Save Local Journalism. Save BKLYNER

 

By Liena Zagare

 

Over the years, you’ve come to rely on the reporting of BKLYNER, and so many of the neighborhood news sites we published before it – Ditmas Park Corner, Sheepshead Bites, Bensonhurst Bean, Park Slope Stoop, South Slope News, KensingtonBK, Sunset Park Voice, Fort Greene Focus.

No one covers Brooklyn with the same tenacity and integrity as our small but devoted staff. We’ve won awards, and more important — we’ve gotten results, from new laws to new crosswalks. We’ve exposed a secret oil spill, cast light on a police commander’s brutal record, and advocated every day for Brooklyn’s communities.

But in 2017, local independent media sources like ours are in real trouble. Revenue from advertising and classifieds that once fueled local news is now being lost to Facebook, Google, and other global internet giants. We cut our costs deeply last year, but it wasn’t enough.

Local newspapers are dying, and local news sites are shuttering every week. Just last month, Gothamist and DNAinfo called it quits. I must be frank in telling you that BKLYNER may not be far behind. We cannot make ends meet under our current advertising-based business model. Like hundreds of other news outlets around the country, we’ve found it impossible to sustain a robust news organization on local ad sales alone.

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