brooklyn-centric tidbits
A few of the interesting tidbits we learned about Bklyner, a local news site near & dear to our kombucha-pumpin Brooklyn hearts: Who’s Left Covering Brooklyn With the Big Newspapers in Retreat?:
The editor of local news site Bklyner, Liena Zagare, is also its publisher! She founded Corner Media around 2008, which became a collection of eight neighborhood news sites, which then became Bklyner in 2017.
While reporting a horrific story on the horrifically “dickensian” history of Brooklyn’s Park Manor Home for Adults, Zagare was also trying to keep Bklyner afloat — after putting out a plea last winter for people to subscribe for $5 a month, more than 1,700 people did. Zagare got to publish her investigation. Honestly, it’s about as local journo Christmas miracle as it gets.
The subscriber drive allowed Zagare to hire a fourth reporter, meaning that yes, FOUR full-time Bklyner reporters are supposed to cover a borough that is basically the size of Chicago. Folks, we really gotta figure out better business models for local news, ‘cause it is honestly still fuuuucked.
Also, Zagare is married to BuzzFeed Ben (Smith), which makes them maybe our newest fave journo power couple/fam??? (Stop now and read about their son Hugo’s Twitter habits if you haven’t).
Like Deez Links? Forward to more precocious power journo kids.