownstone Brooklyn's community boards? The lack of regular CB coverage in the NYT or NYP is not a symptom of mainstream journalism losing out to the "interwebs." This is ordinarily the stuff of the Park Slope Courier and the like. How much does it pay to cover CB6 for one of the local free weeklies (which are also businesses). This is below the radar stuff and it might be nice to see a more blog-like take on what goes on at the community boards, rather than the one-paragraph voiceless blurbs you often get in the local weeklies. Perhaps a CB member wants to blog as a participant. Would be interesting.

Posted by: slopefarm at May 12, 2009 12:15 PM

Jinx, Mr. B. You owe me a coke.

Posted by: slopefarm at May 12, 2009 12:17 PM

right on

Posted by: brownstoner at May 12, 2009 12:20 PM

brownstoner:

dont get your knickers in a bunch.

take your shots while the feeling out of the new world order is in play.

everyone is entitled to take their own shot. let the complainers take theirs(fat chance). seems to me you are paying more than nothing. its a free market. let the old guard complain and die. its not like the CB meetings were getting covered anyways.

Posted by: bkn4life at May 12, 2009 12:30 PM

If it wasn't about money, why Mr. Brownstoner quickly replied to this posting. I don't usually read any comments after the postings. Yes, it's about money. This is a business. There is clearly a big crisis if you want to work to get paid enough to grab some food and a couple of beers. Good luck to you! I am just tired of this type of discussions.

Posted by: robertpear at May 12, 2009 12:58 PM

great idea, Jon. We know its not journalism and that's fine. But it gets us more involved and maybe even more proactive in community affairs- always a good thing. Let the naysayers have their whining- I always find it a hoot that those who complain the loudest still have to come here to play. Bet that pisses them off even more.

Posted by: bxgrl at May 12, 2009 1:00 PM

Hate to sound positive... but I think this is a great idea. Everyone knows that living and working in NYC is about hustling and jumping at very opportunity. This is a open door to be published in MEDIA which gets picked up OFTEN by traditional media all the time.

Brownstoner is in fact a business. Businesses should evolve, this is a smart and innovative step. One more step towards the creating a lifestyle as a brand, then, "sell" that brand (info) to interested parties by way of the web site. Smart.

You wouldn't be on here commenting all the time if you didn't buy in

Posted by: Gross at May 12, 2009 1:02 PM

I think it's a solid idea too
It's in incentive to be more proactive in your local community.

Posted by: gemini10 at May 12, 2009 1:08 PM

All this discussion but I haven't seen a volunteer yet.

Posted by: Arkady at May 12, 2009 1:17 PM

8 people have expressed interest so far.

Posted by: brownstoner at May 12, 2009 1:22 PM

Being locally involved and knowledgeable pays off - this blog shows that.

Posted by: infinitejester at May 12, 2009 1:51 PM

"Being locally involved and knowledgeable pays off - this blog shows that."

Man you guys are so clueless! Who around here have knowledge about Clinton Hill??

Jon No! Newly transformed Retarded transplants no! Faux-Snoob Assheads no!

Now we get "NEWS" from a uninformed brigade of Retards for 25 bucks???

I will be glad when summer is over so I can watch the expressions on your faces in the collapse of the Mutant Asset Bubble!

The What

Someday this war is gonna end...

Posted by: Return of The What at May 12, 2009 2:30 PM

Couldn't be worse than reading to another one of your boring attack rants.

Posted by: bxgrl at May 12, 2009 2:57 PM

Does your bitterness ever end, The What? Why don't you get off your ass and "do" something if you're so critical of everyone else.

Posted by: plgdude at May 12, 2009 3:43 PM

> "I will be glad when summer is over so I can watch the expressions on your
> faces in the collapse of the Mutant Asset Bubble!"

Whay after the summer is over? Is the MAB summering in the Hamptons, only to resume collapsing after Labor Day?

Posted by: SnarkSlope at May 12, 2009 8:45 PM

How sad that a good idea proposed by Brownstoner is met with such inane drivel. If you naysayers think that the news reported by the local newspapers is top quality reporting, think again. I can't count how many times I have been at a meeting or event and when I read the report it looks like I've been at a different meeting. On the other hand, some local reporters are very good - and report exactly what transpired. So it will be with these community based reporters - some will be good and some will be bad - and it will be up to the readers to figure out the real story. But it will at least bring some attention to community issues faced at the community board level.

You can be sure that those issues which merit further action are likely to be picked up on by 'real' (or at least professional) reporters who do scrutinize Brownstoner.com for stories.

Posted by: rickintheridge at May 13, 2009 12:28 PM

LOL, the MAB is summering in the Hamptons. Yes, I think it is -- haven't summer prices collapsed there?

FYI, the local free weeklies pay $25 or $35 an article. I know someone in my area who used to cover community board meetings for one.

Posted by: mopar at May 13, 2009 2:10 PM

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