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Yesterday’s news about DNAinfo shocked us at the BKLYNER newsroom on Coney Island Avenue. The disappearance of DNA Info leaves a lot of great reporters out of work, and many communities with much less coverage.
Over years of bootstrapping local news coverage in Brooklyn, I’ve become convinced that local news will only thrive with sustained community support, and people putting money where their mouths are. [Become a Subscriber!]
This is not a lucrative industry, and no one has figured out a sustainable business model yet. Everyone at local news works too hard, for too little, and making ends meet is a constant struggle.
I wrote an op-ed for the Daily News last night on where the closure of DNAinfo leaves local news. It went over our own struggles to grow, and ended with this :
“But most of all, I hope citizens will realize that good local journalism requires paying a living wage to great community journalists, that reporting news is incredibly labor intensive — and that we need their help to make it sustainable.”
BKLYNER is a small, local, independent news organization that believes in our communities, and in the power of local media to make neighborhoods stronger.
We had to retrench a bit last January, when we consolidated all our old sites (Ditmas Park Corner, Sheepshead Bites, Bensonhurst Bean, Park Slope Stoop, Kensington BK, Sunset Park Voice, and Fort Greene Focus) into BKLYNER, in order to be around. It was not an easy decision, but a necessary one – we downsized our staff as well. We are on a more solid footing now, and ready to grow, but – like the New York Times – we cannot do that without the support of our readers.
We do not have billionaires (or millionaires) as owners – though judging by what happened to DNAInfo and Gothamist yesterday, that may be for the best. But we do have lots of loyal readers, wonderful reporters, and freelancers, and we’d like to expand and deepen our neighborhood coverage.
Over the years we’ve introduced you to new restaurants and shops, fought for streetlights, crosswalks and better public safety, and we’ve dug deeply into the complex issues around housing and the changing neighborhoods.
We’ve won awards for our reporting on the police, schools, and communities, as well as editorials. Our reporting on Gravesend Oil spill has helped new bills to be introduced to have better environmental accountability.
We bootstrapped this business, built it from the ground up, and have been constantly adapting to changing realities of our industry – the rise of Facebook advertising included.
Good local journalism requires paying a living wage to great community journalists. Reporting news is incredibly labor intensive — and we need your help to make it sustainable.
We’d like to promise that for every $60,000 we raise from our readers through subscriptions, we will hire one new community reporter. All it takes is 1,000 readers committing $5 a month for a year to massively improve community news coverage.
By becoming a Subscriber, you are supporting the in-depth, ongoing local news coverage and community discussion Brooklyn needs. If you believe the work we do makes life in our community better, become a reader that supports your local news site.
Make a contribution today by clicking on the links below:
Become Annual Subscriber for $60 a year.
Become Monthly Subscriber for $5 a month.
If those numbers are more than you can afford, please consider supporting us by taking out a Community Subscription – $24.99 a year or just $1.99 a month. Every little bit helps!
Want to give more or don’t have a credit card? Please send a check to Corner Media, 773 Coney Island Avenue, 2nd Floor Brooklyn, NY 11218 or contact through Liena@bklyner.com.
Thank you from the bottom of our heart!