In the wake of tragic layoffs at The Morning Call, it's time to consider citizen journalism. Blogs are inexpensive and powerful publishing tools - the poor man's press. I've set up an experimental blog, Northampton County Spotlight, to cover the eastern end of the Lehigh Valley. It includes links to every municipal and school district web page. In addition, every news-oriented Northampton County blog is linked.Now all I need are people willing to post brief reports.
In Williams Township, citizens are battling the Chrin landfill expansion. Hellertown pedestrians worry about getting killed while crossing the street. Pen Argyl cops hand out tickets to old homeless ladies who are talking to benches. Upper Mount Bethel residents are always fighting over something - that's their entertainment.
People are interested in these hot, local stories. They want to know what's going on, even if they don't read a paper.
Who is going to tell these stories? Many of you could inform us about your community. If you'd like to try, please drop me a line at BOHare5948@aol.com. I'll send you an invitation so you can start blogging at Northampton County Spotlight. Your politics are irrelevant to me.
Here's a link to a few online journalism tips. One of these days, I'm going to read them, too.
4 comments:
What a terrific idea! I'll be following this...
Spiffy site. Obviously a fair amount of work. Question: who gets the adds by google money?
nlv
NLVLogic, If any income is generated, and that is a big IF, it will be used for some tools like a recorder, a program for audio. That will probably take about 3 years.
Maybe we should start a support fund for needy laid off Mcall workers and their soon to be starving families;-) nlv
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